Repower America - Independence Day

It seems like things have been so busy lately, running the business, networking and rallying the solar tribe to go into action, that I have not had time to write the next blog. I want to pass along the letter I received today from Al Gore:

Dear Roy,

This Independence Day, we have a lot to celebrate -- including a major victory for our planet.

The historic vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act in the House of Representatives last Friday moves this bill to the Senate. Now, we must continue to build momentum and work for its passage.

Just as our founders struggled to achieve our nation's independence, we must encourage our leaders to stand up to the entrenched special interests in another struggle of great historical importance -- the fight for our energy independence.

Tell Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell that you support bold action on clean energy legislation. This July 4th, declare your energy independence and demand that they work to do the same in the Senate.

Declare your energy independence to Senators Reid and McConnell.

Today, our nation lives under the oppressive thumb of foreign oil, dirty energy and a climate crisis that could change life as we know it.

We are held hostage to volatile gas prices, as Americans send hundreds of billions of dollars overseas each year. This dependence on foreign oil leaves our nation vulnerable to unstable and hostile regimes, burdening our military and their families.

And our reliance on dirty energy continues to cost us -- average annual household energy spending increased approximately $1,000 between 2001 and 2007.

It doesn't have to be this way, and clean energy is the path we need. Add your voice and declare your energy independence now:

http://www.RepowerAmerica.org/declaration

Repowering America with clean energy can revitalize our economy by creating millions of clean energy jobs, stabilizing energy costs, strengthening our national security and addressing the climate crisis.

Show our Senate leaders that we mean business: stand together with us and demonstrate your support for change.

Our founders fought to live in a free nation -- and they succeeded. The clean, prosperous and energy independent America we seek now and for future generations is closer than ever, but this legislation must succeed in the Senate.

That's why I'm asking you to declare your energy independence to Senators Reid and McConnell today:

http://www.RepowerAmerica.org/declaration

Thanks for all you do,

Al Gore

As soon as I post this, I'm going to follow the links to declare my energy independence. What are you waiting for? Join me by taking action at RepowerAmerica.org

Californians: Act Now on AB560 - Another Step Toward Solar Ubiquity

From today's San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Page:

Legislature must act to keep solar glowing

Sunday, June 28, 2009

One of the keys to the expansion of solar power has been the opportunity for homeowners and businesses to receive credits for the amount of excess electricity they send back to the grid. This incentive - known as a "net metering" requirement - was broadened under the 2006 California Solar Initiative, which was designed to put the state in the forefront of alternative energy generation.

That law required investor-owned utilities, such as the Pacific Gas & Electric Co., to provide such credits to its customers, within certain constraints. The intent was to give homeowners the chance to lower their energy bill, not to turn single-family residences into major power stations. The offsets - which owners of solar panels gleefully refer to as "spinning the meter backward" - could not exceed a customer's historic peak demand.

The program has been so successful that it is about to bump up against another limitation in the California Solar Initiative: Utilities were required to accept as much as 2.5 percent of their total electricity load from net-metering customers.

PG&E is expected to reach that 2.5 percent threshold next year.

The end of net metering would deprive Californians of a economic incentive to install solar panels on their roofs.

To keep the solar momentum rolling, Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced AB560 to raise the net-metering limit to 10 percent of a utility's load. Her bill, which cleared the Assembly on a 47-22 vote, is scheduled to face its first Senate hearing this week.

This bill would seem to be a slam dunk, but it has encountered resistance from several fronts, some predictable and some unexpected.

One of the arguments against net metering is that it is a subsidy for the rich. As Skinner noted, however, there is a significant public benefit to the net-metering projects installed on schools, jails, post offices and small businesses.

"They made that investment because it hedges them against future utility costs," she said. "They're not doing this just to be green, they want the security of lower electricity bills for 20 to 25 years."

Also, the expansion of the solar industry - which is accelerated by incentives such as net metering - is the key to driving down the price and making the solar option more inviting to middle-class customers.

The other barrier to passage of AB560 is opposition from investor-owned utilities - including PG&E and Southern California Edison. In a letter to the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, PG&E suggested it would be premature to raise the net-metering cap without a "complete understanding of the costs associated with such an increase." PG&E asked legislators to withhold action until the California Public Utilities Commission completed a study on the costs and benefits of net metering.

However, the CPUC position on AB560 is clear: Its commissioners voted unanimously to endorse the measure.

This is hardly a radical move. Eighteen other states with net metering do not put any ceiling on the amount of customer-generated electricity that utilities can accept. Utah recently raised its net-metering limit to 20 percent of a utility's load.

