Solar

Guidelines for communicating the solar aspect of a green marketing program

By Glenna Wiseman, Vice President, Marketing, HelioPower

At HelioPower we help our clients tell their solar story.  We work with commercial, community and utility clients creating communication programs to herald their new solar power installation.   Our efforts help them weave the aspects of a solar installation into an overall green marketing message that supports their brand.

Solar is an exciting addition to an organization’s environmental efforts.  In fact, a solar power system assists on multiple levels of a Triple Bottom Line approach benefiting the company’s people, its profits and environmental efforts (the planet).

Having successfully completed several affiliate marketing programs for HelioPower clients, this information is designed to contribute to the industry’s knowledge base and guidelines for successfully telling a client’s solar story and thus contributing to their overall green marketing message.

Nearly all of our commercial and public sector clients have worked through the normal list of “reduce your energy and energy use costs” before they adopt solar.  Way before the solar conversation starts they have harvested the “low hanging environmental fruit” of recycling, green purchasing, etc.  Past this phase, they move to implementing energy monitoring to determine peak demand usage and reduce it, and energy use overall to create cost reduction programs. Out of this information comes the use of energy efficiency technologies including lighting, motors, HVAC, etc.  Solar is not generally where they start or where they should start, unless they are building a new U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) structure. Then solar power technologies should be part of the design from the initial stages of the development.

Once solar is part of the client’s overall green building, thus environmental strategy, HelioPower works with them to communicate the role solar plays in these efforts and thus the environmental aspects of their brand.

A marketing / communication program for a HelioPower solar client becomes appropriate when we can implement the following guidelines:
• Assist our clients to communicate environmental benefits of solar
• Optimize strategic partner alliances
• Involve the community, green building, local and state government
• Utilize Internet and social media to provide transparency & communication
• Educate stakeholders
• Work as a team

Each solar promotion program will have its unique opportunities and challenges.  In order for solar promotion program to be successful we have found that it is essential to meet all of these objectives. 

HelioPower assists our clients to communicate environmental benefits of solar.  Part of our responsibility as an organization’s solar power partner is to help them gather the information needed about their solar installation.  We assist them in developing a full understanding of their solar power system, how it works, energy generation data, environmental offset data, how to explain it to their constituents and whatever information they need to communicate their solar program. 

We provide information online about the client’s solar power installation on the HelioPower website.  Our efforts are coordinated with the client’s to create information that is easy to access and captures all the correct data about the solar project. 

Affiliate marketing programs must optimize strategic partner alliances. At HelioPower we have

Bill Nye, the "Science Guy" shines light on Bob's Big Boy solar event, supported by Canadian Solar, SMA and sponsors

the distinct pleasure of working with some of the industry’s great brands and high profile clients.  Any program that we participate in or spearhead for one of our clients must involve strategic partners in the industry and those affiliated with our client.  Communicating the solar story would not be complete without involving the solar power panel manufacturer, inverter partner, and potentially the energy performance monitoring company.  It can also involve brands that do business with the client as was the case with the Bob’s Big Boy campaign we implemented last fall.  The key is to involve those within the industry who have participated in the solar installation by way of product and those who do business with the client.

Involve the community, green building, local and state government.  One of the very exciting aspects of taking on a communication program to highlight a solar installation is involving the stakeholders in the community. 

Community groups gather to support Porsche solar panel dedication

We are all obviously familiar with the solar “ribbon cutting/ throw the switch” ceremony.  These are important celebrations of the commitment the client has made to solar power generation.  This type of event is the most valuable when it is an opportunity to reach out to stakeholders in the community and give them a chance to support the client. 

In the construction phase of a solar celebration or marketing program, it is our job to identify community, green building, local and state governmental groups and leaders who should be involved in a program.  And you don’t need to stop here.  You can reach out to a loyal customer base, supporters, local charity groups, and any other organization whose contribution to the program will enrich all parties involved.

Utilize Internet and social media to provide transparency & communication. Marketing messages regarding environmental strategies must be transparent and easy to find online.   This upholds the integrity of the message. 

