Thoughts on Solar by Run on Sun's Founder & CEO, Jim Jenal

UPDATE - Citing technical issues, PWP has informed us that for now, these rates are NOT available for solar customers.  Apparently the Meter group does not yet have a TOU meter that will properly account for energy generation as well as energy consumption.  We will report back when PWP has this resolved - hopefully in a couple of months.

Pasadena Water & Power (PWP) is rolling out on a temporary, experimental basis, new Time-of-Use (TOU) based rates for customers with electric vehicles.  The new rate structures, designated EXP-TOU-EV-1 and -2 are available to existing residential customers (either single family or multi-family service) who can demonstrate proof of ownershipof a plug-in electric vehicle.

The two TOU rates differ from the existing R1 residential rate structure in that they provide discounts for energy consumed during mid- or off-peak hours.  (Mid peak runs from 8 a.m. to Noon and from 9 p.m. to midnight.  Off peak runs from midnight to 8 a.m.) 
Here is how the two rates compare:

The second rate has much greater discounts for energy use outside of the On Peak window, but it is combined with a significant penalty for energy use during the On Peak window.

Of course, this is where a solar power system comes in.  Since a solar power system produces the bulk of  its energy during the On Peak window, it could prove highly beneficial to EV owners who add solar to their homes.  We will do a more complete analysis of how these two rates could work for a solar powered home in a future post.

To learn more about the program, check out PWP’s webpage devoted to these new rates.

Readers of this blog will know all about the 52.3kW solar project that Run on Sun just recently completed installing at Pasadena’s renowned Westridge School for Girls.  Now that project has become the cover story in the Annual “Green Issue” of Pasadena Weekly.

Titled, “Solar Flair: New solar installation at Westridge School brings environmental lessons to life,” the piece features interviews with Westridge’s Head of School, Elizabeth McGregor, Facilities Manager Brian Williams, and three students who are part of the school’s environmental group known as the Green Guerrillas.  The story reveals the school’s deep commitment to sustainability in everything from solar power to drought tolerant plants.

This first of what we hope will be many solar projects at Westridge really highlights the value of these projects for all schools, especially those in the Pasadena Water and Power service territory.  Good rebates and a solar company that really understands your goals makes a solar power system installed by Run on Sun a “no-brainer.”

Contact us today and let’s get going with YOUR solar project!

The folks at SEIA - the Solar Energy Industry Association - have put out an action alert for Californians who are concerned about expanding access to solar power through the expansion of the net metering rules.  Here’s their action alert - please take a look and then click on the link to add your voice.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is deciding how much customer-owned renewable energy is allowed to get the bill saving benefits of net metering.  This statewide clean energy credit program has empowered over 100,000 solar energy systems to be installed on homes, businesses, schools, libraries and other buildings around the state.

The Commission has proposed allowing for more homeowner solar– and some utilities are trying their best to restrict continued access to it.

Click here to tell the CPUC that you support their preliminary decision to give more Californians access to solar net metering: I support net metering!

In part 1 of this series, we discovered the tremendous damage that can occur when an improperly installed solar power system is hit by a once-in-a-generation windstorm.  In part 2, we figured out how the failure had occurred, and we learned that - shockingly - at least one solar contractor is perfectly ok trying to rip off an insurance company!

Having figured out what went wrong with the old installation, it was time to make it right! This post - and the video that follows - will introduce you to our homeowner and to the folks from Unirac who stepped in to help us get this homeowner back online producing clean, reliable and safe solar power!

It was great to work with the folks at Unirac and we are very touched by the sentiments expressed by Rachel.

Of course, that is always our goal - to leave our clients feeling that we have done more than what was expected, more than just what the job called for us to do.  It is the little extra steps taken that not only insure a happy client, but a system that we can point to with pride.

Here’s an image of the finished system:

And here are some details - check out these clamps, especially the end clamp:

Unirac Solarmount Evolution Mid-Clamp between two Sanyo solar panels

Unirac Solarmount Evolution End-Clamp holding a Sanyo solar panel

It is easy to see why Unirac calls this Solarmount Evolution because this product really has moved beyond what was available just a year ago.  With gear like this, we are confident that these clamps will never allow a panel to separate from the rails - “come loose from its moorings” to quote Rachel - and thus, we feel that this is the safest system we have ever installed.  This will be our new standard going forward.  Great job, Unirac, and thanks!

Unraveling a Mystery

In the first installment of this series, we looked at the solar system of Mrs. C which had been entirely destroyed in Pasadena’s terrible windstorm.  Given that the racking itself was still securely attached to the roof, the critical question was: Why had this system failed?

