Energy Solutions

What You Need To Know When Shopping For a Home Solar System

By Scott Gordon
SVP, Sales, HelioPower

I consider myself among the lucky. I had the good fortune to land a job in solar sales way back in 2007. Back then, times were simpler. The majority of my customers paid for their systems with cash or HELOCS (home equity lines of credit). PPAs (power purchase agreements) and leases were the realm of multi-megawatt commercial and utility installations and nothing of the sort was available for residential consumers.

In the “earlier” days of solar savvy customers compared solar purchases by comparing price per watt. Price per what?

Price Per Watt
Price per watt simply tells you how many dollars you are spending to buy a “watt” of solar power. Think of it this way: if your home requires a 6 kilowatt (KW) solar power system (6000 watts) and you pay $42,000 to have one installed, you’ve paid $7/watt. If on the other hand, if you spent $12/watt the same system would’ve cost you a whopping $72,000! Yes, the same system! Today’s solar leasing products allow some dealers to mask dramatic price differences, such as these, behind “low monthly payments.”

The chart here illustrates the range of prices paid by customers in Southern California Edison (SCE) territory according to CSI (California Solar Initiative).  This data was compiled by a third party, RunOnSun in Pasadena, CA.

In 2007 charts like this weren’t publicly available, so homeowners really had no way to verify whether they were getting a bad, good, or great deal on a solar system unless they compared 4 to 6 bids. Still price/watt held an important place in the conversation between solar buyer and solar dealer. By 2009, “What’s your price/watt?” was often one of the first questions my customers would ask me. By then, price/watt was solar’s APR (annual percentage rate used to compare bank loans).  It’s how you knew you were getting a good deal after you settled on equipment and installation.

Today, the subject of price/watt has all but vanished from the dialog. Why? The advent of now readily available leasing and residential PPA programs allow for the selling of solar systems using ‘savings per month’ in place of price per watt. This approach allows unscrupulous dealers to mask high, some might say, outrageous prices from their customers. Does it matter what your paying if you’re saving money every month? Of course it does.

Don’t get me wrong. There are many reputable dealers who help their customers to go solar through leasing and PPAs, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with either choice, but when dealers mask high prices in leases, consumers end up holding the bag.

This type of thing may have already happened to you if you’ve ever leased a car. Savvy buyers know to negotiate the price of the car before they choose how to finance it and then check the contract numbers carefully to make sure there’s nothing funny going on. Naïve buyers walk into a car dealership and fall for the “What kinda payment are you looking for on this baby?” line. If that’s you, keep reading.

Today, we see the similar tactics infiltrating the solar industry. You go online, get a quote, and you get excited because the solar company you contacted can save you $50/month on your electric bill with their exciting new lease! So you call them up, they dispatch a salesman, and just like that you’ve gone solar. Does it really matter what you paid? After all, you’re saving $50/month, right?

Let’s say the system that saves you $50 cost you $12/watt. If you leased a 6KW system you’re on the hook for $72,000. That same system for $6/watt would’ve saved you $100/month and cost $36,000. Big difference! Which system would you lease? The savvy buyer would’ve asked how much the system cost; how much power they were getting; and compared multiple bids. Such a buyer would by enjoying both significantly higher savings and a much faster ROI (if he put money down).

Questions for Your Solar Contractor
As I mentioned, price/watt is solar’s APR. When considering solar for your home, you need to ask your solar contractor two questions:

1. What is the cost of the system?
2. How many watts am I getting for that cost?

After you have your answer, you take the cost; divide by watts; and just like that you’ve mastered the art of price/watt and are a master solar shopper (well almost, look for my upcoming article Solar Lease Red Flags to become an even savvier solar shopper).

With price/watt in hand, you now know whether you’re getting a good value or being taken to the cleaners. Savings per month is a great way to determine the impact solar will have on your bank account, but a terrible way to shop for it. Price per watt is the great equalizer. Now that you have the power of price/watt to guide your decision, you can shop more confidently for your new home solar  system.

You can reach Scott Gordon directly at SGordon@HelioPower.com.

The Maplewood Homes Community, a development of The Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino (HACSB), has received this year’s Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits “Development of Distinction” award for outstanding achievement in the Renewable Energy category.  The project was designed and constructed by HelioPower, an integrated energy solutions company based in California.

The Developments of Distinction Awards were established as an annual event to recognize excellence and outstanding achievement in the development of tax credit projects using the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), historic tax credit (HTC), renewable energy tax credit (RETC), Section 1602 Exchange Program grant funds and/or tax credit projects using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program financing.

Past winners in the category include the Coastal Community Action Program of Aberdeen, Washington, and its Coastal Energy Project, a 6 megawatt wind development near the Washington coastline in Grayland, Washington.  Honorable mention in 2010 went to Make It Right – SOLAR, a subsidiary of the Make It Right Foundation, founded by actor Brad Pitt, which serves as a renewable energy developer focused on affordable housing. MIR-Solar has completed more than 40 residential solar panel installations in New Orleans’ historic Lower 9^th Ward.

Maplewood Homes, an almost 70 year old affordable housing site with 296 units in the city of San Bernardino, California, is being honored for

View of Rooftops with Solar Panels installed by HelioPower at Maplewood Homes

HACSB’s use of the U.S. renewable energy 1603 tax credit. The Housing Authority’s collaborated with HelioPower to apply the credit and California Solar Initiative grant money to reduce the community’s energy costs, create jobs, educate tenants, and foster an environmentally green community.

In 2010, the HACSB received a $1.84 million grant from Southern California Edison’s Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) Track 2 program – the largest program grant awarded. The Housing Authority worked with HelioPower to design, develop, engineer, and construct a 302 kilowatt solar photovoltaic facility, a system that is among the largest and most innovative roof mounted solar projects in San Bernardino. The project consisted of 1,288 solar panels atop 100 units. 85% of its production will benefit residents directly and 15% will offset common area energy load, with the savings directed to help fund on-site employment. The solar facility will offset over 1500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per unit annually, reducing resident’s energy bills on average by 30% or $166/unit/year.

HACSB is monetizing the savings from the green energy generated on the common area meters and channeling those funds into the green job

HelioPower solar crew at Maplewood Homes, San Bernardino, CA

training programs now underway. HelioPower trained and hired two residents and one community member giving them the opportunity to learn a new trade and gain solar industry expertise. HelioPower also conducted workshops for residents of Maplewood Homes about the benefits of solar and energy efficiency, how it works, what it means for them, and other tips on reducing wasteful energy and water consumption.

“This project is the first of many that the Housing Authority is pursuing to show commitment to implementing green initiatives to increase sustainability and save energy, and provide on-going employment opportunities for its residents in the growing green-building industry,” states Susan Benner, HACSB’s President/CEO.

The renewable energy honorable mention 2011 winner was the BioFuels Energy LLC project, which took a wasted, environmentally damaging resource, in this case methane gas being flared at the City of San Diego Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Facility, and built a system to convert it to renewable energy.

“Each year we gather to honor the best and the brightest in the tax credit industry, and each year I’m amazed at the caliber of so many deserving projects; this year’s winners truly are members of an elite group,” said Michael J. Novogradac, managing partner of Novogradac & Company LLP. “It is heartening that there are so many deserving housing, historic and renewable energy tax credit developments being built to serve residents in need and, more broadly, serve communities in which they are located. I congratulate this year’s winners and invite all with a housing, historic and renewable energy development to enter next year.”

Full descriptions of the 13 projects winning Developments of Distinction Awards are available at http://www.novoco.com/low_income_housing/dod_awards/2011/index.php.  A video presentation of the renewable energy winners is available at http://www.novoco.com/low_income_housing/dod_awards/2011/renewable_energy.php.

Source:  EcoOutfitters.net
Reporter:  Dawn Allcot

Final post in this series on Smart Meters and Solar by EcoOutfitters featuring Scott Gordon, Vice President of  Residential Sales for HelioPower.

In this, the final of our four-part series on smart meters and solar PV arrays (start here), we’re going to address one of three dangers HelioPower CEO Scott Gordon revealed to us about smart meters: How they are infringing on our privacy.

We’re going to assume that no one reading this is doing anything illegal in their homes that they want to hide. But Americans view privacy as one of our basic rights. While the right to privacy is not expressly outlined in the U.S. Constitution, the fourth amendment does guarantee us “privacy of the person and possessions as against unreasonable searches.”

Of course, our founding fathers never could have envisioned digital meters that can record and share every detail of our electric usage. (Mostly because they didn’t envision electricity!) But this is exactly what smart meters do. Why does the electric company want that information? On the surface, the utilities claim that they’re collecting this data in order to make us smarter consumers and conservationists. Armed with the knowledge of when, where, and how we use electricity, we are better able to reduce our usage and lower our electric bills.

In reality, there is a lot more they can do with the information. As Gordon explains: “Every time you use an electrical device, it draws a specific amount of power, different from other devices. The smart meter sees your life and the way you use electricity in 15-minute increments. It can see how many loads of laundry you do each week, when you’re home, when you leave, if you work from home, if you have a pool, how many refrigerators you have … I can literally build a profile of you and your life.”

Laws prohibit the electric company from sharing this information without your permission. But what if they offered you 20 percent off your bill to permit them to share the information with marketing partners? “Many people, in this economy, would take them up on it,” Gordon notes.

If you thought targeted Facebook ads were scary in a sort of “Big Brother is watching” sense, imagine this type of marketing going on across your home, through mail, email, cell phone — any avenue advertisers choose to reach you.

Protect Your Privacy with Solar
When you’re connected to a home solar PV array, your solar system is the only power signature the smart meter can read. All your other devices draw their power from the solar system. “Everything else is literally hiding behind a smokescreen that is your solar system,” Gordon explains.

For years, Gordon said, the driving factor behind installing a solar array has been to save money. “Saving the environment and being eco-conscious is nice, but for the most part, people are concerned about lowering their electric bills.”

Now, smart meters introduce a whole new reason to go solar. For 10 to 16 hours of the day, depending on the time of year, your solar PV array is supporting your right to privacy. (Read more in HelioPower’s 10 Things About Smart Meters and Solar.)

Source:  EcoOutfitters.net
Reporter:  Dawn Allcot

Third in a series of four posts on Smart Meters and Solar by EcoOutfitters featuring Scott Gordon, Vice President of  Residential Sales for HelioPower.

There’s a lot of false information out there about smart meters. Some groups claim microwave radiation from smart meters can cause cancer and other diseases, which is inconclusive but probably untrue. Other people say smart meters don’t work with solar power. But, in fact, solar customers may be the only people (besides the electric company) to truly benefit from these cleverly named digital electric meters. (If you’ve gotten this far and are wondering what a smart meter is, click here to learn more.)

Smart meters provide electric companies with information about your electric use: not just how much electricity you use, but when and how you use it too.

Smart meters are paving the way for states like California to introduce a billing model based on time-of-use. Simply: you’ll pay more for electricity you use during the day — and even more if it’s during the day and during the summer. But if you have a solar PV array installed, you’re not paying for electricity at all on sunny days. Net metering, which is the ability to sell back unused kilowatt hours on your electric bill to earn energy credits for times when your solar PV array is not harnessing the sun’s irradiance for clean, renewable energy, is one of the main attractions to a grid-connected solar array. It becomes even more desirable in a time-of-use world. Since solar panels work best during peak electric use hours, time-of-use billing gives solar customers the ultimate “buy low, sell high,” scenario.