It is critical to strategize the online aspects of a client’s solar marketing program.  The effort may be as simple as identifying the best media distribution source and insuring the joint press release is supported with accurate online information about the solar installation.  It may be a more comprehensive approach that involves a program-specific website.  Each effort is unique.  Insuring opportunities for an online program are investigated and maximized as needed is essential.

Educate stakeholders.  Telling a solar story must include programs to educate the client’s constituents.  Programs typically include communication to employees, investors, media and press, community members, etc.  When you are considering a program, think about what groups are involved with your company or client and what aspects of the solar installation would hold meaning for them.  Within a particular solar story, different themes and information will hold meaning for each distinct constituent group.  Thinking through all these “story lines” will create positive communication and honor the many groups that support or are involved with the client, and thus have some level of involvement with the solar installation.

Work as a team.  Our renewable energy industry is filled with talented, positive professionals who are a joy to work alongside and truly are impassioned by their mission within the industry.  We have the distinct pleasure to assist our clients in communicating their solar story.  Thus we work to create a team approach for each marketing program, from a relatively simple press release to solar ribbon cutting events and more elaborate affiliate marketing programs. 

It takes a dedicated team of client and solar installation company individuals to successfully design and install a solar power system. So too the best programs to tell a client’s solar story, within the auspices of their brand message, also involve a team effort.

You can reach me at gwiseman@HelioPower.com.  I welcome your comments, insights and observations.

For three days in January, San Diego will play host to the first event of its kind in the country. It’s a Green Expo, but an event which will encompass “both sides of green.” Two shows together— all green and all earth friendly. The Green Meets Green Expo will marry The Del Mar Antiques Show and the 21 Century Friends of the Planet Market into one spectacular event.

The O’Brien Exhibition Hall will be the filled with antiques exhibitors from across the country featuring the finest in “recycled relics” the new buzz word for the Antiques are Green movement.

The Bing Crosby Exhibition Hall will feature the latest and most innovative companies dedicated to producing products and technology that will sustain our planet for centuries to come. Among some of these exciting exhibitors will be San Diego Gas & Electric, Dyocore Wind Energy Systems, HelioPower, EcoSolargy and many more.

From clothing to furniture to personal beauty products to architectural and garden to learning how to “get off the grid,” the Green Meets Green Expo will be the event to create and live your life in total green!

Source:  ClimateBiz.com

By Scott Gordon, HelioPower

If you read Part I of the Ugly Side of Solar series, you learned that proper design, product selection, and installation make all the difference in the aesthetics of your solar system and can mean the difference between a good looking system that’s the envy of your friends and neighbors and one that discourages those same people from ever considering solar for their own homes.

In the second part of the series, I discussed the ugly side of solar from an installation perspective. While many systems look fine on the surface, underneath they are ticking time bombs of rust, roof leaks, ground faults, and corrosion. In part II, I also covered the ugly side of picking the wrong solar contractor and gave you pointers to help you avoid getting ripped off. In Part III, I will cover shading: the most deleterious of solar production killers.

While most folks agree that shaded solar panels produce less power than unshaded ones, many consumers grossly underestimate just how big an impact shading has on the annual production of a solar system. The photo above shows a particularly egregious example of solar shading. As you will soon learn, this customer would have been much better off NOT buying the five panels installed on the upper left roof. Why? Read on…

The vast majority of solar systems (95% +) installed today are designed with ‘String Inverters’. The SMA SunnyBoy inverter is an example of a string inverter you may have heard of. String inverters rely on solar modules to be connected in series (aka ‘strings’) to achieve the minimum power output the inverter needs in order to turn on and operate efficiently. Without going into a tremendous amount of detail on the subject (which is outside the scope of this article), know that whatever happens to one panel in the series affects every panel in the series. An analogy that may help you make sense of this phenomenon is one involving a battery powered toy car. If your toy car takes eight AA batteries, and you put eight brand new batteries in it, it’ll run fast and furious. This is because the batteries are fully charged (i.e. unshaded). Take one of those brand new batteries out and replace it with a half charged battery and that same toy car will run more slowly (i.e. a half shaded solar panel). Replace a brand new battery with a dead one, and the car may not work at all or run very slowly (i.e. a fully shaded panel or panels). With this information, please examine the photo below:

The shading in this photo is akin to having two dead and two half dead batteries in your toy car. Sure, the rest of the array looks fine, but the array as a whole could be operating at as little as half capacity. To illustrate this further, please consider the following examples:

As you can see, it doesn’t take much shading for a panel’s production to plummet to zero. Shading of just one cell (bottom right), cuts the whole module’s production by one half! This drop in production affects the entire string thereby robbing the solar power system of hundreds or potentially thousands of kilowatt hours per year. Over the 25+ year expected lifespan of the system, this adds up to some serious cash. In this scenario, you are in fact buying very expensive solar panels that are providing you with very little benefit.

So how do we solve this problem? One way is to chop or top trees. Sometimes, as is the case with palms, the tree needs to be removed altogether. Other times, as is the case with a tall chimney, we lose an entire section of roof. We employ shading analysis tools to help us find an unshaded or less shading spot on the roof. Here is what the output of a typical shading analysis tool looks like:

The data presented in this tool (Wiley ASSET) aids an integrator in proper panel placement and gives us insight into the objects doing the most significant shading. In the analysis above, it’s a neighboring house and neighboring trees causing all of the problems. Fortunately, we were able to find a place on the roof where these shading issues are mitigated, but removal of the house and the neighbor’s palms are obviously not an option. Overall, we can expect 92% performance from this system.

Another way to address shading is to skip the string inverter altogether and design your system with micro inverters (Enphase is the most popular of this technology). Micro inverters treat each solar panel individually. Thus, shading that affects one panel is isolated to only that panel. This increases your overall system yield in highly shaded situations. To learn more about the pluses and minuses of micro inverters, please see Solar Professional’s excellent article on the topic by Ron Burden and Joe Schwartz. You may need to register for a free subscription to view the article, but it’ll be well worth your time.

Lastly, many folks wonder what happens if their neighbors or others plant trees that eventually grow into a shading problem. Many states, such as California and New Mexico, have ‘right to light’ laws that protect home and business owners who install solar panels. In brief, the law can be summed up as follows: if the solar is there first, solar wins, and the tree must be removed or topped, otherwise, if the tree is there first, the tree wins. If it’s your tree, you can take appropriate action, but if it’s your neighbor’s tree, you’ll need to work out a solution or you might be out of luck altogether. In fact, some states go as far as to state that neighbors can’t add a second story or build a home that will shade your solar power system. You’ll need to check your local state law to see how this applies to your particular circumstance.

In summary, make sure you are aware of any shading that may affect your solar system. If your solar installer brings any shading issues to your attention, take heed. They are bringing this to your attention for good reason. Shading will not only affect electrical production, but will also lower your state rebate amount. Likewise, if you are aware of shading issues and your solar installer doesn’t mention them, find yourself another solar installer. If you don’t you are likely to end up with an underperforming system, for the dollars you expended.

Please stay tuned for a bonus in this series, The Ugly Side of Solar Part IV, coming soon. As always, I wish you the best of luck in your solar power endeavors.

Editor's note:  For the full series in downloadable documents, click here.

Lower electricity costs and increase safety with LED holiday lights. LED technology (Light Emitting Diode) for holiday lighting is a smart choice. They use 10 times less energy than incandescent mini lights, 100 times less energy than standard bulbs, last more than 50,000 hours, and are safer because they're virtually indestructible and cool—safe to the touch and eliminate fire concerns. They are easily strung and don't overload a typical household electrical circuit. If a bulb burns out, other bulbs will stay lit, so you can easily replace the bad bulb.

Further maximize holiday lighting savings with timers. Limit light displays to no more than six evening hours daily. Leaving lights on 24 hours will quadruple your energy costs—and create four times the pollution. Also, untended incandescent lights can cause fires, so always unplug your interior holiday lights before going to bed or leaving the house.

