Nine Crucial Solar Installer Considerations

Published on December 22, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: Solar Trends.

So you want to get solar, but how do you pick a company to give you a quote? Once you have a quote or two, how do you pick the company? Well, here are 9 questions you should definitely consider before you sign any installation contracts.

#1. Where’s your contractor’s license number? Once you find it, look it up. All states will have a website to look up any contractor’s license and give you contractor tenure and standing. Your installer NEEDS to have a contractor’s license, period… Check it out and see how long they’ve been in the game and if they have any dings on their record.

#2. Where’s a second quote? If you get another quote, issues can come to the forefront which previously were unexamined: “Why didn’t other guy offer that?” Moreover, additional quotes will ensure cost competitiveness across installers. I hate to recommend this tactic as I work for an installer myself in San Francisco, but it’s really the best way. Don’t simply go with the cheaper one; Give them both a chance to explain where that extra value is. The more expensive quote could be advantageous if that contractor uses better installation procedures, higher quality parts, or extends greater warranty coverage.

#3. Does your contractor outsource their crew? This is a big deal. Many companies outsource their installations to other contractors. Consequently, the company quoting your project may not know anything about their installation crew or how they’re trained. If you have contractors installing solar power on your roof, they are going to be walking around up there, drilling holes in your roof… it’s serious stuff and you need to know they were trained properly. Ask your installer for specifics about their relationship with their contractors.  Look for terms like “installation partners,” in the contract.

#4. Get referrals. If the installer is doing a good job, it will show in the words of their past customers.  Get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the latest two or three installations they have performed.  Call the customers and ask about their experience with the installer, and drive by and take a look at the work they did.

#5. Whose inverters are used? Solar power requires two things: Solar Panels and Inverters. Inverters turn the direct current (DC) your panels produce into usable alternating current (AC) to run your blender, microwave, tv, or whatever you want to run in your house. Some inverters are cheaper than others – some suck while others rock. To see what is the story here, avail yourself of a product review site. Personally (although I am biased), I like Sun Power’s products because there is no chance for confusion with warranty issues. You get Sun Power Panels AND Sun Power Inverters, you’re all good. For instance, our company has installed inverters 20 years ago that are still functioning beautifully. So, good ones are important. Just FYI, we found some problems with Xantrax inverters so we stopped using them (Might want to check to ensure installers in your area are not having similar problems). Finally, if the inverter is not large enough to handle the system, you could have problems. If you’ve done #1 above, this shouldn’t be an issue!

#6. What panels do they use? Do some research on panels! Again, I prefer Sun Power panels. They’re the prettiest and the most efficient I’ve found.

#7. What about turnaround time? Different installers will have different backlogs… Ranging from a few weeks to 8 months… get that up front so you can plan ahead and won’t be disappointed.

#8. Warranties? What are the warranty specifics? Has that solar contractor been around long enough for you to be confident they’ll still be there when it’s time to honor those warranties? Solar lasts a damn long time, the company installing this technology needs be able to outlive the systems they install.

#9. Are the quoted prices for my solar system reasonable? This is the tricky part. Pricing should be close to the same across the country, but solar incentives vary widely by state (Just look to the right hand column of your screen for visual comparisons). A nice round number is somewhere around $7 per watt capacity of your system (gross cost, before rebates and credits). Here are some examples of what solar power costs in the San Francisco bay area.  The key to this part is that second quote.  It will create price competition between the two installers to get the deal, at the same time time bringing to light issues you may not have thought of.  Unfortunately, the things brought to light often confuse and frustrate you.  DO NOT GIVE UP.  The last thing I would ever want is advice from this site to stop you from getting solar.  Yikes.  Hang in there, and ask for answers to questions you have.  If they don’t give them to you, find someone who can, but please don’t get frustrated and give up.

I've Never Called my Congressman Before but this is the first time I felt I had to

Published on December 4, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: Solar Trends.

Till the end of 2008, if you install a solar power system, you can get a $2000 Federal Tax Credit. If you are a business you can get 30% of the cost of your installation, that can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars. This credit which helps facilitate the growth of the solar industry may be DISSPEARING! I won’t get into the details of why it’s important, but to illustrate…. Best buy is gonna put solar systems on a lot of it’s stores, and they’ve said if the credit goes away they will abort their plans. Just when businesses started to take Google’s lead seriously and see the merits, they’re about to get a cactus up the butt from our governement.

This credit was in the energy bill, and now it’s not, it’s been removed. Here is a good article on the energy bill.

I beg you, call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and pressure her to make sure we keep the tax credit past 2008. It’s vital to the future of solar power…. It’s crucial. Think of MySpace trying to achieve it’s critical mass with no boobs. It wouldn’t work. The credit makes solar make financial sense for businesses. Do you want to rely on businesses’ altruism to take the initiative? Please, that’s why they call it a BUSINESS, they don’t do things that lose them money.

