Solar Electric Financing - Lower rate, longer term available

Bank of Hawaii is offering lower rate & longer term for Solar Financing

Your average annual rate of return on investment with Solar Electric (PV) is usually 20% to 26%.   If you can borrow money at 1.5%, and make over 20%, isn't that a no-brainer?

PV Project Photos

We like to do not just good looking installations, but also strong, and well engineered on the structural and electrical sides. Built for lower power loss and ease of future expansion.

Hard roofs, like Japanese Tile, and Monier / Concrete are no problem.

Solar HOT WATER System Donation -- FREE!

We are gearing up to do a Charity 501 (c) (3) HOT WATER Solar Donation.     This is not Photovoltaic (solar electric).

We like to do $6,000 to $12,000 in charitable contributions per year, thus giving back to the community.

In 2009 we donated a full-on (3) Panel Hot Water Solar system for a family in Waimanalo, through Habitat for Humanity

We want to do one or two Hot Water Solar donations in 2011, we now have (4) refurbished panels so we can do 2 systems.

We are looking for a legitimate Charitable Organization -- 501 (c) (3)
We did a similar post in the early part of the year and got alot of interested parties, we are keeping all those in mind, and still have that list.   If you sent in an "application" back then, feel free to send in another application now. 



The facility must have an existing hot water heater, preferably electric, and must have significant demands for hot water usage in order to make these really worth it!

Most of the parts will be refurbished from  used components. Oftentimes, when we take a system down, there are some fairly new parts, and maybe just the tank is bad, but the panels are great.  There is also a controller, pump, timeclock, valves, and a temperature mixing valve for safety.


The savings from a simple  Hot water solar system can be in the range of $48,000 to $74,000 over the life of the system, so we think this is an awesome gift for someone who can't afford it. Non-profit organizations also cannot use the tax credits, so in order to do a solar they would have to pay "Full List Price". 

So this is the perfect way to help out a non-profit charitable organization who has hot water usage.  Depending on the success of this program I may also try to enlist them help of some other friendly solar companies and get them to save their refurbished part and Pitch In!

If you know the organization that has a need for free hot water, please let us know.

Drop a comment on the blog with name and contact information for the prospective recipient, and a brief decription.

Installation of the system will likely be in the June/Aug time frame.

Mahalo!

Steveo

HECO bill from PV customer

PV Based Emergency Power Backup

There is “backup up power” using batteries and PV.   The brand name is the Outback System.  

I am putting one in my house as soon as things slow down a little

Your underhouse area should be fine for the equipment and the batteries.  You want to be weathertight, and also have the ability to secure.   I would definitely put a good lock on that door after the Outback goes in.

Good part is, that if HECO goes down, you won’t even notice a blip at all, and you will just have power.    You have to pick which circuits are your emergency circuits

1.      Refrigerator

2.      Microwave

3.      Some lights to allow bathroom, kitchen use, and travel from bedroom areas

4.      Some receptacles for Phone, Modem, Router

5.      Computer

6.      Security system

7.      Exterior lighting for security/motion lights

8.      Lights at the Outback, along with a few receptacles nearby in case you have to do some work on things.

Usually we try to keep that to 6 circuits, because you don’t want to put too much on it, and end up draining your batteries when you don’t want to, say if the power goes off and you are not home.

Typical is 8 batteries, too produce around 10kWH of storage.   

Cost around $10,000, but as part of PV system, you can get tax credits, resulting in around $3,500 which is not bad.

Compare that to a  Honda generator, $2100, accessories $200, electrical transfer switch $800, electrician to hook it up say $1000, and you are looking at $4100, plus you need to buy and keep gas on hand, and rotate your supply of gas every so often so it doesn’t go bad. 

You can add batteries, to double your storage, at any time in the future.   The batteries should last around 10 years under emergency use.

Be glad to quote this one, I like them.    Takes me about 3 hours to quote one though, because all the control and switching components are pretty complex. 

Also there are ramifications on the number of inverters and the related tie-in to the building electrical system, and thus the tax credits.    These are issues that can readily be dealt with, just be aware that they are there.