“It’s energy-hedging,” says Scott Gordon of HelioPower, a leading California-based solar installer that has recently launched initiatives to educate consumers on the dangers and benefits of smart meters through videos, written content, webinars and in-person presentations.

Gordon explains, “In a time-of-use world, I get credit at the higher day rate, and I use those credits to offset my night power, which can be one-third to one-half cheaper, or even less.”

Net metering laws in many states mandate that electric companies buy back electric from solar customers based on dollars and cents, not kilowatt hours. If your state uses smart meters and has time-of-use billing options, find out exactly how you’ll be selling back the electric and the peak and off-peak rates. (Read more in HelioPower’s 10 Things About Smart Meters and Solar.)

More Power with Smaller Solar Arrays
If you are conservative about your daytime energy use, you can offset your entire electric bill. “What’s nice about this is now you can buy a significantly smaller system so you’re paying even less and saving even more,” Gordon says.

And if you want to turn on the air conditioner on hot summer days, run your home computer, or maybe even watch some TV, you have the freedom to do it. It takes a lot to make an average-sized array spin forward. Even if you don’t earn as many energy credits, you’ll still be paying lower, off-peak rates for the electricity you buy at night. It’s a gamble that you can only win!

Source:  EcoOutfitters.net
Reporter:  Dawn Allcot

Second in a series of four posts on Smart Meters and Solar featuring Scott Gordon, Vice President of  Residential Sales for HelioPower.

If you began reading this blog post with another question in mind, you’re not alone. Rather than wondering if a smart meter will work with a solar PV array, you might instead be wondering: “What is a smart meter?” When you dig deeper, you’ll come to find that smart meters are really only smart for the electric company.

Smart Meter Myths and Misconceptions
When states first rolled out smart meters, there were a lot of myths, misconceptions, and glitches. We’ll address two of those misconceptions in this blog post.

First of all — no, the microwave radiation emitted by smart meters probably won’t fry your brains, give you cancer, or cause other horrible health problems. Any evidence of the danger of EMF (ElectroMagnetic Frequency) radiation is inclusive, but a smart meter emits no more — and probably less — radiation than your smartphone. And it’s not like you’re going to spend hours sitting in front of your smart meter soaking up EMF waves.

Solar Arrays and Smart Meter Glitches
So, smart meters are probably as safe as any other technology we use today in terms of EMF radiation. But will they work with your solar array? When the technology was first introduced, smart meters did not always work with solar panels.

Smart meters are basically computers, and they hadn’t been programmed to know what to do when electricity was fed back into the grid. Instead of “spinning” (of course, there’s no dial to actually spin) backward to give users energy credits, they kept going forward — twice as fast.

This led to disturbing moments as new solar homeowners promised lower electric bills got bills double the usual amount instead. That glitch, however, was fixed quickly with new programming, but not before rumors about smart meters’ incompatibility with solar arrays spread, further fueling people’s dislike of the devices.

Be aware: If you use solar energy, the smart meter issued to you should have a sticker reading “net” — this means the meter has been programmed to run backward and credit you in kilowatt hours for the electricity you feed back into the system.

With the new programming in “net” smart meters, not only do the smart meters work fine with a solar installation, but a solar PV array helps you make sure your meter is working smartly for you.

Stay tuned as we show you how to leverage time-of-use billing with a smart meter and a solar installation.

Who is it Really Smart For?

Source:  EcoOutfitters.net
Reporter:  Dawn Allcot

First in a series of four posts on Smart Meters and Solar featuring Scott Gordon, Vice President of  Residential Sales for HelioPower.

If you’ve heard a lot about “smart meters” lately, here’s the deal… A smart meter is a digital device that replaces your analog (dial) electric meter. A technician doesn’t need to come to your house to read your meter: the information about how much electric you’ve used is reported directly back to the electric company for billing. A smart meter also permits the electric company to activate or deactivate service without dispatching a technician, which saves time and money (for the electric company, of course).

