Pisgah Energy installs solar on third building for craft furniture maker

Furniture maker Vanguard Furniture has added a third solar installation to its facilities, this time an 848-kilowatt rooftop system at its manufacturing plant in Hillsville, Virginia. The project, built by North Carolina-based installer Pisgah Energy, is expected to cover 95% of that building's electricity use. It follows two earlier solar installations the company put on its facilities in Conover, North Carolina.

This is a commercial project, not a residential one, so it does not come with a rebate or program homeowners can apply for. But it is a useful data point if you are weighing solar for your own roof: a well-designed system can realistically offset nearly all of a building's electricity use, not just a fraction of it. The Hillsville system uses solar panels from SEG Solar paired with inverters from SolarEdge, equipment that also shows up in residential installations.

Vanguard's broader environmental efforts include recycling 95% of its manufacturing waste, alongside building furniture meant to last for generations. The company frames the solar investment as part of long-term cost control and environmental stewardship rather than a one-time project.

For a homeowner, the main takeaway is less about this specific building and more about scale: solar offset in the high 90% range is achievable with the right system size and design, whether on a factory roof or a house. If you are exploring solar for your own home, it is worth asking an installer what percentage of your actual usage a proposed system would realistically cover, and checking what incentives or rebates are currently available in your state.