Unplug the video games and turn off the millionth broadcast of It’s a Wonderful Life – and read your favorite holiday story instead. Your children may appreciate your attention and time, and you will be saving energy in the process.

Teach personal finance to your children in these difficult economic times — conduct a home energy audit together. Locate everywhere that you are needlessly wasting energy AND money. Minor changes can capture precious dollars that could be better spent for other needs.

In the spirit of Kwanzaa—the African-American spiritual week of remembering, reassessing, recommitting, and rejoicing –reassess your power consumption, recommit to energy-efficient practices, and rejoice in the savings.

Once you’ve lit the Chanukah menorah, spin a dreidel by candlelight – it uses no energy! By the eighth night, you may not need any electric lights at all!

Switch to solar generated energy.  For as little as $1000 down you can move to solar energy for 2010.

Heat your home at 68 degrees or cooler with the thermostat fan switch on "auto." To save even more, lower your thermostat to 65 degrees or cooler at bedtime or when you're away from home. Don’t forget to wear cozy sweaters to stay warm!

Clean or change your A/C filter once a month. Many homes use strip heating in their air conditioning units, which have to work harder to heat the house. A clogged filter makes your A/C work harder than it has to.

Reduce hot water temperature. Set your water heater to the "normal" setting or 120 degrees, unless the owner's manual for your dishwasher requires a higher setting.

Seal up leaks. Caulk leaks around windows and doors. Look for places where you have pipes, vents or electrical conduits that go through the wall, ceiling or floor. Caulk works best on small gaps. Your hardware store should have products to close the larger gaps.
Sources:
-Alliance for Saving Energy

-Floriday Light and Power

-For "Safe Holiday Lighting Tips and benefits of using LED's" from Southern California Edison, click here.

Source:  Silicon Valley Mercury News, reporter Dana Hull:

With the sun setting before 5 p.m., solar power may be the last thing on your mind these days.

But declining panel prices, a federal tax credit and a state rebate all make now a good time to at least investigate whether solar power might make sense for your home — and your budget.

"If you're thinking that you'd like to go solar within the next few years, right now is the time to do it," said Lynn Jurich, president and co-founder of SunRun, a San Francisco-based startup that provides solar financing for consumers who can't afford the upfront costs of buying their own solar systems. "Panels are on sale right now. There's a sweet spot where the state rebates are still relatively high, but the costs have come down."

And winter is a good season to research solar options, experts say. It's generally a slower time for the industry, which means companies may be willing to give you a better deal.

If you're thinking about going solar, here's a checklist of things to think about:

• Take a good, hard look at your electricity usage over the past year or several months. You probably know how much you pay for electricity every month and have records of the checks or bills paid to PG&E or your municipal utility. But do you know how much electricity you actually use? Electricity is charged by the kilowatt-hour (kWh). Some people use as little as 300 kWh per month; others easily use more than 1,200 kWh a month.

In general, solar is a much better investment for people who use a lot of electricity. And PG&E has a tiered rate structure, so customers who use more electricity are charged more.

Understand how you use electricity," said Sue Kateley, executive director of CALSEIA, the California Solar Energy Industries Association. "Get out your bill and look at the tiered rates. If you don't use a lot of electricity — if you are a Tier One or Tier Two customer — then you really need to do a cost analysis to see if solar is cost-effective."

• Take a look at the roof of your house. How old is your roof, and what kind of shape is it in? If your roof is due to be replaced, you'll want to do that before, or along with, adding solar.
• And is your roof ideally situated for solar? Does it face south? "Shading" is also an issue: your roof should have clear, unobstructed access to the sun for most of the day and be free from shade from trees or other buildings.
• Shop around. Ask friends and neighbors who have already installed solar power if they've been happy with their systems. Learn about financing options: Do you have to have the money for the entire system upfront, or does your installer offer a leasing option?