A smart meter also tells the electric company when you’re using power, for how long, and exactly how you’re using it. Every appliance or electrical device, from your refrigerator to your cell phone charger to your laptop, gives off a different power signature that permits the electric company to identify it.

This can be handy when it comes to detecting crimes — everything from running a meth lab out of your basement to running a business web server without proper permits. It could also, theoretically, be used for marketing purposes. Imagine a world where your electric company, just like your bank and Facebook, gathers information about your daily habits to sell to its marketing partners who can then bombard you with sales messages.

We’re not there yet, but Scott Gordon, CEO of leading California-based solar installer, HelioPower, mentions three ways smart meters affect us: our privacy, our freedom, and our finances.

Based on the examples above, it’s easy to see how smart meters can infringe on our privacy. Let’s look at the last two, which are very closely linked.

Time-of-Use Billing and Your Freedom to Use Electricity

With information about when people use electricity, utilities can move to a form of billing called “time-of-use.” In this scenario, you would pay more (between two to four times more) for electricity purchased during daytime hours, and less at night and on weekends. Even higher peak rates could apply during the summer, which utility companies say will help prevent brown-outs by limiting use.

This could mean a shift in lifestyle, as people opt to do laundry and run dishwashers and pool filters at night instead of during the day. But for appliances like your air conditioner, picture this: on a hot summer day, the only choice you’ll have is to live in uncomfortable, possibly dangerous, conditions, or pay more for your electric. Gordon provides a graphic example: “Imagine somebody living in Palm Springs, and they’re 79 years old, and it’s 123 degrees outside. Now they’re deciding whether they’re going to turn their AC on or they’re going to eat.”

Should You Say No to Smart Meters?
“When I give presentations and ask people who smart meters are smart for,” Gordon continues, “they get it right away. The utility companies.”

Provided you are given a choice, refusing a smart meter is the “smart” decision to protect your privacy, your freedom and your wallet. Find out 10 Things About Smart Meters and Solar for more tips from HelioPower on how to legally beat the system.

Source:  GetSolar.com
Thursday, December 8th 2011 2:01 PM

There are a lot of ways for electricity bills to run high in a place like southern California. With high temperatures year round and blistering summers, almost every home features at least some kind of air conditioning. Many homes also have pools that must be filtered. This only adds on top of all the televisions, computers and countless other consumer electronics that ring up the kilowatt-hours each month. Sam Spagnolo of Rancho Cucamonga, east of Los Angeles, paid for all of these with the added expense of having grandchildren who were all to happy to make use of them.

"My electric bills were averaging over $400 per month," Sam explained to California solar installer HelioPower when he first visited them about the possibility of adding a rooftop solar installation.

Four hundred dollars per month is fairly high for California, where the average bill was $82.85 per month in 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but this includes the entire state, even the far cooler climes in the north. By comparison, nearby Arizona paid an average of $116.09 per month, despite seeing average electricity rates more than 25 percent lower. At California's excessive electricity prices, the sunny state could have been paying monthly bills of more than $156 on average.

Indeed, the state as a whole saw the second-lowest average monthly electricity usage in the entire country at 562 kilowatt-hours, behind only Maine. Tennessee, the state with the highest monthly usage in the country, would have faced average electricity bills of more than $205 per month at California's rates, though much of this disparity can be attributed to California's efforts at energy efficiency.

Nevertheless, the National Weather Service illustrates how much warmer it can get in the southern reaches of the state. Meanwhile, the state's tenth-highest residential electricity rates make clear how much of an impact this difference could have on residents bills.

After a long talk with a representative from HelioPower, Sam was certainly interested in the potential savings a residential solar installation could offer him under these circumstances. But at the end of the day, he decided he simply could not afford it.

"Quite frankly, although I could clearly see the returns, I wasn’t ready to make that big a commitment by buying a system," Sam told them.

That problem quickly solved itself, however, when California-based SunRun struck an agreement to work with HelioPower. SunRun's residential solar financing program offers homeowners the opportunity to add a solar installation and to cut down on their electricity bills simply by paying a fixed monthly bill or fixed rate for the electricity produced by the system.

Solar power purchase agreements arrangements can generally be made with little money down, and sometimes none at all. In Sam's case it cost only $1,000 and work started on his roof within only a few weeks of having HelioPower put through paperwork for the various permits and federal and state solar incentives.

Now, a 33-panel photovoltaic solar installation sits on the back roof of Sam's house. At 230 watts each, the solar panels combine for a peak

Solar in Rancho Cucamonga at Sam Spagnola's residence

capacity of 7.59 kilowatts and can produce more than 11,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's PVWATT Calculator. That represents more than one-and-a-half times the average Californian's annual energy needs. At California's average electricity price of 14.74 cents per kilowatt-hour, that amounts to more than $1,600 per year. Between a good first month that saw Sam's solar system produce enough to give him a $300 credit from his electricity company and a $500 rebate from the City of Rancho Cucamonga, it took only two months for Sam to earn back the $1,000 he paid in up-front costs, and he only expects to save more over the years.

Source:  Murrieta Patch
Writer:  Maggie Avants

For every new residential solar installation contract through Jan. 31, HelioPower will donate to Power to the People, a nonprofit bringing solar lighting to Nicaragua.

A Murrieta-based solar power company is teaming up with a nonprofit to bring solar power to those without lights in Nicaragua.

Photo by James Richard-Kao

This week, HelioPower and Power to the People launched “Help for the Holidays," a joint campaign to help households in California and Nicaragua secure affordable solar energy.

There are a number of moving parts, according to Glenna Wiseman, vice president of marketing for HelioPower.

"We want to help homeowners in California go solar with no installation cost and $500 cash back. They can also enter a $150 gift card giveaway," Wiseman said. "And we want to help families in Nicaragua have lighting through an established nonprofit."

The cash-back program and gift-card giveaway are being sponsored by Canadian Solar Inc., the panel manufacturer for HelioPower.

“We are very happy to sponsor a worthy program with industry-leading partners to bring clean energy to people around the world,” said Alan King, general manager of Canadian Solar USA, in a news release.

“Helping California consumers save money during the holiday season while also providing an important daily resource to people who otherwise might not have it is an ideal example of the power and reach of solar energy," King said.

For every home solar system installed through the campaign, which ends Jan. 31, 2012, HelioPower will donate to Power to the People's Solar Lighting program, Wiseman said.

"So many people around the world have no lights to see by at night," said Jenean Smith, executive director, Power to the People, and marketing director for Trojan Battery, in a news release.

"We're excited to work with HelioPower as we launch our Solar Lighting program in order to bring affordable solar lights to families in Nicaragua this winter," Smith said.

"It is difficult for us to imagine living without electricity when so much of our daily lives depend on it. Yet people in other parts of the world live without this resource."

HelioPower selected the $150 gift card amount because that is how much the average homeowner pays each month for electricity, Wiseman said, adding that anyone–even those who don't have a home–can enter to win.

The gift-card giveaway contest ends Dec. 21 and 10 winners will be announced Dec. 22.

"…We are very pleased that the campaign empowers California homeowners to assist families in Nicaragua in lighting their homes affordably as well," said Scott Gordon, vice president of residential sales for HelioPower.

To learn more about the "Help for the Holidays" campaign, click here.

Housing Authority of San Bernardino Marks Completion of Solar Power Installation Built by HelioPower to Benefit Low-Income Families with Free Solar Energy

Southern California Edison (SCE) awarded its first and largest Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) Track 2 Grant of $1,840,000 to The Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino (HACSB) yesterday at a “70 & Solar” celebration.  The presentation took place at the Maplewood Homes affordable housing community, home to over 1100 residents.  The event focused attention on the innovative “green” project which incorporates solar retrofits atop 100 of the community’s rooftops, green job training and creation as well as ongoing solar production monitoring and green outreach.

