SOLAR TODAY - May 2011 - Innovative Design

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VOLume 25, NO. 4 May 2011 solartoday.org 

contents 

32 Case Study | By Mike Nicklas, FAIA 

On the Road to Green 

For tens of thousands of travelers each year, the Northwest 

North Carolina Sustainable Visitor Center is a model for 

low-impact living. 

38 

Streamlining Solar Technology 

By Mike Koshmrl 

With a “thousand little cuts” approach, the SunShot Initiative 

aims to drop installed solar costs by 70 percent — in less 

than a decade. 

48 

50 

Daylighting a Car Repair Facility 

By Richard Reis, PE 

Through lighting upgrades, British American Auto Care in 

Columbia, Md., slashed electricity usage nearly 60 percent, or 

$7,650 annually. 

Cost-efficient Zero-Net 

Office Building 

By Seth Masia 

Using off-the-shelf technology, NREL’s new LEED Platinum 

facility makes as much energy as it uses. 

42 

Solar Approvals Simplified 

By Hannah Muller 

Recognizing that non-hardware costs can add thousands 

to a system’s price, the Solar America Cities forge more 

efficient processes. 

32 

Coming in JUNE: 

• Transitioning to an EV Fleet 

• Choosing a Low-Carbon Car 

• Passive Solar for Net-Zero-Energy 

• Innovators: NREL’s Arthur J. Nozik, Ph.D. 

• Intersolar Europe New Products Preview 

innovative design 

ON THE COVER: Designed by award-winning architect 

Mike Nicklas and his team at Innovative Design, the Northwest 

North Carolina Sustainable Visitor Center in Wilkes County displays 

passive heating, daylighting and geothermal and active 

solar technologies for tens of thousands of travelers yearly. 

Story on page 32. Photo courtesy of innovative design. 

Articles appearing in this magazine are indexed in Environmental Periodicals Bibliography and ArchiText Construction Index: afsonl.com. 

Copyright © 2011 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved. 

solartoday.org SOLAR TODAY May 2011 3

$/W is soooo 2008. 

It’s all about $/kWh now. 

Introducing the UJ6 module series 

from Mitsubishi Electric 

212 to 235 watts 

With the solar industry shifting its focus from $/W to $/kWh, a module’s real-life energy performance is extremely important. 

Mitsubishi Electric PV modules have one of the highest PTC ratings in the industry and are well known for exceeding power output 

expectations in real life conditions. All of our PV modules have a tight +/- 3% power tolerance, a 25-year power output warranty, 

and are known for their exceptional quality and reliability. 

In our new UJ6 series, we’ve not only increased the number of cells per module from 50 to 60, we’ve also improved the cell 

efficiency to bring you more power per square foot. Mitsubishi Electric PV modules have some of the most innovative safety 

features in the industry including a triple-layer junction box, 100% lead-free solder, and a back protection bar for extra support. 

The new modules range in size from 212 watts to 235 watts and are designed for roof mount or ground mount commercial 

installations. 

For more information please 

email pv@meus.mea.com 

call 714-236-6137 or visit 

www.MitsubishiElectricSolar.com

Solar Today is published by the American Solar Energy Society, ases.org, 

the U.S. Section of the International Solar Energy Society 

® 

in every issue 

6 What’s New at SolarToday.org 

8 Perspective 

28 View from the States: 

Utility-Scale Renewable Energy 

60 New Products Showcase: 

Solar 2011 Preview 

80 Inside ASES 

84 Dates 

84 Ad Index 

10 advances 

Energy Markets After Fukushima 

By Seth Masia 

New Energy Down on the Farm 

By Richard Crume 

Colorado Revives PV Incentives 

By Seth Masia 

EPA Tier 4 Opens 

By Robert Ukeiley 

Lessons from North Carolina 

By Gina R. Johnson 

22 innovators 

Peter and Lyndon Rive, SolarCity 

By Seth Masia 

10 

26 investing 

Cleantech Investment Strong for 2011 

By Rona Fried, Ph.D. 

30 the trade 

The Quagmire of 

Electrical System Grounding 

By Mick Sagrillo 

56 solar installations 

Terry Sanford Federal Building 

and Courthouse 


86 system accomplished 

Clayton’s Self Storage 

By Seth Masia 

56 

Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs 

Standard Solar 

SOLAR TODAY 

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Modern Communal Solar 

By Noel White and Johanna Wilson-White 

Neighbors in a 29-home condominium 

cohousing community in rural 

New Hampshire pool their resources 

and go solar. 

richard pendleton richard pendleton 

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6 May 2011 SOLAR TODAY solartoday.org Copyright © 2011 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved.

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perspective 

Rally for Raleigh By Jeff Lyng 

What do the Wright Brothers 

and the American Solar 

Energy Society have in common 

No, the American Solar Energy 

Society (ASES) isn’t working on a solarpowered 

aircraft. The answer: Both are 

pioneers, both pushed the envelope 

in their fields and both embody true 

American innovation. ASES was educating 

Americans about renewable energy 

and energy efficiency decades before 

many of the nonprofit organizations in 

this field existed. We are pioneers and 

it’s appropriate that the ASES membership 

rally in a place of true American 

innovation during a critical time in 

our nation’s energy history. 

From May 17 to 21, the American Solar Energy 

Society will descend upon Raleigh, N.C., for 

its 40th annual National Solar Conference. For 

four decades, this conference has been the premier 

renewable energy educational gathering in 

North America, perhaps in the world. For a few 

days, Raleigh — a high-tech development center 

to begin with — will be the capital city of solar 

energy in the United States. And that’s appropriate. 

North Carolina, with a 12.5 percent renewable 

portfolio standard, a 35 percent personal tax credit 

for renewable energy projects and a variety of other 

incentives, is leading the Southeastern states into 

the new energy economy. 

North Carolina is leading 

the Southeastern states into 

the new energy economy. 

Forty years ago, in 1971, solar energy was 

barely a blip on the national energy scene. Space 

satellites and manned capsules were orbiting with 

solar arrays, but the technology was still far too 

expensive for normal use down here on earth. 

Today, Southern California Edison has found it 

cheaper to install 250 megawatts of distributed 

photovoltaics than to build a new natural gas 

power plant. The cost of fossil fuels continues to 

rise steadily, sometimes sharply, while the cost of 

renewable energy falls month after month. We are 

still four or five years from true grid parity without 

Jeff Lyng is chair of 

the American Solar 

Energy Society 

Board. Contact him 

at chair@ases.org. 

government incentives, but that target 

is now clearly within reach, using 

existing technology and business plans 

already in progress. 

So, why should you attend SOLAR 

2011 Here are my top three. 

1. Stay plugged in. Learn the latest 

from industry experts on renewable 

energy policy and technology developments. 

2. Nerd out. Attend educational 

sessions offered throughout the conference 

for a deeper dive on topics of 

interest. 

3. Network and have some fun. 

Meet the movers and shakers in industry 

or reconnect with colleagues at any number of 

the social events planned throughout the week. 

At Raleigh, ASES will also launch a new Policy 

Toolkit for use in local solar advocacy efforts. 

Though discussions have begun in Congress on 

a clean energy standard, there is little question 

that the states have been, and will continue to be, 

the change agents for clean energy deployment. 

Although 32 states now have some form of renewable 

portfolio standard, many of them could be 

enhanced to more effectively grow distributed generation 

markets. The new ASES Policy Toolkit is a 

compilation of what’s worked and why. It will be a 

touchstone for policy makers in states where movement 

is occurring on the RPS front to enhance their 

standards in a way that drives solar toward grid parity 

and away from the need for incentives. 

This year, too, registration at Solar 2011 carries 

with it automatic membership in ASES (or, if 

you’re already a member, a gift membership for 

a colleague). Our goal is 5,000 attendance, and a 

significant upswing in membership. In the last issue 

of Solar Today, I focused this column on the 

need for every SOLAR TODAY reader to become 

an ambassador for the organization in generating 

new membership. I called upon all readers to focus 

on bringing in three new members this year. I think 

every reader understands that the wider our grassroots 

base, the louder ASES’ policy message will 

be heard. 

We still have plenty of work to do in educating 

consumers, voters, utility executives, investors 

and politicians before we achieve the vision of a 

Solar Nation. 

We’re entering the final lap to grid parity. Let’s 

see a finishing kick. ST 

SOLAR TODAY ® 

Leading the Renewable Energy Revolution 

solartoday.org 

Shaun L. McGrath: ASES Executive Director 

Editorial 

Gina R. Johnson: Editor/Associate Publisher 

editor@solartoday.org 

Seth Masia: Deputy Editor 

Mike Koshmrl: Associate Editor 

Alexandria Abdallah: Associate Editor 

Solartoday.org 

Brooke Simmons: Manager of Online Publishing 

Design 

Allison J. Gray: Art Director 

Dan Bihn: Photojournalist 

Contributors 

Richard Crume, Rona Fried, Chuck Kutscher, Joseph McCabe, 

Liz Merry, Mick Sagrillo, Robert Ukeiley 

Advertising 

Annette Delagrange: Director of Sales, 

Colorado and Outside the U.S. 

adelagrange@solartoday.org 

P: 630.234.9187 

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bhunt@solartoday.org 

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Magazine Advisory Council 

Gabriela Martin, Chair 

Dan Bihn 

Paul Notari 

Richard Crume 

Alejandro Palomino 

Frank Kreith 

Mick Sagrillo 

Chuck Kutscher 

Bob Scheulen 

Joseph McCabe 

Robert Ukeiley 

Dona McClain 

Jane M. Weissman 

ASES Operations 

Carolyn Beach: Membership Manager 

Richard Burns: National Solar Tour Manager/ 

Chapters Liaison 

Christy Honigman: Director of Development 

Kate Hotchkiss: National Solar Conference Director 

Ann Huggins: Member Services 

Dona McClain: Program Coordinator 

Patty Michaels: Interim Bookkeeper 

Joel Moore: National Solar Conference Assistant 

Chris Stimpson: Executive Campaigner 

Solar Nation, a program of ASES 

ASES Board of Directors 

Jeff Lyng, Chair 

David Hill, Chair-elect 

Bill Poulin, Treasurer 

Jason Keyes, Secretary 

Margot McDonald, ASES Immediate Past Chair 

Toni Bouchard 

Nathalie Osborn 

Richard Caputo 

David Panich 

David Comis 

Tehri Parker 

Gregory Edwards 

Jeff Peterson 

Trudy Forsyth 

Phil Smithers 

Allison Gray 

Mark Thornbloom 

Mary Guzowski 

Solar Today (ISSN: 1042-0630) is published nine times 

per year by the American Solar Energy Society, 4760 Walnut 

Street, Suite 106, Boulder, Colorado 80301, 303.443.3130, 

fax 303.443.3212, ases@ases.org, ases.org. Copyright © 2011 

by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved. 


advances solar 

technology | analysis | markets 

RE on the Farm 14 Colorado Revives PV Incentives 16 Lessons from North Carolina 18 

After Fukushima: What the Japan Disasters Mean for PV 

By Seth Masia 

Following the March 11 earthquake and tsnunami, 

11 nuclear-powered generating stations on the 

island of Honshu shut down, leaving 2.5 million 

homes without power. Japan lost about 10 gigawatts 

(GW) of capacity, roughly 7 percent of the nation’s electric 

power. Some of that capacity will be restored, but 

the 4.7-GW Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, which suffered 

partial meltdowns in three of its reactors and a spentfuel 

storage pond, is out for good. 

Much has been made in the business press of the worldwide 

slowdown in manufacturing of consumer goods 

due to the temporary inability of Japanese plants to make 

or ship components. But the hole in the Japanese power 

grid also has implications for global energy markets. 

As Japan rebuilds its infrastructure, the country will 

show strong demand for all forms of distributed power, 

from mobile generators to PV arrays. 

Seth Masia (smasia@ 

solartoday.org) is deputy 

editor at SOLAR TODAY. 

Natural gas prices rose about 2.5 percent during the 

weekend following the initial disaster, to a two-year 

high. The reason is straightforward: The quick way for 

Japan to fill the nuclear gap is to burn more natural gas. 

The country imports nearly all its gas from South Korea 

and from Russia’s Sakhalin Island facilities. Gas futures 

didn’t follow along with the rise, and a week later, as 

traders recalled that the winter heating season is winding 

down, prices had come back down to about $4 per 

million Btu. But Dow Jones predicted that by 2020, flattening 

of the nuclear power industry will lead utilities 

worldwide to demand at least an extra 100 billion cubic 

meters (3.5 trillion cubic feet) of gas. Rising gas prices 

affect utility costs worldwide, and make Russia stronger 

in dealings with its western neighbors. Japan may also 

need to import more coal, mainly from Australia. 

The disasters in Japan may slow the steady decline 

in photovoltaic (PV) prices. Since January, the financial 

press has been forecasting a serious worldwide oversupply 

of PV modules beginning late in 2011, when the rate 

of installations, forecast at 22 GW worldwide this year, 

fails to soak up China’s purported capacity to make as 

much as 35 GW of new modules annually. For a variety 

of reasons related to factory consolidation and Chinese 

industrial policy, the 35-GW capacity figure may be 

exaggerated. The PV oversupply forecast now needs to 

be reevaluated. 

Short term, the power grid failure on Honshu has 

shut down the M. Setek plant, a major producer of silicon 

ingots and wafers for both the PV and silicon chip markets. 

Ten days later, the plant was still dealing with equipment 

damage. As Japan rebuilds its infrastructure, the 

country will show strong demand for all forms of distributed 

power, from mobile generators to PV arrays. Under 

a new feed-in tariff (FIT) program implemented in 2009, 

the Japanese market installed about 800 megawatts of PV 

in 2010, and was expected to reach 2.4 GW per year by 

2014. In the rush to rebuild, distributed PV should turn 

out to be the low-cost alternative to imported natural gas. 

If that’s the case, Japanese demand for modules, domestic 

and imported, will spike. Roberta Gamble, director 

for energy markets at the research firm Frost & Sullivan, 

expects that Japan will introduce more-aggressive distributed-energy 

incentives with a local-content requirement. 

And she notes Japan’s strength in research and development. 

“We may see improvements in efficiency that will 

benefit the worldwide market,” she said. 

Japan’s on-shore wind resource has been described 

as “modest,” but wind farms on Honshu survived the 

earthquake and continued to make power. The experience 

may accelerate development of the country’s huge 

offshore wind resource. Perhaps Japan and its neighbor 

South Korea, which between them build about 54 percent 

of the world’s shipping tonnage, will enter the race 

to deploy ocean power. 

Stocks fell worldwide for companies that manufacture 

nuclear power plants. In Europe and the United 

States, elected governments are suddenly under pressure 

to review the standards for nuclear plants. Germany, 

which has been debating the future of its nuclear 

plants for a decade, suddenly shut down its eight oldest 

reactors, and some may never resume operation in 

the face of 85 percent public opposition in Germany 

to nuclear power. Because nuclear plants need cooling 

water, they are built alongside waterways or ocean 

shores. Regulators will now question their ability to survive 

floods induced by storms or upstream dam failures. 

Like Japan, Germany may, in the short term, use more 

natural gas from Russia. 

At the same time, stock prices rose sharply for solar 

manufacturers, then wavered. Gamble notes that countries 

worldwide are likely to back away from the “all- 

➢ 


Solyndra 

Solis Commissions 921-kW Array in New Jersey 

Solis Partners in March completed a 921-kilowatt rooftop installation for Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G), New 

Jersey’s oldest and largest publicly owned utility, at the utility’s Central Division Headquarters in the Somerset section of 

Franklin Township, N.J. The system utilizes a combination of U.S.-made SolarWorld crystalline panels and Solyndra thin-film 

cylindrical modules, feeding Satcon inverters. It’s part of PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program, a plan to invest $515 million on 80 

megawatts of solar projects around the state between 2009 and 2013. 

After Fukushima: 

continued 

eggs-in-one-basket central power station” model. The 

politically expedient alternative to nuclear power outside 

the United States is to re-energize FIT programs 

and redouble efforts in offshore wind and ocean power. 

In 2012, Japan may double its PV installations to help 

offset a 5-GW deficit in its grid. Michael Molnar, a partner 

at the investment bank Greentech Capital Advisers, 

predicts that Germany will slow the rate of FIT reductions. 

Germany could rebound to take 10 GW of PV, and 

North America may be good for 3 GW. Between them, 

these markets may account for half the world’s PV installations. 

That would certainly be healthy for the major 

manufacturers, but it may temporarily stabilize pricing 

in local markets. “You may not see the price reductions 

you expected over the next six months,” Molnar said, 

“but over the long term, with all the modules being built, 

prices will continue to come down. I’m incredibly bullish 

on PV installation.” 

Over the next couple of months, the financial repercussions 

of Japan’s energy crisis will become clear. By 

mid-May, when we convene in Raleigh for SOLAR 2011, 

the ASES National Solar Conference, solar industry 

executives should have a better idea of how they fit into, 

and are affected by, Japan’s program to rebuild. They’ll 

all have revised their projections. We’ll have a lot to talk 

about then. 



advances 

| tech breakthrough 

Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs 

From left, a scientific team 

that included Christian 

Kisielowski, Anne Ruminski, 

Rizia Bardhan and Jeff 

Urban has achieved a major 

breakthrough in the development 

of nanocomposites 

for high-capacity hydrogen 

storage. Team members not 

shown are Ki-Joon Jeon, Hoi 

Ri Moon and Bin Jiang. 

New Technique for Hydrogen Storage 

Two factors limit widespread adoption of 

hydrogen as a clean-burning motor fuel: a 

cheap low-carbon technique for manufacturing 

it, and a compact, safe way to compress, store 

and transport it. 

A team at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley 

Lab) has designed a new solid composite material for 

hydrogen storage, consisting of nanoparticles of 

magnesium metal sprinkled through a matrix of polymethyl 

methacrylate, a polymer related to Plexiglas. The 

pliable nanocomposite rapidly absorbs and releases 

hydrogen at modest temperatures without oxidizing 

the metal after cycling. The group claims a major breakthrough 

in materials design for hydrogen storage, batteries 

and fuel cells. 

“This work showcases our ability to design composite 

nanoscale materials that overcome fundamental 

thermodynamic and kinetic barriers to realize a materials 

combination that has been very elusive historically,” 

says Jeff Urban, deputy director of the Inorganic Nanostructures 

Facility at the Molecular Foundry, a nanoscience 

center at Berkeley Lab (foundry.lbl.gov). 

Urban, along with coauthors Ki-Joon Jeon and 

Christian Kisielowski, used the TEAM 0.5, the world’s 

most powerful electron microscope, located at the 

National Center for Electron Microscopy, another DOE 

facility housed at Berkeley Lab. Observing individual 

magnesium nanocrystals dispersed throughout the 

polymer, the researchers were able to track defects — 

atomic vacancies in an otherwise-ordered crystalline 

framework — to learn about the behavior of hydrogen 

within this new class of storage materials. 

To investigate the uptake and release of hydrogen 

in their nanocomposite material, the team turned to 

Berkeley Lab’s Energy and Environmental Technologies 

Division, whose research is aimed at developing more 

environmentally friendly technologies for generating 

and storing energy, including hydrogen storage. 

This research is reported in a paper titled “Air-stable 

magnesium nanocomposites provide rapid and 

high-capacity hydrogen storage without heavy metal 

catalysts,” appearing in the journal Nature Materials 

and available at nature.com/nmat. Co-authoring the 

paper with Urban, Kisielowski and Jeon were Hoi Ri 

Moon, Anne M. Ruminski, Bin Jiang and Rizia Bardhan. 

