Jim's Comments

And don't for a second think PG&E doesn't know this - which is why they have effectively declared war on net metering:

http://runonsun.com/~runons5/blogs/blog1.php/solnews/its-on-pge-declares-war-solar

Jim Jenal

Interesting to note that Duke sees this as a short term opportunity but a long term threat. In contrast, PG&E just sees threat: http://runonsun.com/~runons5/blogs/blog1.php/solnews/its-on-pge-declares-war-solar

What is lacking is for either of these companies (or any IOU for that matter) to see the long-term opportunity. But adapt they must, or cease to exist.

Good points, all, but I would like to focus on the last. We really cannot give our enemies more ammunition by our own poor behavior. They will be all over the next "scandal" just as they were with poor Solyndra. It will be worse if it is a true scandal, brought about by greed or other bad conduct in the industry.
The SEIA-authored Solar Bill of Rights calls on us to provide the "highest ethical treatment" to our clients and fellow taxpayers. We should re-commit to those words in 2013.

Steve - I have to disagree with your comments in the strongest way. I don't know about what you see in Colorado, but here in SoCal I've seen way too many shoddy installs foisted on homeowners who had no way to know what they would be getting for their hard-earned dollars.
NABCEP isn't perfect - no such regime is - but it gives consumers a way to determine in advance whether someone's claims about knowing how to do the job right is backed by an independent third party, or is just the puffing of some salesperson.
We were able to get all three of our owners - including myself - certified with a minimal amount of hassle. We had the background (although each of us qualified in a different manner), we had done the work, and we managed to ace the exam the first time out.
What will set the industry back is having sub-standard, slap-dash installs done that end up damaging property or injuring people. Having NABCEP certified installers on the job goes a long way toward avoiding those potential setbacks.

Regards...

Jim Jenal, NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer

First, thanks for spreading the word about this "poll" - as of now 2:30 PDT on Thursday) we are leading by nearly 1,000 votes: 5,300 to 4,363. Oddly, the "remain the same" and "they should decline" options are way smaller vote totals: 772 vs 488 respectively. Polarized voting yet again!

I absolutely agree that we need to preach to our opponents if for no other reason than to keep ourselves grounded and our arguments constantly vetted. Moreover, the people we most need to convince never visit the venues where our choir mostly hangs out - they are the "swing voter" who may lean against supporting solar or renewables generally, but they don't have a lot of information. We could be the only pro-solar voices they hear.

And remember, those people vote and elections have consequences. Will they vote for someone who mocked the threat of climate change or someone who embraces policies to combat it? We might just make a difference by adding our reasoned arguments to the mix.

But of course we don't need to choose just one or the other. We can put out our own information, in our own fora. that presents the facts as clearly as possible and in a way that welcomes skeptics as well as supporters. Surely you do that in your posts regularly.

Jim

Using social media for solar does take time and effort. But I can tell you that there are few things more gratifying then speaking to a potential client who tells you that they already know about an issue because they read it on your blog!
Solar companies need to realize that education is a key part of what we do and being an informative presence through social media is a key way to making that happen.
Thanks, as always, SolarFred for illuminating the way!

While I have been writing (and lobbying) about SB 843 (blog posts here: http://runonsun.com/~runons5/blogs/blog1.php/solecon/power-to-people-support-sb843) I am not as confident that it will make it into law this year. Southern California Edison remains staunchly opposed, the CPUC has its own doubts, and when it got voted out of the Appropriations committee, not a single Republican VOTED on the bill. I don't mean they voted against it, I mean they refused to vote at all!
Also, the utilities point to the grid as a reason for resisting the proliferation of solar farms. It is almost as if keeping the grid obsolete and creaky is a means of preserving market share - and how perverse is that?
But as always, the answer is education - the more consumers know about the true value proposition for solar, the more support we in the industry will have from the public and that will ultimately be translated into political clout. Only then will we achieve the growth in solar that we are hoping to see.

Great stuff - as someone who really honed my skills on Twitter and my blog from emulating the one and only @SolarFred, I have to say you have always been a great source of knowledge and inspiration. Proud to be one of your 5,000 followers and I will look forward to the Tweetup at Intersolar! (To say nothing of our gig here in Pasadena this month!)

These are all really good points. In a nutshell, leaders lead. You cannot call yourself a leader if all you are doing is what everyone else is doing - or if you are doing the exact same thing you did a year ago.
For the solar industry, one key is for installers to be constantly on the lookout for improved products that bring greater value to their projects. (One example - we recently adopted Unirac's Solarmount Evolution for our racking needs because of the great quality and strength of that product.) But being able to then capitalize on those new found products - for example by blogging about them or featuring them on a company website or Facebook page - is the next step in leadership. It lets other in the field - who may not yet be ready to lead but are eager to learn - see what you have found and follow along.

From what is alleged in the Complaint, it sounds like SunPower has extensive forensic data regarding the files that were downloaded - by employees who at the time were presumably still trusted by the company. It was only after one employee accessed his email account after leaving the company and then emailed documents to another account that SP suspected anything improper was afoot. You could certainly question why the account was still active, but from those (alleged) facts, I find it hard to blame the IT department.

Plaintiff always has the burden of proof in a case like this (sorry, but I spent 13 years litigating IP cases so this is like "old home week" to me) but it sounds like the logging procedures that were in place - once blessed by an appropriate expert - will certainly hold up in court. Much bigger question is, what did SolarCity know and when did they know it? Only discovery will answer that question - but a close reading of SC's statement (in the article) has lots of attitude, but does not deny any of the allegations in the Complaint.

@Hawkster - it is one thing to be able to take advantage of the experience you acquired in your old position in your new one - CA law (which is likely controlling in this case) recognizes that.

It is an entirely different thing to bring your 1TB USB hard drive to your place of employment, download thousands of documents from your company's servers, and take them and turn them over to your new employer - which is precisely what is alleged in the complaint. If those allegations are true, it is a crime, not a foul, and the former employees (and possibly SolarCity) are likely under criminal investigation right now.

Thanks, Tor - you are right, Heather was one of us and will live on as an inspiration to do solar right. Love you Heather.

Great post, as usual, Tor. We are still here - in fact, Run on Sun just celebrated its 5 Year Anniversary - not bad in this economy. We will be here for a long time to come, too, because we take good care of our clients.
Indeed, it is time to Go Solar Now!

I think this is a really insightful post. Apple is a fascinating company and I do believe there is much that we in the solar industry could learn from them.
Here's one additional insight if I may - there are no details so small that Apple ignores them. Case in point - their packaging. Everyone ogles their final products but if you are lucky enough to have bought one of these devices you couldn't help but marvel at the attention paid to how the products are delivered to the end customer. (Contrast sharply with a PC that I just purchased this week whose packaging was all function, no fashion.)
For solar companies that translates into providing exceptional attention to detail in everything that we do - from our websites to our proposals to our conduit bends. Bring a sense of style to what you do and your clients will take notice - just as they do for Apple!

Excellent post. Really astonishing that Fannie & Freddie - who were largely asleep at the switch when the home mortgage industry collectively lost its mind - suddenly wakes up in time to seriously delay a program that would have benefited thousands, cost the taxpayers nothing, and reduced our overall energy usage. What's not to like, indeed?
I can only hope that folks on both sides of the aisle will jump on board this program and push it through Congress.