Tag Archive for "solarize corbett"

Solar power and Santa Barbara are a good fit!

Santa Barbara Goes Solar!

The headline read … “The Community Environmental Council counts Solarize Santa Barbara a Success! ”

I’ve been writing about solarizing neighborhoods for awhile now, but with a Pacific Northwest slant because that’s where I live and work. I moved to Portland Oregon twenty years ago after living in Santa Barbara California for nearly half my life. [This is when most people just shake their head at me.] I’ve never looked back, but I still have love for my old hometown. Therefore, I’m quite proud that SB has taken a page out of Portland’s sustainability book and completed their first residential solarize campaign, quite successfully too, I might add.

The Community Environment Council (CEC) of Santa Barbara sponsored this program and it was expertly managed by Megan Birney, who is the renewable energy specialist for the organization.

She told me, “As I’m sure you can tell, we have borrowed quite a bit from the Solarize Portland and Solarize Salem projects. The people in Portland and Salem that we have spoken with have been extremely helpful in getting this program up and running. I honestly don’t know if we could have done it without them.”

Here’s the synopsis …

Solarize Santa Barbara

http://www.cecsb.org/solarize-santa-barbara

Campaign Started: May 2011

Sponsored by: Community Environmental Council (Non-profit)

Coordinator: Megan Birney

Chosen Contractor: REC Solar & Sun Pacific Solar Electric

Participation: 187 sign-ups 75 workshop attendees

Contracts signed: 49

Total or projected installed: 205 kW

(Note: 4 contracts are on hold, if they move forward the total will be 220 kW)

[Note: For your reference, I’ve posted below the results of a number of residential solarize program/projects, many I am personally involved or familiar with so I validated the numbers. Judge for yourself whether or not these programs do as advertised or are worth the effort.]

Imagine Energy was the first solar contractor to engage

Has Solarizing Gone Viral?

The first Portland campaign, Solarize Southeast Portland (2009), was sparked by a homeowner who wanted to install solar power and partnered with Tim O’Neal (SE Uplift) and Lizzie Rubado (Energy Trust of Oregon) to create a neighborhood group purchase program. They borrowed from 1BOG, put a Portland spin on it, and the program received lots of media attention (Solarize SE in USA Today) as it was seen as innovative and a potential market game-changer. Over this past year, many individuals who participated in a Solarize Portland program have traveled to national conferences to present and explain this successful model to others.

Solarizing supports city sustainability goals and helps meet RPS

The Northwest cities that adopted this same model, like Beaverton, Salem, and Seattle all got press and accolades for their own successes too, but my favorite coverage was for Solarize Pendleton which had their story told in an Associated Press article that was picked up and broadly published in the New York Times, CBS News, Huffington Post, and scores of other outlets. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/09/pendleton-oregon-solar-energy_n_847061.html

And, as recently as last week the Huffington Post Green section published an article entitled, “Group Buying the New Thing in Residential Solar – And Beyond?” By Lewis Milford and Anne Margolis of Clean Energy Group http://www.cleanegroup.org/blog/group-buying-the-new-thing-in-residential-solar-and-beyond/. It is a good article on the subject and I’ll leave it up to you to read, but I do want to call attention to this quote:

“The [Solarize Portland] model is potentially replicable by communities across the U.S., and is particularly important to study in light of declining state incentives and challenges to the PACE residential financing program … Since then, several other “Solarize” -type programs have popped up all over the U.S. (and beyond), in cities, states, and utility territories, and, based on their apparent success, these programs may be just the ticket to keep up the solar energy momentum in these times of diminishing state and federal incentives.”

Solarize campaigns create buzz and bring attention to renewable energy

Then it goes on to ask, “So what is so great about the Solarize model?” and provides the appropriate answers.

Yeah, we get the headlines and deservedly so. I think we’ve proven this model will stimulate and create demand, while promoting awareness and educating residents, but now we’ll see if it is sustainable.

This guidebook was published in January 2011

One tool that will certainly help keep the solarize momentum going is …

The Solarize Guidebook: A community guide to collective purchasing of residential PV systems

Authored by Linda Irvine, Alex Sawyer and Jennifer Grove of NW SEED (Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development ) and sponsored & funded by DOE/NREL’s Solar America Communities program, The Solarize Guidebook describes key elements of the Solarize campaigns in Portland, and offers several program refinements from projects beyond Portland.

Educational workshops are crucial for a successful solarize program

Contributors include: Lee Rahr, Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability; Lizzie Rubado, Energy Trust of Oregon; Ross Swartzendruber, Salem Creative Network; Lee Jorgenson, Solarize Pendleton; Jessie Denver, City of San Jose; and Dave Llorens, 1BOG.