As we began to dismantle the now scrap system, we examined the panels, the railing and the bolts that had held the system together.  This array had been crafted out of a hybrid combination of unistrut steel parts - that created a 26° tilt - with Unirac rails and clamps.  The array was on a flat roof on the northern section of the house - which meant that it was completely exposed to the full force of the wind with no other part of the roof to interfere with the flow.  Under such circumstances, any mistake in the installation would be put to a very extreme test.

Our examination revealed that the forces on the panels had been so intense that the railing itself had failed.

This is how an end-clamp normally appears when holding a panel to the rail. You can see how the edge of the clamp grips the panel, the base of the clamp rests on the rail, and the bolt coming up from the rail is tightened down to hold the panel securely.

Now look at this end-clamp as we found it - away from the panel it was supposed to hold and only barely connected to the rail. (Other clamps were ripped from the rails altogether.)

The portion of the clamp at the bottom right of the picture was supposed to grip the side of the panel but now it is gripping nothing.

Let’s take a closer look at this point of failure:

The t-bolt is made of stainless steel, whereas the rail in which it sits is aluminum.  Under the extreme forces that occurred that night, the uplift from the panels caused the t-bolt to chew its way completely through the rail!  You can also see how the bottom of the end-clamp had started to deface the top of the rail, as well as the scratch marks created by the solar panel (to the right of the rail failure.)

That answered the question of what had failed, but it didn’t answer the question of why.  After all, when properly installed, that rail combination is designed to withstand forces far beyond what were experienced that night.  In the days following the windstorm, Run on Sun inspected all of our projects that used this same combination of bolts and rails and none of them showed the slightest sign of failure.  So why was this installation different?

We brought this system failure to the attention of Unirac and Pasadena Water and Power.  We wanted Unirac’s sense of why this had failed and we wanted PWP to encourage its solar customers to have their systems inspected for possible signs of unexpected wear.

We got a great response from Unirac, who took this issue very seriously and helped us diagnose what had ultimately caused the failure.  One possibility was that the last person that worked on those panels might have over-torqued the bolts.  Unirac provides specific torque settings for the clamps used to hold the panels to the rails.  Those setting have been tested to assure the maximum strength without running the risk of damaging the parts.  But not all installers use a torque wrench when they are tightening their panels to the rails.  Without a torque wrench, an installer has to tighten by feel alone, and a careless - or harried - installer could easily over-tighten the bolts which could weaken the rail and lead to a possible failure.  Did that happen here?  We will never know.

And yet, a different culprit ultimately emerged which almost certainly played a major role in the failure of this system.  Indeed, it was right in front of us all along (you can see it if you look closely at the first picture in this post), but we didn’t notice it until we were starting to take the damaged panels off the roof.

Did you figure it out?  Take a look at this photo:

Right there in the middle of the photo is a nut on the end of a bolt - these two panels were bolted together!  Indeed, the installer had bolted all of the panels together into pairs.  Why was that done?  No idea - but the impact of that decision was profound.  Now each panel - as “seen” by the rails - was twice as wide as normal. For each row of 10 panels, the number of mid-clamps available to resist the uplift force dropped from 18 (two each in the nine gaps between panels) to just 8.  As the wind force increased to historic proportions, the loading simply exceeded the down-force that those 8 mid-clamps could provide.  The result was a smashed solar power system with panels flung across the roof.

A Tale of Two Solar Installers and an Insurance Company

We were pleased to have discerned why Mrs. C’s system had failed and she was eager to get it replaced.  She contacted her insurance company which contacted us and asked us to provide an estimate to repair the system.  Given that there was lots of old gear to be removed and hauled away, in addition to installing what was pretty much an entirely new replacement system on a tilt-up rack, we gave them what we considered a fair bid  that worked out to ~ $7/Watt.  Not surprisingly, the insurance company informed us that since the amount was so large, they would need to get a second bid.  Which they did - and that bid came back $11,000 more than ours! What’s more, they charged $250 just to provide the bid!

Mind you, we proposed using Sanyo panels and Enphase micro-inverters for this project - which is the absolute top-of-the line gear that we could have chosen.  So how on earth does a competitor look at the same project and propose a system price nearly twice what we did? One can only assume that they saw that an insurance company would be paying for this and so they decided to go for a jackpot.  To which we have just one response: PATHETIC!

Coming Up - the Happy Ending as Run on Sun Makes it Right!  (With a little help from our friends!)

Happily, the insurance company stepped up to the plate and Mrs. C awarded us the contract to “repair” her system.  The folks from Unirac chipped in and agreed to provide the replacement racking for the project.  In the final installment in this series, we will tell you about how that system came together and we will even have a totally cool video to share.  Stay tuned!