SCE Power Outage Alert: 755 Homes Affected in Santa Monica

Word on the street is the power is out, but here at the Solar Forward office, we had no clue.

At approximately 11:17am this morning, Santa Monica residents in the Sunset Park neighborhood lost power.  At the same moment, Solar Forward’s Outback Power battery back-up system kicked into gear.  The result: seamless transition to back-up power. 

No crashed computers.  No waiting around.  No delays to business.

Southern California Edison has yet to determine the cause of the outage.  The number of affected homes is growing, and ETA to restore power is unknown.

How can you make your home immune to the ins and outs of the grid?

Solar Forward's Outback Power battery back-up system

Go solar with battery back-up.

While solar without a back-up system is a great way to save money on your Edison electric bill, and reduce the amount of carbon being spewed into the atmosphere, it won’t keep you running during routine outages or emergencies. 

Safety precautions require that when the grid goes down, your solar goes down.  That is – unless have a battery back-up system. 

Solar Forward has installed a number of these systems in Santa Monica, leaving signs of activity and light, while the rest of the city sits stalled.

To inquire about solar and/or battery back-up systems, give Solar Forward a call at 310.433.3770. 

Watch our battery back-up video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAcbTzQDJLg.

Back to the Future: DWP Shuts Down Solar Again

The LADWP solar program has deteriorated into chaos. 

New applications into LADWP for solar are experiencing over two month delays!  Solar contractors and homeowners are being held captive by the utility.  Until given the go ahead by LADWP, we are unable to move forward on pending projects.

In the peak summer months, LADWP has effectively shut down the solar industry by dismissing their entire solar inspector staff.  And this isn’t the first time.

All trained and experienced solar inspectors have been replaced by a new group of  “union” employees with no background in solar energy. 

The delays are mounting.  During the sunniest months of the year, when demand for electricity is greatest and we’re asked to flex our power, we have solar systems switched off!  

Calls, emails, more calls.  It is nearly impossible to reach anyone at LADWP to air grievances and find solutions. 

What can be done by the City Council and the Mayor’s office to create oversight for LADWP?

The people of Los Angeles want renewable energy.  Sadly, LADWP has repeatedly made it impossible, and is still wasting taxpayer money at every turn.

LADWP Slows Solar in Hottest Summer on Record

The act that granted the right to interconnect solar systems with the power grid is called PURPA.  It was passed by Congress in 1978.

Solar Forward installed its first grid-tied solar system in Los Angeles in 2005.

Solar is not new.  So why now, in 2012, do utility companies still struggle with its implementation?

The issue is not demand.  Californians thirst for more solar.  In July alone, over 600 solar rebate applications were submitted to LADWP.

During a summer which may be the hottest ever on record, installation of solar panels must be a priority.  President Obama gets it.

At Solar Forward, much of our summer has been spent speaking with new clients who are exasperated that their homes are still powered by coal.  "We're really sorry, LADWP has not processed your rebate application."  "We're really sorry, we don't know when LADWP will be out to inspect your system."

It seems no amount of anger or frustration penetrates the antiquated walls of LADWP.

Out in Northridge where the daily temperature this month will average around 97 degrees, one of our clients has been waiting for a LADWP inspection for 6 weeks.  And counting.

In Tarzana, another client has waited months to install his 18 kW solar system.  He rightly wonders why systems like his, which would take a much needed burden off the grid, are not rushed through LADWP's solar program.

In a world where most people who fail at their jobs are fired, LADWP gets a pass.  Los Angeles homeowners are left with high electricity bills, and polluted skies.

Plug-in Hybrids: An Electric Step in the Right Direction

If you’re anything like us, you may also feel the end of the world is just around one very hot corner.  Seeing America’s infrastructure snap under rising temperatures is terrifying.  

Tailpipe emissions account for one-fifth of worldwide carbon emissions.    Ideally, we would combat this by pouring funding into public transit, and single passenger car trips would become a rarity. 

Instead, we’re clinging to life as usual.  How do we have our automobile cake, and eat it too? 