The guidebook provides lessons, considerations, and step-by-step plans for project organizers to replicate the success of solarizing. If you’re considering doing something similar for your community, you owe it to yourself to do the homework and this book is it. [Including reading solarflarebog.com of course !]

Download The Solarize Guidebook (PDF)

The results of solarizing are obvious - a raising tide lifts all boats

Solarizing: Results and Comparisons (These are the campaigns I know about – there are others, no doubt!)

Solarize SE Portland (2 campaigns)

http://www.southeastuplift.org/content/solarize-se

Campaign Started: 1 – 2009 2 – 2010

Sponsored by: SE Uplift & Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association

Coordinator: Tim O’Neal, Jonathan Cohen

Chosen Contractor: Imagine Energy

Participation: 1 – 350 sign-ups 2 – 300

Contracts signed: 1 – 130 2 – 109

Total or projected installed: 1– 350 kW 2 – 358 kW

Solarize NE Portland

http://solarize.necoalition.org/

Campaign Started: January 2010

Sponsored by: Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN)

Coordinators: David Sweet, Kelly Rogers

Chosen Contractor: Solar City

Participation: 1000 sign-ups

Contracts signed: 204

Total or projected installed: 549 kW

The City of Portland was a good partner - this promo was in the Portland Curbsider

We had over 100 people at this Earth Day Solarize SW Portland workshop

Solarize SW Portland

http://www.solarizesouthwestportland.org/

Campaign Started: April 2010

Sponsored by: Southwest Neighborhood Inc.

Coordinators: Todd Farris, Leonard Gard, Ron McDowell

Chosen Contractor: Mr. Sun Solar

Participation: 700 sign-ups 300+ workshops

Contracts signed: 168

Total or projected installed: 480 kW

Solarize North Portland

http://www.nwnw.org/solarizenorthnw/introduction-north/

Campaign Started: January 2011

Sponsored by: North Portland Neighborhood Services and Neighbors West-Northwest

Coordinator: Mary Kelly, Carrie Richards Andrews

Chosen Contractor: Imagine Energy

Participation: 200 sign-ups 150-175 site assessments

Contracts signed: 32 (+15 more possible)

Total or projected installed: Estimate = 100 kW

Solarize NW Portland

http://www.nwnw.org/solarizenorthnw/introduction/

Campaign Started: February 2011

Sponsored by: Neighbors West-Northwest and North Portland Neighborhood Services

Coordinator: Alison Wallisch

Chosen Contractor: Mr. Sun Solar

Participation: 157 sign-ups 110 site assessments

Contracts signed: 26 (plus 1 SHW & 3 solar pool heating)

Total or projected installed: 74.6 kW

Solar Beaverton

http://livelightenergy.com/solarbeaverton/

Campaign Started: March 2011

Sponsored by: City of Beaverton (Community driven)

Project Coordinator: Rebecca Fitzsimmons

Chosen Contractor: Livelight Energy (2009 = SolarCity)

Participation: 580 sign-ups (2009 pilot = 400 sign-ups)

Contracts signed: 75 (2009 pilot = 50)

Total or projected installed: 225 kW (2009 pilot = 150 kW)

Solarize Corbett

http://corbettoregon.com/news/solarize-corbett/

Campaign Started: July 2011

Sponsored by: NW SEED

Coordinator: Alex Sawyer

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Residential Solarize Campaigns Sponsored by …

Non-Profit Organization: Community Environmental Council (Santa Barbara), Salem Creative Network, Northwest Sustainable for Economic Development – NW SEED (Seattle)

Community Based: City of Portland, City of Pendleton, City of Minneapolis, City of Madison, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center

Employer Sponsored: Columbia Sportswear, Nike Corporation, San Jose City employees

Associations: San Jose Credit Union, Forrest Heights HOA (Portland), Creekside HOA (Salem)

Publicly-owned Utility: City of Santa Clara’s electric utility – Silicon Valley Power

Contractor Driven: SolarCity (multiple cities), REC (multiple cities), Gulf South Solar – 1 Solar Block Group Buying Program (Baton Rouge), Energy Design (Eugene), Spearhead Solar (Davis), Imagine Energy (SE Portland 2^nd campaign)

For Profit/Business: 1Block Off the Grid, Group Energy, Open Neighborhoods Community Solar, Clean Energy Logistics Lab – CELL (Gainesville)

Solarizing makes a connection with community

* About Santa Barbara’s Community Environmental Council

Since 1970, the CEC has led the Santa Barbara region – and at times California and the nation – in creative solutions to some of the toughest environmental problems. Today CEC is focused on eliminating the use of fossil fuels in the Central Coast region in one generation – Fossil Free by ’33.

