Space Industry and Business News  
SolarCity Community Solar Program Draws 500 installs, 2 MW Of Electricity

-
By Staff Writers
Foster City (SPX) Sept 25, 2007
SolarCity announced that the company's customers have adopted two megawatts of solar electricity in the past 10 months through SolarCity's unique Community Solar Programs. These purchases have come from more than 500 families in 19 cities and towns. In less than a year, SolarCity has sold two megawatts of power through communities across California, including: Portola Valley, Woodside, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Monica and Menlo Park. An additional seven programs are running in Rocklin/Loomis, Malibu, Beverlywood, Stanford, Berkeley/Rockridge, Los Altos/Los Altos Hills, and Clovis.

SolarCity's community solar program is a revolutionary approach to creating financial incentives for neighborhoods that go solar as a group. Through economies of scale and the efficiencies realized in centralizing equipment and employees, SolarCity has proven it can offer discounts of 20 to 30 percent below the market price of solar systems, and complete installations quickly, if communities meet program goals.

The Mountain View community solar program, originally targeting 175kW of solar power, catalyzed the adoption of more than 353kW between February and April 2007 with more than 100 participating households. Including systems purchased from SolarCity since April 30, Mountain View residents have bought 500kW of solar systems. This has increased the city's installed base of solar PV by 150%.

Once installed, SolarCity's proprietary SolarGuard monitoring system will allow residents to track their individual and community energy production, and compare to other participating cities and towns, while allowing SolarCity a means to assure long-term system performance. Already, nearly all the Mountain View systems sold during the community program are now online. In Portola Valley, where SolarCity began the community solar program and sold 78 systems, most are operational as well.

"Community programs are an effective way to enable a community to spread the adoption of solar and make a significant impact," said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. "SolarCity will continue this successful model in other neighborhoods with even more ambitious goals. Every individual in every one of these communities can take pride in the difference their contribution is making as part of something big."

The two megawatts of total solar power purchased by community program members is equal to planting 128 acres of trees and will save the group substantially on energy bills over the 30-year lives of the systems.

Related Links
All About Solar Energy at SolarDaily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Alamosa Solar Facility Begins Generating Energy
Alamosa, CO (SPX) Sept 25, 2007
SunEdison has announced that the Alamosa Photovoltaic Solar Plant in Alamosa, Colo., began generating 44 percent of its capacity, about 3.6 megawatts (MW) direct current (DC) on August 31, 2007 for Xcel Energy. The first phase of the project broke ground in April 2007. When completed by December 31, 2007, the Alamosa Photovoltaic Solar Plant, one of the largest photovoltaic installations in the U.S., will have an immediate and measurable impact on the environment and energy production.







  • US cities' Wi-Fi dreams fading fast
  • Digital Dandelions: The Flowering Of Network Research
  • Researchers Aim To Make Internet Bandwidth A Global Currency
  • Controlling Bandwidth In The Clouds

  • Pratt And Whitney Rocketdyne's RS-27A Powers New-Gen Imaging Satellite To Orbit
  • United Launch Alliance Launches 75th Consecutive Delta II On USAF 60th Anniversary
  • Russian Space Launch Vehicle Firing Tests Set For 2008
  • Arianespace To Launch Japanese Satellite JCSAT-12

  • Aircraft And Automobiles Thrive In Hurricane-Force Winds At Lockheed Martin
  • New Delft Material Concept For Aircraft Wings Could Save Billions
  • Cathay Pacific chief hits out at anti-aviation critics
  • Squabble over airline carbon emissions takes flight

  • China's military tests sophisticated real-time data system
  • ThalesRaytheonSystems To Provide Upgrade For Battle Control System
  • Northrop Grumman Receives Major Contract For Guardrail Modernization
  • Boeing Demonstrates FAB-T Interoperability With Milstar Satellite

  • Foton-M3 Experiments Return To Earth
  • Radio Wave Cooling Offers New Twist On Laser Cooling
  • SSC Communication System Flys On Russian Capsule Foton
  • Engineers Rescue Aging Satellites And Save Millions

  • Analysis: Sulick new head spy for CIA
  • Raytheon Names Dr. Thomas Kennedy VP Tactical Airborne Systems
  • Northrop Grumman Appoints James Myers VP And GM Of Navigation Systems Division
  • Senior Official Of Energia Space Appointed President

  • Boeing Launches WorldView-1 Earth-Imaging Satellite
  • New Faraway Sensors Warn Of Emerging Hurricane's Strength
  • Key Sensor For Northrop Grumman NPOESS Program Passes Critical Structural Test
  • Air France And ESA Join To Offer Passengers Unique View Of Voyage

  • EU plans for funding Galileo satnav system already hitting snags
  • Galileo GPS Network Hit By More Delays
  • Brussels to present finance plans to save Galileo satnav project
  • DoD Permanently Discontinues Procurement Of Global Positioning System Selective Availability

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement