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Southern California Edison

Tesla Completes World’s Largest Grid Storage Facility In Just Three Months Time

by Steve Hanley January 31, 2017

Tesla has just completed the world’s largest battery grid storage facility and did it all in about three months from start to finish. The installation consists of 396 Tesla Powerpack units, each with 16,000 lithium ion battery cells for a total of 210 kWh of capacity in each Powerpack. In total, this one 20 megawatt/80 mWh installation is equivalent to 15% of all the installed grid storage presently available in the entire world.

Tesla Powerpack for grid storage

The project came about after Southern California Edison, which is the primary utility in southern California, experienced a major ecological disaster at a natural gas fired peaker plant located in Aliso Canyon near the Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch. It released thousands of tons of methane into the air before it was sealed last February, according to Bloomberg. Peaker plants are electrical generating stations that remain idle most of the day but are brought online to meet demands that exceed baseload capability, usually in the late afternoon and early evening.

“Batteries can…..meet peak demands with lower emissions than natural gas fired peakers by charging during low demand periods when excess wind and solar energy is being generated, and discharging during peak demand periods, which displaces the need to burn incremental natural gas in a peaker,” said Colin Cushnie, SCE vice president of energy procurement and management, in 2015. California is pressing all utility companies to add dramatically to the amount of renewable energy they produce and distribute.

The new facility is smaller, more flexible, and easier to expand than a peaker power plants. It also requires far less permitting than a normal peaker plant, especially in California which has adopted aggressive greenhouse gas emissions standards that are among the most rigorous in the nation. The speed with which the project was completed is almost as important as the cost. The facility can power 2,500 homes all day or 15,000 homes for four hours.

“There were teams working out there 24 hours a day, living in construction trailers and doing the commissioning work at two in the morning,” says Tesla’s chief technology officer, JB Straubel. “It feels like the kind of pace that we need to change the world. This project is exactly in line with our mission to accelerate sustainable technology and sustainable energy broadly for the world,” he added.

“The Mira Loma site can provide the equivalent energy storage of several hundred acres of solar panels,” Straubel said, adding that the facility “is able to to fit into this tight footprint right next to existing substations, and doesn’t really take up any substantial new land. And every piece of this product — the battery, the battery modules, the power electronics, the inverters — was assembled by Tesla workers right here in the US.” That is huge feather in Tesla’s cap at a time when the putative president is pushing hard for more American jobs in the manufacturing sector.

January 31, 2017 0 comment

Original: Tesla & SolarCity’s New Solar Shingles

by Solar Ninja October 29, 2016

written by Solar Ninja

Originally published on CleanTechnica.
By Susanna Schick

Last night, on a back lot at Universal Studios, Tesla unveiled the most promising facet of its impending merger with SolarCity — solar shingles as chic and efficient as their cars. These were paired with new Powerwall home batteries that have double the energy density of Tesla’s first Powerwall product. (You can watch the full video of the presentation further down in this article if you didn’t already watch it in Steve’s article, on Tesla.com, or elsewhere.)

The event was primarily for Tesla owners, so it took me longer to get up the hill from the studio gate than it did to ride my Zero from Vernon at rush hour. But I did get to hitch a ride in a swanky Model X, which was a lovely way to start the Tesla world experience.

Riding there, I passed a Tesla Roadster and was overcome with awe at how far the company has come since the Roadster. Most mere mortals would’ve given up many times along the way. But not Elon Musk. He’s kept going, and won’t stop till he reaches his retirement community on Mars.

The Tesla solar roof was the biggest news, but the Powerwall 2 & Powerpack 2 are game-changers as well. Elon Musk stated that, combined with a $5,500 Powerwall 2, the solar shingles will actually be cheaper than buying conventional shingles and electricity from the grid. The shingles will be available by summer 2017. Here’s a nifty cost analysis of various batteries and grid power. It’s from 2015, so the numbers have most likely changed a bit, but it’s still useful for some perspective on cost and especially cost per kWh of storage.

Californians with traditional Spanish-style roofs are usually out of luck when it comes to living off the grid. The delicate terra cotta tiles don’t take well to having holes drilled in them, and conventional solar panels actually look exceptionally horrible in such stark contrast to the terra cotta tiles. So it was very impressive to see the curved tiles included in the presentation.

