Sunsei GreenMeter Approved for Rebates in California

ICP Solar Technologies Inc., a developer, manufacturer and marketer of proprietary solar panels and products, today announced that the Company’s Sunsei® GreenMeter^TM has been approved for certain solar-based incentives in the State of California. Specifically, the GreenMeter^TM has been added to the list of approved products under California’s PMRS subsidy program, such that residents installing this unique ICP Solar application will qualify to receive rebates, tax credits, and other incentives under the “Go Solar California” initiative - a $2.2 billion program. The Sunsei® GreenMeter^TM is now listed as an eligible Meter and the associated web service is listed as an eligible Performance Monitoring and Reporting Service provider.

“California installers can now offer their clients an advanced, accurate metering and monitoring product with an even more attractive value proposition - making it easier to spur adoption of this innovative, solar-powered solution,” said Sass Peress, CEO. “Expanding into the California solar market - the largest in North America - is critical to our successful rollout out of the Sunsei® GreenMeter^TM and establishing it as the leading application of its kind.”

BusinessWire

Los Angeles Solar Measure Falls Behind in Votes

A controversial ballot measure in Los Angeles to increase solar power installations in the city has fallen behind, and will be rejected unless thousands of late or provisional ballots swing the outcome.

Measure B, as the issue was known, would require the local utility - the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power - to ramp up solar power production dramatically by installing 400 megawatts’ worth of panels by 2014. (That is a substantial amount - nearly one-third of the size of a record solar deal recently signed by Southern California Edison.)

The controversy centered on how - not whether - Los Angeles should move forward with solar power.

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Growing Excitement, Expectations For Green Jobs Corps

When Rita Bryer sees 300-foot-tall wind turbines sprouting up from the prairie near her home in western Oklahoma, she can’t help but wonder about the view from the top, where blades the size of semi-trucks spin.

“Out here, you can see the wind turbines from 10 miles away,” she said. “Think about how far you’ll be able to see when you’re at the top.”

So, partly out of curiosity, partly because she wants to be part of something new, the 51-year-old is leaving behind a career of odd jobs and oil-field work.

She’s going back to school to become a wind turbine mechanic — one who’ll have to scale the turbines to make repairs.

Across the country, people like Bryer are looking to the renewable energy sector in hopes its “green-collar jobs” will offer them stability in this shaky economy. Some are signing up for community college or apprenticeship programs that train students to be wind turbine mechanics, solar panel installers, fuel-cell engineers or energy efficiency experts.

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Solar Water Heating Incentives May Be On The Way

Ninety percent of the hot water that pours from Californians’ bathroom and kitchen taps is warmed with natural gas, but all those hot showers come with a cost. Burning natural gas pumps out hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year — and that’s in the state of California alone.

Capitalizing upon the state’s goals to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, the California Solar Energy Industries Assn. recently released a study to demonstrate the environmental and financial values of replacing natural-gas water heaters with those that are powered with solar energy in the hopes its study will greenlight a potential $250-million consumer rebate program in the state.

The consumer rebate program is part of AB 1470 — a 2007 law that charged the California Public Utilities Commission with conducting a pilot project to determine if solar water heating is cost effective enough to implement the rebate program, which would provide financial incentives for the installation of as many as 200,000 solar water heaters. A typical residential solar water heating system costs $6,500. Read more

Palm Desert Helps Secure Solar Tax Credit

Provisions in the economic stimulus package going to the U.S. House of Representatives today could make it easier for cities across the country to start Palm Desert-style energy loan programs.

Palm Desert city officials helped author the changes that would ensure residents who take out the loans can cash in on the 30 percent federal income tax credit for solar installations.

Another provision will allow cities and counties to issue tax-free bonds to fund loan programs.

The federal tax code allows cities to issue tax-free bonds only for public improvements. The proposed changes will include renewable energy installations in the definition of public improvements.

