Pfister Energy

DESIGN/BUILD ENERGY

Pfister Energy

Evolving from what was once a commercial roofing company, Wayne Pfisterer was enamored with all that the renewable energy industry had to offer. Today, the company offers a full menu of turnkey, customized solutions that range from several technology and installation options to financing and incentive assistance.

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All Encompassing Systems, Exponentially Integrated LEADING THE WAY IN RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS, PFISTER ENERGY DELIVERS INNOVATIVE ON-SITE POWER SOLUTIONS.

by Joel Cornell

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fister Energy is one of very few renewable energy companies in the U.S. offering a truly comprehensive line of products, services and technologies within the alternative energy and energy efficiency industries. As a design/ build construction firm, the company offers a complementary host of turnkey, customdesigned green solutions with an emphasis on building-integrated applications.

Having its roots in commercial roofing, New Jersey-based Pfister Energy was established by President Wayne Pfisterer and his father, Dieter Pfisterer, in order to expand their (then) 25-year old commercial industrial roofing company, Pfister Maintenance, Inc. Through Pfisterer’s endeavors with Pfister Maintenance, Inc., he began seeking out new ways to approach the roofing market and expand within it. Upon writing an article for a scientific trade journal concerning solar energy implementation from the perspective of an experienced roofer, a new dialogue opened up.

It was then that the company decided to gear its traditional roofing and sheet metal services toward more efficient and sustainable building envelope systems.

“Absolutely everything that is Pfister Energy grew from that point,” Pfisterer said. “We began seeing a huge interest in photovoltaic systems and solar panel installation, and it soon became apparent that, at least on the commercial level, the renewables industry was certainly on the rise.”

Pfister Maintenance, Inc. completed their first solar-integrated roofing project in 2003, recognizing that energy was a much broader and more quickly growing industry than roofing could prove to be. Only a year later, the separate entity of Pfister Energy, Inc. was incorporated to focus exclusively on this business. Pfister Energy, Inc. immediately began to build out its product portfolio and capabilities set.

“Initially, we were absolutely enamored with solar technology,” Pfisterer said. “However, we knew that PV was not and could not be the beOPPOSITE PAGE AND THIS PAGE: (ABOVE) Pfister Energy recently installed a 115.92 kW DC crystalline PV system on the roof of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office in Paramus, N.J. THIS PAGE: (LEFT) Pfister Energy’s Baltimore office installed a solar-integrated roofing system and incorporated additional renewable energy technologies on M.C. Dean’s 200-year-old office building, which is adjacent to the Baltimore Ravens stadium.

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all, end-all solution for the nation’s increasing energy problems. Other on-site, distributed generation technologies were certainly going to have to have a place in the world, especially as many older technologies have been reemerging through new, more efficient, less costly design and manufacturing.

Vertical-axis wind turbines, natural daylighting technologies, fuel cells and solar thermal systems can all generate or save energy in a clean, sustainable way.

“One of the most important hurdles commercial buildings and facilities face today is the need for energy to be cheap, local and most importantly constant. You can’t rely entirely on solar energy in places like Seattle, where you see cloud coverage the majority of the time. Likewise, you can’t always rely on wind power in the inner city and places that do not have an adequate wind resource available.

What has proved to be essential is a fundamental understanding of a building’s features and location; and how to properly select and integrate appropriate technologies in a way that provides cheap, constant power to anyone, anywhere.”

It has been this exact understanding of the local markets, of varied incentive programs, and of complementary energy systems of all different types that has brought Pfister Energy such success from coast to coast. Their holistic approach to stacked energy technologies has been what sets the company apart from its competition. Always cognizent of how new and emerging technologies can be integrated into a cohesive system, Pfister Energy has been designing and installing a vast array of clean energy systems that protect from the elements as they generate power; for example, systems that provide light as they waterproof a roof, or that bring in natural lighting while harvesting rain water into holding tanks for use in irrigation.

“Natural lighting designs, for instance, are sustainable design systems that can be integrated across the map, and with the most ideal results,” Pfisterer said. “We don’t need anyone to tell us this, because it’s something we all know to be true, but many studies have shown the positive effects natural lighting can have in any environment.

Workers show increased productivity and better mental health in office and industrial environments alike. Students perform better in their studies when in naturally lit environments. As nebulous or trivial as it seems, little ideas like this improve your mental health, your physical response and your energy bills to boot.”

