Robert's Comments

If you would like to understand how a utility views the impact of solar electricity on the grid, then you should read this research report, which was sponsored by the Arizona Public Service Company (APS), the largest utility company in Arizona. It goes into great detail how utility companies could save $3 billion with heavy penetration of solar. Solar burns no fuel, suffers no line loss, requires little maintenance, produces no pollution, requires no expensive scrubbing, filtering or sequestration equipment and requires a fraction of the capital investment of a coal-burning power generation station. And if the utility company installed large capacitors known as Community Energy Storage cells in each neighborhood, cloud cover would not be an issue. A little known fact is the 30% of electricity is produced solely to push power from the power generation station to where it is used. Producing solar electricity on the roof of the building where it is being used during on-peak power generation at expensive prices could save ratepayers billions of dollars. The facts and much more are contained in this research report compiled by R.W. Beck:
http://files.meetup.com/1073632/RW%20Beck%20Distributed%20Renewable%20Energy%20Operating%20Impact%20Research.pdf

SRECs seem like a very good way to finance solar installation using private sector money vs. ratepayer funding solar incentive programs. The biggest problem with utility solar incentives is that they give the utility the power to control the deployment of solar. Consider this. Right now the largest utility company in Arizona is providing a $1.60 per watt incentive. The installed cost per watt is $4.50 or more. This means that the customer is paying for 65% of the installation, minus tax credits. Yet the utility is getting 100% of the SREC. 1 SREC = 1 MWh, so a 5 kW system produces about 6 SRECs per year. In Arizona, APS has pegged their SRECs at $125, while the northeast is paying $400-$600. At $125, a customer who installs a 5-kW system could make $750 selling their SRECs back to APS. Or they could make $2,400 selling them on the open market. Multiply $750 times 25 years and the value becomes clear. Allowing customers or investors to make money with SRECs is a great alternative to ratepayer surcharges and it strips the utility's ability to control the market using monopoly power. If investors put together a non-utility solar incentive program paying a $3 per watt non-utility rebate in AZ for SRECs would create a shockwave of solar contracts. At 8% interest they would make their money back, plus some. Add to that a 30% federal tax grant/credit, a $25,000 AZ state tax credit for commercial customers and investors could write off a huge amount of tax liability. Earning another $18,750 for each 5-kW system over 25-years. What investor would refuse this return on investment?? We want to set this up in Arizona. Investors should contact the Arizona Solar Power Society to learn more. www.arizonasolarsociety.com

Arizona is doing its part. http://www.GoSolarinArizona.com

Anyone that has been involved in the solar industry a long time will probably not acknowledge that micro-inverters will eventually put the DC vendors out of business, excluding off-grid applications. The main stumbling block for the entire industry has been the complex mathematics and guesswork necessary to calculate potential system mismatches for everything from wiring loss to different orientations of multiple strings in a DC system.

Very soon, AC solar modules will make design pure AC solar power arrays possible. This will completely eliminated the need for expensive, unpredictable, balance of system DC components. The means no junction boxes, no combiner boxes, no conduit, no dangerous 600-volt external wiring, no central power inverters, etc.

Designing a pure AC system can be done by any handyman, electrical contractor, or building contractor who has professional experience in installing AC power in residential homes.

This completely removes solar module mismatches, string sizing exercises, calculating wiring loss, inverter efficiencies or the limit to the number of panels required to boot up a central DC power inverter.

System can be built with one or 100 modules. All it takes is to install a single 2-pole 30 amp breaker in the homes junction box.

Consumers can go down to Home Depot or Lowes, buy their solar panels, racking systems and wiring kits for a fraction of the price charged by DC solar power installation companies. They can hire a roofing contractor for $50 an hour to install racking and solar panels, then hire an electrician at $50 an hour to install a circuit breaker in the main panel.

The system is flexible, resistent to shading, can be oriented in any direction and the system can used mismatched panels with difference outputs.

The biggest problem with DC power arrays is that they have no idea of individual power production. AC power arrays resemble computer networks and are very easy to track.

And while NABCEP claims they are accredited and certified by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council's Institute for Sustainable Power Quality (IREC ISPQ) and that their programs are certified programs that have met the council's stringent guidelines for appropriate curriculum and experienced trainers.

The real question is who approved IREC to issue education accreditations.

You might ask them to what educational accreditation programs IREC, its member schools or its actual entry level solar certifications have been approved by as an ACCREDITED CERTIFICATION.

You also might look into what organization qualified the instructor, who qualified the training materials and if they require 8 hours of building a real solar array.

Most NABCEP classes do not require a hands-on class nor do they actually approve the actual training materials nor do they check the instructors credentials.

Solar training classes offering the ETA International certification (httwww.eta-i.org) will be taking classes that are taught by certified instructors whose credentials/background have been checked, use certified training materials, and require a mandatory 8-hour hands-on class that requires students to build a a real solar array.

There are industry comparison charts that can be found by doing a Google search on ETA vs. NABCEP.

The other problem with NABCEP is the limit the number of testing locations which requires students to fly out of state to take the test, might require them to wait up to 6 months to take a test in their area, and might find extremely long lines or sold out classes.

ETA is in the process of adding more than 100 certified administrators to administer their test by schools that have been in the certification business for many years.

While NABCEP is run by volunteers, ETA has been in the certification business for 31 years and has a full-time paid staff that develops stringent certification processes for instructors, class materials and the hands-on portion of the classes. Last year they issued more than 10,000 certifications and train across a wide portfolio of industries, not just solar. Check ETA's list of industries served:
http://eta-i.org/industries.html

Even more important is what type of companies hire them after they pass their test & receive their certification. ETA's list is impressive: http://www.eta-i.org/ETA%20Companies%20Who.pdf

So if your looking for a job with the federal government, the U.S. Armed Forces or Fortune 500 companies, you'll find that ETA is a better certification.

The most cost-effective way to market solar products and services is to write press releases and distribute them to a database of known reporters who cover solar or alternative energy news beats. It only costs $145 for 400 words.

In addition to press releases, buying small advertisements to help support the magazines you are targeting is a good way to maintain constant exposure in the publications that reach your desired customer base.

Press releases are very effective at reaching target audiences for several reasons:

#1 - Distributing a press release with the right keywords will allow your news to be filtered into hundreds of solar news sites and blogs around the world. Do a search on http://www.marketwire.com for the keyword "solar" to see who is using PR effectively


#2 - Generating lots of links from large solar news sites to your company's solar products and services is a great way to enhance your website's search engine ranking.

#3 - If a press release intrigues a reporter and results in a real news story, your company will quickly gain credibility. One story always leads to two more in other news outlets.

#4 - If you have a marketing budget, then hire a PR firm that can build media reltationships between reporters and your executive team. Make sure, however, that the PR firm understands how your products work, why readers will be interested and what type of return on investment the reader will receive if they buy the product or service.

You should also read the magazine and the targeted reporter's published articles before calling and be able to furnish all the building blocks they need to write a story such press releases, white papers, head shots, logos, and pictures of people in action using your products and services.

We have a free PR tutorial located at http://www.frontpagepr.com if you would like to learn more about generating positive publicity for your company.

Best Regards,
Robert Hoskins
602-326-0940

Best Re