A question just came up about how to address potential problems caused by too much solar energy installed on the grid, and the variability in production causing problems for grid operators here in Washington. I think this is a problem we are very unlikely to encounter anytime soon. Here in Washington, in RCW 80.60, our utilities are only required to accept net metering capacity of 0.5% of the 1996 peak load. This seems like a very low cap to me and well under the level that would cause any problems. At what point does that variability cause a problem that would have to be addressed by allowing utilities to “throttle” production through the use of “smart inverters”, or better yet, some short term (day to night) storage of electricity? I don’t know.
I did take a look at yet another state by state comparison of net metering laws (Wikipedia, “Net Metering” article) and have included that table below. I found that many states do not have capacity limits, many states have small caps like ours, and several states have much higher capacity limits, eg VT at 4%, CA, DE, and MO at 5%, and MA at 6%.
I think our state’s low cap will need to be addressed legislatively eventually. That is of course if we all share the goal of increasing the amount of locally owned clean electricity.
Barclays downgrades utilities that are not reacting well to distributed renewable energy. When the world changes around you, lack of ability to change yourself leads to negative outcomes. Times of change are also times of great opportunity for those that can be flexible and creative. How will our local utilities fare?
It is a sad day for those of us who have been involved with Solar Washington as we found out we lost a longtime friend and solar advocate.
George Meyer was reliable, kind, and generous with his time and energy, often asking nothing in return. He especially went above and beyond the call of duty to organize the webpage, listings and maps for the state’s Solar Tour. He maintained a positive and cheerful attitude exhibiting grace under pressure.
George passed away April 24. Our thoughts are with his family, and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Scott Sklar can write a great essay. In this essay he cites the overwhelming belief by utility execs that their business models will be significantly changed in the next decade and a half. He also ties threads together using the evidence of opportunities for increased energy efficiency developments in building, the wildfire pace of deployment of renewable energy at the site of consumption as distributed generation, and the coming wave of distributed energy storage. Mr. Sklar’s essay puts into words some of our aspirations here at Power Trip Energy, and we are gratified to see these trends.
There is a major trend that is not mentioned in this essay which utilities should view as their best coming opportunity, and that is the electrification of our transportation system.
His summarizes well when he states that regulators are becoming aware that the market is already out of their control, as the utility sector tries to navigate the rapidly changing world.
In a recent international survey conducted among PV system installers, integrators, EPC providers and PV module distributors, there were two interesting findings that align with our business practices here at Power Trip Energy.
Firstly, 99% of these respondents said that module reliability was a more important purchasing factor than price. We have made this determination long ago. As a small installer with a single crew and over 400 systems installed in the last 11 years, we are happy to have made the decision to work with high quality equipment, and not necessarily chase the lowest cost per watt. As a result of our choice, our single crew is always scheduled to be installing a new system, and is very rarely called off in order to be dispatched on a service call.
Secondly, SunPower has come on top again as being rated #1 in highest quality. Admittedly, this is a survey and so represents opinion and is not a technical study, however we have previously referenced technical studies that reached the same conclusion. We are proud to be Authorized SunPower dealers, and we are confident that this strategic partnership will serve us and our customers well over the coming decades.
We are currently installing SunPower 335 and 327 watt modules, as in this recent wintry installation at Heather and Tony’s home in Port Orchard pictured below.
Our friends at Wild Birds Unlimited are featured in an article about solar, the PV / EV connection, and increasing attractiveness for solar among small businesses in Washington.
The rapid expansion of residential grid-tied pv arrays in Hawaii is outpacing expectations or the ability to set rational policy. As a result there have been disruptions to industry and unforeseen costs to citizens due to policy changes without advanced notice. This is the “interconnection nightmare” to which the title refers. Contemplating how such policy changes would affect Washington State, they would be a nightmare here as well.
This article states that several of HELCO’s substations have already experienced reverse power flow without negative results.
The other evening, my kids were asking me how photovoltaic modules are made. I gave my best explanation on my own, and then also found several excellent resources on the web. This was one of the best videos (23 minutes, trade-show-commercial-style presentation):
Here is the process at a quick glance from SolarWorld’s website:
The SolarWorld mono-crystalline modules we install are made at their facility in Hillsoboro, OR. This video is from their Freiburg, Germany factory mostly showcasing polycrystalline silicon module production. When I visited Hillsboro in early 2013, they were still growing the mono-crystalline silicon ingots there, and it was interesting to see the raw silicon material and the 8′ long x 8″ cylindrical ingots coming out of the kilns. Since then, they have idled the kilns in Hillsboro and are getting the wafers from the factory in the video in Freiburg.
