Case study: The Marugg Company ‘reaps’ benefits of solar energy

After 145 years, The Marugg Company in Tracy City, Tennessee, is still making hickory snaths, or handles, for European style scythes. Amy and Charlie Wilson bought the company from Amy’s uncle in 2006, and like her great-great-grandfather before them, they pair their wooden snaths with scythes made by a company in Austria that has been making blades since 1540. They ship high quality, handcrafted tools to customers around the world and in all 50 states.

“Our customers are homesteaders, farmers, doomsday preppers, as well as many people who want to get some exercise while maintaining their lawns,” says Amy Wilson, co-owner. “A scythe is a great alternative to a gas-powered weed eater, and I use a sickle to edge my garden beds,” she explains.

The Marugg Company has a do-it-yourself mentality, and they are proud to make environmentally friendly tools. The idea of utilizing sunlight to power their business made a lot of sense in terms of self-sufficiency and financial savings.

“We were looking for an investment, and we want to be as self-contained as possible,” she says. “Charlie installed solar years ago, so he understands how far the technology has come in terms of efficiency and cost,” she says.

For The Marugg Company, April through October is their busy season while the rest of the year is pretty slow. They decided solar would be a reliable way to generate additional income. The 10kW rooftop solar system is expected to generate over $1,300 each year which will cover their annual electricity costs and then some. The local utility, Sequatchie Valley Co-op, will roll unused solar credits over to the next month until the Wilsons request a check for their extra solar payments.

“Going solar is the right thing to do for many reasons,” says Amy. “If you can do it, you should do it, and definitely call LightWave,” she adds.

According to the Wilsons, the LightWave Solar sales process was unmatched.

“The first company we called gave us a higher price without looking closely at our project, and the second company finally got back to us after LightWave had already installed it,” she says. “When we called LightWave, Drew sent us a drawing and an estimate within a few hours,” she says.

Amy describes LightWave Solar installers as fast, polite and professional, too. The system was installed ahead of schedule and commissioned with Sequatchie Valley Co-op on November 21. In addition to seeing solar savings on their monthly electric bill, they can check solar production on their iPhones with the SolarEdge solar monitoring app. Click here to view The Marugg Company’s live solar production info!