Note to engineers: Tesla is hard at work to solve the efficiency problem the curves present, but it’s true the curves are still a technical drawback. As shown on the sample roof, the Tuscan-style tiles would seem to have the least efficiency of the styles, as only the darker tiles are collecting solar energy and they are only doing so on the flat parts (not the curves). So they’re not quite capturing the authentic aged Tuscan look or full efficiency. Still, they’re a sweet option compared to no solar at all.

On the other hand, the French slate shingles are works of art. Tesla managed to create tiles just as beautiful as the real thing, only drastically more durable. Elon Musk told the audience that French slate is the hardest to replicate. Through the use of a hydrographic printing technique, each tile is unique, just like natural slate.

All the Tesla shingles utilize micro louvers to make the solar cells invisible from street view. Musk explained that this is the same technology used in privacy screens for laptops. So that roof really is as gorgeous in real life as it is in these photos. A video (below) showed how much stronger the Tesla quartz glass shingles are than traditional roofing materials as well — an impressive accomplishment. As for efficiency, they’re currently measuring a 2% loss over conventional panels, which is amazing for solar shingles. They’re also working to increase efficiency beyond 100% through light reflection within the shingles.

Solar roof glass tile vs. conventional roof tile pic.twitter.com/AnGWJ07jub

— Tesla (@Tesla) October 29, 2016

They’ve Got The Power

Tesla also showcased its new batteries — Powerwall 2 for homes and Powerpack 2 for industrial & utility customers. The new batteries are twice as energy dense as the old ones, thanks to their new 21–70 cells, which we wrote about a bit here.

While the world’s largest banks were somehow fleeced into investing into a pipeline that will only cause more problems than it could ever solve, Tesla has Powerpacks available for any utility company interested in kicking the (natural) gas habit. Southern California Edison has already ordered a 20 MW/80 MWh Powerpack substation to help ease its dependence on its crumbling gas storage reservoirs. In the press conference last night, I asked Tesla how long until all of Southern California can rely on Powerpacks instead of gas buried underground. Musk stated that once the system is up and running in Mira Loma, they will probably want to buy more Powerpacks.

After the Porter Ranch disaster, I contacted LADWP to find out what it was doing to kick the gas habit. Since 22% of its portfolio is natural gas, and 40% is coal, it pains me deeply to know that my EV is powered by one of the biggest environmental disasters in American history. Here is LADWP’s official response to my inquiry, from January of this year:

LADWP purchases natural gas from suppliers from out of state. Natural gas is conveyed into Southern California through SoCalGas’ system and to LADWP’s in-basin generating stations. LADWP does not have its own gas storage, and the management of SoCalGas’ system to get the gas to us in entirely their responsibility.

LADWP has been using natural gas more efficiently than ever since repowering older generating units at Haynes and most recently Scattergood generating stations.

LA’s goal is to be coal-free by 2025, and LADWP continues to aggressively increase the amount of renewable energy (solar, wind and geothermal power) provided to LA residents and businesses. We are on track to provide 33% renewable energy to customers by 2020, and 50% by 2035. However, the most abundant renewable resources, solar and wind, are both variable. They do not produce energy if the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. Until more storage technology or baseload geothermal power can be developed, natural gas provides an essential “bridge fuel” to ensure continuous, reliable power to our customers 24/7.

Hopefully now that LADWP has completed a 62-mile renewable transmission corridor, it’ll consider purchasing some Powerpacks to store that clean energy as well. Tesla is ready to take LADWP’s order, and help America’s second largest city live a little better.

October 29, 2016 0 comment

Energy Storage Going Solar Market Research Policy Research PV Rooftop Solar Solar $Solar Incentives Solar Policy Solar Research

California Solar Incentives, Solar Installers, & Solar Costs

by Zach June 7, 2016

written by Zach

Originally published on Cost of Solar.

California is ground zero for solar energy in the United States. So, it seems logical to start our state-level solar energy deep dives here. In the article below, I’ll provide as thorough a look at California solar incentives + solar installers + solar costs as I’ve seen anywhere. Actually, it is more thorough than anything I’ve seen.

Naturally, if you read through this and know of more California solar energy facts or resources I should look at and include, let me know in the comments!

