For about half of America $3.50 per watt is the number where solar installation is competitive with utility electricity, but with many more benefits. In California local building departments have come around a little, bending some from the pressure of groups like the Sierra Club.
However, across America, solar companies and residential and commercial property owners are having to eat the high cost of solar permitting as well as put up with the red tape delays. If this country would standardize local solar installation policies and rules, the benefits to local communities would be huge. Continue reading Are Solar Permit Costs Restricting Residential PV Installations? →
If solar inverters are considered the “brains” of a solar system, SMA is the Einstein of the group. Inverters in general are key in a solar systems operation, not just because an inverter converts DC electricity (Direct Current (Flows in one Direction)) to AC electricity (Alternating Current (Flows back and forth in both directions)), but because they do much more than that. Technology is demanding that solar inverters become “smarter” when they interact with the household and the grid.
SMA is the largest solar inverter companies in the world and one of the oldest. This Germany based solar inverter manufacturer makes inverters for nearly every application. That’s news enough, but the company is a leader in the industry because they are always challenging new innovation with better products. Continue reading Solar Inverters Are Getting Brainier Keeping In Pace With Smart Grid →
Sacramento Solar News – Not all solar panels have to be mounted on the roof. If you have the space, ground mount solar systems are a popular alternative for grid-tied and off-grid solar. To make the process easy, you can now buy standard designed and prefabricated ground mount solar that is all factory assembled in Northern California.
These prefabricated solar kits are assembled in a shop in California, then driven to the site where they will be placed. The legs of the ground mount solar array are lowered and the delivery trailer is then pulled away from the array making installation a snap. Continue reading Grid-tied or Off-grid, New Prefabricated Ground Mount Solar Panels Makes it Easy →
The fun part of solar design is helping customers figure out which solar system is right for their situation. To that end, we are going to start a series of basic solar information articles to help families and business owners start thinking about going solar. Once you start to understand some of the basics of solar, it becomes easier to make the switch and start putting more money in your household budget each month. Continue reading The Art of Solar, Selecting the Right PV System for Your Home or Cabin →
“California is one jumbo solar mecca, and one big ass state” was all Cliff could say when he walked into the office from delivering a customer’s home solar kit. Northern California Highway 101 is ancient redwoods reaching to the sky, pristine Pacific Ocean shorelines and solar everywhere.
Cliff is one of our solar consultants who yesterday, just got back from delivering a sizeable home solar kit to a customer in the NW corner of California. Now it is not normal for our solar consultants to deliver solar kits themselves, but we have a policy that when a sale is assigned to a solar consultant, he or she takes ownership of the order. That means they are responsible for everything including acting as the safety net for delivering on our companies promises. The delivery driver called in sick, no one else free to make the delivery, the solar associate then becomes the go-to-guy. In this case, it was Cliff. Continue reading California Is One Jumbo Solar Mecca →
The commercial solar incentives in California have been so popular that the funds are dwindling, and for two utilities, have run out. Solar is one of the few sectors of the American industry that has picked up speed in this desolate economy but good things have to come to an end sometime. Continue reading Night Falls on California Commercial Solar Incentives, Some Utilities Out →
For the last few weeks I have listened to talking heads bloviate while they relish sticking one to the Governminator about his low approval rating. The Governor is getting a bad rap in my opinion and there is little doubt that history will reflect kindly on his tenor in Sacramento. A champion for fiscal responsibility and solar and renewable energy, Arnold has been a knight on a white horse fighting an army of special interest groups. The truth is, Governor Schwarzenegger has been nothing less than a model for progress for the people of California.
What many in the public haven’t seen is that Mr. Schwarzenegger’s enthusiasm for solar and wind clean-energy development, and its prospects for driving economic growth not just in California but in the nation and the world, has connected with audiences at energy-related events. Continue reading California Solar Leadership Changes Today, There are Big Shoes to Be Filled →
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