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Community Solar

Georgia Power Unveils Simple Solar Energy Program

by Steve Hanley February 26, 2017

Georgia Power is rolling out a new voluntary solar energy program known as Simple Solar for customers who want to support solar energy development but do not want to (or can’t) install a rooftop solar system on their homes. Signing up is simple. Just go to GeorgiaPower.com/SimpleSolar, fill in some basic account information, and click the right button. You’re done. Participants agree to pay 1¢ per kilowatt-hour over and above the standard rate for electricity.

solar power in Georgia

“This initiative is the latest evolution of our efforts to advance renewable energy in the state while also creating economical services and solutions for customers who want to help grow solar energy,” said Norrie McKenzie, vice president of renewable development for Georgia Power. “Solar energy continues to offer tremendous potential for powering Georgia and we are committed to helping our customers find the solar option that works best for them.”

The interesting thing is that solar is largely now cheaper than everything except wind in the United States, which makes it odd that you have to pay a premium for it, but hey, maybe we’re missing something. Perhaps it is just that getting electricity from new power plants — whatever the source — means not using/paying for electricity from old, non-solar power plants?

The Simple Solar program was designed in cooperation with the Georgia Public Service Commission to encourage solar development. GPSC has approved the plan. Georgia Power uses the 1¢ per kilowatt-hour fee to purchase renewable energy credits from certified solar generation sources. Because purchases are tied to subscriptions, customers who volunteer are directly supporting the growth of solar and solar generators throughout the region.

Simple Solar has several subscription tiers available including Large Volume and Special Event purchase options. Hundreds of residential and business customers have already subscribed. Toto USA is a Georgia manufacturer known for its sustainability efforts and renewable goals. It was the first customer to match 100% of its monthly usage through the Large Volume option.

“We are pleased to increase our commitment to match 100% of our usage through Georgia Power Simple Solar,” says Bill Strang, president of operations and e-commerce for the company. “Our partnership with Georgia Power allows us to provide both a return on investment with cost effective electricity and a return on environment with sustainable solar energy.” Georgia Power expects to add up to 1,600 MW of additional renewable energy capacity by 2021.

Georgia is an excellent candidate for solar power. Former president Jimmy Carter recently announced that he is installing a large community solar system on leased land to benefit his local community. Who’s next? Maybe Akon?

Source: Solar Power World | Image Credit: Georgia Power

February 26, 2017 1 comment

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Solar Power Coming To 10,000 Nigerian Homes Thanks To Microgrids

by Steve Hanley February 25, 2017

written by Steve Hanley

70% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to a conventional electrical grid. Even if they did, the service is often interrupted by a variety of factors. Now, Community Energy Social Enterprises Limited, a Nigerian company, and Renewvia Energy Corporation, an American firm, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide solar power to 25 communities across Nigeria using local microgrids. The communities are located in the Nigerian states of Bayelsa, Ondo, Ogun, and Osun. The microgrids are expected to be operational by the end of this year and have a total capacity of 10 megawatts.

solar power for LED lights Photo by © SolarAid

Clay Taber, managing director of Renewvia, says the microgrids will include PV panels, string inverters, aluminium racking, and energy storage backup power. He adds that Renewvia and CESEL will sell electricity to microgrid customers through Kilowatts, a “pay as you go” microfinance company. “The competitiveness of the system helps to ensure payment, as the project would provide consistent and reliable power at a less expensive price than current rural power generation by diesel,” he says. Most customers send about $6 a month for electricity from a solar microgrid.

The project is supported by Power Africa, a US energy project initiated in 2013 to assist African countries in accessing energy. CESEL is a private Nigerian company that has led the community engagement for 6 operational microgrid projects in Nigeria that have received funding through the Nigeria Bank of Industry and United Nations Development Program.

February 25, 2017 1 comment

Community Solar Energy Storage PV

SolPad Releases Pricing & Pre-Order Info For Mobile Solar + Storage Product

by Derek Markham February 9, 2017

written by Derek Markham

Originally published on CleanTechnica
by Derek Markham

The Silicon Valley startup SolPad has just announced the specs, pricing, and pre-order date for its all-in-one solar plus storage mobile solution, which could help usher in a new era of entry-level solar.

We first covered the SolPad product back in October of last year, with writer Matthew Klippenstein calling it “a glimpse of the future.” That article raised a lot of questions in the comments section about the details and reliability of such a device. Some of those comments called it vaporware, while others questioned the wisdom of integrating batteries into the body of a solar panel and the legality of simply plugging such a system into the grid without an adequate grid-tie arrangement, and still others asked why it was even needed with the current state of solar technology. Most of which were decent skeptical questions, and all of which are expected on a piece about a forthcoming “breakthrough” solar product. However, it looks like the SolPad Mobile is getting ready to enter the market, as the company has released additional details about how much it will cost and when it will be available, so we’ll soon get an opportunity to see how the product will be received once it is released into the wild, so to speak.