65 residents, community members, and representatives of SCE, HACSB, San Bernardino city council members and HelioPower, the solar

Southern California Edison awarded its first and largest MASH Track 2 Grant ($1,840,000) to the Housing Authority of San Bernardino for the Maplewood Homes solar power system installed by HelioPower. From left to right: Maurice Camp (Project Manager, HACSB), Susan Benner (President/CEO, HACSB), Gustav Joslin (Chief Operating Officer, HACSB), Aileen Lagbao (SCE MASH Administrator), John Bogardt (Project Manager, HACSB), and Tom Millhoff (VP Business Development, HelioPower). Source: HACSB.

installation firm on the project, all gathered in the community center to applaud the completion of the “green” project and HACSB’s 70^th anniversary.  The celebration included the presentation of a $1,840,000 solar program rebate check by SCE to Susan Benner, HACSB’s President/CEO.

“We extend a warm welcome to the Housing Authority into the solar community,” said Aileen Lagbao, Program Manager, MASH & Solar Thermal for Southern California Edison, as she presented the grant check.

“The MASH Track 2 award has provided employment for our residents and local businesses.  Families at the site have also been learning about conservation measures including the benefits of solar power and conserving energy,” said Benner.

100% of the clean energy generated from the solar power system will benefit residents at this affordable housing community.  An average family at Maplewood Homes spends $572 annually on electricity. Community-wide the average cost saving from the solar power generated energy will be $166 per unit per year, or about 30%.

HACSCB worked with HelioPower in the development of the grant proposal, engineering and construction of the solar power system and development and delivery of the educational, training and Internet components of the program.  A solar and energy efficiency seminar was presented to residents as part of the program by Tom Millhoff, Vice President of Business Development at HelioPower.

“This is part of a larger more comprehensive strategy the Housing Authority is developing for energy management.  It’s our intention to reduce energy and water use across our housing portfolio, which today includes over 3,000 units of affordable, market rate and senior housing,” explained Benner.

This project is the first of many solar installations that the Housing Authority is pursuing to show its’ commitment to implementing green initiatives not only to increase sustainability and save energy, but also to provide employment opportunities for its residents in the growing green-building industry.  HelioPower hired two residents and one community member giving them the opportunity to learn a new trade and gain solar industry expertise.

The California Solar Initiative MASH Track 2 funds supported the installation of a 302 kilowatt (kW) DC solar photovoltaic facility at Maplewood Homes. The 100 solar power systems were engineered and installed by HelioPower.

The MASH Track 2 funds supported the installation of a 302 kilowatt (kW) DC solar photovoltaic facility on 98 residential homes and 2 community buildings at Maplewood Homes.  85% of the clean energy production will go to residents and 15% will be channeled through common area energy savings to help fund on-site employment.  The solar facility will offset over 1500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per unit annually.

Maplewood Homes is an affordable housing community located at 1738 West 9^th Street, San Bernardino, CA.  It was built in the late ‘40’s and has undergone several renovations.

“I lived here on 10^th street and played here as a child. The transformation at this community is marvelous,” said San Bernardino Councilmember, Rikke Van Johnson in his event presentation.  “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

HelioPower ‘s Tom Millhoff said, “HACSB’s demonstrated outstanding initiative, creativity and financial savvy in developing this solar project in conjunction with a major energy efficiency retrofit and property upgrades at the affordable housing community of Maplewood Homes.  The result is substantially improved living environment for residents, reduced living expenses, and a shining legacy that sets the ‘green standard’ for other Housing Authorities.”

Source: Run On Sun, September 9, 2011

From "State of Solar California" post by Jim Jenal:  In the first two installments in this series (Part 1 and Part 2) we looked at the most recent data from the California Solar Initiative (CSI) covering the first half of 2011 in Southern California Edison's (SCE) service area. Using that data we identified trends in cost, equipment and system efficiency.