Plug-in hybrids. 

Consumer habits have shown that most Americans fear the fully electric vehicle.  Unfortunately, the climate can’t wait for us to adjust to the idea of going to a charging station rather than a gas station. 

Luckily for future generations, drivers are willing to compromise.  Sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles are up 381% in just the first half of this year.  We won’t completely give up petroleum, but we are dieting. 

This new breed of hybrid can travel 20 miles before switching to gasoline.  And, the cost to charge at night is equal to a mere 75 cents per gallon of gasoline.

Plug-in hybrids are a great alternative to traditional EVs.  They ease consumers into the ways of electric vehicles, while allowing drivers their gas tank security blanket.

Call Solar Forward to learn about powering your plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle with the sun.   

Demand German Solar Prices

In the golden state, solar is booming with over one gigawatt of rooftop solar installed.  Still, many of us Californians are frustrated with solar – frustrated there is not more of it.

We shouldn’t stop at frustration.  We should be outraged.

Greedy utility companies, and complacent politicians are depriving Californians of clean and affordable energy. 

Powering much more our state with solar is absolutely doable.  That is, if the major energy players put the full weight of their agencies behind it. 

A slew of articles in recent weeks featured this graphic comparing equal sized solar systems in Germany and the U.S.

Why in Europe, where most goods cost twice as much as in the U.S., are solar systems half the price? 

The answer is Red Tape.  Mountains of it.

Paperwork, fees, delays, changes in policy…  These are the problems that mire American solar, making it twice as costly as German sun power.

Demand for solar will increase as prices drop (really).  Residents, alongside the solar industry, must demand the roadblocks holding back renewable energy be removed. 

Insist on German-priced solar in the U.S.  Support Vote Solar and Citizens Climate Lobby. 

Solar Forward

www.solarforward.com

What’s the “deal” with Unleash Solar?

Fed by abundant sunshine and a seemingly bottomless marketing budget, you may have noticed the Unleash Solar billboard garden that recently sprouted up across LA.

A cursory search led me an Aussi message board ripping into Unleash Solar, as well as this priceless video.  From the disappointment in the customer’s voice, you might think he was talking about Pluto’s removal as a planet rather than a shoddy inverter installation.

“You get what you pay for,” states one disgruntled message board poster.

Despite the highly publicized undoing of Solyndra and the like, the solar market is hot.  Venture capitalists eager to jump on board have yielded a number of companies like Unleash Solar, with more marketing expertise than understanding of solar technology and installation.

The model is simple: market big, install cheap by cutting corners, and cash in on the booming market.

At Solar Forward, we’ve proudly installed quality products with a skilled crew since 2005.  Because, after all, we’re a solar company.

Meaningless Mandates?

From Obama, to Brown, to Villaraigosa, everyone has a plan to wean us off fossil fuels.  Elections are near, but are we any closer to the renewable energy goals mandated by our political leaders?

We’re talking the green talk, but are we walking the green walk?

Unfortunately, not yet.  Well, maybe a little.

First, let’s take a look at the goals.

In Los Angeles, we’ve been tasked with generating 30% of energy from renewables by 2020.  According to LADWP, 39% of the utility’s power comes from coal, while less than 1% comes from solar. 

On a macro level, CA is expected to be 33% renewable by 2020.  As of 2010, only 14.6% of generated electricity in the state was renewable.   Governor Brown will earn himself a name upgrade to Governor Green should he succeed in meeting this goal, but it’s looking unlikely. 

Just 10 years away from our deadline, it’s obscene that a tiny fraction of our roofs are carpeted in solar in the “Golden State”.  There is enormous untapped potential in CA.  To unleash solar, drastic policy changes must occur, including inside the utilities where officials are slow to adapt. 

The highly anticipated Feed-in Tariff program is a great start.  However, for a state using more than 59,000 MW at peak demand, the program’s pilot 10 MW is a drop in the bucket. 

What good are mandates when policymakers are dragging in compliance?  We’ve elected these leaders expecting results.  It’s time to move.  The clock is ticking.