The SolPad, which lays claim to being “the world’s first and only truly integrated solar panel,” debuted to the public at CES 2017, where the company said it “marks a quantum leap in personal power.” The first version of the SolPad to hit the market will be the SolPad Mobile, a 72-watt solar panel with an integrated 600 Watt-hour battery and a host of other features (LED light, Wi-Fi, a ‘talking’ user interface, and more), which will be available for pre-order beginning May 3rd, 2017 at an introductory price of $1395.

The Mobile version is intended primarily as a portable power solution, not a home solar array, as its 25-pound weight and relatively small size (28″ long by 21″ wide by 1.8″ thick) could be carted along on off-grid adventures easily enough (assuming you’re not backpacking). The device is designed to be used as a standalone electricity source or to be chained together into a solar micro-grid, with the onboard inverter supplying AC power to other devices and a Wi-Fi connection enabling the creation of a mesh network. Two AC outlets can output 2000 watts (peak) and 1000 watts (continuous), and a pair of fast-charging USB ports will supply DC current.

According to SolPad, the Mobile’s battery can be fully charged via the solar panel in about 10 hours, or via grid power in about 5 hours. The company’s SolControl software is said to allow users “to send solar power to specific items, appliances and rooms, and experience total control of your power with an iPhone,” and to “choose the best time to use solar or grid power for maximum utility bill savings.”

“SolControl is the only hardware and software solution that integrates solar generation and energy storage with automated energy management. SolControl’s engaging and interactive user interface (UI) makes homeowners aware of when and how they are consuming energy. It puts cost-saving control into a gamified and easy-to-use smartphone application. SolControl also helps conserve electricity by autonomously learning usage habits and intuitively providing suggestions to further optimize power consumption.” – SolPad

Here’s an overview of SolPad:

Still to be announced are the pricing and pre-order date for the company’s larger offering, the SolPad Home, which is a 330 W solar panel with integrated 500 Wh battery that is intended to be installed as a rooftop array and which is said to be “like having a smart-energy computer on your roof.” Learn more at SolPad.

[Edit: The original version of this article referred to the company as SunCulture Solar, but the startup has actually changed its name recently to SolPad, so the article has been updated to reflect that change.]

February 9, 2017 0 comment

Community Solar

Solar Power For Churches Is Getting Easier & Cheaper

by Aisha Abdelhamid February 9, 2017

written by Aisha Abdelhamid

Originally published on Eden Keeper
by Aisha Abdelhamid

Faith members considering solar power for churches, temples, mosques, and other houses of worship are discovering that installations are getting both easier and cheaper. Since 2009, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), costs for non-residential solar installations have dropped around 73%, from around $7.50 per kilowatt to today’s cost of about $2 per kilowatt.

Credit: InterfaithPowerandLight.org

Conversations On Solar Power For Churches Are Trending

In Minnesota, for example, approximately 400 congregations are working with Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (MNIPL), a faith-based nationwide nonprofit concerned with climate change and environmental stewardship. MNIPL Executive Director Julia Nerbonne notes that conversations on solar power for churches are trending all across the state.

Among the 20 Minnesota houses of worship that completed their transition to solar power in 2016 are Unity Church-Unitarian and Woodbury Peaceful Grove United Methodist Church in St. Paul. In Roseville, St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church also completed it’s solar rooftop installation last year.

While the church spent around 2 years to complete researching and installing its solar system, securing $119,000 in funding for St. Christopher’s solar project was facilitated by federal and state programs. Joel Norton, a member of St. Christopher’s Green Team, says that the church worked with a local solar installer, applied for a federal tax rebate program, and took advantage of the Made in Minnesota solar incentive program.

Norton reports, “After the financial arrangements were in place and engineers inspected the church roof to ensure it could hold the extra weight, the panels were activated in April.” St. Christopher’s Green Team states that “more than 17,000 kWh have been produced so far, saving 35 tons of CO2. We are also significantly reducing our monthly electric bill.”

St. Christopher’s team designed the solar panel installation to leave the shape of a cross exposed on the church’s roof. Norton explains that it’s in the hands of the faithful “to preserve God’s creations.”

Reverend Glenn Berg-Moberg, senior pastor at St. Anthony Park Lutheran, agrees. He says, “The fat truth is there has been, and still is, a big portion of the church that thinks of the Earth as something given to us to use up, and that’s not a good representation of what a biblical view of the world should be.”

“The biblical view,” says Rev. Glenn, “is the world doesn’t belong to us; it belongs to God, and we are the caretakers.”