"California has had almost 500 megawatts of solar installed to date, most of that in the last two years as a result of the California Solar Initiative," said David Hochschild, a leading solar advocate. "So a failure to get this bill out of the state Senate would undermine all the job creation and clean air benefits that the solar industry can provide to California."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to take an official position on AB560, but Skinner is confident he will sign it if it reaches his desk.

"It completely aligns with his goal of a million solar roofs," she said.

It's now up to the California Senate to keep this laudable goal on track.



Contact: Encourage your state senator to support AB560. You can find names and contact information at www.senate.ca.gov. Sen. Alex Padilla, chair of the Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, can be reached via e-mail at senator.padilla@sen.ca.gov.

This article appeared on page E - 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle

And a little further expanation (also from the Chronicke):

SOLAR INCENTIVES
Spinning the meter backward

Sunday, June 28, 2009

How it works:
Customers with solar panels are provided credits for the full retail value of the electricity they send back to the grid.

Over a 12-month period, a net-metering customer pays only for the net amount of utility electricity they consumed at their location.

The annual credits cannot exceed a customer's utility bill.

Who uses net metering?
There are more than 40,000 net-metering customers statewide, including more than 100 government and public entities (cities, water districts, counties, schools, federal installations) and hundreds of private companies of all sizes.

Are state incentives working?
Of the 500 megawatts of solar installed to date, most of that has been in the past two years, since the adoption of the California Solar Initiative, which set an ambitious target of 3,000 megawatts of solar by 2017.

What happens without AB560?
Electricity generated by net metering is expected next year to reach 2.5 percent of PG&E's load - which means the utility would no longer be required to accept new net-metering customers.

States without net-metering limits:
Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Wyoming. The District of Columbia also has a net-metering program without a cap.

Source: www.solaralliance.org

I'm calling my State Senator. Are you?

Repower America

In case you have not, I have just received the following important email:

Dear Roy,

This is an extraordinary moment.

There are mere days before the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the most unprecedented clean energy and climate legislation in our nation's history. But, our opponents have stepped up a blatant distortion campaign on TV and behind closed doors to scare Congress from taking action.

They know this vote will be close. But, what the special interests have in money and rhetoric, we have in facts and supporters like you.

Let your Representative know that you want a cleaner and stronger economy today. Urge them to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act now.

Call your Representative: 877-9-REPOWER (877-9-737-6937)

When you call, you will be given talking points and simply instructions to be connected to your Representative. Afterwards, help us coordinate our campaign by reporting your call here.

Just a few days ago, Members of Congress who oppose clean energy paraded around a map that distorts the truth about curbing carbon pollution. Not only was the analysis misleading, the computer file still listed the original author -- the coal lobby.

And another group, funded by the fossil-fuel industry, released targeted TV ads designed to drum up fear ahead of the vote.

We can't let the corporate interests fighting to keep the status quo scare us into sticking to rising fuel costs, more job losses and a continued dependence on foreign oil.

Congress has debated clean energy and the climate crisis for decades. Now is the time to act. Let's make sure the House passes this historic legislation.

Please call your Representative: 877-9-REPOWER (877-9-737-6937)

Thanks for all that you do,

Steve Bouchard
Campaign Manager

I'm calling as soon as I post this blog. Are you?

Support California Solar Power Bills...NOW!

In the last blog I wrote about the Vote Solar Initiative and the great work they are doing to bring solar power into the mainstream. They must continually overcome numerous obstacles. Their website is a "must bookmark" and "must regularly visit" for anyone who is passionate about making solar power ubiquitous. The folks at Vote Solar are constantly juggling the many projects that are in progress and relavent to their (read: our) cause. They work closely behind-the-scenes with states and municipalities on a lot of research and policy development. They also work closely with Solarnation, an organization focused more on community activism than in municipal support. From time-to-time, they also publicly take the lead on vital issues. Now is one of those times.

Perhaps you have seen emails and tweets going around asking you to take action on an urgent bill coming before the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee on June 30. If you have, I hope you have acted. If not, here it is straight from Vote Solar:

Don't put the brakes on solar in California

The California solar market faces a serious roadblock. Net metering--the policy that allows you to roll you meter backwards when you generate more solar electricity than you use--is currently capped at 2.5 % of system peak load. At current growth rates, we'll likely hit this limit in parts of the state during this legislative cycle. If the Legislature does not act, California's solar industry would take a serious hit.

Net metering makes solar systems more economical, and saves all ratepayers money by reducing peak demand.

AB 560 (Skinner) would raise the cap to 10%. It's passed the Assembly, and faces a key hurdle in the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee on June 30. Can you take action now?

