Renewable Energy Networking Event hosted by OCR / PickMySolar / ASES

I get a lot of emails asking why OCR doesn't do regular meetings anymore.  We prefer to hold off on asking to donate your time to an event until it is really something special... and this EVENT is that something special!


Please join OC Renewables, the American Solar Energy Society and PickMySolar.com for a limited attendance open house at the recently finished La Kretz Clean Tech Innovation Campus in Los Angeles on Feb 18 at 6pm. 

You will be hosted to a tour of the center, a short presentation about ASES / OCR and PickMySolar and then open it to networking and refreshments.  Come and talk to some of the most well connected clean tech entrepreneurs in LA!   We also expect some guests from the press and the public sector.  

Please RSVP by registering at EventBrite at this link.  It is absolutely free, but attendance is limited to 60x guests.  

A PDF flyer of the event is at this link.  Simo and I (and Max from PickMySolar) can't wait to see you there!

~ Adam

SOLAR 2016 Conference Call For Abstracts!

If you are in the solar biz, then you know the two main industry conference every year are Intersolar held in San Francisco, and Solar Power International which is held in a different city every year.

What you might not know is that OC Renewables parent organization, ASES, is having their 2016 SOLAR conference IN PARTNERSHIP with Intersolar this year from July 11-13, 2016 at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Franciso, the same time and place as Intersolar.  This means you get access to two fantastic conference experiences in one place, at one time.

While Intersolar is more focused on the business end, ASES SOLAR 2016 is focused on the technical, the practical and the interesting facets of solar / renewable energy.  Abstract submission for speakers at the conference is now open and closes Feb 22, so if you are working on something interesting, please do drop an abstract for a chance to present a poster or a talk at the show this July.

Topics of specific interest at the conference for ASES include:

Technology Advances:

Renewable Heat
Renewable Electricity
Clean Transportation
Energy Efficiency

Managing a Grid with High Penetration Renewables:

Renewables Working Together
Electrical and Thermal Storage
Renewable Energy Resource Forecasting
Resource Assessment
Load Management

Energy Economics, Public Involvement and Participation:

Resource Conservation
Public Education Innovations
Policy and Financing
Solar Decathlon and Related Competitions
Community Solar
Solar on Native Lands
Community-based Actions

Zero and Low Energy Buildings:

Resilient/Regenerative/Low-energy/Low-carbon architecture
Building Simulation Tools and Monitoring
Daylighting Methods and Case Studies
Embodied Energy and Life Cycle Assessment

I'll definitely see you there!

Art + Renewable Energy = LAGI, are you ready to compete?!

 Simo takes a minute to explain in depth what the Land Art Generator Initiative Competition (LAGI), going on right now (applications due in May) and focused in Santa Monica for this year is all about.  Could you be the next big winner in this the-mother-of-all-clean-tech-architecture-design-competitions?:

The LAGI 2016, Land Art Generator Initiative, is a landmark initiative that has brought together artists, architects, scientists, landscape architects, and engineers in a first of its kind collaboration. The goal of the Land Art Generator Initiative is to design and (perhaps) construct a series of public art installation that uniquely combine aesthetics with clean energy generation. The works serve to inspire and educate while providing renewable power to thousands of homes around the world.

The idea for LAGI first came from Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry in 2009 during a trip to Dubai. After leaving Pittsburg, the LAGI founders were impressed by the plenitude of energy resources in the United Arab Emirates even if this city relies essentially on fossil fuels and is among the least sustainable cities in the world.

By fusing art and energy, the LAGI main’s goal was to come up with new forms of public arts that would solve today’s most pressing problems, global warming and pollution, in an artistically relevant way. Art has an important role here as it can contribute to the aesthetic of the renewable energy installations which are often not considered terribly appealing. Aesthetics is a big deal for some potential renewable generation owners.  A recent Dallas Morning News article characterizes a resistance movement  to “ugly” solar panels as visual pollution.  (Source).

