Waterline Industries Corporation’s intitiative to “go green” commenced with much fanfare on Monday, December 14th with the installation of an American-made solar system to their corporate headquarters in Seabrook, NH.

Completed four days later on December 18th, the installation was conducted by Waterline’s Alternative Energies affiliate staff of electricians and installers. To build the system, two eleven-foot pole mounts – supplied by Power-Fab of New Mexico – were ground-mounted at the headquarters location, with 6 panels connected on each. The total solar array of each pole stands at 15 feet tall.

An inverter provided by Solectria Renewables of Lawrence, MA will allow Waterline to view the power output numbers on a daily, weekly, monthly and lifetime basis. The system is estimated to produce 3,600 KW hours/year, equivalent to 36% of the average American family’s household electricity usage.

While traditionally an expensive system, government incentives and rebates for renewable energy projects helped Waterline Industries receive 30% of the total project cost in grant money from the federal government – in this case equivalent to $6,000 in savings. Similar rebates and tax credits are still available to both businesses and homeowner’s.

Ralph Dumke, President of Waterline, heralded the project as logical step for a company building a reputation as a premier alternative energy provider. “As a company, we believe that it is important to get away from our dependency on foreign oil and other non renewable sources, says Dumke. “Waterline is proud to become part of the renewable revolution and to continue reducing our carbon footprint. Solar is just one of the many steps we intend to take, with the cooperation of all employees, to make a change for the environment.”

While a bold step for the company as a whole, Waterline’s Alternative Energies affiliate is more than familiar with helping big businesses go green: in December the group installed a 35-foot Helix Wind turbine at Seacoast Volkswagen in Greenland.

Waterline’s projects represent a growing trend on the Seacoast, with a number of similarly high-profile projects being conducted in just the past few months alone, including: a wind turbine on the roof of Portsmouth’s Ricci lumber (installed by Seacoast Energy Alternatives of Dover); a solar hot water system built at Crossroads House (also by SEA); and the largest solar PV system in the state on the roof of Exeter High School (a joint effort between Eliot, Maine-based Seacoast Consulting Engineers and Dover’s Revolution Energy).

They might be different companies, but all of the aforementioned businesses have one thing in common: they’re all member of the Green Alliance, a Seacoast-based “green business union” which provides marketing and business-to-business networking, as well as discounts at all of their 80-plus businesses to their 1,000 member-strong co-op.

Part of the Waterline Companies, Waterline Industries is an affiliate to Waterline Services LLC and Waterline Alternative Energies. The three companies work in a collaborative style to offer their customers a complete project deployment from start to finish.