This work was supported by DOE’s Office of Science. 

— Berkeley Lab 


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The Future of Solar Technology

advances 

| deployment 

Wind is strongest during 

the fall and winter seasons, 

when solar heating is at 

a minimum. Many farms 

therefore run a combination 

of solar panels and 

wind turbines. 

© Jenny Swanson 

By Richard Crume 

Richard Crume is an 

environmental engineer 

and teaches a university 

course on air pollution, 

climate change and 

energy efficiency. He is 

a regular contributor to 

Solar Today. 

Saving Energy on the Family Farm 

The family farm is not the first place you would think 

to look for the latest energy-saving technologies. But 

solar panels, wind turbines and methane digesters 

are increasingly common on farms, large and small, across 

the United States. According to the On-Farm Renewable 

Energy Production Survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(nass.usda.gov), farms employing these renewable 

technologies are saving an average of $2,400 annually on 

their utility bills. 

The USDA study found that the number of farm-based 

solar, wind and digester systems has more than doubled 

since 2005, and further market growth is expected as farmers 

take advantage of incentives to stabilize their rising 

energy costs. More than 8,500 farms report using some 

combination of photovoltaic (PV) panels, thermal solar 

panels, wind turbines and methane digesters. 

Dairy farming, which uses a lot of electricity for 

According to the On-Farm Renewable Energy 

Production Survey by the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, farms employing renewable technologies 

are saving an average of $2,400 annually 

on their utility bills. 

Top Five States for Farms Having Renewable Energy Systems 

PV and Thermal 

Methane 

Solar Panels Wind Turbines Digesters 

1. California California Wisconsin 

2. Texas Texas New York 

3. Hawaii Minnesota California 

4. Colorado Colorado Pennsylvania 

5. Oregon Arizona, Vermont 

Montana (tied) 

Source: On-Farm Renewable Energy Production Survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

refrigerating milk, building ventilation and lighting, milking 

machines and hot water for equipment cleaning, turns out 

to be the biggest beneficiary of renewable power sources. 

But solar panels and wind turbines power a wide variety of 

farm equipment, ranging from electric fencing and lighting, 

to water pumping for livestock watering and irrigation. 

Renewable sources are particularly helpful in remote locations 

where power lines are not accessible. 

Solar and wind resources are often complementary. 

During the summer months when solar intensity is strong, 

winds are often light. Wind is strongest during the fall 

and winter seasons, when solar heating is at a minimum. 

Many farms therefore run a combination of solar panels 

and wind turbines. 

Continued on page 20 ➢ 


advances 

| incentives and regulations 

Reprieve for Colorado’s PV Incentives 

The Colorado Public Utility Commission on March 18 approved a 

compromise plan to revive the popular Solar Rewards program for 

grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. The plan was negotiated 

by Xcel Energy and the state’s solar installer community, led by the Colorado 

Solar Energy Industries Association (CoSEIA). 

Under the new plan, effective March 23, up-front rebates for small 

customer-owned systems will drop to $1.75 per watt for the first 4 megawatts, 

and taper off to zero as further megawatt targets are met. Meanwhile, 

performance-based payments will ramp up from 4 cents per kilowatt-hour 

to 14 cents. 

For third-party power purchase agreements and larger systems, up-front 

rebates end immediately. Performance-based payments begin at 16 cents 

per kilowatt-hour for small customer-owned systems and 15 cents for larger 

systems, both scaling back to 11 cents as megawatt targets are met. 

The plan will help to pay for 60 megawatts of new distributed PV capacity. 

The original Solar Rewards program has installed 70 megawatts. 

The agreement ends a five-week moratorium on solar incentives that 

stalled all new-system sales. And the new performance-based system will 

be revisited within a year, as Xcel Energy in May is due to submit a plan for 

complying with its 2013 renewable energy targets. 

The negotiated plan is “a short-term band-aid solution,” said Blake Jones, 

president of Namasté Solar in Boulder. “We’re happy it’s back up and running, 

and we think there will be an initial surge of sales as customers who 

were waiting for an outcome take up their projects again. Then it will be 

very interesting to see how the performance-based incentive works as the 

market develops.” 

Jones believes that the performance-based incentive system will reward 

installers and customers who take installation quality and long-term maintenance 

very seriously. Because of the fall-off in up-front price support, established 

credit and stable financing relationships will be more critical. This 

may be to the advantage of solar-leasing vendors. The new system may help 

to sell high-end high-efficiency modules, and may also have implications for 

the real estate market: A home seller passes the power-production income 

stream to the new owner. 

Meanwhile, uncertainty in Colorado’s PV market — recently one of 

the strongest in the country, thanks in part to the state’s 30 percent renewable 

electricity standard — has installers re-evaluating their commitments. 

Namasté laid off 12 employees in Colorado, and Jones says the company has 

“re-allocated” some resources toward projects in half a dozen other states. 

Meanwhile, CoSEIA is circulating a petition to reboot the incentive 

program abruptly terminated in October by Black Hills Energy, the utility 

serving Southeastern Colorado. — Seth Masia 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


By ROBERT UKEILEY 

Robert Ukeiley (rukeiley 

@igc.org) is a lawyer 

who represents environmental 

nonprofits in 

Clean Air Act litigation 

affecting energy issues. 

New Rules Open Market 

for Renewable Sales 

This column often talks about the ways environmental 

regulations will impact large, centralized power 

plants and thus “grid” energy. There are, however, a 

number of Clean Air Act regulations coming into place that 

should create new opportunities in a variety of innovative 

applications for renewable energy and energy efficiency. 

These regulations, coupled with the ever-increasing cost of 

fossil fuels, especially diesel, should help to level the economic 

playing field for clean energy. 

For example, on Jan. 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency’s (EPA’s) interim Tier 4 regulations began to 

apply to certain stationary engines. The final Tier 4 regulations 

take effect between 2013 and 2015, depending on the 

size of the engine. The regulations apply to diesel engines 

used in power generation as well as industrial applications 

such as mining, oil and gas extraction, agricultural and nonroad 

construction equipment. These regulations will, in 

most cases, make the engines more expensive and also make 

the diesel fuel more expensive as the fuel will have to be 

cleaner in order not to damage the pollution controls on the 

engines. The increased costs for diesel equipment means 

renewable energy can be a more attractive option if renewable 

energy sellers can provide solar-and-battery-powered 

equipment that can do the job more economically. More 

information about EPA’s regulation of non-road diesel 

engines is available here: epa.gov/nonroad-diesel. 

On Feb. 23, EPA signed another final rule limiting the 

emissions of hazardous air pollutants for various industrial, 

commercial and institutional boilers. EPA estimates 

that the new pollution limits will apply to approximately 

200,000 boilers. This includes boilers at large sources of air 

pollutants, including refineries, chemical plants and other 

industrial facilities, and boilers located at small sources 

of air pollutants, including universities, hospitals, hotels 

and commercial buildings. Again, as the cost of pollution 

is internalized at these facilities, renewables and energy 

efficiency such as solar water-heating and efficiency measures 

to reduce the demand for steam or hot water should 

become more and more attractive. More information about 

this rule is available at epa.gov/airquality/combustion. 

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advances 

| policy 

In North Carolina, Lessons for Tough States 


Gina R. Johnson (editor@ 

solartoday.org) is 

editor of SOLAR TODAY. 

Since passing a renewable energy and energy-efficiency 

portfolio standard (REPS) in 2007, North 

Carolina’s solar market has flourished. The state has 

vaulted to the eighth and ninth places respectively for solar 

water-heating and photovoltaic installations in the nation, 

according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The 

North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA) 

reports that green jobs have grown at double-digit rates 

each year, reaching an estimated 12,500 in 2010. As work 

toward federal energy policies has stalled and more states 

grapple with budgetary shortfalls and declining incentives, 

North Carolina’s approach for thriving under challenging 

conditions may offer a model. 

Like other Southeastern U.S. states and much of the 

Midwest, North Carolina is a regulated electricity market 

where investor-owned utilities (IOUs) are regulated 

monopolies. The competitive market-based approach of a 

renewable portfolio standard tends to be a major shift for 

regulators and IOUs in these states, especially when the 

IOU is unlikely to own and operate new renewable generation. 

Skepticism and misperceptions about renewable 

energy resources and cost are common. For such states, say 

North Carolina solar advocates, clear lessons have emerged: 

build broad support, start with small steps and respect the 

needs of regulators, legislators and utilities. 

To appreciate the challenges North Carolina advocates 

faced, one need look no further than its neighbor to 

the South. 

Though ranked 10th in the nation for its strong solar 

resource, Georgia lingers in the bottom third in terms of 

solar installations. The state has a growing base of renewable 

energy advocates. But the 75 or so IOUs that serve the 

Southeast under the Southern Co. holding company remain 

focused on coal and nuclear generation. Solar financing is 

hindered by Georgia’s 1973 territorial act, which requires 

power generators to sell their energy to Georgia Power. As 

a result, project developers can’t take advantage of the solar 

power purchase agreement (PPA) used to finance most 

large-scale installations nationwide. 

Despite the challenges, Georgia has taken steps to 

FLS Energy 

Since the REPS went into effect in 2007, Asheville, N.C.-based FLS Energy has installed enough solar thermal capacity in North Carolina to heat more than 500,000 

gallons of water daily. The state has more than 100 solar energy companies, employing more than 1,500 people. 


expand its renewable energy market. Like North 

Carolina, the state began with a voluntary green 

power-pricing program, whereby power generated 

by eligible, grid-connected renewable energy 

systems is sold to other customers. An initial 

aggregate cap of 500 kilowatts on the utility 

buyback limited interest, however. Since 2009, 

state regulators have increased the cap to 6.4 

megawatts and added a premium solar offering 

to the green pricing program. In March HB146, 

which would have increased the aggregate $2.5 

million cap on the 35 percent corporate tax 

incentive for installed non-residential renewable 

energy systems to $10 million, died in the 

Georgia House. But advocates hope to add the 

provision to a tax-relief bill being considered in 

the state Senate. 

In North Carolina, the voluntary NC 

GreenPower pricing program opened the 

door to renewable energy. Created in 2003, the 

independent nonprofit program provided the 

state’s first incentives for residential installations 

and prompted net-metering and interconnection 

rules. More importantly, it countered misunderstandings 

about renewable energy, particularly 

solar energy, says NCSEA Executive Director 

Ivan Urlaub. “You can’t ‘unknow’ something 

once you know it,” Urlaub explains. “And what 

we came to know was that solar power works just 

fine, has virtually no problems, it integrates into 

the grid very well, and you can build it quickly. 

And it creates a lot of jobs.” 

Advocates from the agriculture, economic 

development and renewable energy sectors lobbied 

for an REPS, but legislators were dubious 

about renewable energy’s cost and local potential. 

So, at the request of the state legislature, the 

state utilities commission conducted a study. The 

2006 study found that the state electric utilities 

could tap renewable energy and efficiency to provide 

10 percent of their generation (7.5 percent 

renewable energy and 2.5 percent efficiency) at 

less cost than traditional sources — less than a 

mix including new nuclear generation, and half 

a billion dollars less than coal- and natural gasfired 

generation alone. 

“The policy proposal became viable and the 

utilities were not able to oppose it any longer on 

a cost basis, so they had to deal,” says Urlaub. 

The utilities, Duke Energy and Progress Energy, 

wanted to be able to recover construction costs 

for coal and nuclear plants during construction, 

and a compromise was struck. More than 90 

stakeholders participated in bill negotiation. The 

resulting REPS increased efficiency to 5 percent, 

requiring IOUs to provide a total 12.5 percent of 

their retail electricity from renewables and efficiency. 

It also included solar water heating with 

photovoltaics in the solar set-aside and made 

combined heat and power eligible. According to 

Urlaub, “Those were two significant precedents 

that were rare at the time nationwide.” 

Utilities comply by procuring renewable 

energy credits from generators who earn a tax 

credit on the installation cost. Basing the REPS 

on tax credits for generators, rather than a grant 

or rebate, was important. “We tried for a number 

of years to get a public benefits fund in North 

Carolina without any success,” says Steve Kalland, 

director of the North Carolina Solar Center. 

A tax credit was viewed as more consistent 

with economic development. ➢ 



advances 

| policy 

“[Tying a tax credit] to economic development — that seems to be the easier row to hoe.” 

— Steve Kalland, North Carolina Solar Center 

It’s critical for the industry to offer mechanisms that bring 

to the table the needs of states, as well as of renewable energy 

interests, says Kalland. “[Tying a tax credit] to economic 

development — bringing jobs into the state, bringing investment 

into the state, in a way that’s going to increase state 

revenues — that seems to be the easier row to hoe,” he adds. 

“And certainly in the Southeast, it seems to be much more in 

tune with what’s palatable for legislators.” 

Since the REPS went into effect in 2007, Asheville, 

N.C.-based FLS Energy has installed enough solar thermal 

capacity to heat more than 500,000 gallons of water every 

day at a facilities across the state. CEO Michael Shore credits 

good policy, which allows solar thermal to count toward 

FLS Energy 

North Carolina’s REPS. “Once solar incentives were put 

in place,” he said, “capitalism did its job and businesses 

followed opportunities.” 

Indeed, the latest NCSEA jobs survey finds more than 

100 solar energy companies in the state, employing more 

than 1,500 people. Hundreds of more companies in the 

state have secondary or tertiary business in solar. Since 

the REPS was adopted, the cost of installed solar in North 

Carolina has fallen a whopping 49 percent, according to 

Urlaub. Perhaps most importantly, he says, regulators, utilities 

and legislators are learning that an integrated electricity 

portfolio including renewables and efficiency actually 

costs less than one without. “This is a paradigm shift,” says 

Urlaub, and one that, as the state establishes a solar supply 

chain, will position it to reap economic-development benefits 

as solar reaches grid parity nationwide. 

Because of falling solar prices, the utilities have already 

met their requirements for solar for the next few years. The 

legislature is now considering House Bill 495 and Senate 

Bill 473, which would double the solar set-aside to 15 percent 

by 2018. Action is due by the end of the summer. 

Back in Georgia, the policy wish list includes passing 

HB 146 to expand the cap on the tax incentive, and revising 

the state territorial act to allow solar PPAs. One way Georgia 

solar advocates hope to emulate North Carolina’s success is by 

focusing more effectively on jobs creation, says Georgia Solar 

Energy Association Chair Doug Beebe. 

“We’ve had to get creative in the difficult budget year 

we’re having in Georgia,” says Beebe. “It’s not enough to 

say, ‘solar creates jobs.’ You’ve got to say, ‘solar creates 

jobs and this is going to be the net-positive benefit to tax 

revenue generation.’” 

Family Farm from page 14 

Methane digester operation is based on anaerobic 

decomposition, the breaking down of manure and other 

organic matter by bacteria in the absence of oxygen. The 

methane produced can be used in place of natural gas for 

Farms and Ranches with Renewable Energy Systems 

Photovoltaic panels – 7,236 

Thermal solar panels – 1,835 

Wind turbines – 1,420 

Methane digesters – 121 

Wind turbines on farmland under a wind rights lease agreement and 

methane digesters not owned and operated by the farm were excluded. 

Source: On-Farm Renewable Energy Production Survey by the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture 

heating and drying operations and to power standby electric 

generators, and the effluent can be applied as fertilizer. Methane 

digesters are popular for reducing farmyard odors. 

Many farmers have found it cost-effective to replace 

old equipment with energy-efficient models, to improve 

building insulation and to implement more sustainable 

farming practices. For example, variable-speed drive 

pumps consume half the energy of fixed-speed pumps, 

and drought-resistant crops further cut energy costs by 

reducing irrigation needs. 

U.S. farming will face challenges in the future as energy 

prices rise and the climate warms. For many farms, the savings 

achieved through renewable energy technologies can 

make the difference between a sustainable operation and 

one that is struggling to stay in business. ST 


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innovators | Peter and Lyndon Rive, SolarCity 

SolarCity 

In February, California’s SolarCity purchased the residential-installation part of the blossoming, 

Vermont-based groSolar. The acquisition put SolarCity solidly into the Northeast market and made 

it the largest integrator of photovoltaic systems on the continent. 

A family business leads 

One would normally associate this kind of market penetration with a large corporation. In fact, 

SolarCity is a family-run company, the creation of two brainy South African brothers and their brainy 

the installer universe. cousin. Because their mothers are identical twins, it might be said that genetically, they’re closer than 

cousins — more like half-siblings. 

The family story begins with Joshua Haldeman, D.C., a Minnesota native who became a prominent 

By Seth Masia 

chiropractor in Regina, Saskatchewan. Haldeman was also an accomplished pilot, and when, in 1950, he 

moved his young family to Pretoria, South Africa, he packed along not only his two-year-old twin daughters 

Seth Masia (smasia@solartoday.org) is deputy editor but his single-engine Bellanca. Haldeman flew the plane as far afield as Norway and Australia, and spent 

of SOLAR TODAY. 

hundreds of hours air-searching the Kalahari Desert for signs of lost cities. 

Meanwhile the twins Maye and Kaye grew up, married and 

launched careers in modeling, nutrition counseling and cosmetic 

sales. Maye’s kids were Elon, Kimbal and Tosca Musk. 

Kaye produced Russell, Peter, Lyndon and Almeda Rive. 

The older boys all gravitated to computers, and to Silicon 

Valley by way of North American colleges and grad schools. In 

1995, Elon and Kimbal founded Zip2, an elaborate database of 

businesses and services used to create content for newspaper 

websites. Russell worked for them. In 1999 Zip2 was sold to 

Compaq’s Altavista division for about $350 million in cash 

and stock. Elon used his share to launch x.com, which evolved 

into PayPal, which was sold to eBay late in 2002 for $1.5 billion. 

Elon went on to found Tesla and Space-X, which now 

markets private satellite-launch services to clients as significant 

as NASA. 

While all this was going on, Peter attended Queen’s University 

in Kingston, Ontario, and young Lyndon attended high 

school back in Pretoria. In his final year, Lyndon took on distribution 

for a line of organic cosmetics his mother was selling, 

and within a few months had a thriving business. Not yet out of 

high school, he’d earned more than his first million and taught 

himself the essentials of marketing, sales and distribution logistics. 

The high school excused him from classes and let him sit 

for final exams, which he passed. He was also swimming for 

South Africa’s national underwater hockey team, and visited 

San Jose for the World Championships in 1998. 

The following year, Lyndon and Russell founded Everdream. 

Peter joined them later. The company offered a turnkey 

solution to running distributed data networks, focused 

on corporations running a few applications on thousands of 

computers, at hundreds of locations. Key clients were FedEx, 

UPS and a number of airlines. Elon came in as an investor in 

the fourth round of venture capital financing. 

Lyndon recalls the seven years at Everdream as a slog. The 

partners barely weathered the dot-com crash of 2000, and had 

to rebuild. Like a lot of family businesses, there was an outside 

guy, Lyndon, specializing in sales, marketing and investor relations, 

and an inside guy, Peter, specializing in operations, production 

and fulfillment. “We’re athletes, though, and we tend 

to think of ourselves as offense and defense,” notes Lyndon, 

who as the outside guy naturally handles press relations. “I 

Peter and Lyndon Rive in SolarCity’s offices in San Jose, Calif. 

make the promises, Peter keeps them.” 


In fact, the brothers’ athletic careers are a pretty 

good analogy for their business strategy. Peter 

plays ultimate Frisbee at the World Championship 

level. Both chose niche sports where a good 

athlete could achieve world-class status quickly. 

That’s how they chose businesses to enter, too: 

They looked for upcoming opportunities where 

no leader had yet emerged. 

By 2004, the worst was behind them and 

Everdream was sustainable. Peter and Lyndon 

began thinking about what might come next. In 

August of that year, during a five-hour drive with 

Elon to the Burning Man festival in Black Rock 

Desert, Nevada, they discussed how to make a 

positive impact in the world, and settled on solar 

power. Then, for a couple years, Peter and Lyndon 

researched the solar “value chain.” Visiting 

Solar Power International in 2005, they noticed 

that of about a thousand attendees, everyone 

they met was working on technology and manufacturing. 

“No one was talking about barriers to 

purchasing and delivery problems,” Lyndon says. 

“If no one was focused on the end market, this 

business would make no progress.” 

They’d found their niche: They would knock 

down the initial cost of residential rooftop solar. 

That meant they would need to develop leasing 

programs, and huge economies of scale. 

On July 4, 2006, Peter, Lyndon and Elon 

launched SolarCity. Since then, the company 

has raised $134 million in investment capital, 

and an additional $700 million in project financing. 

They also established an exit strategy for 

EverDream and in late 2007 sold it to Dell Inc., 

the computer company. 

SolarCity has grown steadily with its Solar- 

Lease program, opening branches to offer service 

in 10 states (Arizona, California, Colorado, 

Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, 

Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas), plus Washington, 

D.C. At press time, the company employed 

about 1,100 people nationwide. Residential 

installations are typically handled by threeperson 

crews, doing roughly one installation 

each week. That implies the capability to install 

roughly 15,000 systems a year at today’s staffing 

level. Modules have come from Evergreen, 

First Solar, Kyocera, MiaSolé, Sanyo, Sharp and 

Yingli, and inverters from Fronius, SMA and, for 

larger commercial applications, Satcon. Lyndon 

estimates that current business is divided about 

equally between residential and commercial 

installations, and as the Northeastern business 

grows the balance should shift gradually toward 

the commercial side. He’d like the Northeastern 

business to triple or quadruple over the next 

couple of years. 

By the nature of the leasing program, Solar- 

City owns the systems. “We install it, we own it, ➢ 

During a five-hour drive to 

Burning Man, they discussed 

how to make a positive impact 

and settled on solar power. 




and any problem that arises is ours,” Lyndon says. 

So the company spends a lot of time on safety and 

quality-assurance training. The goal is to get to 

the end of the 20-year lease with no hiccups. Then 

the customer can buy the system, have SolarCity 

remove it, or renew with an upgrade to the newest, 

most efficient technology. 

Today, Elon is chairman of SolarCity while 

running both Space-X and Tesla. Lyndon is CEO, 

Peter is COO, and younger sister Almeda Rive 

works in sales. Kimbal owns a restaurant, The 

Kitchen, in Boulder, Colo., and Russell owns an 

interactive-graphics firm, SuperUber, in Brazil. 

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing. During the 

crash of September and October, 2008, Morgan 

Stanley closed the division that funded much of 

the SolarLease program and SolarCity had to 

scramble for new leasing partners. Today’s crisis 

is in the rollback of state and utility company 

incentives. 

“The larger issue with utilities is that they have 

a conflict of interest with regard to solar,” Lyndon 

says. “They’re in the business of selling power.” 

The way utilities see it, subsidizing distributed 

“The larger issue with utilities 

is that they have a conflict of 

interest with regard to solar.” 

solar cuts into their profitability. Decoupling 

profits from gross power sales has worked in 

California, but hasn’t been adopted elsewhere. 

So the future, Lyndon says, lies in recruiting utility 

companies as investment partners. 

“We are in the business of providing clean 

energy at lower cost than you’re paying now,” 

Lyndon explains. “We don’t care who our partner 

is. Most financing has consisted of solar systems 

owned by banks, but when financial institutions 

aren’t profitable — and many aren’t now 

— they can’t take advantage of tax credits. Now 

we see utilities taking that role. There are utility 

companies that see opportunities in solar, and 

utilities that see solar as a threat. There is a massive 

opportunity to get into solar by investing 

in projects. Pacific Gas & Electric has been an 

investment partner in solar projects and earned 

a decent return, and we’ve seen other utilities get 

into this space. We can create an opportunity for 

them.” A potential model is the growth of the cell 

phone industry. Fixed-line phone companies that 

declined to invest in cell networks have failed, 

while fixed-line phone companies that did invest 

in cell networks have thrived. 

“What keeps me up at night now are the 

political issues, like the battle over incentives in 

Colorado,” Lyndon says. “The House of Representatives 

is now going after the Department of 

Energy loan guarantee program. That would hurt 

the industry. If the goal is to achieve grid parity 

without subsidies, the industry needs another 

four or five years of a stable investment climate. 

California is a perfect example of a long-term 

program — it has gradually stepped down to a 

35-cent-per-watt rebate, and adoption has never 

been higher.” ST 



and any problem that arises is ours,” Lyndon says. 

So the company spends a lot of time on safety and 

quality-assurance training. The goal is to get to 

the end of the 20-year lease with no hiccups. Then 

the customer can buy the system, have SolarCity 

remove it, or renew with an upgrade to the newest, 

most efficient technology. 

Today, Elon is chairman of SolarCity while 

running both Space-X and Tesla. Lyndon is CEO, 

Peter is COO, and younger sister Almeda Rive 

works in sales. Kimbal owns a restaurant, The 

Kitchen, in Boulder, Colo., and Russell owns an 

interactive-graphics firm, SuperUber, in Brazil. 

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing. During the 

crash of September and October, 2008, Morgan 

Stanley closed the division that funded much of 

the SolarLease program and SolarCity had to 

scramble for new leasing partners. Today’s crisis 

is in the rollback of state and utility company 

incentives. 

“The larger issue with utilities is that they have 

a conflict of interest with regard to solar,” Lyndon 

says. “They’re in the business of selling power.” 

The way utilities see it, subsidizing distributed 

“The larger issue with utilities 

is that they have a conflict of 

interest with regard to solar.” 

solar cuts into their profitability. Decoupling 

profits from gross power sales has worked in 

California, but hasn’t been adopted elsewhere. 

So the future, Lyndon says, lies in recruiting utility 

companies as investment partners. 

“We are in the business of providing clean 

energy at lower cost than you’re paying now,” 

Lyndon explains. “We don’t care who our partner 

is. Most financing has consisted of solar systems 

owned by banks, but when financial institutions 

aren’t profitable — and many aren’t now 

— they can’t take advantage of tax credits. Now 

we see utilities taking that role. There are utility 

companies that see opportunities in solar, and 

utilities that see solar as a threat. There is a massive 

opportunity to get into solar by investing 

in projects. Pacific Gas & Electric has been an 

investment partner in solar projects and earned 

a decent return, and we’ve seen other utilities get 

into this space. We can create an opportunity for 

them.” A potential model is the growth of the cell 

phone industry. Fixed-line phone companies that 

declined to invest in cell networks have failed, 

while fixed-line phone companies that did invest 

in cell networks have thrived. 

“What keeps me up at night now are the 

political issues, like the battle over incentives in 

Colorado,” Lyndon says. “The House of Representatives 

is now going after the Department of 

Energy loan guarantee program. That would hurt 

the industry. If the goal is to achieve grid parity 

without subsidies, the industry needs another 

four or five years of a stable investment climate. 

California is a perfect example of a long-term 

program — it has gradually stepped down to a 

35-cent-per-watt rebate, and adoption has never 

been higher.” ST 


investing | green stocks report 

By RONA FRIED, Ph.D. 

Rona Fried, Ph.D. is 

president of Sustainable 

Business.com, the online 

community for green 

business: daily green 

business and investor 

news, green jobs and 

green investing newsletter, 

The Green Investor. 

Contact Fried at rona@ 

sustainablebusiness.com. 

Consult your financial 

advisor before making 

any investment. 

Cleantech Investment Strong for 2011 

The new year promises a strong recovery in the sector. 

The last two years have been tough on young companies 

that need to raise capital, but 2010 ended strongly 

and 2011 promises to be even better. 

Worldwide cleantech investments peaked at $11.8 billion 

in 2008, then dropped off significantly to $6.8 billion in 

2009. Then, according to Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance, 

strong growth during the last quarters of 2010 brought total 

investment for the year to $8.8 billion. 

Until the second half of 2010, venture capital (VC) funds 

had difficulty raising money, and since few companies were 

sold or had IPOs during the depths of the recession, they 

weren’t able to collect returns, resulting in many fewer new 

investments. 

Instead, VCs made follow-on investment rounds in their 

portfolio companies, aimed at keeping them alive during 

difficult times. They also piggybacked on U.S. government 

grants and loan guarantees associated with the stimulus 

bill, which skewed investments into more mature cleantech 

companies. 

Deals Flowing Again 

In December there were some major deals: Abound Solar 

(thin film) raised $110 million, Opower (energy management 

software) raised $50 million, and France’s Europlasma (waste 

to energy) raised EUR 25 million. 

In the early days of 2011, VCs have already made some 

important investments, boosting optimism for the year. In 

the United States, Coda Automotive (electric vehicles) 

raised $76 million, SoloPower (thin-film solar) raised $51.6 

million, Oteros (cellulosic ethanol) raised $22 million, and 

Lincoln Renewable (wind and solar project developer) 

raised $14 million. 

And smaller, earlier-stage companies are finding investors 

again. The average investment size is hovering around 

$12 million, according to Kachan & Co., a cleantech analysis 

and consulting firm. That’s still a high figure, beating average 

round sizes for U.S. biotech ($8.7 million), medical devices 

($7 million) and software ($5 million) companies, based on 

U.S. National Venture Capital Association data. 

IPOs and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are also up 

in recent months. 

The drivers of cleantech remain intact and will be felt 

more acutely this year: resource scarcity around oil, rare 

earth elements, water and commodities generally; the need 

for energy independence and improved efficiency;and issues 

around climate change. 

“We believe continued growth in Asia and the ongoing 

push for resource efficiency will make 2011 a record year for 

cleantech innovation financing,” said Sheeraz Haji, CEO of 

Cleantech Group. 

Dozens of venture capital funds have been announced 

in the past month, including the NER300 Fund in Europe 

($12.4 billion), China’s Hony Capital Fund ($1.5 billion) 

and another $500 million from the California Public 

Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). 

Energy Efficiency Shines 

As in 2010, efficiency (including smart grid) will be the 

dominant investment sector this year, as investors seek lesscapital-intensive 

deals. Rising commodity prices will also 

benefit companies that recover and recycle materials such 

as steel and precious metals. The other continuing theme is 

China, the largest, fastest market for cleantech. Companies 

that seek investments need to have traction in China. 

The largest companies worldwide 

are sitting on more than 

$3 trillion in cash. 

Although efficiency was the most popular sector last year 

with 151 deals, solar received the highest dollar amounts 

(24 percent) on 117 deals, followed by transportation (17 

percent) and energy efficiency (14 percent). 

Oil prices are expected to rise in 2011, which would benefit 

renewables. Kachan predicts a rise in drop-in biofuels, 

employing bacteria or yeast to make chemically compatible 

diesel, jet fuel, butanol and bio natural gas that can simply 

be dropped into current infrastructure. 

Increasing Role of Corporations 

With the largest companies worldwide sitting on more 

than $3 trillion in cash, they are increasingly participating as 

clean technology investors and acquirers. In recent weeks, 

General Electric (NYSE: GE) invested $200 million in a 

handful of companies and plans to double energy-related 

R&D to $2 billion a year over the next five years. 

GDF Suez (GSZ.PA) created the Blue Orange fund to 

invest primarily in waste management. General Electric 

launched Energy Technology Ventures, funded at $300 million. 

NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) and ConocoPhillips 

(NYSE: COP) plan to invest in about 30 companies over 

the next four years. Their first portfolio companies are Alta 



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ENERGY PAYBACK 

TIME OF ONE YEAR

view from the states 

Utility-Scale Renewable Energy 

Compiled by Mike Koshmrl, Associate Editor 

Nonhydro renewable energy sources generate only a shade over 4 percent of all U.S. electricity, 

according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (eia.gov). Scant as that sounds, the 

percentage has doubled in just five years. Distributed sources, at this point, contribute only a 

drop in the bucket. SOLAR TODAY estimates that distributed photovoltaic (PV) and wind contributed 

less than 0.1 percent to total domestic electricity generation in 2010. 

Most renewable energy connected to the grid today comes from utility-scale projects, which span 

several different technologies. Last year the wind, biomass and geothermal industries led the United 

States in renewable generation. 

The map summarizes the current state of each industry. 

*Data from the Energy Information Administration, December 2009 to December 2010 

New Hampshire 

Washington 

Oregon 

California 

Alaska 

w 

SwBG 

Nevada 

SG 

Idaho 

G 

Arizona 

S 

Utah 

G 

Montana 

Wyoming 

Colorado 

S 

New Mexico 

North 

Dakota 

South Dakota 

Nebraska 

Kansas 

Texas 

w 

Oklahoma 

Minnesota 

w 

Iowa 

w 

Wisconsin 

Missouri 

Arkansas 

Illinois 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Alabama 

B 

Mississippi 

Ohio 

Georgia 

B 

Florida 

Vermont 

Virginia 

New York 

Pennsylvania 

B 

S 

West 

Virginia 

North Carolina 

South Carolina 

B 

Louisiana 

Hawaii 

G 


Maine 

Massachusetts 

Rhode Island 

New Jersey 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Solar — By the close of 2010, 

the U.S. solar industry had 2.13 

gigawatts (GW) connected to the 

grid, of which 82 percent was distributed. 

Solar Energy Industries 

Association reports that 25 GW of 

utility-scale projects are in various 

stages of planning and construction. 

The solar industry is thus 

poised to climb higher up the list. 

Connecticut 

District of Columbia 

SwBG 

Solar 

Wind 

Biomass 

Geothermal 

Wind — 2.3 percent of 

U.S. electricity generation 

• Total generation: 94.7 million 

megawatt-hours (MWh) 

• New 2010 generation: 

20.8 million MWh 

With 5,115 megawatts (MW) of new 

capacity, 2010 was a down year for 

the wind industry, relative to a record 

breaking 2009 (10,000 MW installed). 

But wind is still far and away nonhydro 

renewable energy’s largest contribution 

to the grid — the American Wind 

Energy Association reports that wind 

projects are responsible for 40 percent 

of all new electricity generation 

capacity in the United States. 

Although 2,000 MW of offshore 

wind projects are now in the planning 

process, every last watt of wind’s 

40,180 MW of generating capacity 

installed to date has been onshore. 

All but approximately 100 MW has 

been utility-scale, as the small wind 

industry (turbines of 100 kilowatts or 

less) has been slow to take hold. 

Thirty-six states logged some wind 

electricity generation in 2010. Here 

are the five leaders — 

1) Texas — 26.1 million MWh 

2) Iowa — 8.8 million MWh 

3) California — 6.6 million MWh 

4) Minnesota — 5.2 million MWh 

5) Washington — 4.6 million MWh 

Biomass — 1.4 percent of 

U.S. electricity generation 

• Total generation: 56.5 million MWh 


2 million MWh 

Biomass is renewable energy’s 

primary nonhydro contribution to 

baseload electricity in this country. 

Although the bioenergy industry has 

been mostly stagnant over the past 

two decades, until 2008 it surpassed 

even wind in terms of net generation. 

Because so many different source 

fuels constitute biomass, it’s an underthe-radar 

renewable resource that 

lacks a unified industry voice. According 

to the Energy Information Administration, 

the shortlist of what qualifies 

as biomass includes paper pellets, 

railroad ties, utility poles, wood chips, 

biogenic municipal solid waste, landfill 

gas, agricultural byproducts and 

biomass gases (including digester 

gases and methane). These materials, 

and others, are typically burned at 

cogeneration plants that provide both 

heat and electricity. The nation’s largest 

biomass power plant, the 140-MW 

New Hope Power Partnership in South 

Bay, Fla., is a cogenerator that relies 

on burning sugar cane and recycled 

urban wood. 

Forty-six states logged some biomass 

electricity generation in 2010. 

Here are the five leaders — 

1) California — 6.3 million MWh 

2) Florida — 4.4 million MWh 

3) Maine — 4.0 million MWh 

4) Georgia — 3.1 million MWh 

5) Alabama — 3.0 million MWh 

Geothermal — 0.4 percent 

of U.S. electricity generation 

• Total generation: 15.7 million MWh 


660,000 MWh 

The United States is the world 

leader in geothermal electricity production. 

The industry is now expanding 

its focus beyond the conventional 

resources near tectonic plate boundaries 

in the West. Three American cities 

(Boise, Idaho; Klamath Falls, Ore.; and 

Pagosa Springs, Colo.) have municipal 

geothermal heating districts. All have 

planned systems expansions. 

Geothermal capacity grew less than 

1 percent last year, from 3,087 MW to 

3,102 MW. But 146 projects in 15 different 

states are currently in some 

stage of development, according to 

the Geothermal Energy Association. 

Although 15 different states are 

pursuing geothermal plants, only five 

states, listed below, generated geothermal 

electricity in 2010. 

1) California — 13 million MWh 

2) Nevada — 2.1 million MWh 

3) Utah — 270,000 MWh 

4) Hawaii — 200,000 MWh 

5) Idaho — 90,000 MW 



the trade 

| hands-on news and information 

Best Practices 

The Quagmire of Electrical System Grounding 

The subject is complex. NEC Article 694 tries to clarify it. 

Mick Sagrillo (msagrillo@ 

wizunwired.net) of 

Sagrillo Power & Light is 

a small-wind consultant 

and educator. 

By Mick Sagrillo with technical review by Roy Butler, Four Winds Renewable Energy 

As originally envisioned, grounding electrical systems 

in the United States was quite simple. Over the 

years, however, grounding has become increasingly 

complex and more confusing. 

The rules for grounding electrical equipment are laid 

out in Article 250 of the National Electrical Code (NEC). 

In addition, the new Article 694 on small wind turbines in 

the 2011 NEC covers a few of the differences unique to 

wind systems and clarifies a few additional considerations 

about grounding and lightning protection. 

Before delving into these, we need to differentiate 

between grounding for electrical faults and grounding for 

lightning protection. 

Lightning Protection 

Imagine this: It’s a cold, snowy Sunday morning, and, 

with a fire going in the woodstove, you head over to your 

favorite chair with cup of coffee in hand and the Sunday 

paper under your arm. But wait! That darned cat has 

already settled into your chair. Shuffling your feet on the 

carpet as you approach the chair, you stick your finger out 

toward the cat’s nose and ZAP! A spark flies and the cat 

flees. You have the chair all to yourself. 

What happened during the ZAP portion of this 

drama 

We all remember from grade school science the “experiment” 

where we rubbed rabbit fur on a piece of plastic and 

created some static electricity that we could discharge on 

the ear of an unsuspecting classmate. That same experiment 

was just conducted with your cat. Stocking feet on 

the carpet, dissimilar materials, static buildup: It’s got to 

equalize somehow. All you did was simply provide a discharge 

path through the cat’s nose. 