Interview at least three potential installers and obtain bids in writing before making a decision. Whatever the salesperson tells you should be in writing in the contract.

• If you buy electricity from one of California's three investor-owned utilities — PG&E, Southern California Edison or San Diego Gas & Electric — and you have roof or ground space that gets unobstructed sunlight from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. year round, you qualify for cash back incentives through the California Solar Initiative.

The California Solar Initiative (CSI) was started in 2006 to provide $3 billion in incentives for solar energy projects by 2016. Rebates for smaller residential systems are given upfront — a one-time payment based on system size. The current rebate level for PG&E residential customers stands at $1.10 per watt. So if you're putting in a 5 kw system, that results in a $5,500 rebate. But as more people apply for the rebates, the incentives are reduced, and many experts expect them to drop further later this spring.

Customers of municipal utilities may also qualify for incentives through their municipal service provider.

• Be sure to apply for the Solar Federal Tax Credit, which allows you to claim up to 30 percent of the costs for a new system. A buyer who installs a $25,000 solar panel system on his or her roof will get $7,500 in income tax credits.
• Consider your long-term electricity needs, and find out if the solar technology you're interested in allows you to add on more panels over time if necessary. A swimming pool, changes in family size or the use of a plug-in hybrid car could vastly change your energy consumption.

HelioPower, a leading solar power design and installation firm since 2001, today announced that it is partnering with SunRun to bring affordable solar financing and service to its California residential customers.  SunRun is the nation’s #1 provider of home solar service. The company provides a smart, affordable alternative to traditional electricity.  HelioPower, through its California offices, will offer SunRun to homeowners in the state.

"Our team is already moving homeowners to solar power through the HelioPower-offered SunRun financing plans,” said Scott Gordon, Vice President, Residential Sales for HelioPower. “For as little as $1,000 out of pocket, our customers can lock in a low electricity rate for the next 18 years and save money every month. Imagine if you could have locked in your gasoline costs at $1 gallon or even $2 gallon? How much money you would be saving today?  HelioPower’s offering of SunRun empowers us to accomplish this kind of energy savings with your electricity costs. We are very pleased to be working with SunRun to offer our customers an affordable means to go solar.”

SunRun purchases home solar systems designed and installed by HelioPower for its customers, who pay only a low one-time installation fee, and then a low fixed rate for the solar electricity produced by their system. All SunRun customers receive money-back annual performance guarantees in addition to professional-grade monitoring, maintenance, repairs, and insurance, which remove the complexity and risk from going solar.

“In a very short time, HelioPower has inspired customers to go solar with SunRun, said SunRun President Lynn Jurich.  “Working with HelioPower, we look forward to helping even more California homeowners power their homes with clean energy and take control of their electricity costs.”

HelioPower and 1BOG will offer free solar information, including a solar webinar on Thursday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m. PT. To sign up visit: http://solarcoachellavalley.1bog.org/faqs-and-webinar/.

HelioPower's Scott Gordon will be representing the company. Scott has led very successful solar webinars for 1BOG in the company's previous solar San Diego campaign. He has been quoted extensively in the Coachella Valley press about this current solar community discount program.  

Excerpts from recent press quotes from Scott include the following information from The Desert Sun:  

That means a 4 kilowatt system, about 20 panels, will have a net cost of about $10,857, after state rebates and the federal tax credit for solar energy, said Scott Gordon, HelioPower's vice president for residential sales.

The package will also include computer monitoring of the system so any maintenance problems are detected quickly, Gordon said.

For Coachella Valley residents, the break-even point for such a system could range from five years to 12 years, depending on their energy use and their power provider, Gordon said. Southern California Edison customers, who pay tiered rates, would get a quicker return on their investment than east valley residents in the Imperial Irrigation District service area, who pay lower rates, he said.

Governor Schwarzenegger signed two major solar initiatives yesterday, AB 920 and SB 32 which continue California’s drive toward a Million Solar Roofs and create more Incentives to go solar.