Find the CEC on the web at www.cecsb.org on Twitter @CECSB and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CECSB .

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Let's Solarize the USA!

It is time to take residential rooftop solar from the early adopter to the mainstream America phase.

For the past thirty years, the U.S. residential solar market was built by American blue collar tradesmen. History will call them solar pioneers. These folks came from varied skill-sets and backgrounds: real estate, roofing, construction, plumbing and electrical, and they morphed into what is known today as solar contractors, solar installers and/or solar integrators. Most of these were small companies with fewer than ten employees, yet these mom & pops literally owned the residential solar market. They created it customer-by-customer, rooftop-by-rooftop, panel-by-panel and system-by-system. A solar contractor might install a couple systems per month (average) for residential photovoltaic (electric) solar. That’d be a good year back in the day, but no more.

I admire these early pioneers and give them their due. They suffered years of doubt and discrimination from just about everyone: the government, utilities, politicians, oil companies, HOAs, permit bureaus, public officials, on and on. Add to this equation the enormous product cost and customer acquisition costs, well, it was a labor of love for many. However, in spite of all this these pioneers prevailed, carved out an industry and built a market. Many are still in business today.

One reason these guys prospered was that they completely controlled (owned) the customer experience. Their sales pitch was cleverly crafted and catered to a particular potential buyer. Every solar sale was sized contingent upon a customer’s ability to pay and every install was a one-off and a priority all its own.

While this approach was beneficial for the solar contractor, it was often hell for the potential customer. [Not quite the car sales experience we all know and love, but similar.] There just wasn’t a whole lot of useful information available for the customer and not many options either. There was some truth behind the “only rich people can buy solar” moniker put on solar by its opponents.

Not to over simplify, but this was one reason why we had a whopping 38 solar electric systems installed on Portland single family homes before the first Solarize Portland campaign began in Summer of 2009.

This paradigm was crying out for change … and change it has.

Two years ago in the Pacific Northwest, homeowners were paying $10/watt (system install price) and today it is almost half that amount. Yes, the solarize projects in Portland, Beaverton, Salem and Seattle had something to do with it, and it is one reason solarizing has had such a successful launch.

Note: The lowest residential pricing in America is contained within group purchasing projects and Dave Lorens (1BOG CEO) told me that pricing for their residential group projects currently range between $4.75/w (NJ) to $ 6.65/w (CA), and he even sponsored one project for $4.60/w saying it was a “special pricing situation”. * Here in the Pacific NW it is closer to $5.25/w.

Naturally, some of the solar old timers are chagrined about what has happened to their business model. See blog post “In every endeavor there is conflict” http://solarflareblog.com/?p=929 . I do understand their distress. The solar business is changing rapidly, with more players entering the market on a daily basis, and the established business model of yesterday has been shattered.

Clearly the customer experience has changed, but solarizing is not for everyone.

Some people require much more of a protracted experience. For them a bit of handholding and coddling is required. After all, this is big ticket purchase for any household. I think people realize that large-scale residential solar programs don’t always allow for a high-quality, individually satisfying, experience. [In the case of Northeast Portland they were working with a list of over 1000 potential customers, and for the Southwest Portland program we had 700 families sign up.] So, I believe there is still room in the marketplace for a solar business that caters to this demographic, we’ll soon see.

: Image from “Deep Green” a movie by Oregon’s Matt Briggs

I am someone who believes all of the science that points to AGW regardless of the misinformation campaigns that proliferate the internet, and anything that gets us to economies of scale and gets us off fossil fuels sooner, is on my radar. With respect to the solar old-timers who are very unhappy about community group purchasing or solarizing programs, they need to understand that this is the quickest path to ubiquity. We simply cannot achieve what is required by installing a dozen homes a month! In my view, we need to scale up and do it very quickly and the solarize approach helps facilitate this objective like no other.

This is the first post of a five-part series entitled “Solarize USA: The paradigm shift”

*From a panel session at American Solar Energy Society “Solar 2011” annual conference entitled “Community-based Group Purchase Models for Solar – what’s working? – Forum” (moderated by Kacia Brockman, Energy Trust of Oregon & Solar Oregon Boardmember) - May 18, 2011

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Solarize USA: The Paradigm Shift – Part 1