Solar Incentives

The first thing to know is that there’s a solar investment tax credit (ITC) available across the United States that offers a credit from the federal government of up to 30% of the cost of a solar installation. However, you have to have that much tax liability in a single year in order to take advantage of the full credit. Additionally, the 30% credit runs through 2019, after which, a phaseout of the incentive begins (under current law). Here are some more details from the US Department of Energy:

Solar-electric property

30% for systems placed in service by 12/31/2019
26% for systems placed in service after 12/31/2019 and before 01/01/2021
22% for systems placed in service after 12/31/2020 and before 01/01/2022
There is no maximum credit for systems placed in service after 2008.
Systems must be placed in service on or after January 1, 2006, and on or before December 31, 2021.
The home served by the system does not have to be the taxpayer’s principal residence.

Solar water-heating property

30% for systems placed in service by 12/31/2019
26% for systems placed in service after 12/31/2019 and before 01/01/2021
22% for systems placed in service after 12/31/2020 and before 01/01/2022
There is no maximum credit for systems placed in service after 2008.
Systems must be placed in service on or after January 1, 2006, and on or before December 31, 2021.
Equipment must be certified for performance by the Solar Rating Certification Corporation (SRCC) or a comparable entity endorsed by the government of the state in which the property is installed.
At least half the energy used to heat the dwelling’s water must be from solar in order for the solar water-heating property expenditures to be eligible.
The tax credit does not apply to solar water-heating property for swimming pools or hot tubs.
The home served by the system does not have to be the taxpayer’s principal residence.

Across California, certain solar energy systems are exempt from property taxes, so no need to worry about increasing your tax bill.

Probably the second-biggest incentive for California solar consumers is the state’s net metering policy — hence the reason fossil fuel & monopolistic utility companies have been routinely attacking it and trying to remove or change it. The policy exists in the jurisdictions of all of the state’s utilities except LADWP, which has a feed- in tariff program in place and its own net metering policy. Under the state net metering policy, excess electricity a consumer generates with her/his solar power system (or other renewable energy system) is treated as follows:

Credited to customer’s next bill at retail rate. After 12-month cycle, customer may opt to roll over credit indefinitely or to receive payment for credit at a rate equal to the 12-month average spot market price for the hours of 7 am to 5 pm for the year in which the surplus power was generated. (If customer makes no affirmative decision, credit is granted to utility with no compensation for customer.)

While consumers using net metering were exempted from connection charges for years, the rules recently changed, and will coming into effect in July 2017 at the latest. Here are more details from DSIRE:

In January 2016, the California Public Utilities Commission issued a decision on its net metering successor tariff. Customers on the new net metering successor tariff will have to pay an interconnection fee, estimated at $75-$150; pay all non-bypassable charges for all electricity consumed from the grid (~$0.02-0.03/kWh); and go on a time-of-use rate. The net metering successor tariff will take effect for California’s three large investor-owned utilities (IOU) on July 1, 2017, or when 5% of the sum of non-coincident customer peak demand is reached for the IOU, which translates to an installed net-metered capacity of 2,409 MW for Pacific Gas and Electric, 2,240 MW for Southern California Edison, and 617 MW for San Diego Gas and Electric.

Click here to read more about the CPUC’s efforts to create a customer-generator successor tariff or contract.

Virtual net metering is also allowed for multi-family buildings, and an April 2016 CPUC decision added rules for solar-connected storage systems up to 10 kW. Here are some more details on the virtual net metering rules:

AB 2466 of 2008 allows a local government, if certain conditions are met, to distribute bill credits from a renewable energy system across more than one meter. To be eligible for this billing arrangement all electrical accounts involved must receive electricity under a time-of-use tariff, and all accounts must be owned by the same entity.

California also allows virtual net metering for certain utility customers. Originally authorized just for customers participating in the Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program, the CPUC voted in July 2011 in favor of a proposed decision which extends virtual net metering to all multi-tenant properties and to all distributed generation technologies. Virtual net metering allows the bill credits associated with the electricity produced by the system to be distributed across all the tenants’ electricity bills.

Regarding solar + storage, here are the rules:

Energy Storage (IOUs Only)
California allows renewable energy systems coupled with energy storage to qualify for net metering. A chief concern when introducing storage to net metering is the risk that a customer would store grid electricity during times when electricity costs are low and export that same grid electricity during times when electricity costs are high. The CPUC developed rules to address this and other concerns. The CPUC developed different rules for PV systems paired with storage devices 10 kW or less, and PV systems paired with storage devices larger than 10 kW or other forms of renewable energy paired with storage of any size.

