Part of the rooftop solar installation at Magid Glove & Safety | Photo by Anahi Leyva
When Magid Glove & Safety moved from Chicago to Romeoville ten years ago, the industrial safety company’s space expanded exponentially. Now in a 700,000 square-foot building with a flat roof that needed to be updated, Harvey Cohen, President of Magid Glove & Safety, began to consider installing solar panels.
Harvey, who sits at the helm of the family-run business, was curious about solar power and how it could benefit the company. After visiting a Libertyville school that had installed solar panels on their roof and hearing about a grant that had made the project possible, he wondered if this could be something that would work for the sprawling rooftop at Magid Glove & Safety’s Romeoville facility, as well.
While working with Continental Energy Solutions on some infrastructure updates, Harvey mentioned his interest in installing solar. At the time, Continental was working to install rooftop solar panels on a nearby IKEA warehouse. They invited Harvey to take a look, and the gears immediately started turning. Soon, Magid was working with Convergence Energy to make a game plan for putting solar panels on their building’s rooftop. Harvey quickly learned that to meet the energy usage goals they were shooting for, they would need to install about 10,500 panels, which was going to be costly.
However, not only did Magid Glove receive federal incentives available through programs that covered almost a third of the cost, but they also utilized a rebate from ComEd for putting in smart inverters that equaled out to over $800,000. During this time, Harvey also heard about an auction that was going on for renewable energy credits (RECs). Magid put in a bid and secured over 20,000 RECs at $40 apiece. A project that initially would have cost $6 million totaled out to just over $2.5 million with incentives, rebates and RECs.
“It was great for all of us to work with a very educated client,” said Brian Haug, President of Continental Energy Solutions. “In fact, Harvey bought all the SRECs himself before we even got started!”
Magid began its massive solar panel installation in 2016. In 2018, the project was officially energized, and in 2020, the company decided to add a 2,000 kW battery for backup energy.
“Having the solar array reduces our electricity costs and makes us more competitive,” Harvey said. “This project has paid for itself in just three-and-a-half years, and our electric bills have gone down from about $50,000 per month to between $5,000-$10,000 per month thanks to solar energy and battery storage. Our batteries also help us combat blackouts and avoid power disruptions, allowing us to essentially operate on our own microgrid if need be.”
After completion, Magid Glove & Safety’s rooftop solar array was the largest in the Midwest, and they are proud to be a pioneer in the commercial solar space and are avid advocates for solar panels and storage.
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