The same thing happens as the air masses roll across 

the planet: A static charge builds between ground and 

atmosphere, creating a giant capacitor (not unlike the 

capacitor in the flash on your camera). At some point, 

that static builds to a point where it has to discharge to 

equalize itself. This is what we call lightning, and it occurs 

several thousand times a minute at locations scattered 

around the planet. 

Understanding how to dissipate that static buildup 

between the atmosphere (with winds blowing across your 

wind turbine blades) and the earth (what your tower is 

attached to) will go a long way toward understanding how 

to minimize the attraction between lightning and your 

tower, and subsequent damage. By connecting wires from 

the tower structure to ground rods in the earth, you are 

able to dissipate the static charge that builds up on the 

tower and turbine, thereby making the tower less attractive 

to lightning strikes. 

In addition, should it strike, ground wires and rods give 

lightning a quick route to get from the tower to the earth. 

Although your tower is built on a concrete foundation 

embedded in the earth, the concrete is not necessarily a 

desirable path for lightning to get to the earth. Imagine 

the problem that would occur if lightning came down your 

tower and into the metal anchors embedded in the concrete. 

Depending on the conductivity and moisture content 

of the concrete, the lightning could shatter the foundation. 

However, the damage would remain completely 

unseen, buried below the ground, until a high wind event 

toppled the system over. Not good. 

Ground rods … dissipate the static 

charge that builds up on the tower 

and turbine … making the tower 

less attractive to lightning strikes. 

Equipment Grounding 

A second type of grounding, called bonding, includes 

connecting all metal components together electrically. This 

is required by the NEC so that no one component is isolated 

in such a way that it might carry a fault current that 

could harm someone. More importantly to a small wind 

system is the fact that bonding assures that all components 

of the system are at the same electrical potential should 

lightning strike and set up transient voltage on the wiring 

from the tower to the controls in the house. Equalizing 

such voltage potentials by bonding all metal components 

together will not eliminate lightning damage, but it often 

minimizes it. 

Grounding plays another role with wind systems. Just 

as with any electrical generating device, the metal components 

of a wind system need to be grounded to protect 

service personnel and the public from a shock caused by an 

electrical fault. Since alternators and wires carry an electrical 

current, and since they can short to the tower or wind 

turbine, it is prudent to make sure that this equipment is 

protected by proper grounding. 



case study 

For tens of thousands of travelers each year, 

the Northwest North Carolina Sustainable Visitor Center 

is a model for low-impact living. 

On the Road to Green 


In designing the visitor center’s unique snail-shell spiral geometry, the design team was inspired by snails found on the ground during site selection. This organism 

seems an apt symbol for sustainability design in that its habitat represents a delicate balance in nature. 


My architectural firm, Innovative Design in 

Raleigh, N.C., takes great pride in designing 

energy-efficient, environmentally sound buildings. 

But in our 33-year-history, we’ve rarely 

had a client that faced such challenges: 

• “Though we will only need about 8,500 square feet 

(790 square meters), we expect more than 40 visitors per 

hour, 24 hours a day, all year long.” 

• “Other facilities in North Carolina like this one consume 

146,900 British thermal units (Btu) per square foot 

per year and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water 

annually.” 

• “Half the building will require 100 percent outdoor 

air, parking and roads will cover half the 22-acre (9-hectare) 

site, and there will very likely be hazardous chemical 

spills — but we really do want to be green.” 

The client that brought these challenges was the 

North Carolina Department of Transportation. It was 

NCDOT’s first attempt at pursuing a more sustainable 

design strategy in constructing one of its roadside rest 

areas and visitor centers. The facility, now LEED Goldrated, 

is the Northwest North Carolina Sustainable Visitor 

Center, located in Wilkes County, N.C. NCDOT is 

now pursuing green strategies at its other facilities and, 

more importantly, utilizing the Northwest Visitor Center 

as an experiential learning opportunity for visitors. 

NCDOT Secretary Gene Conti highlighted the 

department’s increased emphasis on sustainable design 

at the opening ceremony for the building in October 

2009. “People think DOT’s color is either yellow from 

our trucks or orange from our construction cones,” he 

said. “Today, DOT has a new color — green.” 

The facility serves dual purposes as a highway rest area 

as well as a visitor center. Located at the lower foothills 

of the Northwestern mountain region of North Carolina, 

the facility is 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the mountain 

resort areas of Boone and Blowing Rock. It serves as a 

tourist gateway for visitors from the major metropolitan 

areas in the center of the state. 

The building sits at the top of the hill facing true south 

and opens gently to the views of the lower mountains ➢ 

By Mike Nicklas, FAIA 

Mike Nicklas is the president of Innovative Design (innovative 

design.net), an architectural firm and pioneer in sustainable 

building design with more than 4,750 solar buildings to its credit. 

Nicklas has served as the chair of the American Solar Energy Society 

(ASES) Board and the North Carolina Solar Energy Association 

(NCSEA) as well as president of the International Solar Energy 

Society (ISES). He is a recipient of the highest awards of ASES, 

NCSEA and ISES and is a Fellow of both ASES and the AIA. 



case study 


The Northwest North Carolina Sustainable Visitor Center serves as a tourist gateway for visitors from 

the metropolitan areas in the center of the state. The building opens gently to the views of the lower 

mountains through its canopy-covered walkways and large windows. 


Daylighting provides two-thirds of the annual 

demand for lighting during daylit hours of the 

year. 


A 14-module, 3.22-kilowatt photovoltaic system is installed on the roof of the walkway canopy. Projected 

to generate 4,381 kWh per year, the measured annual contribution is 4,550 kWh. 


Sustainable Visitor Center 

Building Performance 

Compared to an ASHRAE base case building, 

the facility is 47 percent more efficient. 

Btu/square foot/year 

ASHRAE Base Case 

Building 87,975 

Northwest North Carolina 

Sustainable Visitor Center 46,785 

Monitored Systems (actual 

2010 performance) 

Daylighting (excluding 

cooling savings, 17,705 kWh) 8,021 

Photovoltaic (4,550 kWh) 2,061 

Solar Water Heating (3,514 kWh) 1,592 

Geothermal and Efficiency 29,516 

Design Team 

Architecture: Innovative Design, 

innovativedesign.net 

Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing: 

Padia Consulting, Cary, N.C. 

Soil, Groundwater, Environmental Science, Landscape 

Architecture Consultant: Landis, Raleigh, N.C. 

Civil Engineering: B & F Consulting, 

bandfconsulting.com 

Structural Engineering: Lysaght & Associates, 

Raleigh, N.C. 

Road System, Soil and Water Engineering, 

Site Lighting: North Carolina Department of 

Transportation, ncdot.org 

Commissioning: Elm Engineering, 

elmengr.com 

General Contractor: Vannoy Construction Co., 

jrvannoy.com 

through its canopy-covered walkways and large 

windows in the main visitor center hall. 

In designing the visitor center’s unique snailshell 

spiral geometry, we were inspired by snails 

found on the ground during site selection. This 

organism seems an apt symbol for sustainability 


design in that snails on this site inhabit an ecosystem 

where two natural features come together 

at the creek edges — water and land. In this way, 

the snail’s habitat represents a delicate balance 

in nature, one shaped by water and the other 

shaped by land. 

Sustainable Site Strategies 

Like all roadside rest areas and visitor centers, 

the design of the 22-acre site was, to a significant 

degree, dictated by the need for safe access and 

exit ramps and extensive parking for cars, buses 

and trucks. In addition to the main building, 

which consists mainly of a visitor center and restrooms, 

the facility includes several conditioned 

outbuildings for storage, maintenance and the 

rainwater-harvesting equipment. The orientation 

of the main building is due south and has 

perfect solar access as well as great views to the 

foothills of the mountains. 

In order to mitigate the impact that storm 

water could have on adjacent streams, runoff 

from the roadways, parking and other hard surfaces 

flows through bio-swales to a bio-retention 

area with engineered soils and plants designed to 

reduce off-site nitrogen impacts. The runoff from 

the truck-parking area, where hazardous spills 

could occur, is directed to a special catchment 

basin designed to filter chemical contaminants. 

Additionally, all rainwater falling on the 

11,660-square-feet (1,083-square-meter) building 

and walkway roof area flows into 27,800 gallons 

of rainwater storage. It is later used for toilet 

and urinal flushing. 

Other sustainable site-design elements 

include xeriscape strategies utilizing native 

plants, a 0.8-mile walking trail, the elimination 

of any site irrigation and the re-forestation of 4.5 

acres near the access and exit ramps. 

Two LCD screens in the visitor 

center provide real-time 

monitoring of the facility’s 

major sustainable systems. 

After examining the energy, 

water and CO 2 savings provided 

by each system, visitors 

can observe the actual sustainable 

design component 

just a short walk away. 

The energy strategies 

employed in the design 

focused primarily on 

efficiency, passive heating 

and daylighting and 

secondarily on geothermal, 

solar water heating 

and photovoltaics. 

Real-Time Monitoring, 

Interpretive Signage 

While the entire building energy consumption 

has not been metered or monitored 

separately, the facility does feature a real-time 

monitoring system for key renewable energy 

components. With the aid of on-site displays 

and web links, the system allows visitors to see 

how each component is performing and how 

the savings translate into CO 2 reduction. (See 

ncdot.technology-view.com/wilkes.) All major 

sustainable energy- and water-saving systems are 

monitored: 

• Daylighting (electricity savings, excluding 

cooling benefits); 

• Solar water heating (Btu saved); 

• Photovoltaics (electric utility savings); 

• Geothermal system (electric utility savings); 

and 

• Rainwater harvesting (municipal water 

savings). 

The monitoring system also incorporates a 

weather station, which is mounted on the roof ➢ 


case study 

“People think DOT’s color 

is either yellow from our 

trucks or orange from 

our construction cones. 

Today, DOT has a new 

color — green.” 

— NCDOT Secretary Gene Conti at 

the opening ceremony, October 2009 

Innovative Design 

A geothermal heat pump system, employing 13- to 300-foot-deep (4- to 91-meter-deep) wells, 

provides the heating and air conditioning for the main building. 

and provides real-time data on temperature, 

pressure, wind speed and precipitation. 

All data collected by the monitoring system 

is constantly displayed at the visitor center’s 

main hall tower. There, two LCD screens 

provide the real-time information on savings 

as well as more detailed information on each 

specific system’s operation. That allows the 

public the opportunity to better understand 

how each system works and the savings provided 

by each system. Then, just a short walk 

away, they can observe the actual sustainable 

design component. 

To enhance NCDOT’s goal of educating 

the visitors, interpretive signage throughout 

the building and site graphically depicts the 

operation of each sustainable design element. 

Energy-Saving Features 

The energy strategies employed in the design 

focused primarily on efficiency, passive heating 

and daylighting and secondarily on geothermal, 

solar water heating and photovoltaics. 

Daylighting and Passive Design. The 

daylighting strategies, facilitated by a good 

southern exposure, were simple and focused 

on the main visitor center spaces as well as 

the restrooms. The goal, which the monitoring 

system has shown to be realized, was to 

implement a strategy that would result in 

daylight providing two-thirds of the annual 

demand for lighting during daylit hours of 

the year. To ensure the performance of the 

daylighting, we implemented dimming controls 

coupled with motion sensors to reduce 

the electrical lighting requirement. Because of 

the usage requirements of the spaces within 

the main visitor center, it was also possible 

to integrate dual-function passive strategies 

To enhance NCDOT’s goal of educating the visitors, 

interpretive signage throughout the building 

and site graphically depicts the operation of 

each sustainable design element. 


that employed south-facing glazing, colored 

concrete floors, extensive interior exposed wall 

mass and overhangs. These not only provide 

heating advantages but also contribute to lighting 

the space. 

The measured annual daylighting contribution, 

excluding any associated cooling benefits, is 

17,705 kilowatt-hours (kWh), or the equivalent 

of 8,021 Btu per square foot, per year. 

Efficiency. In addition to the daylighting 

and passive design strategies, the key building 

design elements included ultra-efficiency measures. 

These include high insulation values for 

the exterior, high-mass masonry and stone walls, 

roof assemblies with radiant barriers; low-E glass 

in the low-view windows; operable windows to 

take advantage of the many days that the facility 

could benefit from natural ventilation; a lightcolored 

roof membrane and an airlock entry into 

the main visitor center. 

Geothermal. A geothermal heat pump system, 

employing 13- to 300-foot-deep (4- to 

91-meter-deep) wells, provides the heating and 

air conditioning for the main building. To overcome 

the potential loss of energy from the extensive 

toilet exhausts, the facility includes energy 

recovery ventilation systems. 

Solar Water Heating. Three thermal collectors 

have been installed, and the recorded 

energy savings per year is equivalent to 3,514 

kWh, or 1,592 Btu per square foot. The drainback 

system provides hot water for the lavatories 

in the restrooms. 

Photovoltaic System. A 14-module, 

3.22-kilowatt photovoltaic system is installed 

on the roof of the walkway canopy. Projected 

to generate 4,381 kWh per year, the measured 

annual contribution is 4,550 kWh, or the equivalent 

of 2,061 Btu per square foot. 

A Model of Sustainability 

The sustainable technologies and design 

techniques employed at the Northwest 

North Carolina Sustainable Visitor Center 

are all readily available options. Yet the results 

are remarkable. 

For comparison, an ASHRAE base case 

building, excluding the extensive site lighting 

and other outbuildings, would consume 

87,975 Btu per square foot per year. The 

7,734-square-foot (719-square-meter) visitor 

center/rest area building, also excluding nonbuilding 

loads, consumes 46,785 Btu per square 

foot per year — a 47 percent reduction. See a 

breakdown in the table on page 35. 

The real benefit of this facility won’t be the 

47 percent savings, however. The real benefit 

will be derived from the tens of thousands of 

visitors to this facility every year, most not initially 

even knowing or caring about the sustainable 

features, who will be exposed to opportunities 

they can incorporate today in their own 

homes and businesses. When describing the 

facility’s biggest return for the state, Jimmy Parrish, 

NCDOT representative for the project, 

didn’t need to consult the financials. Certainly, 

he said, it was the net effect from visitors seeing 

firsthand how they could “apply the technologies 

to their own lives.” ST 

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educing 

PV costs 

Streamlining 

Solar Technology 

It’s easy to greet the proclamations of the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Sun- 

Shot Initiative with skepticism. The goal, 

installing utility-scale solar at $1 per watt 

by 2020, would bring solar power down to 6 

cents per kilowatt-hour, which is roughly the 

cost of coal-fired electricity. The name itself is 

sensationalistic — it’s a play off President Kennedy’s 

1961 pledge to land a man on the moon 

by the end of the decade. When Energy Secretary 

Steven Chu in February rolled out the $27 

million funding program, to be spread among 

nine companies, there was plenty of fanfare. But 

is SunShot more than just hoopla 

Some solar industry executives believe they’re 

well-positioned to succeed. “We’ll get there,” says 

Frank van Mierlo, CEO of SunShot grant recipient 

1366 Technologies (1366tech.com). “Look at 

the historical cost curve of solar. The production 

cost comes down 10 percent every year.” 

At 1366, van Mierlo and fellow co-founder 

Emanuel Sachs are working to commercialize 

a method for manufacturing crystalline silicon 

wafers that halves the need for hyper-pure silicon. 

The process, which virtually eliminates silicon 

waste (about 50 percent is currently lost), 

sets the stage for a dramatic wafer price drop. 

“If the total installed cost is going to be $1 that 

means that wafer costs have to come down to 

With a “thousand little cuts” approach, the 

SunShot Initiative aims to drop installed solar 

costs by 75 percent — in less than a decade. 

about 25 cents, from $1 today,” van Mierlo says. 

“And I think it’s extremely doable. We’re just one 

of many, many companies working on this, and 

our technology alone will take one of the largest 

cost components and slash the production costs 

by a factor of three — at least.” 

To achieve $1 per watt, the solar industry 

needs to streamline in a big way. It will need 

considerable module efficiency gains and 

slashed costs for installation, operations and 

maintenance and all other systems components. 

Photovoltaic (PV) modules will need to come 

down 70 percent, inverters by 55 percent and 

(Below) Energy Secretary Chu toured 1366 

Technologies in December to observe its Direct 

Wafer process. The North Lexington, Mass.- 

based firm was awarded a $3 million SunShot 

grant in February. 

By MIKE KOSHMRL 

construction-related costs by nearly 75 percent 

(see table on page 41). 

Here’s a closer look at what 1366 Technologies 

and three other SunShot grant recipients are 

doing to help achieve these marks. 

PPG Industries 

Target: Thin-film Efficiency, Durability 

Thin-film PV technology has its advantages 

— it’s lightweight, production is relatively cheap 

and simple, and it’s not silicon-dependent. Durability’s 

not one of them. Until nanotech companies 

make headway on a durable, exposed cell, 

commercial thin-film modules will continue to 

require robust encapsulants. 

As First Solar and other thin-film manufacturers 

began to ramp up, that need caught the attention 

of PPG Industries (ppg.com), a Pittsburghbased 

glass and glass-coating manufacturer with 

1366 Technologies 


HennessyProductions.com 

With a $4.8 million award from the SunShot Initiative, 

Gloucester, Mass.-based Varian Semiconductor 

is developing a tool that manufactures 

interdigitated back-contact solar cells with ionimplanting 

technology. Featured above is a closeup 

of the tool. 

Researchers at PPG Industries prepare glass samples for accelerated exposure testing for a new encapsulant 

for cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar modules. The end product will combine transparent 

conducting oxide glass substrate with an anti-reflective coating. 

ppg industries 

roots in the 19th century. PPG’s contribution to 

solar actually predates the industry: Back in the 

1930s, the company pioneered the first low-iron 

glass. Now, backed by $3.1 million in SunShot 

funding, PPG is working to perfect a glass encapsulant 

for modules made with cadmium telluride 

(CdTe) — the most advanced thin-film technology 

in mass production. 

PPG will try to maximize CdTe module efficiency 

by pulling three innovations onto their 

high-transmission glass. “About 4.5 percent of 

the sun’s energy is lost on the outside of the 

module,” says Jim McCamy, PPG’s manager 

of solar technology. “By reducing losses from 

reflectivity, we’re increasing the number of watts. 

By creating better conductive layers, we improve 

the number of watts.” 

The new encapsulants, still unnamed, will 

separate the first layer of CdTe from the underlying 

transparent conducting oxide (TCO) glass 

substrate with a buffer layer. A third component, 

an anti-reflective coating, will be applied to the 

module front side over the TCO glass. “These 

Mike Koshmrl (mkoshmrl@solartoday.org) is SOLAR 

TODAY’s associate editor. 

At 1366 Technologies, Frank van Mierlo, right, and fellow co-founder Emanuel Sachs, middle, are working 

to commercialize their Direct Wafer silicon wafer manufacturing process. By pulling wafers directly from 

the silicon melt, the technology halves the need for hyper-pure silicon. At left is Carmichael Roberts, 

chairman of the 1366 Technologies Board. 




3M 

Target: Thin-Film Installation 

Cost, Versatility 

A number of roofing companies are now 

partnering with installers to provide buildingintegrated 

photovoltaic (BIPV) systems that are 

low-lying, lightweight, non-penetrating and — 

depending on your preferences — friendlier on 

the eyes. Copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide 

(CIGS) thin-film technology is on the cutting 

edge of this expanding niche market. 