PV systems paired with storage devices larger than 10 kW and non-PV renewable energy technologies paired with storage of any size:
The CPUC issued a decision in May 2014 establishing rules for net metering systems paired with storage devices larger than 10 kW. In addition to other requirements, these systems must : 1) install a non-export relay on the storage device(s); 2) install an interval meter for the NEM-eligible generation, meter the load, and meter total energy flows at the point of common coupling; or 3) install an interval meter directly to the NEM-eligible generator(s). While these rules originally applied only to systems paired with storage larger than 10 kW, a subsequent CPUC decision extended these requirements to all non-PV technologies paired with storage of any size.

PV systems paired with storage devices 10 kW or less:
The CPUC issued a decision in April 2016 establishing rules for net metering PV systems paired with storage 10 kW or less. Rather than installing the extra equipment required for storage devices greater than 10 kW, the rules for PV systems paired with smaller storage protects against rate arbitrage by relying on system output estimations. Specifically, utilities are required to establish monthly maximum allowable output limits for net metering facilities using CPUC-approved tools. Any export by the customer’s system which exceeds the monthly limit would not be eligible for net metering credits.

The other big solar incentive in California for years was the California Solar Initiative’s cashback grant for installing solar. However, that program is now closed across the state for residential consumers. It is still open for commercial consumers in the San Diego Gas & Electric district.

That said, there are still numerous other solar incentives available in The Golden State. DSIRE collates the most comprehensive index of solar incentives in the country (or the world) as far as I’m aware. It shows 208 solar incentive programs in California. Of course, most are for specific cities, counties, utility jurisdictions, or special districts. I could quickly paste them all in here, but DSIRE continuously updates the incentives as they change, so I think it’s best to just direct you there to find the incentives that could benefit you.

Solar Installers

First of all, before looking into installers in your area, be sure you are prepared to evaluate installers and solar financing options. You don’t want to go to a solar installer with no background knowledge and info about what you are looking for, just as you don’t want to go to a car dealership in the same way.

Naturally, being the largest solar market in the US (by far), all of the big players in the home solar installation industry operate in California. Here’s the top 10 list (nationally):

SolarCity
Vivint Solar
Sunnova
RGS Energy (Real Goods Solar)
Solar Universe
Bland Solar & Air
Amergy Solar
Smart Energy Solar
KDH Solar
Direct Solar Energy

It’s not clear if KDH Solar & Direct Solar Energy operate in California, but solar installers #1–8 do.

As hinted above, though, not all installers are equal. Last year, SolarCity’s MyPower prices were found to be 34% higher than the California average. (Note: SolarCity later ended its MyPower program and just launched another home solar loan program.) Keys to evaluate are the types of financing options installers offer (and try to push on you): internally provided solar loans vs solar leases/PPAs vs solar loans from other companies. Then you have to evaluate how those options compare to other financing options you could use, weighing upfront costs, interest rates, timeframes (a 30-year loan is sure to cost you a lot more than a 20-year loan), and what’s included.

Aside from contacting individual installers, you can get quotes from a variety of installers via Cost of Solar, Pick My Solar, EnergySage, Google’s Project Sunroof, and probably other such services.

You can also check reviews on Yelp, but I hear that reviews are commonly planted on the site, so I don’t know how reliable they are.

A comprehensive database of solar installers/contractors was created and is maintained by the California Energy Commission, and you can search for one in your area via this tool.

Solar Costs

According to the Q4 2015 US Solar Market Insight report, average solar PV system pricing breaks out as follows:

SEIA notes, “Overall system pricing fell by up to 17% over the course of 2015, depending on the market segment, with the largest declines in the utility fixed-tilt sector. On a quarterly basis, pricing continues to trend downward with some levelling-off in the residential sector in particular due to strong investment in customer acquisition and the stubbornness of other soft costs. In the non- residential and utility sectors, there were annual declines of 10% and 17%, respectively. This reflects continued aggressive cost reductions, both in hardware and soft costs, in national system pricing on an aggregate basis. Moreover, as installers and EPCs expand to regions with lower labor and regulatory compliance costs, these regions will have a larger impact on aggregate pricing. Due to advantages from scale, variations in utility system costs are much smaller than variations in residential and non-residential solar costs.”

Here are some more details on solar PV system pricing:

Average pricing for residential rooftop systems landed at $3.50/Wdc in Q4 2015, with nearly 65% of costs coming from on-site labor, engineering, permitting and other soft costs.