Email Pelosi here or here or here

Thanks!!!

Logo Competition Winner Announced!

Published on November 18, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: Solar Competitions.

We want to thank EVERYONE for their submissions. We are more than pleased with the volume and quality of responses. We are impressed. So check it out. What do you think?

The winning entry was sent in by Katie (in the picture. Nanos make people happy):

And cleaned up by Ambroise:

Again, thank you to everyone submitted. We will be giving a second nano away next week for an article writing competition. So stay tuned.

Here’s the final version Ambroise just submitted.  This one is it.  Shirts coming soon

Whoa! Solar Power Scam Email! I guess the industry IS blowing up!

Published on November 16, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: Solar Financing, Solar Trends.

Here’s an email my friend got that I’m assuming is a scam:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Solar Energy 24hs/Day < I removed the email>
Date: Nov 16, 2007 12:11 PM
Subject: SOLAR ENERGY GENERATION 24HS A DAY. BEST INVESTOR MONEY BACK.
To:

–
Esta mensagem foi verificada pelo sistema de antivírus e
acredita-se estar livre de perigo.

Solar Powered Flashlight for Africa

Published on November 12, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: Solar Technology.

A few years ago, Mark Bent and his wife lived in Africa. They would bring hot meals to children who scavaged dump sites all hours of the day. Recently, the couple went back to that African village and and were compelled to make a real difference. There was no light for those villagers. Sure, during the day, but at night – only the light afforded by a rare hunter’s moon.

So, Mark quit his job and designed a solar powered flashlight. How might a flashlight make a real difference? Huge difference! Night light helps keep people safer and gives them opportunities to read, study, and develop their minds at night. For instance, think back to when you were in grade school. Trail walking? Getting home safe on a really dark night? Surely you have memories of reading at night? Mysteries? Comic books? Short stories? How much of your own imagination developed over that time?

Mark now has a great business model to back up delivery of this product around the world. Specifically, if you buy a flashlight for yourself, he’ll give another one to a village without lights or to troops in Iraq. Hence, the name BoGo (buy one, give one). In this way, reading at night no longer has to be an economic decision or burden. You’ll also cut out the need for batteries and will be doing a small part to save the planet from wasteful consumption. So check out that link above, buy one, and help Mark light up the lives of others around the world.

Leo from Lodi's Awesome Solar Power System

Published on November 10, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: solar video.

Berkeley Passes the Kick Ass Solar Loan Program!

Published on November 7, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: Solar Legistlation.

The Berkeley City Council met yesterday and decided to move forward on the solar power tax-based financing system that we covered two days ago. The details still have to be smoothed out (half a year?) and then anyone can install solar in Berkeley and get them to pay for their photovoltaics, and add the cost to your tax bill over 20 years. That means you don’t need cash on hand to do something that saves you money then and there. Piece of cake. It will be hard for people to ignore the possibilities now.

AWESOME!

State of Colorado Solar Incentives Reviewed!

Published on October 30, 2007 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Solar Financing.

We finished reviewing the state of Colorado’s solar power incentives, rebates, and tax credits here.

A sick graph – Iraq war spending vs. spending on renewable energy

Published on by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Solar Trends.

These figures are in millions. The source for energy R&D expenditures is from the National Council for Science and the Environment. Take a look here.Though the war in Iraq now costs about $120B a year, two authors (one a Nobel prize winner) estimates the total cost of this war exceeds 2 Trillion Dollars.

“Accrued liabilities for U.S. federal employees’ and veterans’ benefits now total $4.5 trillion. Indeed, our debt for veterans’ health and disability payments has risen by $228 billion in the past year alone…The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the interest payments on the money borrowed to finance the Iraq war will total $264 billion to $308 billion.”

That $2,000,000,000,000? Well, that amount of money could’ve built solar thermal plants here that would have provided energy for 2/3rds of our nation’s energy demand.

If you found this information eye-opening, interesting, or evocative, please throw us a bone or two (or ten). I’m a starving grad-student, Dave is just getting going selling solar in San Francisco, and we need all the support we can get to drive more traffic to the site, get more people educated about clean technology, and persuade legislators to further secure our energy independence.

If you found this post eye opening, please send us an email. We’d love to hear from you.

De-mystifying your PG&E Solar Power Bill

Published on October 25, 2007 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: pg&e.