"Californians have two more reasons to go solar tonight. Governor Schwarzenegger signed two popular

Porsche Solar Install in Ontario, CA by HelioPower

solar bills designed to give consumers added incentive to invest in a solar roof and help the state achieve its aggressive clean energy goals," said the press statement at Environment California. 

AB 920, authored by Assembly member Jared Huffman (D-Marin) and sponsored by Environment California, radically changes the dynamic between consumer and utility by requiring utility companies to write a check to their customers for surplus solar electricity generated on an annual basis. Previously, under the state’s net metering law, utility companies were allowed to receive surplus solar electricity from their customers for free. AB 920 requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to set a rate at which utility companies shall compensate solar customers whenever a solar system generates more electricity than a home or business uses in a given year. 

“Instead of writing a check to your utility company, you’ll be getting a check back,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate with Environment California which sponsored the legislation. “Changing the dynamic between utility and customer is key to encouraging more people to invest in solar power while also maximizing conservation and energy efficiency.”

AB 920 was supported by numerous groups and people around the state including the Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, NRDC, Planning and Conservation League and many more. It was also embraced by officials such as the San Diego Board of Supervisors.

“As we work towards increasing our energy independence and promoting renewable energy resources, this bill will encourage more people to invest in renewable energy,” said Assembly member Jared Huffman, author of the bill. “This goes a long ways towards California meeting its goal of the Million Solar Roofs initiative under SB1 and clean air standards established under AB 32, as well as ensuring that consumers get a fair return on their investment.”

SB 32, authored by Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino) and sponsored by the California Solar Energy Industry Association, establishes a new feed-in-tariff program for the state. A feed-in-tariff policy requires utility companies to purchase solar electricity at a set rate over a twenty-year period. It has the potential to incentivize massive solar installations on large, unused spaces, such as parking lots and warehouses. This program has been used with much success in places like Germany.

“Watch out. California is about to give Germany a run for the money,” said Del Chiaro. “Every warehouse roof, every parking lot, every unused sunny space can now become a mini-power plant generating pollution free solar electricity all while making money for the property owner.”

“Solar feed in tariffs have given many commercial property owners in other parts of the world strong financial reasons to go solar,” said Steve LoRusso, Vice President, Sales for HelioPower.  “With these bills California property owners now have more reasons than ever to consider a solar power generation system as a cost effective, even now profitable, component of facility development. We look forward to working with more property owners to go solar with these incentives in place.”

HelioPower client, James Price, made local news in Lompoc this weekend.  His ground mount solar power system was on display in the city's first ever, "Central Coast Solar Tour."  The tour, part of the national effort to showcase solar power systems, featured four solar power systems in the Lompoc and Santa Maria

area.

Covering the event, Lompoc News writer Glenn Wallace, posted this article, "Residents look to solar energy for savings" featuring Price's solar experience and savings record.

In August 2008 something funny began happening to Jim Price’s electric meter — it started going backward.

“There it goes — tic, tic, tic,” Price said watching the digital display flash an arrow to the left instead of the right.

Occasionally the display flashes all zeroes, indicating he is using less energy than the backyard solar panel system is actually pumping into the electrical grid, to be used by his neighbors and local businesses. His energy bills — they used to be more than $120 a month — sport more zeros.

Price’s house was just one of five around Lompoc partaking in the National Solar Tour on Saturday.

Jim Riggens, an Air Force retiree and self-described environmentalist, helped bring the tour to Lompoc, and to five other sites in Santa Maria, as part of the nonprofit American Solar Energy Society (ASES) national education and publicity campaign.

Riggens is trying to get his neighbors to consider solar energy.

“What struck me was why, in a place where you have so much sunshine, how few roofs have solar panels?” Riggens asked.

One of the biggest misconceptions most home owners seem to have is that a solar panel system is too exotic or prohibitively expensive, Riggens said.

“It’s very common for builders. It’s off the shelf. It’s not in a laboratory, and it’s not experimental,” Riggens said.

And as for the money? Riggens just points to Price.

