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Illinois Local Installs Solar Panels on Governor’s Mansion

November 2, 2010

(from left) Rich Marsaglia, solar project manager, Haenig Electric, stands with journeymen inside wiremen Doug Harvey and Albert Waldon behind solar array on Illinois Governor’s Mansion.

David Burns, business manager of Springfield, Ill., Local 193, and Rich Marsaglia, a 15-year member and solar project manager for Haenig Electric, didn’t know they were both jumping at the same opportunity.

Burns had just received a call from the Capital Development Board informing him that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn was interested in installing solar panels at the state’s historic governor’s mansion.

 Meanwhile, Marsaglia saw the same potential project pop up on Google Alerts. Burns called Marsaglia and he went into action.

Haenig agreed to donate labor for the job, which coincided with the Global Work Party. A few weeks later, Local 193 journeymen inside wiremen Doug Harvey and Albert Walden completed the project. 

What no one counted on was how much attention was kicked up by the relatively small job.  Says Burns:

One of our members was on vacation with his wife in the Caribbean.  They picked up USA Today and read about the job.

With work still slow, Marsaglia, who says the job was a “natural fit” for his shop, hopes the positive attention can be helpful to Haenig in winning new solar projects using recently announced state incentives.

Says International President Edwin D. Hill:

It’s satisfying to see Local 193 and Haenig Electric proving that it doesn’t always take a  huge project to generate the kind of goodwill and positive marketing that can bring some big returns back to both the IBEW and our signatory contractors over time.