solar rebate | Solar Forward

Panel Cleaning System

admin — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 01:04:21 +0000

This is a panel cleaning system we saw at Intersolar 2013. Your panels will be clean and shiny, but surprise surprise, it’s more expensive than the panel itself.And it has lots of moving parts so it probably won’t last as long as our 25 year warranty panels!

Shutting Down Nuclear, Powering Up Solar

admin — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 19:41:19 +0000

The mistake of trying to fix fifty year old nuclear technology is going to cost us over $2 billion. That is enough to pay for over 100,000 home solar systems or rebates for 1,000,000 homes that enable a five year break even point. That is more power than San Onofre ever produced in a year.

Nuclear power is toxic forever, a national security risk, and inefficient. As with any centralized power source, more than 10% of the power produced is lost in the transmission lines before it gets to our homes.

Residential solar power plant

Solar on your roof is safe, clean, nontoxic, and decentralized. The power you produce on your home is consumed on site or next door. There is no transmission loss. There is no risk to the Earth and no risk of terrorism or nuclear meltdown. Solar power maintenance is simple, without risk of radiation, cancer or contaminating thousands of square miles.

Beware the atom, embrace the sun!

SunPower Announces Industry’s First 25-Year Combined Power and Product Warranty

admin — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:57:00 +0000

The SunPower Warranty is the best in the industry, guaranteeing great power output for at least 25 years.

This month, SunPower announced the launch of the industry’s first combined warranty that covers both power and product for 25 years. The company is also shifting to a linear power warranty that offers the lowest power degradation over the life of the system.

SunPower is the only solar company to offer a straightforward 25-year global product warranty, which is 15 to 20 years longer than conventional solar warranties. Integrated into SunPower high-efficiency solar panels are the company’s patented Maxeon® all-back contact solar cells which are built on a solid copper foundation, making them extremely resistant to cracking, corrosion and stresses from temperature variation. In the unlikely event a solar panel needs to be repaired or replaced, an identical or functionally equivalent panel will be provided or the cost of the panel will be fully refunded. The associated labor and transportation costs for customers whose solar panels were installed by SunPower or SunPower dealer/partners are covered. The new warranty is also written in plain, simple terms that detail the coverage.

“SunPower’s 25-year combined power and product warranty is possible due to our proven, differentiated Maxeon solar cell technology,” said Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO. “These cells make our high-efficiency panels incredibly durable, allowing SunPower to offer our customers this first-of-its-kind warranty increasing performance with more energy delivery. SunPower is standing behind its products with this new easy-to-understand warranty, which serves our customers well for any issues that may arise.”

SunPower’s new warranty now offers the industry’s lowest power degradation with more warranted energy. The company guarantees at least 95 percent power for the first five years, followed by a maximum degradation rate of 0.4 percent each year thereafter. This results in an unprecedented 87 percent power level at the end of 25 years, warranting a total of 9.1 percent more energy than the industry standard over the first 25 years of the solar panel life.

The new warranty went into effect on July 1, 2012 and is available to all residential, commercial and utility-scale power plant customers installing SunPower solar panels.

Learn how you can reduce or eliminate your monthly energy bill, and have the security of the best-backed product in the solar industry. Sign up for a free in-home evaluation today.

Call Solar Forward, an Elite SunPower Dealer, at 310.433.3770.

View photos of our work: www.solarforward.com
Read customer reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/solar-forward-santa-monica

LADWP Slows Solar in Hottest Summer on Record

admin — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 01:15:00 +0000

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.

Demand German Solar Prices

admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:34:00 +0000

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 articlesin 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

Solar Pinball

admin — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:10:00 +0000

Combine solar permitting bureaucracy and a no nonsense Solar Forward employee, and the result is a frustrated (and illustrating) work of art. See creation above.

Gaining a permit may be the most cumbersome step involved in solar. As city departments acclimate to the ever-increasing demand for renewable energy, contractors and clients sit. And wait. And wait.

In some cities (cough Van Nuys, cough Calabasas) obtaining a permit to install solar can feel like a cruel game of pinball, bouncing from one hurdle to the next. The diagram above depicts a recent Building & Safety Department adventure.

Three hours, eleven lines, one permit. I’d rather deal with the DMV.

We all know “time is money”. Are you familiar with this one, “wasted time is wasted money”?

This is not a meaningless gripe. Attention must be given to these issues if we hope to see the solar industry and government work symbiotically. When this happens, we will see more efficient, cost-effective, and greener cities.