Installing the 4,400-watt, solar panel system in his back yard cost $34,531, Price said. However, after last year’s city and state rebates, and a $2,000 tax credit from the federal government, his final cost became $19,250.

“Yes, there is an investment, but in the long term, he’s flattened down his energy costs,” Riggens said.

On average, Riggens and two of the solar panel installation experts on the tour all said current rebates and tax credits have improved, and the panels now cost less. Within seven to 10 years most systems finish paying for themselves. Since the systems have no moveable parts, they are expected to easily function without major repair for 25 years, meaning quite a few years of profit for people such as Price.

According to Riggens, there is also a property tax exemption for home value increases based on improvements such as a solar panel system.

“So it’s a better return on your investment than redoing that kitchen with granite countertops.”

On top of the money saved, Riggens said there was also the thousands of pounds of carbon emissions home owners could be saving the environment as well.

“There’s two types of people who put in a system,” said Mary Kammer, Lompoc’s utility conservation coordinator. “Those who want to be green, and those who want to beat the system.”

Whichever their motives, so far there are 15 residential solar panel systems installed in the city, with another two in the process.

Lompoc is one of the few cities in California to actually buy electricity back, so Price and anyone else with a bigger system and smaller usage will be receiving a check at the end of the year for generating more than he uses, according to Kammer.

Lompoc Councilwoman Cecilia Martner was on hand at the Price house to learn more about solar power herself. She praised him for “having the vision to move ahead with something like this.”

“The sun is right there, and it’s free,” said Martner.

“Nature provides us with all these things, and all we need to do is make use of them,” Price added.

A home on Moonglow Avenue in Vandenberg Village represents what Riggens called a holistic approach to green design.

The owner, who asked that his name be withheld, said he and his wife had designed the home to include many energy-efficient features, including 100 percent energy generation from his panels, as well as a solar-powered hot water heater and heating system. The couple also had the house plumbed to use shower and sink “greywater” for irrigation.

“We decided to go ‘green’ now because of what might be coming up with energy prices,” said Keith, the Moonglow owner.

Riggens said he plans on having the solar tour become an annual event, and eventually hopes to extend it to include from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo.

For more information about solar power, or to find solar installation firms in the area, visit www.ases.org.

For more information and additional photos of the Price solar install, click here.

By Scott Gordon

Vice President Sales, Residential, HelioPower

If you read the first part of this series, you were exposed to the aesthetically ugly side of solar – literally solar that looks unattractive up on the roof and detracts from a home’s curb appeal.  Such solar installations can have a negative impact on a community’s perception of solar technology.  After all, who wants to live in an ugly house?  Not many folks as far as I can tell.  Yet there is an uglier side; a side you can’t see.   It is an improperly installed system.    

Improperly installed systems can often look great up on the roof.  They may even encourage neighbors to not only go solar, but to use the very same company that performed the first shoddy install.  These badly installed systems may perform well for years before exposing their dark underbelly in the form of galvanic action (think rusting panel frames, rails, bolts, etc); leaky roofs, deck rot, short circuits, and even fires.  

In this article, I will cover many of the things that can happen if you choose an inexperienced contractor to install your solar project, how you can avoid signing up with the wrong company and online resources to allow you to gauge a company’s experience in the field.

First, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty of shoddy solar installations.  There are hundreds of little details that go into any solar installation.  These need to be well understood by the procurement manager buying the equipment, the warehouseman loading the truck, the project manager and finally the installation team.  For example, if the procurement manager decides to save money and buys substandard equipment (think non galvanized steel, cheap mastic, etc), then there will be repercussions down the road regardless of how well the installation team does its job.  On the other hand, the best materials in world won’t spare a roof from the ravages of an inexperienced installation crew.

This photo shows a lag bolt (that thing that holds the solar foot and thus the panel on one’s roof), from the underside – the attic/crawlspace.