In the past, CIGS module manufacturers 

trying to tailor a product to the BIPV market 

have been restricted by the limited availability 

of flexible polymer encapsulants, used in lieu 

of conventional rigid glass-glass encapsulants. 

No manufacturer has mass-produced a proven 

polymer-based product for CIGS panels — anything 

that’s made its way onto a rooftop came off 

of a pilot manufacturing line. Now, propped up 

by $4.4 million in SunShot funding, 3M (3M. 

com) is planning to scale up and fill that hole. 

The Maplewood, Minn.-based company is on 

schedule to begin mass-production of a multilayer, 

fluoropolymer-based encapsulant early 

next year, leading the thin-film industry’s shift 

toward versatile, flexible modules. 

“3M has been working on this for more than a 

decade,” says Arnie Funkenbusch, 3M’s program 

manager for solar film. “But it’s only recently that 

we’ve begun to focus on the solar application.” For 

years, 3M’s flexible polymer films have been used 

in organic light emitting diodide displays, found 

on cell phones and other hand-held electronic 

devices. In adapting its film for the solar industry, 

3M has laser-focused its research on improving 

weatherability. “Unlike with electronics, in a solar 

application our film is subject to sunlight and temperature 

extremes,” Funkenbusch adds. 

3M is further along in the commercialization 

of its SunShot innovation than other grant 

recipients. Manufacturing of a first-generation 

film, Ultra Barrier Solar Film, is already underway 

at a pilot line in Minnesota, and what’s been 

produced to date has been sold to CIGS module 

manufacturers. The final product will be tweaked 

slightly, Funkenbusch says, as accelerated-lifetime 

testing is still underway at National Renewreducing 

PV costs 

Table 

SunShot Economics: Reaching $1/Watt, by Component 

Installed Systems Price, Utility-Scale Solar ($/watt) 

(Where solar is) 

(Where it’s headed) (Where it needs to be) 

2010 2016* $1/Watt 

Module $1.70 $1.05 $0.50 

BOS/Installation $1.48 $0.97 $0.40 

Power Electronics $0.22 $0.18 $0.10 

Total $3.40 $2.20 $1.00 

Cost of Electricity, Utility-Scale Solar ($/kilowatt-hour) 

(Where solar is) (Where it’s headed) (Where it needs to be) 

2010 2016* $1/Watt 

Module $0.063 $0.037 $0.018 

BOS/Installation $0.055 $0.034 $0.014 

Power Electronics $0.008 $0.006 $0.004 

O&M $0.013 $0.009 $0.003 

Total $0.139 $0.086 $0.038 

Source: The U.S. Department of Energy’s “$1/W Photovoltaic Systems” white paper, 

www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/pdfs/dpw_white_paper.pdf. 

*The U.S. DOE calculated the 2016 estimates based on current rates of efficiency gains and 

production-cost reductions. 

technologies exist — they’re out there,” McCamy 

says. “But there’s not a single article that we’re 

aware of that brings all of them into one.” The 

timeframe for commercial production is undetermined, 

though the research phase is well underway. 

Lab work is taking place at PPG’s research 

center outside of Pittsburgh, at Colorado State 

University (whose research formed the basis of 

CdTe manufacturer Abound Solar) and at Oak 

Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. 

While encapsulants are just one component 

to a thin-film system, the product PPG rolls out 

a few years from now will be of critical importance 

to SunShot cost-reduction targets. During 

a 2009 First Solar conference call, it was 

suggested that glass was the CdTe industry’s 

single-largest cost component. Two years later, 

CdTe is providing the best value proposition for 

utility-scale PV developers. 

At PPG, McCamy sees their undertaking as 

consistent with long-term SunShot goals. “For 

everybody, the goal should be achieving grid parity 

in as large a portion of the U.S. as possible,” 

he says. “I think the [CdTe] industry is well on 

its way to achieving that goal.” 


Target: Silicon Wafer 

Manufacturing, Expense 

For all the hype over thin film’s future domination 

of the solar industry, crystalline-silicon 

technologies still account for 80 percent of the 

global market. Silicon’s everywhere — it’s the 

second-most-common element 

in the earth’s crust and is found in 

everything from an iPhone to your 

favorite lager. But when refined 

into hyper-pure silicon, necessary 

for wafer manufacturing, it costs 

around $350 per kilogram. 

In North Lexington, Mass., 

clean-tech innovator 1366 Technologies 

is planning to slash that 

expense for module manufacturers. 

Co-founders Frank van Mierlo and 

Emanuel Sachs have the industry 

buzzing over their Direct Wafer 

manufacturing process. Besides 

attracting $3 million from SunShot 

and $4 million from Advanced 

Research Projects Agency-Energy 

(ARPA-E), 1366 has secured backing 

from financiers such as General 

Electric Co., VantagePoint Venture 

Partners and Hanwha Chemical. In total, $46 

million is being committed to help commercialize 

Direct Wafer technology. 

van Mierlo likens the manufacturing breakthrough 

to the Bessemer process, the steel massproduction 

process that was the foundation for 

the Carnegie fortune. Direct Wafer reduces 

wafer-production steps from four to one by 

fashioning wafers directly from molten silicon. 

The process eliminates silicon waste by negating 

the need for sawing and grinding hardened 

silicon. Relative to the legacy technology, Direct 

Wafer is thousands of times faster post-melt, four 

times more capital efficient and uses just half the 

amount of silicon, van Mierlo says. “We eliminate 

the waste and we streamline the product,” 

he says. “That’s where we get our cost savings.” 

To help meet SunShot goals, 1366 is trying 

to bring down the cost of silicon wafers from 

approximately $1 per watt today to 25 cents. “It’s 

a dramatic drop,” van Mierlo says. “You never 

know until you have your factory built, but from 

a technical point of view, we’ve met our cost 

models. We are at that 25 cent-per-watt peak. 

“We still have to perfect high-speed manufacturing,” 

he adds. “We have shown that we can 

make a wafer in 20 seconds. What we have not 

shown is that we can make tens of thousands of 

wafers per day.” 

As soon as 1366 completes engineering and 

construction of its high-speed manufacturing 

machine, it will break ground on a 100-megawatt 

(MW) demonstration plant — this could happen 

as early as year’s end. Success in this stage could 

portend great things for 1366 and solar’s future, 

van Mierlo says. “The plan is to scale that up to a 

gigawatt plant. Everything I see today leads me to 

believe we could actually do this,” he says. 


SunShot Boosts NREL’s 

Incubator Program 

Not all SunShot funding went toward 

the projects at 1366 Technologies, 

3M, PPG, Varian Semiconductor and 

Veeco, a fifth recipient. Another $7 million 

was injected into the National Renewable 

Energy Lab’s Photovoltaic (PV) Technology 

Incubator program. 

Started in 2009, the incubator program 

is primarily tasked with hastening 

nascent PV technologies’ transition from 

the drawing board into the lab. There 

are two funding tiers: The first supports 

the development of commercially viable 

prototypes; the second helps companies 

scale up to the pilot-project manufacturing 

stage. The latest funding targeted the 

four companies below. 

Tier One 

Caelux — $1 million 

Caelux of Pasadena, Calif., is developing 

a flexible PV-manufacturing process that 

minimizes the amount of semiconducting 

material used. 

Solexant — $1 million 

Solexant of San Jose, Calif., is developing 

a new printable nanoparticle thin-film ink 

from common nontoxic substances. 

Stion — $1 million 

Stion of San Jose, Calif., is developing a 

technology consisting of two stacked 

high-efficiency thin-film devices, offering 

improved absorption of light. 

Tier Two 

Crystal Solar — $4 million 

Crystal Solar of Santa Clara, Calif., is commercializing 

single-crystal silicon wafers, 

four times thinner than standard cells. 

Arnie Funkenbusch and Tracie Berniard, of 3M’s renewable energy division, with a roll of 3M Ultra Barrier 

Solar Film. The Maplewood, Minn.-based company was awarded $4.4 million in SunShot funding to scale 

up manufacturing of the film in February. 

able Energy Laboratory (NREL). Using feedback 

from NREL and the CIGS module manufacturers, 

Funkenbusch expects the redesign to have 

increased light transmission, better durability and 

lower cost. “What we want to do is make sure we 

have a product that lasts 25 years,” Funkenbusch 

says. “That’s where SunShot helps us out.” 

The new manufacturing line will go in at an 

existing 3M factory in Columbus, Mo. According 

to the Columbus Daily Tribune, the line will 

add 120 jobs to a plant that’s shed jobs for years. 

Construction of the line is underway and production 

is set to begin in early 2012. There are 

indications that CIGS module manufacturer 

SoloPower, which recently secured a $197 million 

DOE loan guarantee for a new factory in 

Wilsonville, Ore., will be the first customer. 

Varian Semiconductor 

Target: IBC Cell Production, Expense 

Recent NREL tests have measured SunPower’s 

interdigitated-back-contact solar (IBC) cells 

at the highest conversion efficiencies to date. The 

principle is very simple: IBC cells eliminate frontside 

metallic conductors, which typically cover 5 

to 8 percent of the physical surface of a wafer. 

Move the wiring to the backside, more sunlight 

gets absorbed, and cell efficiency spikes. 

The only factor preventing IBC PV from 

becoming the industry standard is cost. 

“Currently, IBC solar has the highest efficiencies, 

but it’s very expensive to make,” says 

Jim Mullin, general manager for solar products 

at Varian Semiconductor (vsea.com). “In solar 

manufacturing, every step adds cost, adds complexity, 

and can result in potential yield loss.” In 

Gloucester, Mass., Mullin and his associates at 

Varian are using $4.8 million in SunShot funding 

to develop an ion-implant tool that promises to 

slash the number of manufacturing steps from 

21, necessary in the conventional IBC process 

today, to eight. 

Ion implantation is far from a novel concept 

— implanters are integral to semiconductor 

device fabrication and have long been used 

to make computer chips. Varian’s been selling 

the tools to the electronics industry since 1975 

and has an ion implanter, the Varion Solion, for 

conventional PV cells that’s already running in 

high-volume production. SunShot backing will 

be used to redesign the Solion to give it the capability 

to do backside wafer patterning necessary 

for IBC cell production. No manufacturer has 

attempted it. “We’re the first ones to do this,” 

Mullin says. “We are in a unique position because 

we’re the only ones that can really do it without 

impacting the tool’s productivity — because we 

own the intellectual property.” 

Mullin says that Varian has matched its DOE 

funding with internal investments well north of 

$20 million. He expects the tool to be commercially 

ready within three years. 

It’s unclear how much the reduction in production 

complexity will reduce IBC costs. Module 

manufacturers have some ground to make 

up before IBC solar is cost-competitive with 

other PV technologies. San Jose, Calif.-based 

SunPower is the only company commercially 

producing IBC modules today and is operating 

at a production cost of around $1.70 per watt. 

Chinese crystalline-silicon manufacturers are 

producing at about $1.20 per watt, while First 

Solar, a CdTe thin-film manufacturer, is now 

down below the $0.75 mark. ST 

3M 



educing 

PV costs 

Solar Approvals 

Simplified 

solar energy systems 

Partly due to improved approvals processes, 

solar installations in New York City have more 

than doubled in the past year. Solar Energy Systems, 

in partnership with NYSERDA, installed this 

54-kilowatt system at Kips Bay Condominiums in 

Manhattan. 

When the U.S. Department of Energy 

(DOE) announced its SunShot 

Initiative in February, it heralded 

a major federal effort to make solar 

electricity at least as affordable as coal-fired 

power by 2020. The $27 million initiative would 

restore the nation’s leadership position in the 

global photovoltaics (PV) market by reducing 

total system costs 75 percent. Improvements 

in cell technologies and manufacturing are one 

aspect of the initiative, but equally important are 

steps to reduce installation and permitting costs 

— significant contributors to the total installed 

system price. This is where the cities are making 

a significant impact. 

Recognizing that local governments are 

uniquely positioned to accelerate the nationwide 

adoption of solar energy, in 2007–2008 the DOE 

designated 25 major U.S. cities as Solar America 

Cities. These cities received DOE funding and 

technical assistance to develop comprehensive 

approaches to increasing solar energy use that 

could serve as models for other cities around the 

United States. 


SOLAR TODAY ® 

May 2011 

VOL. 25, NO. 4 

Recognizing that non-hardware costs 

can add thousands to a system’s price, the 

Solar America Cities forge more efficient processes. 

By Hannah Muller 

At the onset, each of the Solar America Cities 

looked at issues specific to its local solar market. 

Cities like San Diego and Tucson, Ariz., were 

experiencing rapid solar growth due to favorable 

location and incentives, while others such as 

Portland, Ore., were working to overcome cheap 

electricity prices and public perceptions that solar 

is only for hot, sunny climates. Cities like Austin, 

Texas, and Sacramento, Calif., had had successful 

solar programs in place since the 1980s, operated 

by the municipal utilities, while New Orleans had 

an opportunity to incorporate solar technologies 

into buildings replaced or renovated after Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita. Across all cities, however, 

some common hurdles surfaced. In particular, 

permitting and approvals plagued city planners 

and installers alike, adding time and unnecessary 

costs to solar installations. 

Easing the Permitting Barrier 

A key finding of the Solar America Cities program 

is that solar permitting, as it stands today, 

can be a significant barrier to greater solar energy 

adoption. According to a January report by solar 

company SunRun, local permitting, inspection 

and utility interconnection can add more than 

$2,500 to the cost of each residential installation. 

(Access the report at bit.ly/sunrunreport.) 

SunRun also found that local permitting is one of 

the most stubborn costs faced by solar installers 

nationwide, preventing some from being able to 

offer affordable prices to customers. 

Local jurisdictions typically require permits 

before a PV system can be installed, to ensure 

that the system meets safety standards. Following 

the installation, a city inspector will typically 

verify that the system complies with applicable 

codes. A system cannot be connected to the grid 

and operate until these steps are completed. 

Unfortunately, permitting processes and requirements 

vary greatly among jurisdictions, and local 

inexperience with PV has led to inconsistent 

enforcement of requirements. When you add 

understaffed city offices, it’s a recipe for permitting 

delays and burdensome costs, not only for 


the installer, but also for the system owner and 

the local government issuing the permits. 

Various Solar America Cities have addressed 

this issue by developing processes that reduce 

time and cost for the parties involved, while 

maintaining public safety. Some cities are developing 

expedited processes and lowering fees for 

standard installations, while others have created 

a new way to submit the paperwork, either 

online or at a dedicated help desk, trimming 

hours or even days from wait times. Some cities 

are standardizing the process across neighboring 

jurisdictions, which provides the greatest cost 

savings for solar installers and can even enable 

cities to save money through innovative jobsharing 

arrangements where inspectors work 

across jurisdictions. 

Philadelphia is an example of a Solar America 

City that recognized early on that more-efficient 

permitting would improve local solar deployment 

rates. According to Kristin Sullivan, program director 

of the Philadelphia Solar City Partnership Program, 

“We’ve instituted multiple improvements 

to help the solar industry without compromising 

safety or requiring additional city staff time, including 

reduced permitting fees and a streamlined process 

for projects under 10 kilowatts.” 

San Jose, Calif.; New York City; and Portland, 

Ore., are three more Solar America Cities 

that have streamlined solar permitting. 

San Jose, Installers Collaborate. The city of 

San Jose has been promoting safe and compliant 

installation of renewable energy for more than 

nine years — and now serves as a model for 

other cities across the nation. According to Kathryn 

Sedwick, the city’s acting building official, 

“Much of the success of the permit streamlining 

is attributed to having the information available 

to applicants before they come in to obtain their 

permits and before they call for inspection.” One 

of the priority pieces of information available to 

installers is a checklist that provides all of the 

information needed to ensure speedy permitting 

and inspection. The checklist was crafted with 

input from the PV industry. 

➢ 

Hannah Muller is the Solar America Communities 

lead at the U.S. Department of Energy. In this role 

she directs strategic investments in federal-local partnerships, 

cutting-edge pilot projects, policy analysis 

and nationwide outreach efforts to accelerate U.S. 

solar market growth through local action. Muller 

holds a master’s from the Bren School of Environmental 

Science and Management at the University of 

California, Santa Barbara. 

Resources: Simplifying 

Solar in Your Community 

I 

n January the U.S. Department of Energy 

(DOE) released “Solar Powering Your Community: 

A Guide for Local Governments,” a 

comprehensive resource. The new edition 

contains recent lessons and successes from 

the 25 Solar America Cities and other communities 

promoting solar energy. Download 

a copy at solaramericacommunities.energy. 

gov/resources/guide_for_local_governments. 

Recognizing the need for standardization 

in the solar industry, the DOE also has created 

a clearinghouse for information on solar 

codes and best practices. Its Solar America 

Board for Codes and Standards, established 

in 2007, published a model expedited-permitting 

process in 2009. The state of Oregon 

used it to help create its standardized state 

permitting codes. For more information visit 

solarabcs.org. 

Find more information on the 25 Solar 

America Cities at solaramericacommunities. 

energy.gov. 


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The city has worked with solar installers to 

ensure streamlined solar permitting and address 

safety concerns in PV system design and installation. 

To date, the department has been successful 

in reducing solar permit costs, providing 

over-the-counter and online permitting services 

for residential solar projects, reaching out to 

installers to provide training and information, 

training field staff and maintaining consistent 

enforcement throughout San Jose. The city continues 

efforts to simplify permitting in coordination 

with neighboring jurisdictions. 

According to Sedwick, these improvements 

have had major benefits for the local solar market. 

“Our focus on giving the community easy 

access to solar has resulted in over 25 megawatts 

of installed PV capacity in the residential and 

commercial sectors — the most in the state of 

California,” says Sedwick. “We would not be 

able to claim the number of installations we’ve 

seen without the time and effort we invested into 

improving our permitting process.” 

New York City Offers “100 Days of Solar.” 

The NYC Solar America City team, as it’s called, 

and electric utility Con Edison are shortening 

and simplifying solar permitting in New York 

City. A 2010 survey of New York City solar 

installers conducted by City University of New 

York (CUNY) Solar Ombudsman Noah Ginsburg 

found that taking the “hassle factor” out of 

permitting is key to encouraging the mass use of 

solar energy in the city. 

It’s a challenging task. Currently, it can take 

nearly six months to get the necessary approvals 

for a solar installation in the city. 

Con Edison’s “100 Days of Solar” initiative, 

which began last spring, seeks to reduce to 100 

days the amount of time from when a customer 

initiates a request for a solar permit until the 

system is connected to the grid and generating 

electricity. The NYC Solar America City Partnership 

has been working with Con Edison, the city 

Department of Buildings, the New York State 

Energy Research and Development Authority 

and the Fire Department to improve inter-agency 

communication, reduce paperwork and come 

up with a better process. 

“We took a look at the permitting process 

and found that there were more than 90 steps,” 

said Margarett Jolly, the solar specialist at Con 

Edison. “We’ve already made some improvements 

and shortened the process by about four 

weeks. We’re still working on it, and we think we 

can shave off even more time.” 

After a CUNY study uncovered that adminreducing 

PV costs 

Suzanne Olsen, Mr. Sun Solar 

city of san jose 

Portland enabled installers to email the permit application, eliminating an average three-hour office wait. 

Mr. Sun Solar, which installed the solar water system at Headwaters Apartments, above, is one that finds 

the city’s process easier than other jurisdictions’. 