All the state utilities, including the self-appointed champion of solar PG&E, oppose this bill. Apparently, having too much solar power too fast is not good for somebody. PG&E spokespeople say "not good for their non-solar customers," while the bill's supporters speculate it's more of a bottom-line sort of concern. In any event, there is an opportunity for you and I to fight against the utilities' lobbying attempts and make your voice be heard. All you have to do is two things: (1) go here and sign the message, and (2) pass the link to this blog or to the Vote Solar page to as many Californians as you know.

AB560 is not the only bill that we all need to see passed. The Mercury News points out that PG&E is also opposed to a second bill in the works:

AB 920, would change the way customers with solar installations are paid for surplus power. Utilities now give them full retail rate credit on their monthly bill that can be used to offset the customer's energy consumption at other times, like nighttime. But at the end of the year, leftover credits are zeroed out. AB 920 would require utilities to pay for credits or any electricity left over at the end of the year, although at a lower rate, or allow them to be rolled over to the next year.

Many of the current solar power customers to whom I have spoken were not familiar with any of the net metering details currently in place, let alone about these two bills. It's up to us to keep these issues in our mainstream conversations. It's up to us to pass this on to as many people as possible.

To keep up will all legislative activities in California, go here.

Vote Solar: Leading the Solar Tribe

It's time to change our culture, time to change our strategies, time to change our thinking about solar power. There are so many ways that we, as a culture, can change the way we think about solar power. In the weeks and months ahead, I hope to dive into as many new ideas as I can. Your feedback is very important. We are all in this together. The best thing that has happened in blogging about the solar tribe, is meeting new friends and colleagues who are each thinking along the same lines. Please feel free to shoot me your questions and ideas. My email is roy@whole-solar.com

In the last blog, I described the how Berkeley is leading the way in the municipal space, but there are other communities who are attempting to break new ground in this area. We can't have a conversation about the emerging Solar Tribe efforts in the municipal space without talking about a non-profit organization known as the Vote Solar Initiative . Vote Solar's website is a virtual hub of information about the status of these various municipal programs. Vote Solar's mission is to stop global warming, foster economic development and increase energy independence by bringing solar energy into the mainstream. I couldn't have said it better myself. Put in my own words, Vote Solar is part of our Solar Tribe, having earned one of the lead positions.

Working closely with other organizations, such as Solarnation, Vote Solar "is working at the state level to implement the necessary policies to build robust solar markets — and pave the way for a transition to a renewable energy economy." In order to do this, they stay close to solar projects being developed and assist in identifying and removing roadblocks that stand in the way of the wide-scale adoption of solar energy.

Vote Solar has a great website, where you can become a member and financially support their vital work. One of the features of their site is that you can track the progress of various state and municipal solar projects. I'd like to briefly tell you about some of them.

There is no shortage of project in the San Francisco Bay area, In addition to Berkeley, Marin, San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond have all been getting in on the act and staking out success in their respective programs. Back 2001, San Francisco approved a $100 million bond initiative calling for the city to borrow money for solar panels and energy efficiency measures for public buildings. The money that would have gone to buy electricity from power plants instead goes to pay down the debt. Just last week, the City authorized a 10-year solar incentive program for city residents and businesses. Under the program, which is called GoSolarSF, the city offers incentives ranging from $3,000-6,000 for residential installations and up to $10,000 for commercial installations. Program funding is generated by revenues from public power generation sales. In Oakland, Vote Solar worked with the city council too prepare a request for proposal to purchase a megawatt of solar energy (Vote Solar has made available a lot of valuable resource material that other cities can use and not have to "reinvent the wheel").
This last March, Richmond City Council voted unanimously to support a goal of developing 5 megawatts of solar photovoltaics on municipal, commercial and residential buildings by 2010. In Marin, city officials put solar panel systems on their own buildings and have identified local business owners with solar-friendly roof-space, and are educating them about the benefits of solar. And that's just the Bay area!

San Diego, New Mexico, Hawaii and the California State university system each have initiatives calling for the installation of solar power. The point to all of this is that it is up to each one of us to become aware of the efforts and initiatives going on in our communities, use the resources available to the tribe and take the actions to push the progress forward. Solar makes sense in so many different ways and there is an army of us available to help in the push.

Berkeley FIRST: Leading the Way to Solar Power Ubiquity

When we're having a conversation about the goal of solar power ubiquity, the conversation HAS to be about innovations. It's a conversation that must include ideas previously considered outside-the-box. I have a dear friend who is always reminding me, "to get to a place we've never been before, we have to go a way we've never gone before." The city of Berkeley is pioneering a new approach to municipal financing that has become known as "Berkeley FIRST." It's such a simple idea. It makes me wonder two things: "why did it take so long for someone to think of it?" and "why aren't more municipalities grabbing the idea and making it their own?"

