Thanks for inquiring about our solar electric systems. To be able to help you, we would like you to take some time to read this and go to the suggested links to get a better idea as to system types, design constraints and which rebates are available to you. After that, we look forward to talking with you more in depth about a system tailored to your needs.  There is no one system that applies to every home, so each one is individually designed, taking into consideration such things as location, lifestyle, specific requirements and of course price.

If you have already purchased your equipment from "Bargain Basement Bob" at some Internet site that offers no design, site evaluation or installation and you are looking for someone to hook it up, then sorry, you have come to the wrong place. We provide a 5 year warranty on parts and labor for all the grid-intertie systems we install and will handle all the paperwork and permits necessary to create a "turnkey" system. By selling you the equipment, we can offer more reasonable installation costs and we can be sure you got the best components for your situation. If you'd like to purchase the equipment from us and install it yourself, we can handle all the engineering and offer guidance.

We offer Site Evaluation service for a cost of $40 per hour, which is refundable when you purchase your system. The evaluation includes a survey of the site with our solar measuring tool to assess the exact amount of solar potential at your location as well as measurements necessary to make an accurate quote on your system. Another service we offer is energy consultation, in which we critically assess the loads on your electric system and show you ways to save energy/money. One of the tools we use is a data-logging watt meter, which we also rent out for a nominal charge.

Do you have an open, unshaded area in your yard that's more than 15 feet from property lines for possible pole mounting of a solar array (most preferable) or do you have areas of unobstructed roof that ideally faces south? (East or west will still catch 85 % of available sun as long as no shading occurs.) We recommend a site evaluation and we have tools to measure the amount of available sun at your location.

Do you want to generate power to offset electric consumption only or is having backup power in the event of a blackout of key importance? The extra cost of a battery system over a grid-tie system can amount to an additional $1500-$3500. Also, the efficiency of a battery system is about 20% less, so you will loose that much power production to maintaining the batteries. Another option for infrequent blackouts is to install a small generator to run crucial loads, especially if there are 220-volt loads involved.

The Important Step: Your daily average of utility power consumed is the crucial piece of info we'll need to determine system size. Look on your bills or simply call the utility company. They can add up the kilowatt hours used for 12 months and then divide it by 12 for your monthly average or ask them to divide it by 365 for the daily average.

The daily kilowatt-hour usage can be divided by the amount of average sunlight received by a photovoltaic panel. That number will be 4.5- 5.5 hours depending on exact location.

Santa Cruz Coastal = 4.5 hrs. Other areas in Santa Cruz = 4.7 hrs Sunnyvale = 5.1 hrs.

Let's say you used 13 kWh, and lived in Santa Cruz. 13/ 4.5 = 2.88 kW.

2.88 kilowatts or 2880 watts, is the amount of solar generation you will need to match the initial consumption. Since there are losses involved in all phases of the power conversion from sunlight to D.C to A.C, the losses must be factored into the equation.

The percent of inefficiency will average around 30%. That means that for every kilowatt of solar installed, 300 watts will be lost to inefficiencies. That 2880 watts times 130% will mean we need to have around 3744 watts of solar to generate that amount of power. The rough cost for labor and materials is between $7-10 per watt for a grid-intertie system. From that figure, you can deduct the rebates to get an approximate idea how much you will have to spend. If this is within your budget, then we can give you an exact bid for the total installation. Of course it is not necessary to offset 100% of your usage with solar. The minimum size system normally done is 1 kW and the upper limit depends on your budget, but rebates apply up to 30kw.

Many larger consumption customers install systems that will offset the portion of the bill that is "over baseline." The utlity penalizes you for any usage over baselines amount which is somewhere around 350 kilowatt hours and the penalties increase in multi-tiers. Solar can help get you out of the most expensive tiers, the ones that almost double the cost per kilowatt hour. So in other words if you actually needed a 7 kw solar system to break even, you may find the smaller, less expensive 4 kw system would be the better value by getting you out of the "over baseline" bracket.

The details of the various rebates and net metering arrangements are changing constantly but a general overview follows. See the links below for the latest info.(There are over 100 bills in legislation right now concerning energy issues.)

The California Energy Commission is providing a rebate of $3.20 per watt (until July 2004) for homeowners to install Grid Inter-tie solar electric & wind-power systems.  In addition both residential and comercial customers receive a 7.5% state tax credit. Also, businesses (including legitimate home businesses) can receive an additional 10% tax credit and 5 yr. System depreciation.

Many are familiar with "Net Metering" laws which dictate that PG&E  must credit for power they purchase at the same rate they sell to the customer.  Well, even more recent laws have required that PG&E makes available "Time of Use" metering which means the customer is billed a different rate for power used at peak times (noon to 6pm) vs. off-peak. For customers with a "Grid Inter-tie" solar system, this means the customer will get credit from PG&E for power produced at $0.33 per kilowatt hour and buy electricity at night for $0.09/ kWh. They are also starting a credit for customers that reduce their consumption by 20%. (Call their net metering dept. at 415-972-5676).

For info on the 10% Federal Tax Credit, see : http://205.168.79.27/consumerinfo/refbriefs/la7.html .

Internal Revenue Service form 3800 (General Business Credit) is available online at : http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/forms_pubs/formpub.html

City of Santa Clara residents can go to : http://www.siliconvalleypower.com/residential/03_energy_savings/frame/04_solar_electric_in_home.html .
This site is very informative and I recommend giving it a look.

For a handy calculator of grid-tie system performance, check out: http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/codes_algs/PVWATTS/pvwatts_index.html