Staff at the San Jose City Development Services assist customers with PV system permitting. The city 

worked with the solar industry to create a permitting and inspection checklist for installers. 


istrative barriers across all agencies added more 

than $5,000 to $6,000 to the cost of each residential 

PV installation in the city, CUNY’s solar 

ombudsman began holding office hours at the 

city Department of Buildings last September. 

Ginsburg facilitated and streamlined applications 

for property tax abatement (the city’s financial 

incentive for solar) across permitting agencies 

and educated installers. This simple step resulted 

in a sixfold increase in approved applications. 

“Solar installations in the city of New York 

have more than doubled over the last year, and 

we now have approximately 5.65 megawatts 

installed. Better access to information is the 

key, and the city has developed a suite of tools 

to help both customers and those involved in 

the process,” said Tria Case, CUNY’s university 

director of sustainability. 

She is referring to a solar map that provides 

precise information about the size, angle and 

shading of rooftops, providing customers and 

installers the ability to quickly calculate the size 

of a potential solar energy system. A second tool 

the city is developing is an interactive installation 

guide to help consumers map out their paths 

through the process. A third project in the works 

is a web-based tool that will allow relevant agencies 

to virtually track the progress of each installation, 

which will also increase transparency and 

clarity for end-users. 

Portland Helps Standardize State Permitting. 

Portland’s Bureau of Development Services 

(BDS) developed an electronic permit submittal 

process for solar installers, enabling installers 

to e-mail the permit application to the city 

and expect a review for qualified projects within 

approximately four working days. This process 

eliminated an average office wait of three hours, 

plus travel time, for contractors. Additionally, 

permits were set to a flat fee for residential installations 

meeting certain requirements, and staffers 

at the permitting desk were trained as solar 

experts to assist contractors who need help filing 

permits in person. These easy-to-implement, lowtech 

solutions created certainty for the contractors 

and have decreased solar installers’ costs. 

Much of Portland’s early work became a 

model for standardized permitting that was instituted 

across Oregon in 2010. The state implemented 

a flat permit fee and created a provision 

to waive unnecessary engineering requirements 

for certain types of solar installations defined in 

the code, specifically those on light-frame construction 

with defined mounting requirements. 

In addition, it adopted standardized documents 

Permitting improvements have helped San Jose install more than 25 megawatts of PV. The Orchard School 

District in San Jose features a 240-kilowatt system. 

to simplify the process. The benefits of a uniform 

code and standardized documents across 

all jurisdictions are enormous. 

“Oregon has many small jurisdictions,” notes 

Jonathan Cohen, principal and founder of Imagine 

Energy, an Oregon solar installer. “Often 

the code and permitting officials in these areas 

are very unfamiliar with PV and solar hot water 

systems, so they tend to be very conservative, 

often adding unnecessary costs and engineering 

to local regulations. The Oregon standardized 

code provides these smaller jurisdictions with a 

blanket security. 

“It also creates a more-level playing field, for 

both installers that operate across jurisdictions 

and for residents seeking solar,” says Cohen. 

Further Streamlining Processes, Costs 

Representatives from each of the 25 Solar 

America Cities convened April 25 in Philadelphia 

for their fourth annual meeting. They shared 

best practices and insights and compared experiences 

about emerging trends in urban solar 

energy use. Much of the work performed in the 

Solar America Cities helps to pioneer more efficient 

ways of selling, permitting, installing and 

interconnecting PV systems, reducing the nonhardware 

costs associated with PV installation. 

In line with its SunShot Initiative and this 

complementary Solar America Cities work, 

Much of the work performed 

in the Solar America Cities 

helps to pioneer more 

efficient ways of selling, 

permitting, installing and 

interconnecting PV systems. 

DOE anticipates additional investments toward 

ensuring significant cost reductions in distributed 

PV permitting in the next two years. Among 

these, the DOE expects to announce a major 

national contest in 2011 for state and local governments 

to improve market conditions for PV 

through more consumer-friendly processes. For 

more information on future funding opportunities, 

visit eere.energy.gov/solar/financial_ 

opportunities.html. ST 

cupertino electric 



case study 

Daylighting 

Through lighting upgrades, 

British American Auto Care 

in Columbia, Md., 

slashed electricity usage 

nearly 40 percent, 

or $7,650 annually. 

a Car Repair Facility 

BAAC engaged MAGCO Roofing to 

install Apollo light pipes from Orion, 

shown ready for installation. 

Photos and text by Richard Reis, PE 

When Brian and Jennifer England 

opened British American Auto Care 

in Columbia, Md., in 1978, their goal 

was to offer high-quality auto repair service. Over 

time, their goals expanded to include operational 

efficiency. Among other steps, the Englands 

reduced energy usage at the shop through conservation, 

including relying on daylighting when 

possible. To further reduce BAAC’s electricity 

bills, Brian contacted my firm, Conservation 

Engineering, in April 2009. 

We focused on exterior lighting as a first step. 

That July, we installed more-efficient wall and 

canopy lighting fixtures around the perimeter of 

the building and rebuilt an exterior floodlight to 

use less electricity. These improvements alone 

reduced the shop’s electricity usage a whopping 

700 kilowatt-hours per month (about $105 per 

month at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour). 

Richard Reis, PE, is the principal engineer at Conservation 

Engineering, (conservationengineering.com), 

an engineering practice devoted to saving resources 

and utility costs. He can be reached at rreis@verizon. 

net. 

Next we turned our attention to indoor lighting. 

The upgrades we made slashed BAAC’s electricity 

usage nearly 40 percent, or $7,650 annually. 

With state incentives, the upgrades will be 

paid off in less than four years. 

Study Points to 

Conservation Opportunities 

The single-story, 13,400-square-foot 

(1,245-square-meter) BAAC facility was built 

in 1999. The largest space, 8,636 square feet (802 

square meters) is the repair shop. The remaining 

spaces include two utility workrooms, parts 

storage, locker room, offices, restrooms and corridors. 

The repair shop had 22 metal halide lighting 

fixtures with serious disadvantages: 

• Excessive power usage, 

• Decreasing light levels as the lamps aged, and 

• Long warm-up and restrike times, which 

precluded the use of daylight or occupancy 

controls. 

Except for the narrow garage door windows 

or when, as weather permitted, the garage door 

could be left open, little daylight entered the 

space. Personnel switched lights at the breaker 

panel box. 

The remaining spaces of the facility had some 

daylighting from perimeter windows and T8 fluorescent 

lamps. However, some areas were over-lit. 

Efficient-Lighting Economics 

British American Auto Care 

Pre-incentive total $29,454 

EmPOWER Maryland incentive $2,860 

Total cost after incentives $26,452 

Annual electricity bill savings $7,650* 

* 51 megawatt-hours per year, at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour 

Too often, lights were left on in empty rooms. 

To save energy and utility costs, last spring 

BAAC commissioned Conservation Engineering 

to perform an energy study to identify how 

energy was used and cost-effective ways of saving 

energy. The study found that electrical energy 

costs represented 80 percent of all utility costs 

for the facility. Sixty percent of the electricity was 

used for lighting, with more than 50 percent of 

the total lighting load in the auto repair shop. 

Based on the recommendations of our energy 

study, BAAC engaged MAGCO Roofing, 

Jessup, Md., to bring in daylight with 22 Apollo 

light pipes from Orion Energy Systems (oriones. 

com). We considered solar photovoltaics (PV) 

for this facility. However, with BAAC’s daytime 

operating hours and a dominant lighting load, a 

PV system would essentially convert daylight to 


As a result of the upgrades, the shop floor is well-lit with new Orion Apollo light pipes and lighting 

fixtures. Because of supplemental daylighting, each fixture had only two of six lamps lit when this 

photo was shot. 

electricity to power electric lights. For now, we 

took a more direct, less expensive approach. 

Last April BAAC hired Beltsville, Md.-based 

Hawkins Electric to replace each of the 22 metal 

halide, 455-watt fixtures with a corresponding 

Orion 192-watt fixture having six T8 fluorescent 

lamps. Hawkins also installed a Watt Stopper 

open-loop daylight- and occupancy-sensing 

system (wattstopper.com). Depending upon 

available daylight, the control system 

keeps all lights off, or lights two, four 

or all six lamps in each fixture. In addition 

to daylight controls, occupancy 

controls ensure that the lights in each 

of the four work sections are switched 

off when that section is vacant. 

In other interior areas of the building, 

Hawkins installed occupancysensing 

lighting controls, except where 


the use of manual controls was effective. For most 

rooms, passive infrared sensors worked well, as 

there is a straight line of sight between sensor and 

occupant. Areas with obstacles (such as a parts 

rack) required more expensive ultrasonic sensors. 

For corridors, just removing two of three lamps 

effectively reduced energy use, while maintaining 

adequate lighting. 

Upgrades Generate Savings, 

Public Kudos 

The daylighting and energy-efficiency 

upgrade resulted in some significant benefits: 

• Greater productivity due to higher lighting levels 

and natural light; 

• Immediate and automatic lighting response; 

• Lower energy bills, as lamps are off when daylighting 

is adequate or an area is vacant, BAAC 

has more efficient lamps and fixtures, and 

unneeded lamps have been removed; 

• Less demand on the electric grid, especially 

during bright, sunny days, when the grid may 

be stressed due to high temperatures and high 

air-conditioning loads; and 

• Recognition for BAAC’s environmental stewardship. 

The chart below illustrates the direct effect 

of our conservation efforts. Annual energy use 

decreased from 121 megawatt-hours (MWh) average 

in 2007 through 2009 to a projected 74 MWh. 

That represents a savings of 47 MWh per year, 

or $6,980 at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour. Under 

the governor’s EmPOWER Maryland initiative 

to reduce statewide enerwwgy consumption, 

the local utility granted $2,860 for the upgrades, 

lowering BAAC’s material and installation costs 

from $29,452 to $26,592. As mentioned, these 

upgrades will pay off in less than four years. 

Because most of the electricity in the mid- 

Atlantic region comes from burning coal, 

BAAC’s reduced energy demand means less 

coal-fired power, reducing emissions of greenhouse 

gases and other pollutants. The upgrade 

will decrease carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 

600 tons during the 20-year life cycle of the 

upgrade. (Based on 0.675 tons of carbon dioxide 

per megawatt-hour for electricity generation in 

Maryland, eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom/ 

pdf/gg-app-tables.pdf, table C.1.) 

“The energy-efficiency efforts of British 

American Auto Care are important for the environment 

and are reducing their carbon footprint,” 

said Orion CEO Neal Verfuerth. “While 

the company is doing its part to 

help the environment, they received 

better light and substantial cost savings, 

which make this project a winwin 

for everyone.” 

Brian England’s commitment to 

and actions for the environment led 

to BAAC’s selection as one of five 

Maryland Green Registry Leadership 

Award winners last July. ST 


photo essay 

low-energy design 

The Cost-Efficient Zero-Net Office Building 

Finished Research 

Support Facility 

with racking in place 

for 1.6 megawatts 

of photovoltaic 

modules. 

By Seth Masia 

department of energy / NREL 

Using off-theshelf 

technology, 

NREL’s new LEED 

Platinum facility 

makes as much 

energy as it uses. 

When the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

(NREL) set out to build a new 

Research Support Facility — basically, a 

set of administrative offices — the goal was 

to move the staff of 825 out of existing conventional 

office buildings using energy at 

the rate of 91,000 Btu per square foot per year — expressed 

as 91 kBtu/ft 2 /yr (979 kBtu/m 2 /yr). The goal: cut energy 

use by 65 percent, to 32 kBtu/ft 2 /yr (344kBtu/m 2 /yr), and 

make that energy with renewable technologies, right on site. 

In theory, a new zero-net-energy office building might save the 

Department of Energy something like $80,000 a year in heating, 

lighting, air-conditioning and data-center power costs. 

Further, the new building was to use off-the-shelf technology 

and come in for a total budget of $65 million, including 

design work and furnishings. The design-build contract went 

to a partnership of RNL Design, an architectural firm with 

offices in Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix and Abu Dhabi, and 

Haselden Construction, of Centennial, Colo. 

Seth Masia (smasia@solartoday.org) is deputy editor at SOLAR TODAY. 

When the LEED Platinum project came in on schedule 

and on budget last fall at 222,000 square feet (20,650 square 

meters), finished cost worked out to 288 per square foot 

($3,096 per square meter), roughly 15 percent less than the 

cost of the LEED Silver Commerce City Civic Center, built 

18 miles away in 2007. 

Shanti Pless, LEED AP and senior research engineer at 

NREL, has been monitoring the building’s performance since 

the first staffers moved in in October 2010. The addition of 

a small server farm — it’s the data center for several NREL 

buildings — bumped the total energy budget up to 35 kBtu/ 

ft 2 /yr — but Pless reports that midwinter performance is on 

target for net-zero energy. Before the summer cooling season, 

the 1.6-megawatt photovoltaic system will be complete and 

ready to drive the ventilation load. Pless is confident the netzero 

goal will be met year-round. 

Haselden is now erecting the 138,000-square-foot expansion 

wing, scheduled for completion in October. It will 

house another 500 employees. 

50 May 2011 SOLAR TODAY solartoday.org 

Copyright © 2011 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved.

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photo essay 


Building orientation and windows: 

Office bays are 60 feet 

wide (18 meters) and oriented to 

maximize daylight penetration. 

Window-to-wall ratio to the south 

is 24 percent and to the north 26 

percent. The triple-glazed, argonfilled 

windows are shaded against 

summer sun, and are opened (by 

the occupants) when the building’s 

computer system signals 

that it would be an efficient cooling 

tactic. Electrochromic tinted 

windows on the west wall are 

controlled by the staff and span 

60 feet by 12 feet on three floors. 

East-facing windows use a cheaper, 

fully automatic thermochrome 

technology, darkening as the day 

grows warmer. 


Daylighting is aided by Light Louver window 

treatments. They look like venetian blinds but 

each slat is an optical light duct arranged to throw 

sunlight onto the ceiling, deep in the office bay. 

seth masia 


Landscaping features gabion 

walls, using 1,000 cubic yards of 

rock out of the foundation excavation, 

contained in baskets made 

of recycled steel. Stormwater flows 

off the roof to water the xeriscape 

plantings. Smart, climate-sensitive 

computers control additional irrigation, 

cutting water use about 30 

percent. This wing-shaped tower 

is an air intake for the labyrinth 

thermal-storage system. 


(Above), The ground-level labyrinth thermal-storage system, shown here under construction, preconditions ventilation air. About 4.5-feet high 

(1.5-meter high), with a volume of roughly 360,000 cubic feet (10,200 cubic meters), the concrete plenum draws outside air through intakes at the secondstory 

level. The air gains or loses heat to the concrete thermal mass and reaches the underfloor HVAC system at about 50° F (10° C) in winter and 70° F (21° 

C) in summer. The north-wing labyrinth works during the heating season, taking waste heat from the data center. The south-wing system handles both 

heating and cooling loads, feeding preconditioned air to an evaporative cooler in summer. Steel frame is held aloft on surplus natural-gas piping, each column 

33 feet (10 meters) long and partially filled with concrete. Concrete forms are filled with chunks of Denver’s old Stapleton Airport runways to reduce 

the pour of fresh concrete. About 20 percent of all building materials are recycled materials, about 75 percent of that content diverted from landfills. 



Harvest the power of 

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Season after season, 

the sun gives its light to the earth, 

allowing life to bloom. 

Every day a limitless crop of free, 

clean energy reaches our planet. 

Stiebel Eltron manufactures all the tools you 

need for a successful thermal solar harvest. 

And we’ve been doing so since 1976. 

From our highly efficient flat plate collectors and 

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Sun 

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photo essay 


Radiant floor heat is provided 

with 42 miles (68 

km) of PEX hydronic tubing. 

Lobby floor is made 

largely of recycled granite 

chips — a byproduct of 

commercial granite manufacturing 

— in a ceramic 

matrix. Wall paneling is 

made from 19,000 board 

feet of beetle-killed Rocky 

Mountain pine, treated 

with a flame-retardant. 


A transpired solar 

heating system transfers 

about 75 percent 

of the sun’s energy to 

air flowing through 

its perforations and 

on to the ventilation 

system, at up to 

10,000 cubic feet per 

minute (283 cubic 

meters per minute). 

nrel 

The Research Support Facility’s exterior wall is made 

from precast concrete panels for thermal mass, and 

they’re insulated with 2 inches (5 cm) of rigid polyisocyanurate 

foam, to about R13. 

Pat Corkory 

A photovoltaic 

system on the roofs 

and parking garage 

totals 1.6 megawatts. 

This includes 450 

kilowatts on the 

roof of Research 

Support Facility 1, 

featuring 240-watt 

modules operated 

under a power purchase 

agreement 

from SunEdison. The 

remainder of the 

system consists of 

SunPower modules 

purchased with 

American Recovery 

and Reinvestment 

Act funds. 

nrel 

CLICK For more background on NREL’s Research Support Facility, see nrel.gov/sustainable_nrel/rsf.html. 



www.astronergy.com

solar installations 

Made-in-the-U.S. technology 

from Suniva helped 

Standard Solar deliver at 

$800,000 under budget. 

Standard Solar 

The 564-kilowatt PV system on the Terry Sanford Federal Building and Courthouse in Raleigh, N.C., 

was a first step toward reaching GSA’s net-zero-energy goal. 

Terry Sanford Federal Building 

and Courthouse By Gina R. Johnson 

As the largest owner of buildings in the 

United States, the General Services 

Administration (GSA) has considerable 

influence on national energy demand 

and building practices. In fiscal year 2010, GSA’s 

9,600 owned and leased buildings racked up 

utilities bills exceeding $439 million and 18.9 

billion Btu. To reduce its carbon footprint and 

save taxpayers millions of dollars annually, the 

agency is working to reach net-zero-energy in its 

buildings, pushing beyond presidential executive 

order 13514. Solar energy is proving to be one 

effective path. 

In March 2010, GSA’s Region 4, covering the 

Southeast, issued a request for quotations for a 

rooftop photovoltaic (PV) system for the Terry 

Sanford Federal Building and Courthouse in 

Raleigh, N.C. It was the region’s first step toward 

reaching the net-zero-energy goal and its first 

photovoltaic project, said GSA Project Manager 

Josh Lockwood. The Terry Sanford building was 

an excellent site, with its large new 25-year-warranted 

roof and good solar access. 

Maximizing System Yield 

The budget for the project was $4 million, 

part of the $5.5 billion in American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds GSA was 

appropriated for efficiency efforts. According 

to GSA Contracting Officer Cathal Duffy, the 

GSA had three criteria in selecting the winning 

bid: a system design for maximum electricity 

generation, a design and installation partner 

having experience with large-scale PV projects, 

and price. Of five final competitive bids, Rockville, 

Md.-based Standard Solar was chosen for 

its proposal to install a 564-kilowatt system. 

Standard Solar has been involved in 

PV System Highlights 

Raleigh’s Climate 

Average Solar Resource: 5.0 kilowatthours/square 

meter/day 

Average High/Record Low Temps: 

49°F–88°F (9°C–31°C)/-6°F (-21°C) 

System Details 

Designer and Installer: Standard Solar 

Array Capacity: 564 kilowatts (kW) 

Annual AC Production: 772 megawatthours 

Panels: 2,352 of Suniva’s 235-watt panels 

Inverters: Advanced Energy 500-kW 

inverter 

Array: 14 panels per string but 

combiners were different depending 

on building location 

Array Combiners: SolarBOS 

System Monitoring: Locus Energy webbased 

monitoring system provides 

combiner-level monitoring, revenuegrade 

metering, web-based data 

reporting and automated alerts. 