With this program in place, homeowners in Berkeley are able to go solar without paying high upfront costs. No barrier to entry! They pay for the solar panel system through their property taxes. The money to purchase and install the solar panel system comes from bonds, not the city's operating funds. It's as clean as a whistle. Viola, a solar powered community!

The long name for this program is the "Berkeley Financing Initiative for Renewable and Solar Technology" (if you look closely, you'll see how they came to "Berkeley FIRST"). Under the terms of the program, property owners can roll the price of a residential solar system installation into a twenty-year increased property tax assessment. Berkeley authorizes bonds to cover the costs of the installations. Both bond holders and property owners participate voluntarily, while the community as a whole has the potential of dramatically increasing the penetration of residential solar systems, thereby removing both the culture and financing barriers discussed in earlier blogs.

This financing innovation is totally outside-the-box. Wide-scale adoption of this model would significantly accelerate our advance toward solar power ubiquity. "Not so fast, Daniel-San" you say? OK, let's all quickly agree that Berkeley is not your normal, run-of-the-mill community. A few years before, Berkeley voters had adopted a climate change goal and was not progressing at a pace that was fast enough to achieve it. City officials were smart enough to see the same thing that we see everywhere when it comes to solar power, namely, that high up-front costs represented a significant barrier for even the most willing property owner to overcome. As is the case more and more across America, the willingness and awareness was there, but the financial ability was not. So the City officials came up with the idea of issuing taxable municipal bonds which will be reimbursed as the opt-in property owners pay their property tax bills bi-annually over the next twenty years.

Once the City officials had figured out the concept, the politicking (er, "public policy") began. Suffice to say, there are a lot of details: creation of special improvement districts, new ordinances (for example, to transfer of property tax assessment obligation to new home buyer when property is sold), city council, city staff, bond counsel and financial advisors, to name a few. How exactly they did it is available publicly to any community that wishes to follow there footsteps. And I understand that many are looking at it.

Most important is that it works. The pilot project has been successful, the interest rates work for both home owner and bond holder and the budget has now been expanded. Berkeley has authorized up to $80 million in total bond financing. Here's the good news: With a few changes to state law, the FIRST model can be adopted by any city. This is where we come in: we need to keep supporting any and all efforts along these lines. There are several other municipal projects in the works that I'll cover in my next blog. It makes so much sense that this is one of major routes to solar power ubiquity.




The Berkeley FIRST program also shows that there is money available to finance solar power, if the deal is well thought out and properly structured. There are more examples of this point that I'll be discussing in future blogs.

How Do We Change the Way the Culture Thinks of Solar Power?

Last week, a few of us were bouncing ideas back and forth on Twitter. We were talking about the obstacles preventing ubiquity of solar power in both the residential and commercial areas. Lack of financing, of course, came up. So did the issue of different states and municipalities offering incentives, not to mention varying or even non-existent net metering rules. Jeff Wolfe of groSolar tweeted, "Financing and culture are the two biggest hurdles." I understood and agreed with financing, but I wasn't sure what he meant by "culture." Jeff quickly set me straight, "Culture. Getting people to think about energy, or a future -- that requires concerted effort. Changing people's thoughts on what is valuable." I got it load and clear.

Jeff is the CEO of groSolar, one of the fastest growing solar companies in America. He has put together a great team of professionals and recently acquired Borrego Solar's residential operations. In addition to that, Jeff is one of the good guys in the industry. His point-of-view is to be much valued, as he is on the cutting edge of what's happening in the industry. So when Jeff speaks, I listen. "Changing the Culture" is a pretty big order. How do we do that? What exactly is involved? Let's try to break it down.

Well, to start with, the regular Joe or Jane on the street just isn't thinking about energy. They aren't thinking a whole lot about their future, or the future of their kids. But let's keep the discussion just about Joe or Jane thinking about there own future. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, three years ago, I was right there with them. Fortunately for me, I got a wake-up call and jumped into action. So how do we wake up Joe and Jane? What does it take to make a cultural change? As Jeff stated, what is needed is "a concerted effort." We've got to change "people's thoughts on what is valuable." Many years ago I heard Buckminster Fuller recommend that to bring about change it needed to be an "Each on, teach one" proposition. Hopefully, we can do this by many of us blogging and tweeting. I'm always in search of other blogs that further this cause and I have listed the ones I've found elsewhere on this page. Solar Fred has been blogging about how much sense it makes and how easy it is to "go solar." He has a passion to which I can relate, he's not on anyone's payroll and integrity is just as important to him as going solar is. If you know some good blog sites, please shoot me an email at roy@whole-solar.com