While residential hardware costs have fallen by over 16% in the past year, soft costs have actually risen on an industry average basis by 7%, primarily due to rising customer acquisition costs among national and local players alike.

In the non-residential market soft costs remain a challenge as well. Hardware costs fell 15% year- over-year while soft costs saw a modest decrease of 6%. In Q4 2015 soft costs accounted for approximately 50% of total system pricing. Soft costs can be even higher for projects in areas with strict labor requirements and particularly in tough permitting and interconnection jurisdictions. In order to continue reducing costs, developers and EPCs are looking to squeeze additional power density for commercial sites and amortize fixed costs over more power output – and therefore reduce dollar-per-watt and dollar-per-kWh.

California represents nearly 50% of the US solar market. While it’s not clear what the precise averages for solar costs are in California, the state can’t be too far off the average, on average. 😀

Based on the Pick My Solar research noted above regarding SolarCity, the average price of a SolarCity system is $5.10 per watt, while the company found the average price in the state to be $3.60 per watt. That matches up closely with GTM Research & SEIA’s Q4 average of $3.50 per watt. So, I think it’s safe to say that the California average is somewhere between $3.40 per watt and $3.70 per watt (but remember that soft costs have been coming down, and if the trend has continued in 2016, the overall average could be dropping).

If you have more information on solar costs in California, let us know!

June 7, 2016 1 comment

PV Rooftop Solar

25,000 Solar Interconnection Applications Processed In Five Months

by Jake Richardson October 12, 2015

written by Jake Richardson

25,000 solar interconnection applications were processed by PowerClerk Interconnect in just five months, according to Clean Power Research. These applications were processed for five utilities, including NV Energy and Southern California Edison.

PowerClerk allows utilities to improve the interconnection application processes. For example, NV Energy reduced its interconnection application time by about 63% when it used the system created by PowerClerk. One of the key improvements is the use of electronic signatures, rather than having to use signed paper documents which are moved back and forth via snail mail. Also, the electronic system can more easily collect and store PV data for enhanced project management.

All this means that applicants have faster submission times.

“The self-service capabilities built into PowerClerk are consistently called out as one of its most valuable features. PowerClerk allows applicants to check on the status of their submissions online anytime, and as a result, utilities receive far fewer calls requesting a status update,” said Jeff Ressler, President of Software Services. “It’s a win-win for utilities and the solar industry.”

Interconnection delays cost millions of dollars each year, and one of the ways to reduce them is to streamline the process, which is exactly what PowerClerk has done. Reducing interconnection costs and wait times may at least make a dent in the perception some folks have that solar power is difficult to work with, when it isn’t. It’s different in some ways, and there is a learning curve, but it is not more troublesome.

On its website, CleanPower says it has processed over 300,000 incentive and interconnection applications. These applications are associated with gigawatts of installations. This is the kind of success you typically won’t hear about in mainstream news reporting about solar power. Unfortunately, such news generally focuses on solar “problems” instead of its benefits and successes.

It’s also worth mentioning that CleanPower Research has created a number of jobs over the years.

Image Credit: Clean Power Research

October 12, 2015 0 comment

Other Renewable Energy Solar Projects

Southern California Edison Seeking 100 MW Renewable Energy Sources

by Joshua S Hill September 29, 2015

written by Joshua S Hill

Southern California Edison has launched a Request for Offers in an attempt to acquire 100 MW of renewable energy capacity.

The largest subsidiary of Edison International and one of the primary electricity supply companies for much of Southern California, Southern California Edison (SCE) launched its Request for Offers (RFO) on Monday, seeking “renewable energy, capacity, and load reduction from new preferred resources.”

This is the second RFO launched by SCE to support its Preferred Resources Pilot (PRP) program in central and southern Orange County.

“Now in its second full year, this pilot is a real-world test where SCE is exploring how cleaner-energy resources can help maintain or improve electric service reliability in a densely populated area,” said Caroline McAndrews, director of SCE’s Preferred Resources Pilot. “This second RFO helps us prepare for the future and keeps us moving forward in obtaining the cleaner resources needed for this innovative project.”

Specifically, SCE is looking for “renewable distributed generation, demand response, energy storage, and renewable generation paired with energy storage.”

September 29, 2015 0 comment

Energy Storage PV Rooftop Solar Solar Projects Solar Research

SunEdison To Provide Battery Storage For Californian Net-Zero Pilot Project

by Joshua S Hill September 22, 2015

written by Joshua S Hill

SunEdison has revealed that it will be providing advanced energy storage systems to a net-zero pilot project in California.

SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy development company, announced last week that it will be supplying advanced battery systems to a net-zero energy homes pilot project being developed in Fontana, California. The project is being led by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), with the support of the California Public Utilities Commission, with lead project partners Meritage Homes and local utility Southern California Edison.

The Electric Power Research Institute is leading the project in an effort to determine the impact on the local electricity grid of net-zero energy homes that generate and store their own energy.

“With this project, we’re pioneering solutions that will help Californians prepare for the future of the grid, where homes and businesses will be generating their own electricity on a much greater scale than we’re seeing today,” said Tim Derrick, SunEdison’s general manager of Advanced Solutions. “By installing SunEdison’s advanced battery systems on these net-zero energy homes, we’re able to store solar-generated electricity and better manage the interactions of that electricity with the grid.”

“EPRI is leading this project to gain insights into how a community of net-zero homes interacts with the local grid,” said Ram Narayanamurthy, EPRI’s project lead. “We’re using advanced controls and energy storage to manage these mini, distributed power plants that are expected to play a much larger role in the grid of the future.”

“Meritage Homes is excited to participate in this pivotal project,” said C.R. Herro, Meritage Homes’ vice president of Energy Efficiency and Sustainability. “Net-zero energy homes will be energy efficient, more cost effective to run, and have backup power in the event of a power cut.”

September 22, 2015 0 comment

Today's solar panels are fine for tomorrow's needs says a new report from MIT

Solar Projects

Canadian Solar Hands Off 200 MW Tranquillity Solar Power Project In California

by Joshua S Hill September 3, 2015

written by Joshua S Hill

Canadian Solar announced Monday that one of its wholly owned subsidiaries had signed over controlling interest in the 200 MW Tranquillity Solar Power Project.

Recurrent Energy, one of North America’s largest solar project developers, is the Canadian Solar subsidiary that is developing the 200 MW Tranquillity Solar Power Project, and will hand over controlling interest in the project to Southern Power, itself a subsidiary of Southern Company, an American electric utility holding company based in the southern United States.

The agreement, announced earlier this week, will see Southern Power acquire approximately 51% of the Tranquillity Solar Power Project, while Canadian Solar will retain the remaining 49%, as well as contribute its share of the investment required to complete the construction of the project. Canadian Solar had already fully financed the construction phase of the Tranquillity Solar Power Project through a construction and back-leveraged loan facility with a syndicate of six separate banks.

“The Tranquillity project is an attractive opportunity for investors, providing long-term stable cash flows,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. “This transaction is another example of solar power’s move into the mainstream energy mix, and it shows our broader team’s ability to attract top-notch investors to finance our high-quality projects.”

The Tranquillity Solar Power Project is expected to reach construction completion in the fourth quarter of 2016, and is set to generate enough electricity the equivalent needed to power approximately 55,000 homes. A 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has already been signed with Southern California Edison, conveniently placed to receive the electricity generated at the 1,900 acre project site in Fresno County.

September 3, 2015 0 comment

Jobs PV Rooftop Solar

73 MW Solar Project To Be Built By Former Gang Members

by Jake Richardson February 9, 2015

written by Jake Richardson

Homeboy Industries, a training program for former gang members, will provide labor for the Redwood Solar Farms project in California. Homeboy helps train former gang members in construction to gain the skills they need to get and hold regular jobs so they can become independent and stay away from gang culture.

Solar panel installation training is also provided by Homeboy Industries. The organization’s name references males, but some females are gang members and they can also participate in the training programs to learn jobs skills.

The photovoltaic developers for the Redwood Solar project are 8minuteenergy Renewables and sPower. Homeboy Industries is collaborating with them to build three solar PV plants.

Commercial operation of the newly constructed solar power plants is slated for this summer. The entire project is made up of three solar plants:

33.26 MW, Hayworth Solar Farm
20.86 MW, Redcrest Solar Farm
18.75 MW, Woodmere Solar Farm.

The project site is 345 acres of low-producing farmland in Kern County, CA, which is in southern California. Once operational, the new solar project will provide enough electricity to power about 9,000 homes. Power purchase agreements have been signed with Southern California Edison, PG&E, and the city of Palo Alto.

Homeboy Industries graduates have about a 70% job placement rate 90 days after commencement.