Credit: StChristophers-MN.org

February 9, 2017 0 comment

Community Solar

Solar Power For Mobile And Manufactured Homes

by Steve Hanley November 5, 2016

written by Steve Hanley

We recently received an e-mail from a reader asking about solar power for mobile and manufactured homes. That sent us scurrying through all the closest here at SolarLove looking for information we could share with our readers, but we found all the cupboards were bare. So we turned to Google for help and came up with some ideas.

Solar for mobile or manufactured home

In general, rooftop solar is not a viable option for people living in mobile or manufactured homes primarily because their roofs are not capable of supporting the weight of a solar panel array. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are lots of ways people can improve the energy efficiency of such homes and there are options for ground mounted solar systems or portable solar panels to shoulder at least part of the load.

According to the US Energy Department, a mobile or manufactured home starts off with significant energy efficiency disadvantage compared to a traditional house. But a combination of remedial strategies can lower heating or cooling costs by nearly one third. They include:

Install energy-efficient windows and doors
Add insulation to the belly
Make general repairs (caulking, ducts, etc.)
Add insulation to your walls
Install insulated skirting
Install a belly wrap
Add insulation to your roof or install a roof cap.

If you have a south facing wall, Mother Earth News has detailed instructions for how to build a solar collector that will use the heat from the sun to help heat your home. All of these suggestions work best for a home that is permanently installed and not subject to being moved.

If there is room on the lot the mobile or manufactured home sits on, a ground mount solar system is a possibility. It will need to be set up in an area that faces south and is free of obstructions that will cause shadows during the day. There are also solar water heaters that can be set up outside on the ground to help reduce the cost of making domestic hot water.

Just because the roof of your home won’t allow you to put a full solar panel array up there, solar power is still an option. In fact, according to some sources, only 8% of the roofs in America are suited to solar installations. Either they face the wrong way or don’t have the proper slope to take maximum advantage of the sun’s rays. Also, lots of people live in apartment buildings or condos that have no roof space at all.

Community solar is designed to bring clean, renewable power to those who can’t benefit from rooftop solar. Here’s how it works. A solar entrepreneur constructs a solar farm out in the countryside somewhere but sells the individual panels to those with no access to rooftop solar. A person can buy one or more panels. Each month, a portion of the electricity generated by each panel becomes a credit on the subscribers utility bill. It is a simple, easy way to “go solar” without having any solar panels on your property at all. Check Google for community solar projects in your area.

November 5, 2016 1 comment

Community Solar

Community Solar Coming To San Antonio This Fall

by Steve Hanley July 12, 2016

written by Steve Hanley

CPS Energy plans to have a new community solar facility online and available to all its customers in the San Antonio area this fall. The installation will have 11,200 panels spread across 10 acres. One of its unique features is that the panels will be mounted on movable frames that will allow them to track the sun during the day. That should boost output by 15% over traditional fixed panel systems. Total system output is projected at 1.2 megawatts.

Photo credit: Ray Whitehouse /The San Antonio Express-News

July 12, 2016 0 comment

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“Solar For All” Shows How Utilities Can Increase Access To Solar Power

by Steve Hanley June 25, 2016

written by Steve Hanley

A new report entitled Solar for All examines what utilities can do to make solar power more accessible for more Americans, particularly in lower-income areas and communities of color. It is the result of a collaboration between the Southern Environmental Law Center the Partnership for Southern Equity, and the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development. It is also supported by more than a dozen other state and regional organizations.

Solar For All residential solar power guide

June 25, 2016 0 comment

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Brooklyn’s Microgrid For Selling & Buying Electricity

by Jake Richardson March 16, 2016

written by Jake Richardson

A ‘microgrid’ platform has been opened in Brooklyn to allow consumers to buy and sell electricity directly to each other in a secure peer-to-peer network. It was created by Transactive Grid (TAG) to allow the production and consumption of electricity to be in the hands of consumers. Of course, this means when operating within the microgrid system they will be not be entirely based on electricity from utilities.

brooklyn

Ethereum blockchain technology is the basis for the Brooklyn energy network, which monitors electricity outputs from solar and wind power. It also does the same for electricity from batteries – which could mean products like the Tesla Powerwall, or other new energy storage products.

The first network will be launched on President Street in Brooklyn, which runs into Prospect Park and then through Crown Heights on the other side. The Brooklyn Transactive grid is a joint venture between LO3 Energy and ConsenSys.

“This really is an exciting development in the way consumers can interact with energy, and we hope it will lead to a cleaner, greener society,” said Co-founder of TAG, Lawrence Orsini. This new technology is an important opportunity for consumers to participate in a new electricity marketplace, rather than having to rely exclusively on large or huge utilities, and pay their rates.