This lag bolt very obviously misses the roof truss.  It was one of seven I found on a recent botched installation my company rebid and fixed for a distressed customer left high and dry by an unscrupulous contractor.  You may be asking yourself why this matters.  Few people understand the harsh conditions their roofs endure day in and day out, season to season, year after year.  Extreme heat, cold, wind, rain, sleet, snow, and other elements beat on your roof, and consequently, your solar system.  Solar racking systems, like those offered by ProSolar, are engineered to withstand wind gusts up to 120 mph.  That’s some serious live load!!  But the racking systems only work if they are properly installed.

The installation sitting above this attic will be in serious jeopardy over time.  Wind (whether gusty or not) causes lift when it’s funneled under a solar array.  In most cases, this is a good thing.  The wind can help keep the solar array cool on a hot day, and thus result in higher energy yield.  However, if roof trusses are missed, the aggregate effect of this lift over time (especially from intensely gusty wind) is a gradual loosening of the feet holding the rails to the roof.  In some cases, the feet could detach from the roof altogether.  The most common result is roof leakage. If cheap components were used the result will often be rusty leakage (think of orange stains on your living room ceiling).

In this next example, roof leaks are inevitable.  This inexperienced crew was exceptionally bad at locating studs.  They left the roof littered with these unsightly holes as they poked around trying to locate rafters.  When we took the job over and removed the old feet, our crew discovered up to four penetrations per foot! The roof damage was so acute that we had to bring in a licensed roofer to repair it all.

Where the installers eventually decided to set their feet, they left the penetrations unflashed (we double flash everything) and messy.  Also notice the rusty bolt in the center of the rail.  While it may seem harmless enough now, galvanic action of dissimilar metals ensures that the corrosion will spread to the nut, the rail, and eventually the frames of your solar panels.  If the roof truss was missed underneath the attachment, you have the perfect recipe for rusty roof leaks.  Insist that your contractor uses only stainless, galvanized and extruded aluminum components for all roof attachments.

While avoiding roof leaks is of paramount concern, so is proper electrical etiquette.  Rather than use proper galvanized steel conduit for his electrical runs, the contractor used cheap flexible plastic and fastened it to a rusty lag bolt with a cheap indoor rated plastic tie wrap (which the sun will turn to dust in a matter of months). 

Obviously satisfied with the cheap tie wraps’ ability to hold things together on the roof, the inexperienced crew then used the same tie wraps to affix the electric conduit to the customer’s thermal pool system.  Notice also the exposed green ground wire running across the roof in clear violation of electrical code.  Exposure and corrosion virtually guarantee a future of annoying and system crippling ground faults.

While I could show you photos ad nauseum, I’ll wrap Part II with the scariest photo of all:

The system pictured here was so badly put together (from an electrical standpoint), that the fuse terminals continued to burn AFTER the fuse blew.  Fortunately, this problem was discovered before it caused a house fire, but it underscores the importance of choosing a qualified installer.

So, how can you check up on those clamoring for your solar business?  First, start with the standard protocol:

1.       Get at least three bids

2.       Check your state’s state licensing board and the Better Business Bureau for suspension and complaints

3.       If you live in California visit: http://www.californiasolarstatistics.ca.gov/application/search/

Select the solar contractor(s) you’re considering from the list and see how many and what types of systems they’ve installed.  If a contractor is not listed, precede NO FURTHER.  Cross them off of your list.  If a contractor has less than 10 installations, they may still be learning.  Ask yourself if you want them learning on your house.

4.       Ask for their solar certification credentials. NABCEP is the gold standard in the industry.  A NABCEP certified installer has years of experience and several difficult tests under his belt.

5.       Look at the other businesses they may be involved in.  Today scores of companies and individuals are flooding into the solar marketplace.  These include window companies, flooring companies and even food companies (it’s scary, but true).  Your best bet for a quality installation is to go with a company that specializes in solar (specifically photovoltaics, PV) and is dedicated industry specialist.  They will be the most knowledgeable and best overall value.

6.       Ask for references and to see local installations in your area

Well, that’s it for Part II.  Stay tuned for Part III where I’ll explore the final frontier of ugly solar, the true ‘dark side’:  Shade.