The quality of what is shown in the video and the fact that this company is a major global manufacturer with vertical integration and in-house quality control, is one of the main reasons we are happy to have partnered with them as an installer of their US-made products.
They wouldn’t allow pictures on the factory floor, but they made a better video than I could have anyway.
It was a very good year for solar in Western Washington. Not only did the weather cooperate, showing performance equal to any year since we have been monitoring inverters, but the pace of installation of new solar quickened significantly. While we do not have any state-wide figures available at this point, we can say that locally we installed 63 grid-tied pv projects totalling 383 KW. This represents a 70% growth in our KW installed over 2012, and also represents about the limit of what we feel we could do with current staffing. We are looking to accommodate more growth this year by adding three new people to our team.
Last year we added one new employee; John Fleming has now been with us nearly a year, and is bringing a great engineering mindset to our site evaluations and system designs. On an administrative note, we lost our reasonable ability to provide a group health plan for our employees. The premium increases were too high compared to what our employees could get for themselves on “The Exchange”. So we gave everyone raises b y dividing up our savings on health care premiums and cancelled our group health plan. It’s hard to see how that is a good result of the ACA, but we’ll be continue to be patient and review our options again next year.
The year 2013 marked the first year that a significant number of our clients utilized local financing to pay for their systems. Although some financing has been available for quite a while, it has never been optimal and we had not previously encouraged its use. Now there are great local financing options available from several local lending institutions, which include low interest rates in recognition of the energy savings, high enough loan amounts to put up large pv systems, and the lack of leans against the home (some of these loans are secured by the pv system only.) Call us to learn more about those options or review this page https://powertripenergy.com/fininc.htm#Solar_Financing
Our three Solarize programs each had the highest participation rate yet in the three years we have been running them. Solarize Kitsap, Solarize Port Townsend, and Solarize Sequim all resulted in major savings to clients through the group purchasing rebates, and we also installed a slew of complimentary electric vehicle charging equipment as another benefit to participants who installed 8 kw or larger systems.
More and more of our clients are driving EVs and producing their own electricity with solar. In our family at home we began to lease a Nissan Leaf, and here at Power Trip Energy, we leased a Toyota RAV4 EV – both all electric, and with 50-75% of that electricity generated from local solar power.
In 2013 we continued to see slight price decreases in modules and slight efficiency increases. Due to the high local market demand, some local manufacturers struggled with lead times, but our supply from international industry leaders remained reliable. We utilized some newer products offering module level power management and monitoring, and this continues to be a strong trend in the industry. As we keep an eye on the state of the industry and introduction of new products, we retain the primary goal of using the highest quality equipment from the most reliable manufacturers as the best way to ensure long-term value for our clients.
Looking ahead to 2014, we are seeing continued strong interest locally. Our 2014 Solarize Kitsap program is off to a strong start and enrollment remains open through March 31, 2014. There are several upcoming orientation sessions, the schedule is here: http://www.solarizekitsap.com As mentioned above, we have remodeled our office to accommodate new staff and are planning to add three new positions this year. The national and local trends are that solar is becoming mainstream. Our goal of becoming “just another trade” may be within reach.
The existing state of the market is amazing in terms of the lowest prices and highest quality equipment we have ever seen, combined with several incentive programs in place for another couple of years: the 30% Federal tax credit (until 2016), the Washington State sales tax exemption (until 2018), and the annual production incentive payments available through the Washington State Renewable Energy Cost Recovery Program (in place until 2020.) There has never been a better time to install solar, and depending on whether those incentives are extended, we may not see a moment like this again. If you have been considering installing grid-tied pv, give us a call or learn more at https://powertripenergy.com
The increase in solar installations nationally is continuing a very strong growth curve in both the utility and residential arenas. Full data with impressive charts are available at this link from SEIA.
Locally, here at Power Trip Energy Corp, we increased the amount of pv installed by 70% over last year. We are hoping to continue to increase at that pace again next year. This year we added one new person, and are planning on adding three more people to our team next year to facilitate this growth. We have added office space and we have sufficient warehouse space in order to accomplish those goals. With continued price decreases in the cost of solar modules, and now with advantageous financing available, we have crossed a point beyond which the installation of grid-tied solar on a sunny roof is now economically compelling, regardless of the environmental benefits, increase in house value, and personal liberation.