There are already homes in Brooklyn with their own solar power systems generating electricity, which can be consumed by the homeowners. If there is excess electricity, it can be input to the this microgrid, where other homeowners can buy it.

The ability to sell excess electricity directly to other consumers is important, because typically it has been sold back to utilities at rates that have not been determined by consumers. In other words, the net-metering rates are determined by bureaucracies which usually have connections to government agencies or departments and utilities.

Some utilities have been resistant to homeowners getting their own solar or wind power and battery systems, because they want to control electricity and the money associated with it.

We might think of solar or wind power as something that is better for the environment, but it can also be better for people because clean energy doesn’t produce the harmful air pollution that fossil fuels do.

The use of a microgrid platform in a neighborhood is fascinating – they have been used effectively on islands as well.

Image Credit: wikipedia user GK tramrunner, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

March 16, 2016 0 comment

Activism Community Solar Energy Storage Going Solar

Solar Revolution In Berlin — Join Us April 9–10!

by Zach March 11, 2016

written by Zach

In partnership with CleanTechnica, EV Obsession, GridHub, and several others, Solar Love is launching the first of several planned “Cleantech Revolution Tour” events in Berlin April 9–10. (Full agenda here — subject to change as we add partners, add speakers, and improve the event.)

One day of the event will be focused on solar energy, with world-leading experts on solar such as Craig Morris, editor of Renewables International, and he is lead author at the EnergyTransition’s Energiewende Blog; Stefan Schurig, Director of Climate, Energy, and Cities at the World Future Council; Tobias Engelmeier, director and founder of Bridge to India, India’s leading sustainability advisory firm, and founder of IndiaGoesSolar.com; and yours truly.

Solar sessions include:

a thorough summary of the state of the global solar industry and the state of the German solar industry today, by Craig Morris
a 101 on going solar, by Benjamin Shulz
a solar costs deep dive, by Tobias Engelmeier
how to advance solar in your city & country, by Stefan Schurig
a panel on the future of solar, moderated by me and with all of the gentlemen above on the panel
and a closing summary session by me.

If you are interested in learning more about solar power, and especially German solar power, by world experts on the topic in an accessible, fun, comfortable setting in the flesh, I think this is the perfect event for you. Yes, I’m biased, since I planned it. 😀

As indicated in the agenda, the dates are April 9–10, 2016. The price is just €50. You can reserve your spot via our registration page or simply by clicking right here:

If you would like to sponsor this Cleantech Revolution Tour event, sponsorship options are here.

March 11, 2016 0 comment

Community Solar Going Solar PV Solar Projects

Black Rock Solar, Lower Income Solar Energy Pilot Program In Nevada, & Open Energy

by Cynthia February 28, 2016

written by Cynthia

Originally published on CleanTechnica.

Four elementary schools serving low-income communities in northern Nevada will blossom with greener classrooms. Classrooms with purer air and more direct exposure to solar panels and solar careers in the 21st-century studies. A recent press release shares that Nevada-based Black Rock Solar, a non-profit organization, is working with Open Energy, a commercial solar debt finance provider, for solar projects on this four elementary schools.

Black Rock Solar is committed to facilitating access to clean energy throughout diverse communities. The loan will enable the building of a 550-kilowatt project portfolio for the schools. Expressing the blessing and the trials that Open Energy cut through, to empower these schools, the press release notes, “It is usually incredibly difficult to get flexible construction funding for smaller sized commercial solar installations like ours, but Open Energy provided us with the opportunity to make these projects a reality,” said Patrick McCully, Executive Director of Black Rock Solar. “The Open Energy team is passionate about our mission to promote clean energy, and their simple, straightforward application process coupled with their innovation financing solution made them the perfect partner.”

As a non-profit, Black Rock Solar organization manifests low-cost clean energy services for “the non-profit, public, low-income and educational sectors with a focus on rural and tribal entities.” Going on: “Black Rock Solar has installed over six megawatts of solar power since 2007, providing more than $900,000 of combined savings annually on energy bills.”

“Empowering underserved communities” is not a light undertaking, and Black Rock Solar can’t do it alone. Luckily, in this case, Open Energy was there to help. “Affordable, clean energy is an important cause, and we are honored to take part in it by providing loan capital,” said Graham Smith, CEO of Open Energy. “We are very excited for students to learn about their school’s solar power system, inspiring a generation of clean energy enthusiasts.”

Black Rock Solar shares more in the following video:

The fresh approach of Open Energy cuts the time needed to finance commercial solar. Open Energy’s work involves an online marketplace lending model.

Schools — as the primary foundation for caring about the present and future of children, community, and ecological wellness — should always be at the forefront of progressive solutions, as in this case.