Commissioned: November 2010 

Cost 

System design and installation: 

$3.2 million 

Got a recent PV or thermal installation 

to share Send your proposal and photos 

to editor@solartoday.org. 

56 May 2011 SOLAR TODAY solartoday.org Copyright © 2011 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved. 

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solar installations 

federal projects since 2007, when it installed a 

PV system on the roof of the U.S. Department 

of Energy headquarters. Since then, the firm has 

done scores of projects at government agencies. 

According to General Manager Michael Sloan, 

panels from Suniva, based in Norcross, Ga., 

were the top choice for the project for several 

reasons. Suniva claims up to 15 percent efficiency 

at the module level for its crystalline technology. 

In addition to complying with ARRA, 

which requires that all projects comply with the 

Buy-American Act, the panels provided the best 

performance for the price, said Sloan. That value 

helped Standard deliver the project well under 

budget, for $3.2 million. 

Though pleased with the savings, GSA 

officials are quick to note that the system’s 

carbon-free production is its larger goal. “This 

all goes back to the GSA’s goals for a zero environmental 

footprint,” said Lockwood. “We 

have requirements to reduce our energy consumption 

each year, and those are more strict 

each year. So we were more focused on that 

than a payback.” 

Advancing low-energy technology was 

another priority, added Duffy. “The GSA is pretty 

much the largest landlord in the country, and we 

kind of take the lead in these types of projects. So 

we can afford maybe a little less payback than a 

commercial building, and that allows us to push 

forward the technology.” 

Ensuring Security 

For Standard Solar, the system’s location on 

an active federal courthouse posed some security 

challenges. “Building security was a great 

concern because the courthouse is host to many 

high-profile criminal cases and daily operations 

could not be interrupted,” said Standard Solar’s 

Sloan. “Additionally, the customer wanted to 

ensure that all data and power connections were 

secure and not able to be tampered with.” 

Reviews and installation took two to three 

months, he estimated. “You had daily check-in, 

check-outs with inspection at the loading docks, 

almost like airport security.” 

As for the system engineering, the large, 

unobstructed roof and excellent solar resource 

made that straightforward. “Installation and 

permitting were easy; it is a testament to the 

prevalence of PV systems,” Sloan said. Progress 

Energy approved the interconnection. 

The system was commissioned in November. 

As of March, it was on track to meet its annual 

projection of 772,000 kilowatt-hours, or 18 percent 

of the building’s usage, according to GSA 

Electrical Engineer Tyrone Pelt. 

Demonstrating the Technology 

Large signage at the building describes the 

U.S. jobs and technologies that were supported 

by this ARRA-funded project. Visitors to the 

building can also check out the PV system’s performance 

via a monitoring website displayed 

in the lobby. (See http://datareadings.com/ 

client/moduleSystem/Kiosk/site/bin/kiosk. 

cfmk=oErvVLF9, or bit.ly/TerrySanford.) 

“You can’t really see the system from the 

street,” Lockwood said, “but you can come into 

the building, look at the monitor and learn about 

the system. That’s just another way we can promote 

the industry and the technology.” 

GSA hopes to apply this experience with 

installing PV systems at other buildings in 

Region 4. ST 

Gina R. Johnson (editor@solartoday.org) is the editor/ 

associate publisher of SOLAR TODAY. 

ASES National Solar Conference, 

Visit Us at Booth 1021/1120 

May 17-21, 2011, Raleigh, NC 


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new products | Solar 2011 showcase 

See these at the 

ASES National Solar 

Conference Expo 

A. O. Smith Launches 

Cirrex Water-Heating System 

Cirrex from A. O. Smith is an all-in-one solar thermal 

water-heating system, designed to simplify 

specification and installation. With solar energy 

factors up to 10.1, Cirrex is tax-credit eligible 

through 2016. hotwater.com 

Energy-Management Sensors 

from Leviton 

Leviton offers a broad range of lighting controls, 

occupancy sensors and timers for homes and 

businesses. The company will soon introduce a 

line of electric car chargers and solar solutions 

under the Evr-green brand name. leviton.com 

Wieland Offers Machined DC Connector 

Wieland Electric’s PST DC connector features a machined contact for maximum 

performance and quality terminations. The simple extraction process provides 

easy error correction and quality control. And it mates to the standard latching 

photovoltaic (PV) connector. wielandinc.com/products/solarconnectors.aspx 


COURTESY NREL PIX 10864, ROBB WILLIAMSON / GRCVB/VISITRALEIGH.COM 

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The premier technical conference for solar 

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• Majora Carter speaking at Wednesday’s 

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• Dr. Richard Swanson, 2011 Karl Böer Solar 

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• Ed Mazria—Architecture 2030 speaking at 

Friday’s Design Plenary 

• Ed Begley, Jr. speaking at Public Day 

Register online at 


Presented by the American Solar Energy Society 

with the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Assoc. 

May 17 – 21, 2011 • Raleigh, North Carolina 

Cashing in on Clean Energy

new products 

| Solar 2011 showcase 

Improved Pyranometer from Kipp & Zonen 

Kipp & Zonen’s new SP Lite2 silicon pyranometer, 

designed for all-weather measurement of solar radiation, 

has an integrated bubble level and adjustment screws 

for convenient installation. It’s designed for routine 

monitoring of photovoltaic solar energy installations 

and in building control systems for lighting and 

environmental control. kippzonen.com 

Renogy Imports PV Modules 

Renogy is a vertically integrated Chinese fabricator 

specializing in high-efficiency solar modules 

with top PTC (PVUSA test conditions) ratings at low 

prices. Customer service is handled through 

a warehouse in Baton Rouge, La. renogy.com 

FLS Enables Web Monitoring of Thermal Systems 

This low-cost solar thermal system monitor provides real-time data 

acquisition displayed on the web for constant monitoring of energy 

production and detailed system performance, with any size array. 

flssolartech.com 


Equipment & Automation Solutions 

for the Solar Industry 

Miyachi Unitek offers a comprehensive range of both laser 

and resistance welding technologies for today's solar 

manufacturers. All of our welders feature closed loop 

power feedback, built-in quality monitors, and output 

data to meet the most stringent manufacturing standards. 

Typical Applications: 

• Ribbon to cells 

• Edge connectors to cells 

• Ribbon to ribbon interconnects 

• Buss bars 

• Junction box connections 

• Laser marking of thin film metal backing 

• Laser marking of silicon 

• Laser marking of aluminum panel frames 

• Laser welding of conductor strips to thin film metal 

backed cells 

We stand behind every system built to solve each 

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Find out why more and more companies are turning 

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www.miyachiunitek.com • 24/7 Repair Service: 1-866-751-7378

new products 


Steca Router Monitors Thermal System Performance 

The Steca TK RW2 router was developed to visualize solar thermal systems 

in combination with the Steca TR 0603mc U solar thermal controller. 

By logging in to solarthermalweb.com, the operator can monitor his solar 

thermal system from any online location. stecasolar.com 

Solar Hydronics Launches iSwim System 

The iSwim collector system from Solar Hydronics combines a 1.5-inch overmolded, 

direct-feed header with fluted absorber tubes, zip-joint absorber 

connections and a strap anchor system. getsolarpoolheating.com 

Slimmer High-Performance Collector from Heliodyne 

The Heliodyne GOBI flat-plate collector gets a redesigned frame and 

upgraded components for 2011. The result: a reduced profile and 

improved OG-100 performance ratings. heliodyne.com 


MADE IN USA

new products 


Polysun Offers Online Simulation Software 

Polysun Online is a simulation package for use as a sales 

tool. It calculates and displays economic results, carbon 

savings, solar gains and other information that can help 

your customer make an informed purchase decision. 

polysunsoftware.com 

Motech Promotes High-Power Modules 

Taiwan-based Motech makes cells and builds modules 

from 205 to 295 watts. North American headquarters 

is in Newark, Del. motech-americas.com 

Low-Profile Fixed-Tilt Racking System 

from Schletter Inc. 

Schletter’s new low-ballast AluLight system is designed for large 

commercial roofs with low excess capacity, requiring a high 

concentration of modules at a fixed tilt of 12 degrees. Modules 

are quickly connected using top-down clamps. alulight.us 


Showcasing Our Clients 

A Wholesale Solar Distributor 

Channel Sun 

Massachusetts 

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New Mexico 

Greenpath Technologies 

Hawaii 

Visit Us at Booth #830 

PV America 

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April 3-5 

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Our extensive line of name brand products include:

new products 


TE Connectivity Shows Five-String Combiner Box 

The Solarlok five-string combiner box assembly combines up 

to five strings in a UL-listed, preterminated, connectorized, 

weather-resistant enclosure to meet NEC requirements for series 

fusing of PV modules. te.com/products/combinerboxes 

10 

Durability Warranty 

YEARS 

FLIR Thermal Cameras Spot Defects 

FLIR’s predictive-maintenance thermal cameras 

find and document solar cell defects, panel 

installation issues and electrical problems. The 

FLIR i-Series starts under $1,200 and the highperformance 

E-Series offers Wi-Fi connectivity 

for quick importing, analysis and sharing of 

thermal images. flir.com/thermography 


SOLON Modules 

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new products 


YOUR 

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PowerPartners Builds Durable Water-Heating Collectors 

Manufactured in Athens, Ga., PowerPartners solar water-heating collectors are certified to SRCC 

OG 100/300, FSEC and EnergyStar standards. Light weight is a design goal, for safer lifting during 

installation. Panels are available in 23 trim colors. powerpartnerssolar.com 

People and products, 

you can count on. 

Site evaluation just got easier. 

The new SunEye 210. 

One-handed operation makes your shade 

measurements a snap. Preview mode shows the 

sun path overlay adjusted to the device’s orientation. 

Pitch and azimuth measurements are built-in. 

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Photovoltaic String Inverters and 

Shade-Tolerant Maximum Power 

Point Tracking: Toward Optimal 

Harvest Efficiency and Maximum 

ROI

new products | Solar 2011 showcase 

Velux Collectors Look Like Skylights 

Velux low-profile roof-integrated solar water-heating collectors are flashed into the roof with the 

same appearance as the company’s popular skylights. Rack-mount systems are also available for 

use on flat roofs, metal roofs and reverse-pitch applications. veluxusa.com/solar 

ASES_member-ad-3x5-1110_72 11/11/10 10:28 AM Page 1 

28 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 

KASSEL | GERMANY 

ISES Solar World Congress | 

www.swc2011.org 

 

 

 

 

A Lifetime Membership 

for a solar future! 

Become a Life Member of ASES to: 

Conference Themes 

Solar Heating and Cooling | Solar Buildings | Renewable Electricity 

Rural Energy Supply | Resource Assessment | Renewable Energies and Society 

• Inspire the nation 

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We need your support 

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You may become a 

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new products 


Platipus Launches 

PV Anchoring System 

The Percussion-Driven Earth Anchor (PDEA) can 

be installed in most displaceable ground conditions. 

It uses a lightweight, corrosion-resistant 

anchor that can be driven from ground level 

using conventional portable equipment, with 

little disturbance of the soil. It can be stressed to 

an exact holding capacity and made operational 

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for solar pros, from SOLAR TODAY 

and the American Solar Energy 

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| PV Grid Connected | Battery Charging Systems | 

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74 May 2011 SOLAR TODAY solartoday.org Copyright © 2011 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved. 

Steca_SolarToday_88,9x120,56_05_2011.indd 1 10.03.2011 09:16:31

PowerHouse Dynamics 

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Investing from page 26 

Devices (photovoltaics), Ciris Energy (cleaner coal) 

and CoolPlanetBioFuels (non-food biofuels). 

Japanese companies including Sharp (6753.T), 

Toshiba (6502.T) and Panasonic (NYSE: PC) 

pledged to invest $4.5 billion in cleantech over the 

next 15 months. South Korean companies Samsung 

and LG Group have pledged billions more. 

Much of the funding over the past year came 

from government, whether in the form of cheap 

debt in China, sweet off-take deals for European 

offshore wind, feed-in tariffs for solar or a regulatory 

push for smart grids. The industry needs to continue 

to drive down its costs and reduce its reliance on this 

sort of support. 

Overall, it looks like cleantech will prevail this 

year even in the face of waning European feed-in 

laws and the lack of energy policy in the United 

States. Bloomberg New Energy Finance has long 

predicted that $500 billion a year will have to be 

spent on clean energy for carbon emissions to peak 

by 2020. Even excluding investment from the public 

markets, if we add up government, angel and venture 

capital, M&A, corporate investments, project 

finance and private equity, we are halfway there. ST 

NatlTour-ad-8x5-0311_72 3/22/11 4:09 PM Page 1 

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L e a d i n g t h e r e n e w a b l e e n e r g y r e v o l u t i o n 

w w w . a s e s . o r g 



Electrical Grounding from page 30 

Article 694 

Although all metal components that can 

potentially be energized are required to be 

grounded, Article 694 exempts the blades and 

tail from this requirement, as there is no electrical 

energizing source associated with them. In 

It should always be assumed 

that a spinning turbine is 

generating electricity. 

addition, since the guy cables on a guyed tower 

are physically connected to the tower, these are 

assumed to be grounded through the tower per 

Article 694. Regardless, for lightning protection 

purposes, most installers will ground the guy 

cables to a dedicated ground rod at each respective 

anchor. Another best practice is to bond all 

guy anchor ground rods together with a ground 

wire, then run this wire back to the tower and on 

into the house where the system electronics are 

housed. Again, this puts everything at the same 

electrical potential. 

Since guy cables are usually made of galvanized 

steel, and since grounding components are 

usually copper wires and ground rods, a problem 

surfaces having to do with connecting dissimilar 

metals. Technically, galvanic action could take 

place between copper and the zinc in the galvanizing, 

creating a weak current flow that would 

move ions from one metal to the other. The 

worst-case scenario is that a galvanized guy cable 

would fail, resulting in the tower buckling. While 

it doesn’t appear as though this type of failure of 

a small wind system has ever been documented, 

Article 694 prudently specifies that contact 

between dissimilar metals must be avoided. This 

means sourcing connectors, ground wires and 

rods that are acceptable to the NEC to ground 

the guy cables. 

Not addressed in Article 694 (but on the 

docket for consideration next time) is grounding 

the output of the alternator. Wind system 

alternators are somewhat unique. Unless they 

are a standard AC voltage and frequency, as is 

found in the induction generator of some systems, 

permanent magnet alternators generate 

3-phase wild AC, meaning the AC voltage, current 

and frequency varies continually with the 

wind speed; it is not stable like utility-provided 

AC power. Such systems operate as “floating” 

systems, and the output is ungrounded until 

it reaches the controller or inverter where it is 

converted to utility-grade electricity. While AC 

induction generators must have their neutral 

conductor grounded just as is done with any 

other AC system, permanent-magnet wind AC 

alternators do not have a neutral conductor and 

will not operate if grounded. 

This means that service personnel must be 

cautious when working around permanent magnet 

wild AC wind turbines. It should always be 

assumed that a spinning wind turbine is generating 

electricity, and that a potentially hazardous 

voltage is present on the wind turbine conductors. 

Coming in contact with the wires of any small 

wind turbine can be extremely dangerous. Never 

work on one unless you have personally shut it 

off, verified that the blades are no longer turning, 

and the electrical disconnect has been locked out 

on the utility AC side of the system. ST 

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inside ases | American Solar Energy Society news 

Shaun McGrath Named Executive Director at ASES 

The American Solar Energy Society is pleased to 

announce that Shaun McGrath took over as the 

organization’s executive director on April 1. 

McGrath comes to ASES with more than 25 years 

of public policy experience at the local, state and federal 

levels of government. Most recently, McGrath was deputy 

director of intergovernmental affairs in the Obama 

White House, where he served as the principal liaison 

and point of contact to the nation’s governors. In this 

role, he coordinated with the states on everything from 

the proposed energy bill, development and implementation 

of the Recovery Act and health care reform law, 

to working with states on disaster assistance, including 

coordinating with the Gulf Coast states on the BP oil 

spill. Before joining the Obama administration, McGrath 

was the mayor of Boulder, Colo., and was elected twice 

to the Boulder City Council. McGrath helped to pass 

the city’s Climate Action Plan, including a carbon tax 

on energy; partnered with Xcel Energy to make Boulder 

the first Smart Grid City in the world; and advocated 

multi-modal transportation projects, including bicycle 

policies and programs that led to the American League of 

Cyclists awarding Boulder the Platinum Medal in 2008 

— only the third city to receive the award. 

McGrath also served as program director for the 

Western Governors’ Association, where he lobbied 

get involved: locate an ASES chapter in your community 

Alabama 

Alabama Solar Assoc. 

P: 256.658.5189 

arch42@gmail.com 

al-solar.org 

Contact: A. Morton Archibald Jr. 

Arizona 

Arizona Solar Energy Assoc. 

P: 602.952.8192 

j2envarch@aol.com 

arizonasolarenergy.org 

Contact: Daniel Aiello 

Arkansas New Chapter! 

Arkansas Renewable Energy Assoc. 

P: 877.575.0379 

info@arkansasrenewableenergyassoc.org 

arkansasrenewableenergyassoc.org 

Contact: Frank Kelly 

California 

NorCal Solar Energy Assoc. 

P: 510.705.8813 

solarinfo@norcalsolar.org 

norcalsolar.org 

Contact: Erin Middleton 

*Redwood Empire Solar Living Assoc. 

P: 707.744.2017 

sli@solarliving.org 

solarliving.org 

Contact: Coral Mills 

San Diego Renewable Energy Society 

P: 619.778.7263 

info@sdres.org 

sdres.org 

Contact: Bruce Rogow 

Colorado 

*Colorado Renewable Energy Society 

P: 303.806.5317 

info@cres-energy.org 

cres-energy.org 

Exec. Dir.: Tony Frank 

Connecticut 

*Northeast Sustainable Energy Assoc. 

P: 413.774.6051 

nesea@nesea.org 

nesea.org 

Exec. Dir.: Jennifer Marrapese 

Solar Energy Assoc. of Connecticut 

NESEA Local Chapter 

P: 860.233.5684 

ramank0@yahoo.com 

solarenergyofct.org 

Contact: K. Raman 

Delaware 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


Sustainable Delaware 


P: 302.645.2657 

johnmateyko@verizon.net 

Contact: John Mateyko 

Florida 

Florida Renewable Energy Assoc. 

P: 352.241.4733 

info@cleanenergyflorida.org 

cleanenergyflorida.org 

Contact: Craig Williams 

Georgia 

Georgia Solar Energy Assoc. 

P. 678.810.0929 

joy.kramer@gasolar.org 

gasolar.org 

Contact: Joy Kramer 

Idaho New Chapter! 

Idaho Renewable Energy Assoc. 

P: 208.639.0656 

dustin@idahosolar.org 

idahosolar.org 

Contact: Dustin W. Baker 

Illinois 

Illinois Solar Energy Assoc. 

P: 312.376.8245 

illinoissolar.org 

Contact: Mark Burger 

*Midwest Renewable Energy Assoc. 

P: 715.592.6595 

info@the-mrea.org 

the-mrea.org 

Contact: Doug Stingle 

Indiana New Chapter! 

Indiana Renewable Energy Assoc. 