Who Charges What?
Here is a chart of the Cost per Watt for the largest installation companies in the SCE service area (you can click on the chart to see it full size):

First, let us give credit where it is due.  The low end outlier is HelioPower, Inc., at $6.56/Watt, and they did it with an efficiency factor of 87% – second best of anyone on that chart. Nice.

But who is that way off in left field?  Coming in at a staggering $13.32/Watt – a full $1.40 higher than their nearest competitor and more that twice what HelioPower is charging – is Galkos Construction, Inc., also known as GCI Energy, out of Huntington Beach.  For that money, they must surely be offering only the most efficient and sophisticated technology, right?  Not so much.  To the contrary, the average installation efficiency for Galkos is only 84.9% – the second worst on the chart and well below the average of 86.11%.  In fact, 99% of the time Galkos appears to use Sharp panels – not exactly an exotic solar panel brand – and in particular the Sharp ND-224UC1 panel (66.5%). A quick Google search reveals that the Sharp ND-224UC1 can be purchased, at retail, for $2.65/Watt or less.  Given that Galkos handled 400 projects in this data set, it is hard to believe that their price for all of their equipment, particularly the Sharp panels, would not be not heavily discounted.

Quality Counts

Quality, of course, is important, and the data does not reveal – though the Internet hints at – the quality of installations from Galkos.  Here is how the company describes its own product offerings (from the “Services” page of their website):

Solar by GCI [Galkos Construction, Inc.] Energy
GCI Energy is the largest solar company in Southern California with over 30,000 customers. So you get the most knowledgeable professionals, excellent customer service and a better price.GCI Energy solar offers the highest efficiency solar panels on the market – those manufactured by Sharp. With Sharp Solar Panels, GCI Energy can tailor a solar panel installation to your specific needs and lifestyle, so you get maximum performance without a maximum investment.
(Emphasis added.)

Does Galkos actually have 30,000 solar customers?  Certainly not (nobody does).  Are they providing “a better price"?  It is not clear what their standard of comparison might be – but their price is not better than any of their major competitors in that chart.  And of course, the statement does not define what they mean by “the highest efficiency solar panels on the market,” but it seems unlikely that Sharp would make that claim.  Here’s one chart that concludes that they couldn’t (note the efficiency of the SunPower and Sanyo panels first, then search for Sharp).

All we can say in response is, caveat emptor.

Oddities – SolarCity

Now we turn to the Oddities section of this post.  Unlike the outliers, which were always of interest to us, we were not looking for the oddity we report here – it literally just jumped out at us.

Sold versus Leased

Question: What is the difference in reported cost between systems sold directly to the end customer and those that are leased (i.e., have a third-party owner in CSI parlance)?

The initial difference that we stumbled upon was so startling that we knew we needed to narrow our focus and control for as many variables as possible to isolate that one factor.  To achieve that end we restricted the data to those residential systems (i.e., between 1 and 10 kW) that were “pending” in the CSI/SCE data (thus, the newest proposed systems in the data which, based on our Part 1 analysis should mean the lowest cost systems). That way our project sample would be as homogenous as possible, eliminating cost variations based on system size and timing.

Given those restrictions, the top 5 installation companies in which the system is owned by a third party are: Verengo (482 systems), SolarCity (468), American Solar Direct (124), Sungevity (99), and HelioPower (63).  Of those five, only two also have direct sales projects pending: Verengo (7) and SolarCity (9).  Let’s see how they compare:

What is going on here?  For Verengo, as the number of systems increases – which it does in going from sold systems to leased systems – their cost per Watt decreases – which is what we would expect.  But not so for SolarCity – even though they are leasing 50 times as many systems as they are selling, their cost for the leased systems went up – way up – as in up by $3.12/Watt!

For the complete post by Jim Jenal of Run On Sun, please link here: http://runonsun.com/~runons5/blogs/blog1.php/solecon/state-of-solar-california-part3