For 2016, Ms. Monoian and Mr. Ferry encourage creative people to submit their ideas and projects for large-scale and site-specific public art installations that generate carbon-neutral electricity and drinking water for the City of Santa Monica, California. LAGI jurors have been consistently impressed by the innovation and the creativity that the participants show to the public and this year is shaping to be no different.

In previous years the competition has focused on cities such as Dubai/Abu Dhabi, New York & Copenhagen.  Entries to the competition has been growing since 2010, registration is free and the best two teams are rewarded with cash prizes. The requirements and guidelines for every team include the fact that the installation should be a three dimensional form that has the ability to stimulate and challenge the mind of the viewer and attract him on every level. In addition to this, the installation must not exceed 80 meters in height and has to be safe to people who view it on the Santa Monica Pier. More guidelines and specifications can be found on the LAGI website here.

LAGI is excited this year to have an expert and interdisciplinary panel of jurors including Senator Ben Allen, Mr Kevin McKeown (Mayor of the City of Santa Monica), Mr Craig Watson (Director of California Arts Council) in addition to many qualified people. They will judge each team on their adherence to the design brief, the integration and sensitivity of their work and how efficient their installation is.

~ Simo, Associate @ OCR

Oil at $30/barrel, $20/barrel totally possible

  Back on March 19, 2015, we posted an OCR blog post on the unprecedented price erosion in oil.  It closed that day at $43/barrel.

Fast forward a little less than a year, and oil producers are begging for $43/barrel oil as the price closed today just a hair above $30, with some analysts betting it could get as low as $20!

So why is this happening?  The short of it is that no one who plays in the global oil business is willing to give up market share.  Many are more willing to draw oil out of the ground and sell it at a loss then risk losing their chunk of the market.

This is doubly true for nation-state producers with no other notable economics activity, like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.  In these places the stability of their entire political system depends on selling oil and using the proceeds to subsidize everything for their citizens.  OPEC (which is largely run by Saudi) has basically stated it is ready to hold production (thereby keeping a glut of supply, unless demand somehow magically ramps up) until 2018.  By then many of the US producers wont have a choice but to declare bankruptcy.

How does this all affect solar you might ask?  It really doesn't.  Solar is much closer tied to natural gas prices and policy.  Natural gas is already basically free in most of the country, and solar is competing quite nicely.  And on the policy front solar got a big gift from the Feds in December when the ITC was extended and clarified until 2022.

So what business would you rather own right now?  A solar installation company, or an oil production company? Time to go start that solar installation company.

2016 California Solar Incentives - What you need to know

With another year come and gone, the time is now to focus on the future!  2016! And with changes abound in the incentives structures for solar, OCR felt it a great first assignment for our new Associate Simo Yezrour was to publish an article concerning what you need to know about going solar in California in 2016.  Without further delay!:

Today, power from the sun is the fastest growing source of energy in the US. The country already has enough installed solar capacity to power nearly 4 million homes (out of about 85 million total in the US) and progress continues as there are still many incentive programs helping lower the cost of solar systems for consumers.

In California, the solar business continues to show strength. How so? The combination of yearlong sunshine with layers of supportive solar policy continues to encourage more business and consumers to go solar.

Furthermore, the CA carbon reduction plan is expanding, the average photovoltaic system price continues to fall and incentives continue to allow businesses and homeowners to save on their bill with solar.  It is projected that 2016 will see an additional 1,940 MW of solar installed in California, which is by far the largest installed capacity in a single year, growing the total capacity by about 20% (from ~ 10 GW today to an estimated 12 GW)

What does this mean for YOU?:

At the Federal level, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) contains many grant and loan programs for the residential sector in California. The most known of them all is the Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit incentive also known as the ITC, that has recently been extended by the congress, with a gradual step down of the credits between 2019 and 2022. The solar system must be placed in service before December 31, 2021 to be eligible.

The ITC states that a taxpayer, either a professional or individual, may claim a credit of 30% of qualified expenditures for a solar photovoltaics or a solar water heating system that serves as a dwelling unit, located in the United States to be owned and used as a residence by the taxpayer.

