Monday, December 21, 2015

In key solar decision, California rejects utility plans




The California Public Utilities Commission delivered a major win for rooftop solar and a serious blow to the utility industry Tuesday, proposing to leave mostly in place a program that encourages homes and businesses to go solar.


Southern California Edison and other utilities lobbied the commission to slash the rates at which solar customers are paid for the electricity they generate, and to approve new monthly charges. Under Edison's proposal, the average solar customer would have seen her or his monthly bill increase from $65 to $135 — a difference of more than $800 per year.


Clean energy advocates feared the commission would back the utility industries' proposals, as it has in the past. But Commission President Michael Picker didn't give the utilities what they wanted, rejecting new monthly fees and demand charges. Solar customers would continue to be paid for their excess generation at full retail rates under his proposed decision.


“Gov. Brown’s (utilities commission) is standing up for clean power and for customers by proposing to reject the utilities’ attempts to make solar out of reach for customers,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Solar Sizing and Payback

How To Determine The Right Size Solar System For You

Many people call into the office and immediately want to know what a solar system will cost them for a 2000 sq ft home. The answer is it depends on the following:

1. How much is your last 12 months usage in kilowatt hours (KWH) on a monthly basis? This information can be plugged into a solar sizing software program and give you a very good idea as to the sizing and pricing of your new solar system.

2. What electric rate are you on? Some rates are cheaper than others and the price you pay for your electricity will affect the size and price of your solar system.

3. What Energy Savings can you incorporate now and down the road? This information is very useful due to the fact that future energy savings should be evaluated into the size of your currently planned solar system.

4. Are you comfortable? Many people are cutting back so as not to get hit with the seasonally high bills air conditioning creates. With all of the cash, tax advantages, and exchange rate subsidies, adding more energy production now is very inexpensive.

5. How well can you take advantage of the Time of Use TOU exchange rate when incorporated into solar?

6. How efficient of equipment are you willing to invest in? We will get into efficiency of solar panels and inverters at a later date. But the bottom line still exists, more efficient equipment produce more energy and usually degrade (lose efficiency) at a slower rate, and can also carry better warranties. Quality and efficiency affect pricing.

7. What if any solar shading issues need to be addressed as well as what direction and angle the solar panels will be facing.

As you can see, if just one or two of the above mentioned items are not addressed, you could be substantially off on what size of system you need and what your overall expense is going to be. This is not all that difficult for a knowledgeable industry professional. However, many salespeople just want to sell customers a larger system to make a larger commission or are instructed to under size systems to make the rate of return on investment as well as the number of years for the system to pay back look best.

At Nova West Solar, we are committed to helping educate consumers on solar as well as system sizing. Proper system sizing, coupled with high efficiency Premium equipment and competitive pricing makes Nova West Solar the right choice.