If you’re a PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) customer, that blue-bordered power bill you get is complicated enough to understand as it is, right? Well, consider you take a bold green step forward and install a solar power system on your house. Unfortunately, that bill now gets even more complicated. Don’t distress though, we’re here to sort out this mess and hopefully save you a lot of money. What follows is a case study of two very close friends of mine (and PG&E customers) that just so happen to have solar panels on their roof (below). I guess you could consider their dog a “third” friend of mine since my leg has seen a lot of attention whenever I’m over there. Gross.

Lets dig in to all that PG&E solar nitty gritty!

When my friend’s system was installed on their house, PG&E sent them an interconnection agreement. On this agreement, they decided whether they wanted to get on the E1 or E7 rate plan.

• If you choose E1, the power PG&E delivers will cost you the same amount – all
  the time. PG&E also credits you for the power you produce, at an equal rate of what they charge for it.
• If you opt for E7, the time you use (TOU) your energy determines pricing. PG&E will charge you more during peak hours and less during off-peak hours.
  • E7 requires a special TOU meter to split out peak and non-peak usage. My friend’s solar system was installed with a bidirectional meter (see pic), though it wasn’t a TOU bi-directional meter. PG&E wanted to charge them $277 for installation of one. So, make sure when you’re having your system installed that you’re in line to receive one if you plan on going TOU.
  • Since “peak hours” are 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM and the sun shines pretty brightly around that time, my guess is PG&E is trying to make it difficult to stick with the E7 TOU rates. But stick with those rates! That’s when your solar system is most efficient and making money for you if you’ve got your system sized right! The E7 TOU rates are first come first serve, and limited. PGE power is about 4 times as expensive from noon to six. But here’s the rub… PG& had 5000 E7 slots available this year, and the year is almost over and the woman on the phone told me they haven’t even used half of of those.
  • If you produce more in a year than you use, you don’t get a check for that power unless you have signed a contract to sell electricity to PG&E. This isn’t an issue for my friends because their system is relatively and they consume more than they produce.

So what does their bill look like?

Well, before the solar system, they got a blue bordered bill (Energy Statement – called the Blue Bill, on the left). This bill had gas and electric charges and it came due monthly. So after the install, they now get two bills. They get the original Blue Bill which has normal gas charges as usual, but the electric has been replaced by a base electric charge which is anywhere from $4-$8 dollars, with their power consumption and production layed out in the second bill. This second bill is called the NEM (Net Energy Metering, on the right) bill. They can opt to pay this bill at the end of the year. That way, if some months are negative and some are positive, they can reconcile it all at the end (called the “true up” period). Their bills are mostly positive since they have a small solar system and run some power hungry servers, so they pay a big chunk at the end of the year (which is nice, you get to hold onto your money longer). If you are new to this whole idea of “net-metering”, check out our previous post net metering. That should clear things up.

So, what are the rates?

Well, their baseline rates are 29.3 cents per kWh for Peak Hours and 8.66 cents per kWh for Off-Peak Hours. WOW. Big difference, right? Again, if you use a lot of electricity between the hours of 12:00-6:00pm, make sure you’re utilizing your solar system to save you money and stick with that E7 rate plan. The PG&E rating system is excruciatingly difficult to read and understand. Check out the PG&E tariff page. I downloaded the E1, E7, and NEM rates as well. The purpose of us being here is so we can help you decipher all of this.

As you use more power, the price goes up.

These plans operate on tiers, which are related to a baseline. The baseline is the power PG&E expects you to use as a house, and it’s pretty conservative. If you run servers or a hot tub, you’re probably going to go over it. Once you go over, power costs more:

Total Energy Rates
Summer	PEAK	OFF-PEAK
Baseline Usage	$0.29372	$0.08664
101% – 130% of Baseline	$0.29372	$0.08664
131% – 200% of Baseline	$0.39105	$0.18397
201% – 300% of Baseline	$0.48102	$0.27394
Over 300% of Baseline	$0.52817	$0.32109
Winter
Baseline Usage	$0.11472	$0.08966
$0.30202	$0.11472	$0.08966
131% – 200% of Baseline	$0.21205	$0.18699
201% – 300% of Baseline	$0.30202	$0.27696
Over 300% of Baseline	$0.34917	$0.32411

So, how much are they saving?

Because you can only see the net power consumption (not how much they produce and how much they use) I have to estimate based on looking at all their power bills and knowing their lifestyle, which is no problem because I’m over there playing Halo III all the time anyway. Because the solar system they have is rockin in full gear at the same time power is costing about 4 times a much as it does during the non-peak hours…. They’re saving a lot. I won’t get into the math but it looks like about $1200-ish a year.

Here is more information about California solar power energy rebates

ASK US QUESTIONS!

I understand this is confusing, so if you have questions, ask them in the comments, I’ll CALL PG&E, and I’ll update the post.

Cheers! – Dave