The bond provisions mean cities will be “able to access capital on the open market at a much lower rate than if you were to go out and get (taxable) bonds,” said Palm Desert City Councilman Jim Ferguson, who has pushed for the changes. “Taxable bonds depend on the credit- worthiness of a city. Municipal (tax-free) bonds are viewed as a safe investment.”

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California ISO Holds Solar Symposium

Folsom, Calif., – In order to stay one step ahead of an expected boom in large-scale solar power projects over the next five to ten years, the California Independent System Operator Corporation (California ISO) is holding a Solar Symposium to bring solar companies and forecasters together with ISO market and operations experts. It’s a way to ensure solar technologies are on equal footing with other renewable resources already participating in the ISO’s wholesale electricity markets.

The ISO launched its Participating Intermittent Resource Program (PIRP) designed to foster renewable resource development in 2002. That early effort, aimed at wind energy, set up forecasting tools and adjusted market rules to accommodate wind power’s fluctuations in output as a result of changing wind speeds. Solar power can also benefit from accurate and timely high-tech forecasting and communication tools as well as industry collaboration. Read more

Financial Incentives Mean California Home Solar Is Hot

While many in this troubled economy worry about making investments, Doris Dobkins didn’t think twice about sticking her money on her roof.

“Instead of paying PG&E, I’m paying myself,” said Dobkins, a Placer County homeowner who recently spent $36,000 for an electricity-generating solar system.

Based on projected savings in her electricity bills, a state rebate and a new federal tax credit, Dobkins expects to recoup her investment in six years.

The family anticipates saving $100 to $150 a month on Pacific Gas and Electric Co. bills, and the utility company will credit them for excess electricity generated, she said.

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Prices For Rooftop Solar Systems Fall As Supply Grows

Here’s a bright spot in an overcast economy: Solar panel prices are tumbling.

Prices for rooftop solar systems, including installation, already have fallen 8% to 10% since October and are expected to drop another 15% to 20% this year.

Fueling the trend are an oversupply of worldwide manufacturing capacity and lower demand, especially in Spain and Germany, which have been growth engines for the industry.

For U.S. homeowners, effective prices are likely to plunge by more than 50% after figuring in a bigger federal tax credit that took effect Jan. 1.

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Solar Power Industry Remains Hot in California

Despite the turbulent economy, or perhaps because of it, solar energy remains a growth industry in California.

The amount of electricity generated in the state by solar energy soared in 2008, and applications for rebates under the state’s Million Solar Roofs program reached record levels in the last five months of the year.

“While we don’t have the final numbers yet, it appears we nearly doubled the amount of solar installed in 2008 versus 2007,” said Molly Tirpak Sterkel, director of the California Solar Initiative. “That’s a magnificent story.”

Experts attribute the surge in solar sales to a big increase in the federal tax credit, an ongoing state rebate and new innovative financing programs, as well as to mounting consumer concerns over global warming. The growth comes despite a U.S. economy suffering from a battered stock market, severe declines in house and car sales, and growing unemployment.

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Advanced PV: Design Criteria and NEC Compliance Course (ONLINE)

Advanced PV: Design Criteria and NEC Compliance (Online)

Dates: January 19 - March 1, 2009; March 23 - May 3, 2009; April 27 - June 7, 2009; June 8 - July 19, 2009; July 20 - August 30, 2009; August 24 - October 4, 2009; and September 21 - November 1, 2009

This course provides 60 cumulative hours of training, that may be used towards NABCEP certification purposes

Learn more about designing and installing an NEC code compliant solar electric (photovoltaic) power system without leaving your home. A six-week, Internet-based, online course of instruction with text, online reference materials and Internet resource links. The course is self-paced and there is no set time to be online. Individuals have six weeks to complete all course requirements and can work on the course material whenever they have time. Assignments can be submitted day or night and during the weekends, etc…

This course is designed to follow the PV Design & Installation workshop or the PV Design Online course with the next level of design criteria and maintenance issues. Participants must have completed SEI’s Online PV Design course or the hands-on PV Design & Installation workshop or have permission of the instructor. Read more

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