The Ted's Montana Grill restaurant has become the city's first restaurant to use photovoltaics (PV) - or solar power - to conserve energy, company and Tallahassee officials confirmed Monday. The Tallahassee Ted's Montana Grill is the first member of the Atlanta-based chain in the nation to use solar power.

One World Sustainable Inc. consulted with the restaurant to install 44 panels on the upper roof and 22 panels on the patio roof - 66 panels total. The panels supply about 5 percent of the restaurant's energy needs.

“Ted is always challenging us to look for sustainable, alternative-energy sources. Tallahassee was an ideal location because both the city and the state have strong incentives for businesses that use alternative-energy sources and because we own the property and the building there,” McKerrow said.

“The power we generate goes directly back into the building to reduce energy costs,” added Ed Bazor, the company's director of construction. Other key benefits include the hydrocarbons that will be saved, a decrease in power purchased and a reduction in power generated.

The state of Florida rewards businesses and individuals for promoting solar-energy use with one-time rebates for solar systems at the rate of $4 per kilowatt up to $100,000 for commercial businesses. The state incentive program has awarded $3 million in rebates thus far in 2007. Also, Tallahassee offers a net metering system that pays businesses the same amount of money that would be charged for kilowatt-hours.

“Most utilities pay for the fuel component, but net metering pays the customer for the retail cost of a kilowatt-hour. This is one of the better programs in the country,” said Tom Gillman, solar coordinator for the city's Energy Services division.

Gillman noted that the rise in popularity of eco-friendly energy pushes his department to expand its environmental incentives and other initiatives. “The green movement has been gaining strong momentum the last several years and, as always, we want to create programs and incentives to help meet the developing need of our customers.”

McKerrow said his company wants to take its alternative-energy programs to the next level as well. His team is looking into wind energy, partnerships with other large corporations and expanding the solar-panel program to other restaurants.

“We're going to evaluate the panels to see how well they work, and then we'll take a look at what other opportunities might allow us to do this in other parts of the country,” Bazor added.

Ted's Montana Grill has 49 restaurants in 18 states.