As Pfisterer sees it, one of the biggest problems 4 Spring 2011

THIS PAGE: Putting a brownfield to good use, Pfister Energy installed a 1.09 MW utility-scale solar ground mount system at the Pennsauken Sanitary Landfill in Pennsauken, N.J. OPPOSITE PAGE: Pfister Energy installed a 500 kW DC ground-mount system at the Ramada Inn of Vineland, N.J., utilizing American-made Sharp modules and a helical pile mounting system (“earth screws”) manufactured by Terrafix Solarpark USA.

with conventional energy generation and distribution is the inherent inefficiencies resulting from the overall line loss in getting power from where it is produced to where it is consumed.

In fact, the distance energy must travel from its point of origin to its point of use can result in as much as 30 to 40 percent of that energy being lost. However, when you consider the “distributed generation” of power on-site, at the very place it is being utilized, the overall line loss decreases to as little as three to four percent.

“Distributed generation is therefore much more efficient and takes the strain off of our aging and stressed electrical grid,” Pfisterer said.

Yet unfortunately, at the current stage of industry development, the life cycle cost of renewable energy is higher than utility power, which is why the market relies so heavily on tax incentives and other various means of assistance from the government. “But technology and manufacturing processes are already improving; solar panels are becoming much more versatile and affordable; that will only improve with time,” Pfisterer said. “In the next five years, I personally believe that we will see solar systems nationwide begin to meet and even exceed grid parity.”

Pfister Energy has roughly eight MW of renewable power installed in the U.S. over the last three years, comprised of systems ranging in size as small as 30 kW to greater than one MW. The company’s solar applications vary from the conventional rooftop-mounted, crystalline glass panels, to more innovative solar carport and canopy structures and solar-integrated roofing systems utilizing thin-film PV laminates.

The work that Pfister Energy did for the brand new headquarters of M.C. Dean, Inc., a Baltimore-based contracting firm, is exemplary of their holistic approach to energy.

“It was to be built in a 200-year-old brick building that had been sitting derelict in downtown Baltimore for many years,” Pfisterer said. “Our background in roofing gave us a great advantage, as the entire roof system needed replacing.

Much of the ceilings and floors inside the building had suffered from severe fire damage. Replacing all these systems in an entirely efficient manner was not something your average solar company could have accomplished. We installed a brand new solar array on their roof, in addition to reflective roofing materials that would help to keep the building cool. We also worked directly with the designers to ensure the best possible natural lighting systems were implemented.”

Other notable projects include a series of solar systems installed for Jet Aviation (a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation) at

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New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport. These projects were installed across four distinct hangar buildings at no cost to the customer through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Under this arrangement, the PV systems were provided to Jet Aviation with no up-front capital expenditure. Rather, the systems are owned by third parties, which sell the electricity produced by the array to the project host at a cheaper price (and at a fixed escalation) as compared with what they currently pay for local utility power. The end result means significant energy savings and favorable public relations. Construction on three additional systems comprising a rated aggregate capacity of 700 kW (DC) for Jet Aviation is currently underway.

The company also recently commissioned a 500 kW (DC) ground-mount system for the Ramada Inn of Vineland, N.J., utilizing American-made Sharp modules and a helical pile mounting system (“earth screws”) manufactured by Terrafix Solarpark USA. This innovative attachment system eliminates the need for large concrete foundations and minimizes the local environmental impact of the array.

The project was a direct purchase by the customer and is expected to produce over 14,000 MWh over the 25-year design life of the system. Taking into account the substantial energy savings, combined with attractive state and federal incentives, the project will pay for itself in just over 2.5 years and is expected to yield a total net benefit of over $6.75 million over its operating lifetime.

Pfister Energy possesses all of its own in-house system designers, qualified installation technicians, licensed electricians and NABCEP-certified engineering staff. The company relies on these resources to deliver turnkey systems to its clients from a single source, often without the need for any subcontractors.

Pfister Energy presently has offices in Paterson, N.J., Baltimore, Md. and Tampa, Fla. The company continues to expand its installation capabilities nationwide through its Licensed Installer Program, under which qualified contractors are selected to incorporate a licensed Pfister Energy entity in other parts of the country. This program enables Pfister Energy to effectively improve sales and deployment of the various renewable energy solutions within its product portfolio nationally. ELT

THIS PAGE: (MAIN) Pfister Energy used Velcro to secure 310 kW DC UniSolar panels to the standing seam metal roof on a hangar at Jet Aviation/Teterboro Airport in Teterboro N.J. – a very unique application. Construction on three additional systems comprising a rated aggregate capacity of 700 kW DC for Jet Aviation is currently underway. (RIGHT) Wayne Pfisterer, president.

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