The Investment Tax Credit has been the main Federal policy mechanism supporting deployment of solar systems all over the US. Before the recent policy decisions for the future of the ITC, modeling conducted by IHS Technology, a global energy analyst, prior to the extension of the ITC, forecasted that U.S. solar installations would have reached nearly 17 gigawatts in 2016 driven by the rush from developers to finish projects ahead of the December deadline. This would then lead to a drop to just 6.5 GW in 2017. The jury is still out on the effect of new ITC legislation on planned 2016 projects, but it is safe to say the pressure is off to get projects completed in 2016.

The Federal ITC provides tax credit for expenditures on newly installed solar systems.  Expenditures include labor costs for on-site preparation, assembly or original system installation and piping-wiring to interconnect a system to the home. If the federal tax credit exceeds your 2016 tax liability, the excess amount may be carried forward to the succeeding taxable year.

Advantages of installing these systems include a non-limit credit if your system is installed before December 31st, 2021. In addition to this, the home served by the solar installation doesn’t need to be the taxpayer’s principal residence. However, heating swimming pools and hot tubs using water-heating systems won’t provide you extra tax credit as well as some other conditions that apply to these properties.

Other DSIRE Federal programs are expiring by the end of 2016. Most of these incentives are Energy Rebate programs that provides a cash rebate for customers planning to install new solar systems. They are all provided by local utility companies like SoCalGas, SCE, PG&E, SDG&E and depend on the solar capacity installed on your roof.

All these rebates can be found on the Database of State Incentives for Renewables at: http://www.dsireusa.org/

Benefits at the state level are led by the California Solar Initiative(CSI), a solar rebate program for California consumers, provides upfront cash incentives. In aggregate, these incentives are worth more than $2 billion to customers installing photovoltaic and electricity displacing solar thermal systems. CSI benefits are available within the service areas of the three major California investor-Owned Utilities service territories: Pacific Gas and Electric Company, based in the Bay Area, California Center for Sustainable Energy, based in San Diego and finally Southern California Edison Company, based in Rosemead. CSI incentives, combined with federal tax incentives, could cover up to 50% of the total cost of a solar system.

Depending if you have a single-family or multi-family house, the incentives amounts differ. The Affordable Solar Housing Program offers rebates based on the size and performance of the system installed. The incentives range from $1.90 – $2.80 per watt depending on whether common area load or tenant load is offset for multi-family house. On the other hand, the single-family house incentives amount depends on your income level and your program eligibility. The DSIRE page has all the information you will need about CSI as well.  CSI is also running until the end of the 2021.

On the municipal / local level, green building incentives and rebate programs exist for many cities including high profile programs in Santa Monica, San Diego, San Francisco & Los Angeles. For example, the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program allows homeowners in SoCal and the Bay Area to borrow money for energy improvement projects which are repaid through their property taxes. It is administered by the FIGTREE Energy Financing that also finances a variety of renewable energy and energy efficiency products. Click the link here to see if your city is participating.

Overall, the ITC has been largely responsible for the over 1,600% YoY growth in CA solar installations since it was implemented in 2006.  The Dec, 2015 decision to clarify the ITC for solar until 2022 will no doubt has a very positive effect on the stability of the industry in the US and, by proxy, the world.

~Simo, Associate @ OCR

Welcome Simo to OCR!

OCR is very pleased to have Simo Yezrour joining our staff as an Associate until March, 2016.  Simo recently spent 4 months at ASES headquarters in Boulder, CO helping the mother ship.

After visiting SoCal during the 2015 Solar Decathlon in October (where, if you remember, we had record temps and full on beach weather), Simo decided to spend his last two months in the states in the OC helping OCR to better connect with local SoCal solar installers, help grow OCR & ASES membership, contribute his own blog article series and help organize a late Feb, 2016 meet up, which we will have more information on shortly.  We may have neglected to tell him about the 40 deg temps we've been having recently.  Our mistake.