Financing needs to be more readily available and easier to access. This is an area that holds great interest for me. I believe there are great investor opportunities to be had in solar in the down-market and I'm personally trying to put together some ideas that will be good to help change the culture. The 1BOG model of bringing community activism into the process to converting community energy to solar at a big purchase discount is definitely going to help change the culture in the communities they reach. The Berkeley First is another idea whose time has come, and more programs along these lines will advance the change in how we think of solar. The Duke Energy model of renting rooftops and installing solar panels has me scratching my head wondering why there are not more utilities following this course. I believe there are people like Mary Shields, and her new company UR Solar Power, who are focused on pushing the possibilities in this arena. All of these separate initiatives will undoubtedly make contributions to the change that is needed...and inevitable.

But for us, right on, let's stay with the idea of "Each one, Teach on" or as I said in my last blog, "pass it on." In the process, Joe and Jane will become more fully informed.

Gathering of the Tribe

Do you feel it? It is a feeling that starts in each one of us. It's a feeling of urgency; a feeling of expectancy; a feeling of excitement. Many of us who seem to be very like-minded are finding one another on the Internet through social networking or in the business community at get-togethers and functions. We are a part of the inevitable change of our times. The solar power industry has been around for a long time, as have some of those people being drawn together. Solar has always been "cool," but it's also been mostly impractical, unaffordable or just plain too technical -- at least, that's the way it's been for me until the last three years. For me, it started with a viewing of An Inconvenient Truth in late 2006.

My initial response after viewing An Inconvenient Truth was more about Al Gore and the 2000 Presidential election. I was haunted with the thought of how much different the world would be today if the Supreme Court had gone the other way. Today I believe that sometimes things must fall apart before they can fall together. Anyway, after viewing An Inconvenient Truth, my pathway to solar began by passionately working to convince Al Gore to again run for President. I was one of the hundreds of thousands of "Goristas" carrying the Draft Gore banner though 2007. Then, after the call came from Gore's office asking that we stop, I shifted my passion to the Biden campaign and then to the Obama campaign. In October 2008, with the election assured, I attended the solar tradeshow in San Diego.

Wow. Walking the aisles of the solar show took me back to some of the Internet tradeshows I attended more than a decade before. The aisles were jammed and there was a palpable air of confidence among the exhibitors. Speaking with the folks who were putting on the event, I found that they had turned away nearly 500 exhibitors, having only contracted for space for about 425 exhibitors. I immediately realized that my passion for solar had been awakened at the same time I got swept up in the Presidential campaign. I was excited to have found a new channel for my passion.

Since then, I am encountering others who have a similar passion for solar. There is a solar tribe. There's Ken Oatman who was previously involved in the distribution industry and started up a top-notch solar installation business in the Boulder-Denver area. He's embracing microinverters as the best way to go in designing residential solar solutions. Then there's Tor Valenza, who many will know as "Solar Fred." Tor has been in the industry for nearly 30 years and is one of the leaders of our tribe. I totally relate to the 1BOG people, who, like me, were walking neighborhoods for Obama. Today, they are walking neighborhoods for solar power. And then there is my good friend Michael Powers and his partner Kent Harle. They are the founders of one of the best solar installation firms in California, Stellar Solar and the two of them demonstrate to me constantly that solar power is a bi-partisan proposition that we all can agree on. This is but a small cross-section of the solar tribe. Some of our tribe have been here awhile. Some are just arriving. We are coming together at Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and in our respective communities, just to name a few examples.

Each of us plays a different role - installer, wholesaler, consultant, financier - but together we all have the same job to do: to change the way the world thinks about solar. Coming from the Internet/software development industry, I like to say, "We need to put a better GUI on solar power." Solar needs a better user interface. I believe it is the mission of our tribe to do this. Within our circles, we are just "preaching to the choir." Together as a choir, we need to get the word into mainstream and change the paradigm from that of purchasing solar panels to purchasing solar power. Together we need to make acquiring solar power as easy as signing up for cable and DirectTV. Together we need to tear down the walls preventing access to solar power. We must tear the walls all the way down.

So the tribe is being called. Many have heard the call. It's about cooperation, not competition. It's about a movement where we can express our passion and earn a living along the way. So, when you see someone's blog or Tweet or an article that forwards our message or stimulates more creative thinking, pass it on. Together, let's make history.