Why work with gang members? The Homeboy site has some chilling statistics. “According to the California Department of Education, the rate of 9–12th dropping out among black high school students rose to 43.5% and to 36.1% for Hispanic/Latino students in 2009. In East Los Angeles, over 53% of adults never completed high school. In October 2010, Education Week labeled Los Angeles the ‘dropout epicenter’ of the nation. Los Angeles County is home to 34% of California’s poor, with a poverty rate of 16.1%. 75% of youth gang homicides in the state of California occur in Los Angeles County.”

The city of Los Angeles has had consistent gang activity for decades. Particularly in the 1980s, when it was at a peak, the violence was very difficult for local police to manage. Father Greg started Homeboy as a mission to help gang members leave that lifestyle and get trained in the construction industry so they could lead normal lives.

Homeboy works with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 428 to train participants and help them find jobs.

Image Credit: NASA

February 9, 2015 0 comment

PV Solar Projects

550 MW Solar Project Completed In California

by Jake Richardson January 16, 2015

written by Jake Richardson

First Solar has completed a 550 megawatt solar power plant in Riverside County, California. This part of the state is in the southern area inland from Los Angeles. The new solar plant is owned by GE Energy Financial Services, Sumitomo Corporation of America, and NextEra Energy Resources. It utilizes over 8 million solar modules.

Three hundred megawatts of power from the plant will be sold to PG&E, and the remaining 250 will be sold to Southern California Edison.

First Solar is no stranger to huge solar power plants. The photovoltaic energy provider developed and completed the 550 MW Topaz solar project in San Luis Obispo County, California. And it only took about two years to complete it.

In December of 2014, a 250 MW solar power plant became operational in California as well.

So, in the last two months, California has seen at least 1,350 MW of solar power become operational just from new solar farms. This total is in addition to all the rooftop solar that is constantly being installed.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has written that one megawatt of solar power can provide electricity to about 164 homes. So, the recent addition of 1,350 MW in California could power ~221,400 homes.

Did you hear about this big solar power surge on any of the national news networks? Probably not, but there is a very positive solar power trend taking place in many parts of America that is not well represented in the media.

Another benefit of these large solar power plants is the number of jobs they create during the construction phase. For example, the first 550 MW plant First Solar developed, the Topaz facility, created about 400 jobs. Of course, such a large project stimulates the local economy. The second 550 MW plant is the same size so it is reasonable to expect that about the same number of jobs was created for the installation period.

Also, a smaller number of jobs are generated to operate and maintain such a large plant, so the economic stimulus continues, though at a smaller scale.

Finally, these huge solar power projects also contribute to local economies because they pay taxes to local authorities, which goes back into the community.

Image: First Solar

January 16, 2015 0 comment

Rooftop Solar Solar Policy

Rooftop Solar Plans Under Review By California Utilities

by Jake Richardson October 13, 2014

written by Jake Richardson

The growth of rooftop solar systems in California is causing utilities to reconsider their approaches to managing and distributing electricity. Of course, the grid systems and utility technologies were built to distribute electricity from conventional power plants. However, today more and more consumers and small businesses are taking advantage of affordable solar power systems to generate their own electricity.

These folks are more than likely still connected to the grid, so there is a new development taking place – electricity being sent back to the utilities. In other words, the flow of electricity used to be a one way street, but now its becoming a two way street.

“The anticipated volumes and the greater diversity of these distributed resources are challenging some of our key assumptions that the distribution system was built on. The power could flow the other way, and supply is now in the distribution system, which is contrary to the key assumption that we’ve done all planning in the past,” said Heather Sanders of the California Independent System Operator.

If all this information sounds like conjecture of no particular consequence, it should be noted that California now has over 200,000 rooftop solar systems, and this type of solar power is expected to continue growing. It may actually increase rapidly, but state and utility policies can either support or harm this growth.

The AB 327 Bill when it was originally written was feared to have a potential to
harm solar power expansion in California. Amendments were made later to continue supporting net metering, so that potential damage was avoided.

Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric
are all powerful utilities – so influential that the California Public Utilities Commission had to intervene to get them to integrate distributed solar power better into their long-term plans.

Utilities can be a powerful influence on state governments, but they should not be allowed to push legislation that favors themselves and does not serve the best interests of customers. California is technology leader, so it truly makes no sense for it to be hampered in any way in the development of clean energy.

Image Credit: Public Domain

October 13, 2014 0 comment

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