P: 574.536.9483 

indianarenew@homeandmobileenergy.com 

indianarenew.org 

Contact: Leon Bontrager 

Iowa 


P: 715.592.6595 


the-mrea.org 


Kansas 

Heartland Renewable Energy Society 

P: 816.224.5550 

cwolfe@craigwolfeeco.org 

heartlandrenewable.org 

Contact: Craig Wolfe 

Kentucky 

Kentucky Solar Energy Society 

P: 502.634.1004 

chair@kyses.org 

kyses.org 

Contact: Jeff Auxier 

Louisiana 

Louisiana Solar Energy Society 

P: 225.767.0715 

info@lses.org 

lses.org 

Contact: Jeff Shaw 

Maine 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


Maine Solar Energy Assoc. 


P: 207.497.2204 

sunwatt@juno.com 

mainesolar.org 

Contact: Richard Komp 

Maryland 

Potomac Region Solar Energy Assoc. 

info@prsea.org 

prsea.org 

Contact: Nelson Buck 

Massachusetts 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


Boston Area Solar Energy Assoc. 


P: 617.242.2150 

hkv@solarwave.com 

basea.org 

Contact: Henry K. Vandermark 

KEY 

* = staffed office 

Green = a chapter of the Northeast 

Sustainable Energy Assoc. 

Cape and Islands 

Renewable Energy Collaborative 


P: 774.487.4614 

chrisp@weeinfo.com 

cirenew.org 

Contact: Chris Powicki 

Springfield Area Sustainable Energy Assoc. 


P: 413.734.1456 

sasea@gmail.com 

nesea.org/sasea 

Contact: Mike Kocsmiersky 

Michigan 

*Great Lakes Renewable Energy Assoc. 

P: 517.646.6269 or 800.434.9788 

info@glrea.org 

glrea.org 

Contact: Samantha Keeney 


P: 715.592.6595 


the-mrea.org 


Minnesota 

Minnesota Renewable Energy Society 

P: 612.308.4757 

info@mnrenewables.org 

mnrenewables.org 

Contact: David Boyce 

Mississippi 

Mississippi Solar Energy Society 

sdlewis@megagate.com 

Contact: Steve Lewis 

Missouri 

Heartland Renewable Energy Society 

P: 816.224.5550 

cwolfe@craigwolfeeco.org 

heartlandrenewable.org 

Contact: Craig Wolfe 

Nevada 

Sunrise Sustainable Resources Group 

P: 775.224.1877 

philip_moore@charter.net. 

sunrisenevada.org 

Contact: Philip Moore 

Solar NV 

P: 702.507.0093 

contact@solarnv.org 

solarnv.org 

Contact: Deidre Radford 

New Hampshire 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 



Congress and the administration on behalf of the 19 

western governors of both parties and managed a 

variety of initiatives, including the WGA Water and 

Drought Program, WGA Wildlife Program, Western 

Renewable Energy Zone Project and the WGA Climate 

Adaptation Program. 

McGrath is married to Rebecca Heaton, former editor 

of Rocky Mountain Sports/Competitor magazine from 

2000 to 2011. 

“Shaun McGrath brings to ASES a strong track 

record in bipartisan policy development at the national, 

state and local levels,” said ASES Board Chair Jeff 

Lyng. “He has been a powerful advocate of renewable 

*New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Assoc. 


P: 603.226.4732 (22NHSEA) 

madeline@nhsea.org 

nhsea.org 

Contact: Madeline McElaney 

New Jersey 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


Central Jersey Sustainable Energy Assoc. 


P: 732.695.2578 

nesea.nj@gmail.com 

Contact: Beth Robinson 

New Mexico 

New Mexico Solar Energy Assoc. 

P: 505.246.0400, 888.886.6765 

info@nmsea.org 

nmsea.org 

Contact: Mary McArthur, Ron Herman 

New York 

New York Solar Energy Society New Chapter! 

P: 917.974.4606 

wyldon1@gmail.com 

nyses.org 

Contact: Wyldon Fishman 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


GreenHome NYC 


P: 917.846.2374 

slenard@greenhomenyc.org 

greenhomenyc.org 

Contact: Steven Lenard 

Western New York 

Sustainable Energy Assoc. 


P: 716.881.1639 

jkbozer@aol.com 

Contact: Joan Bozer 

North Carolina 

North Carolina Sustainable Energy Assoc. 

P: 919.832.7601 

officemanager@energync.org 

energync.org 

Exec. Dir.: Ivan Urlaub 

Ohio 

*Green Energy Ohio 

P: 614.985.6131 

geo@greenenergyohio.org 

greenenergyohio.org 

Exec. Dir.: William A. Spratley 


energy in two branches of government and in the city 

of Boulder, which has been a national leader in sustainable 

development. We are delighted that Shaun will lead 

ASES into a new era.” 

“I am thrilled to be able to work with such an 

esteemed organization,” McGrath said. “ASES has been 

advocating for renewable resources for nearly 60 years. 

The reasons for investing in solar and other renewable 

energies are greater now than ever, and I look forward to 

working with the strong and active ASES membership to 

aggressively promote policies and programs that move 

consumers, local governments, states and this nation 

into the new energy economy.” 

Oregon 

*Solar Oregon 

P: 503.231.5662 

hadley@solaroregon.org 

solaroregon.org 

Contact: Hadley Price 

Pennsylvania 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


Philadelphia Solar Energy Assoc. 


P: 610.489.1105 

kira@sunpowerbuilders.com 

Contact: Kira Costanza 

Rhode Island 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


Rhode Island Solar Energy Assoc. 


P: 401.855.1170 

johntaborjacobson@yahoo.com 

Contact: John Jacobson 

South Carolina 

South Carolina Solar Council 

P: 803.737.8030 

emyers@energy.sc.gov 

Contact: Erika Myers 

Tennessee New Chapter! 

Tenneessee Solar Energy Assoc. 

P: 865.974.9218 

jim@tnsolarenergy.org or 

steve@tnsolarenergy.org 

tnsolarenergy.org 

Contact: Jim Hackworth or Steven Levy 

Texas 

*Texas Solar Energy Society 

P: 512.326.3391, 800.465.5049 

info@txses.org 

txses.org 

Exec. Dir.: Natalie Marquis 

Utah 

Utah Solar Energy Assoc. 

P: 801.501.9353 

ofarnsworth@aeesolar.com 

utsolar.org 

Contact: Orrin Farnsworth 

Vermont 


P: 413.774.6051 


nesea.org 


Building For Social Responsibility 


jvansteensburg@bsr-vt.org 

bsr-vt.org 

Exec. Dir.: Jessica Van Steensburg 

Virginia 


P: 866.477.5369 


prsea.org 


Washington State 

Solar Washington Assoc. 

P: 206.246.1200 

info@solarwashington.org 

solarwashington.org 

Contact: Peter Barton 

Washington, D.C. 


P: 866.477.5369 


prsea.org 


Wisconsin 


P: 715.592.6595 


the-mrea.org 


STUDENT CHAPTERS 

Appalachian State University 

Sustainable Energy Society 

P: 828.262.7333 

asuses@gmail.com 

asuses.net 

Contact: Mike Uchal 

NCSU Renewable Energy Society 

P: 919.515.9782 

Solar Education & Outreach, 

The Ohio State University 

P: 614.595.3847 

searles.31@buckeyemail.osu.edu 

seoosu.weebly.com 

Contact: Trace Searles 

University of Florida 

P: 561.827.3608 

ases.uf@gmail.com 

ufases.org 

Contact: Alex Palomino 

University of Mass. Lowell 

Solar Energy Assoc. 

NESEA Local Student Chapter 

P: 978.934.2968 

john_duffy@uml.edu 

energy.caeds.eng.uml.edu 

Contact: John J. Duffy 

divisions 

Divisions Chair: 

David L. Comis 

dcomis@sentech.org 

Clean Energy and Water 

Chair: Nathan Mitten 

mittenater@gmail.com 

Concentrating Solar Power 

Chair: Alison Mason 

alison.mason@skyfuel.com 

Sustainable Transportation 

Chair: Scotte Elliott 

selliott@greentechconsultants.com 

Resource Applications 

Chair: Justin Robinson 

jrobinson@campbellsci.com 

Small Wind 

Co-chairs: Trudy Forsyth 

trudy_forsyth@nrel.gov 

Karin Sinclair 

karin_sinclair@nrel.gov 

Solar Buildings 

Chair: Vikram Sami 

vssami@yahoo.com 

Solar Electric 

Chair: Joseph McCabe 

energyideas@gmail.com 

Solar Thermal 

Chair: Barry Butler 

barry@butlersunsolutions.com 

Sustainability 

Chair: David Panich 

dpanich@pnarch.com 

board committees 

Education 

Chair: Nathalie Osborn 

education@ases.org 

International 

Chair: John Reynolds 

international@ases.org 

Policy 

Chair: David Hill 

policy@ases.org 

member committees 

Membership 

Chair: Allison Gray 

membership@ases.org 

Ethics 

ethics@ases.org 


inside ases | American Solar Energy Society news 

Alex Abdallah Joins SOLAR TODAY 

Alexandria Abdallah joined SOLAR 

TODAY in April as an associate editor. 

Abdallah has interned at Yes! Magazine 

in Seattle, Seventeen in New York and 

Offshore in Houston. A native Texan, 

she graduated cum laude from Baylor 

University in 2010 with a B.A. in journalism. 

We look forward to helping 

Abdallah acclimate to the thin, dry air of Boulder, Colo. 

ASES Trust Fund 

The ASES Trust Fund was established 

in November 1999 to receive 

contributions to an endowment for 

ASES that will provide income for 

ASES educational programs in 

perpetuity. To make a donation, 

visit ases.org/donate. 

$450,000 and higher 

C.E. Bennett Foundation 

$50,000 – $150,000 

Otto and Phoebe Hass Fund at 

The Seattle Foundation $75,000 

$25,000 – $50,000 

Karl W. and Renate Böer $40,000 

Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland $25,000 

$10,000 – $25,000 

Richard Collins $10,000 

Molly O. Ross $10,000 

Elena Hoffrichter Retires at ASES 

We bid fond farewell to Elena Hoffrichter, 

who joined ASES in 1993 as our indefatigable 

bookkeeper. Hoffrichter expects to 

spend more time as a storyteller, dancer, 

writer, embroiderer and gardener, and may 

do some work for a holistic publishing 

company in Boulder. 

Get Listed in the Buyers’ Guide! 

The fourth annual SOLAR TODAY Buyers’ Guide, 

to be published in our annual Get Started 

supplement, will list installers nationwide. 

To be listed, you should be a business or 

professional member of ASES (go to ases. 

org/join to upgrade your membership) 

or register as a featured installer at pros. 

findsolar.com. Do it today! 


Ivan Lab 9/1/08 10:55 AM Page 1 

Böer Domains 

Named for 

Discoverer 

While a professor at the Humboldt 

University in Berlin in the late 1950s, 

Karl Böer, a founder of the American Solar 

Energy Society, discovered the high-field 

domains in cadmium 

sulfide. A few 

months later he 

predicted that similar 

domains must 

occur when the 

mobility decreases 

with the field, and 

published the discovery 

in 1958. 

Karl Böer 

Three years later 

the phenomena 

were measured by the British physicist J.B. 

Gunn. During its Semiconductor Session 

in Dresden in March, the German Physical 

Society honored Böer by naming his discovery 

the Böer Domains, and the corresponding 

effect the Böer-Gunn Effect. 

The Böer-Gunn Effect has major importance 

in industry, both in improved efficiency 

for solar cells and for production of 100-gigahertz 

oscillators for high-speed data transmission 

and multi-channel television. 

Join the 

Revolution! 

Help us create a sustainable 

energy economy. Join ASES 

and get a 

subscription to 

SOLAR TODAY: 

ases.org/join. 

SOLAR WATER HEAT E R • S I N ANT S T HOT WATER CIRC. 

• RADIANT FLOOR ZONE and INJECTION PUMPS 

THE FUTURE IS NOW! 

A DRIVER WITH 

NO MOVING PARTS 

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• FSEC LISTED 

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• M.I. PARTICIPANT 

• SINCE 1975 

BELIEVE IT! 

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AND BRONZE 

RUNS ON LOW-COST 

4 WATT PV PANEL 

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TEL. 561-747-5354 • FAX: 561-746-9760 

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PV Panel Direct DC –OR– 12 Volt Battery –OR– AC-DC Adapter 

Can’t get enough 

SOLAR TODAY 

richard pendleton 

Check out the 

SolarToday.org 

Exclusive we’re 

planning for May: 

Modern 

Communal Solar 

Neighbors in a 

29-home condominium 

cohousing community 

in rural New Hampshire 

pool their resources and 

go solar. 

Visit regularly for more 

web-exclusive features 

and news postings! 

SolarToday.org 



Is Solar Energy 

Right for Me 

It’s Free! 

Learn about how solar works. 

If you are a renewable energy 

professional, visit FindSolar.com 

to enroll your company. 

Sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society 

It’s Quick 

Find solar professionals in 

your own neighborhood. 

It’s Easy 

Find certified professionals 

with renewable resources 

for your specific needs. 

Do the Numbers 

Easy online calculation 

tool to see how solar can 

work for you. 

FindSolar.com 

dates 

May 

2 Boston 

Polymers in Solar and 

Flexible Films Forum 

Society of Plastics Engineers 

Contact Lesley Kyle, 203.740.5452 

4spe.org/conferences/antec-2011 

13-15 Timonium, Md. 

The Solar & Wind Expo 2011 

Contact 410.439.1577 

thesolarandwindexpo.com 

13-17 Various Locations 

Climate Ride NYC-DC 2011 

Contact Geraldine Carter, 406.322.3448 

climateride.org 

17-21 Raleigh, N.C. 

SOLAR 2011, the ASES 

National Solar Conference 

Contact ASES, 303.443.3130 

nationalsolarconference.org 

June 

1-2 San Jose, Calif. 

Smart Grid Technology 

Conference 2011 

SBI Energy 

Contact 201.204.1677 

smartgridupdate.com/ 

smartgridtechnology 

| advertising index 

AEE Solar....................................................27 

A.O. Smith.................................................... 2 

Albasolar....................................................70 

Apollo Gate Operators..........................59 

ASES Giving...............................................76 

ASES Membership.....................72, 77-79 

ASES National Solar Tour......................75 

Astronergy Solar Inc...............................55 

Beijing Sunda...........................................76 

Eltek Valere................................................23 

Enphase Energy.......................................15 

FindSolar.com........................................ 84 

Fronius USA LLC............................... 44–45 

Gear Solar Inc. ..........................................72 

Geoking Solar........................................ 84 

IVAN Labs Inc.............................................83 

ISES Solar World Congress...................72 

IXYS Solar...................................................16 

JAC-Rack.....................................................82 

Jinko Solar.................................................19 

Kipp & Zonen USA..................................85 

PROINSO.....................................................25 

Mitsubishi Electric..................................... 4 

Miyachi Unitek.........................................63 

Progress Energy.......................................73 

6-10 Research Triangle Park, N.C. 

Photovoltaic System 

Installation Training 

UL University 

Contact uluniversity@us.ul.com 

uluniversity.us 

6-10 Munich, Germany 

Intersolar Europe 

Contact +49 761 3881-3700 

intersolar.de 

13-16 Boston 

Clean Technology 2011 

Contact 978.561.1908 

techconnectworld.com/Cleantech2011 

18 Nationwide 

SolarDay 2011 

Contact Addison Huegal, 415.215.4819 

solarday.com 

19-24 Seattle 

IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference 

Contact registration @ieee-pvsc.org 

ieee-pvsc.org/PVSC37/ 

CLICK For solar event listings, 

go to solartoday.org/dates. 

Quick Mount PV.......................................21 

REFU Solar Electronics...........................57 

SMA America......................................... 13 

Schletter.....................................................68 

Schneider Electric...................................71 

Session Solar.............................................67 

SOLAR 2011...............................................61 

SOLAR 2011 Training .....................37, 51 

SOLAR 2012...............................................51 

Solar@Work...............................................74 

Solar Data Systems Inc..........................58 

Solar FlexRack...........................................31 

SOLAR TODAY............................................83 

SolarWorld USA.......................................65 

Solmetric Corp..........................................70 

SOLON Corp..............................................69 

Steca Elektronik.......................................74 

Stiebel Eltron............................................53 

SunEarth Inc..............................................24 

Tianwei New Energy..............................88 

Trina Solar..................................................87 

Unirac............................................................ 7 

Viessmann................................................... 9 

Westinghouse Solar...............................17 


Accurately Monitoring 

the Performance of your 

Solar Energy System 

To maximize the effectiveness of your solar energy system, you need 

to know how it is performing. A Kipp & Zonen pyranometer 

accurately measures the solar radiation available to your system in 

real time. Comparing this with the power generated allows you to 

calculate the efficiency of the system. A drop in efficiency indicates 

the need for cleaning, ageing or a fault, allowing you to schedule 

preventive maintenance and to monitor your return on investment. 

Make that difference and contact Kipp & Zonen for the solutions 

available. 

SALES OFFICE 

Kipp & Zonen USA Inc. 

125 Wilbur Place 

Bohemia NY 11716 

USA 

Rodney Esposito 

T: +1 (0) 631 589 2065 ext. 338 

F: +1 (0) 631 589 2068 

M: +1 (0) 631 786 1 558 

rodney.esposito@kippzonen.com 

www.kippzonen.com

system accomplished 

System Accomplished is a new SOLAR TODAY feature, focusing on unique design or installation problems and how they 

were solved. If you have solved a difficult installation problem, we want to hear about it. Email smasia@solartoday.org. 

Clayton’s Self Storage runs four locations in the Jersey Shore region, catering largely to 

seasonal businesses and second homeowners who need to store equipment for the winter, sheltered from stormy salt air. 

Last year the company contracted with Dynamic Solar (dynamicsolar.com) of Berwyn, Pa., with offices in Mt. Laurel, 

N.J., to put up a 75-kilowatt photovoltaic rooftop system at each location. The arrays were sized to meet roughly 95 

percent of the sites’ electric loads. 

The physical installation was straightforward, using 310 SolarWorld 245-watt modules 

at each site, feeding Fronius IG+ inverters. The local utility company, Atlantic 

Clayton’s Self Storage: 

Multi-Site Project Navigates 

Permitting Hurdles 

City Electric, has a five-person “green power team” that handled grid-tie permits 

for all 10 meters in an efficient manner. Three of the locations got building permits 

and inspection services through their local jurisdictions, Galloway, Hamilton and 

Egg Harbor Townships. Charlie Evans, permitting manager at Dynamic Solar, 

reports that the township permitting processes were easy. “They were a pleasure to 

deal with,” he says. He made one trip to each office to drop off his paperwork, and 

another three weeks later to pick up his permits. 

The fourth location is in Atlantic City, N.J., where the permitting process was more challenging, taking 10 weeks and 

seven visits. “It was more complicated, involving different departments and people,” Evans says. “Everything has to be done 

in person, but we have the expertise and resource to navigate these more complex permitting municipalities.” 

Initial application was made in late August. Dynamic Solar got its Atlantic City permits in mid-November, after putting 

about 100 hours into the process. The system was commissioned in January. — Seth Masia 

Dynamic Solar 

One of four 75-kilowatt installations near Atlantic City. N.J., adjoins a wind farm operating on land owned by the Atlantic County Utilities Authority.

SOLAR TODAY - May 2011 - Innovative Design

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