After his time here Simo will return to France to finish his degree in Power Engineering before starting a Masters program in the same course of study.  Simo can be reached via email at syezrour@ases.org.

Young Women Pioneering STEM: A profile of Eden Full Goh

Written by guest author Simmone Park of Wonder Women Tech

On November 17th 2015, I had the honor of discussing the gender gap and the under-representation of minorities in STEM at CSULB’s Department of Engineering, after screening the documentary CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap.  For those who have never heard of this film, I say run, don’t walk to the nearest screening! In my opinion, Director/Producer Robin Hauser Reynolds and her team did an incredible job of exposing the current realities of women and minorities in STEM fields while offering ways to facilitate change, without “preaching” or making anyone wrong in the process.

Viewing this film affected me deeply, as it exposed how I too had bought into the ideology that I could not pursue a career in STEM, or that certain fields were designated for men.  I too had been excluded by my guidance counselors.  I did not even know that Computer Science was an option. This opened my eyes to the hard and painful truths behind my extreme competitive nature while growing up, striving to be “as good as a son” to my father and looking into my own experience as a young Korean Canadian. Divine synchronicity brought Eden Full Goh to my attention and being a feminist and optimist for humanity, prompted this article, the first of a blog series highlighting and commemorating the fearless, modern-day, trailblazing women in STEM who have acted "in spite of any odds" or expectations.

Eden Full Goh, a young Asian-Canadian inventor, mentor and entrepreneur, has been fearless since a young age. At 10 (in the days and age when a school research project would actually require a trip to the library), a young Full Goh borrowed a book that would change her life forever.  It was a book that taught her how to build a small solar-powered car.  After building that car, she starting off on a journey that would challenge the status quo. Despite growing up in Calgary, a Canadian city entrenched in the Oil and Gas industry, Full Goh staying true to her values, dared to be different and continued exploring practical ways that solar energy could change the world for the better. She developed a non-electrical mechanism to rotate solar panels – called solar panel tracking – for a 11th grade high school science fair project, which received grants, an internships and provided opportunities to work directly with elite professors.  Inspired by this initial success, she decided to continue her research into low-cost solar trackers.

In part because of her solar research, Full Goh was admitted to Princeton.  While at Princeton, she recognized the call of entrepreneurship and that helping to solve the most pressing problems the world is faced with would require her full attention. She opted to leave Princeton and become a member of the prestigious Thiel Fellowship’s inaugural class to focus on her research, which eventually culminated in a low-cost solar tracker called the SunSaluter.  Education, especially from an Ivy League institution, is one of the greatest achievements for traditional Asian parents.  It acts as arsenal to prove their child is the smartest of them all.  I say this because it is important to stress how much courage it took for Full Goh to make this choice, a choice that has since led to many achievements including being named Forbes 30 under 30 (Energy Category) for three years running, a US Chamber of Commerce IP Champion and Ashoka’s Youth Social Entrepreneur of the Year, just to name a few.

Fast forward to today, where SunSaluter is a full-fledged not-for-profit organization with numerous highly acclaimed awards and prizes under its belt, a presence in 16 countries around the world and has already impacted over 8,000 people to date.  Recently, SunSaluter chose to open-source the technology behind the SunSaluter, as Eden and her team recognized that the impact across the developing world would increase exponentially by doing so.

Eden Full Goh is my modern day “Mulan”, unabashedly brilliant and courageous, with the drive, passion and intelligence to transform the future of humanity as we know it utilizing renewable energy.  Her strength and ingenuity allowed her to contest the disappointing fall-out rate of women in STEM and acts as an ambassador of inspiration to young women around the world.

Whether you are a solar energy company, budding philanthropist or VC/angel investor, I encourage you to check out www.sunsaluter.com and lend your support to a company that is fostering economic progress by bringing solar energy to the developing world and providing entrepreneurial opportunities to individuals in these countries at the same time.

~Simmone Park, Wonder Women Tech