SDG&E Flex Alerts: How Installing Solar + Battery Storage Can Help

It was a hot summer in San Diego. In the first few weeks of September 2020, San Diego had a few days of record breaking heat, which meant that a lot of San Diegans were blasting their A/C. As a result of this power demand, SDG&E issued flex alerts, which encouraged San Diegans to keep their thermostats higher and to conserve energy however else they could in order to relieve the immense stress on the grid that was occurring during these hot times. Fortunately, San Diegans heeded the call, and as a result there were minimal outages. The events of this Summer have shown that the stability of our electric grid, which many of us San Diegans take for granted, is clearly not as solid as we assume. Many residents are likely wondering how this could happen and what the solution may be. One answer now being suggested in many local news publications is for more homeowners in the area to install solar + battery storage; this can reduce the amount of demand on the grid in times of high heat and thereby stabilize the grid. In this way, every homeowner in San Diego can be part of the solution to grid stability. By installing solar panels and adding battery storage, homeowners can use the sun to power their home during the day and store extra power in their battery for use during the evening hours, when peak demand for power is at an all-time high. In effect, every home with battery storage becomes its own self-sustaining power plant, and during times of strain on the grid, the home will be able to power itself and not put more load on the grid.  Let’s look more closely at how this works so we can better understand how a home with solar + battery storage can power itself and thereby reduce strain on the grid. How Installing Solar + Battery Storage Relieves Strain on the Grid The very simple idea behind installing solar + battery storage to lessen strain on the grid is that the solar panels allow homeowners to meet all of their power needs (plus fill up the battery) from 10am-4pm (or so); then from 4pm-9pm, when the solar production starts to "sunset," the home relies on the battery for power (instead of the grid). Most of the flex alerts take place from 12 noon to 9pm when grid demand is the highest, so solar + battery lowers this demand.The graph above provides a visual example of how home solar production and battery charging can be utilized to offset usage. The purple curve represents the home's usage, or how much it is pulling from the grid. You can see first that in the 12:00am to 6:00am time slot, usage is obviously low, as most people are asleep. Then, in the 6:00am to 4:00pm slot, you can see that usage actually goes down as the Sun rises and provides enough power to offset the current usage, charge the battery (yellow) and earn extra solar credits for use at night, all at once.  In the 4:00pm to 9:00pm slot, you can see that, as usage goes up and solar production goes down, the power that was stored in the battery earlier is discharged and used during the peak power times. This not only saves the homeowner money by using the cheap solar power instead of the expensive On-peak power from the grid, it makes it so they are not pulling from the grid, and therefore putting more stress on it.  Real Life Example of Solar + Battery Use Let’s take a look at a real life example of how solar and battery storage work together to relieve stress on the grid. The graph below is from the solar monitoring of Stellar Solar Co-Founder Michael Powers’ home solar system. Here is a direct explanation from Michael of how his system works:“At midnight on Sept 1st, the battery recharged (light green) so the state of charge was back to 100% (purple line). During the day, there is not much activity on the battery side because the solar is powering the house and selling back to SDGE.  But at 16:00 (4pm), you can see the consumption (blue) is met by the battery discharging that much (red). This continues from 4pm to 9pm and then the battery shuts off (although I could program it to continue discharging until midnight or whenever). The net result (see below) is that on that Sept. 1, I was selling power back to SDGE during the day (below the line) and then from 4pm to 9pm, my net purchases from SDGE (above the line) were zero. After 9pm, the battery stopped discharging and so my SDGE purchases came back:”In this chart above, you can see that on September 1, Michael’s usage of power from the grid was limited to 9:00pm to 9:00am in the morning. That means that he was pulling power only when most households were starting to use less, so it not only decreases his home’s demand but shifts it until later, after the peak. So not only does Michael save money by not using power in the On-peak, more expensive time period, but he also is making it so he doesn’t pull power from the grid in that time. It’s a win-win situation for both the individual homeowner and the community. Solar and Battery Incentives Luckily for homeowners considering solar + battery storage, there are government incentives out there that make them more affordable now than ever. These incentives combined with the fact that electricity rates will only continue to go up, and we are undoubtedly going to have more fires and blackouts in the future, and there has never been a better time to install solar + battery storage than now. Let’s take a look at these incentives to see how homeowners can take advantage of the best deal possible. The Federal Solar Tax Credit The main government incentive for installing solar is the Solar Investment Tax Credit, a federal tax credit will pay for 26% of your solar installation. The Federal Solar Tax Credit has been around for many years, but started phasing out last year from its original level at 30%. It phased out by 4% to 26% this year, and will phase out another 4% next year to 22%, until it will completely go away for residential installations starting in 2022. It will remain at 10% for commercial installations indefinitely.  So if you’re looking to install solar, the next two years are the last that you will be able to receive a substantial tax credit. Considering that the average solar installation is around $20,000, that means that you could save around $5,000 if you go solar this year. With numbers like that, it’s no wonder the Solar ITC has been extremely successful promoting solar deployment nationwide since its inception. Self Generation Incentive Program The Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) is the main incentive for installing battery storage in the United States. Started by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), the SGIP program provides financial incentives to support the implementation of distributed energy storage systems. Technologies that qualify for SGIP incentives include wind  pressure reduction turbines, microturbines, waste heat to power technologies, internal combustion engines, gas turbines, fuel cells, and battery storage systems. In SDG&E territory, thousands of homeowners have already taken advantage of the SGIP program. $1,316,400 in incentives have already been distributed in the territory, and much, much more is already allocated. Incentive rates change based on how much of the funds are allocated, but as they stand right now, homeowners can get up to $0.25/Wh for installing small residential energy storage. That amounts to a few thousand dollars homeowners can save if they take advantage of the SGIP incentives. If you’re a homeowner in San Diego and you haven’t considered installing solar + battery storage, you can now see that there are benefits to both yourself and your community that are undeniable. The savings on Time of Use rates, the incentives, the solar savings themselves, and the benefit to the grid are all really good reasons to consider installing solar + battery storage this year, in 2020 in particular. If you’d like to get a quote on installing solar + battery storage, contact us today and we will put you in touch with one of our energy consultants.

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altE’s Acquisition of Real Goods: 1 Year Later

It’s now been a full year since altE acquired Real Goods, the California-based purveyor of solar and off-grid living supplies – and what a year it’s been! 2020 has thrown a lot at us all, and the challenge of integrating...
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Solar Roof Tiles in San Diego: Should You Install?

Solar roof tiles have been in the news on and off for the last four years, and for good reason. Imagine: all the benefits of a solar panel installation, but without roof penetration and with maximum aesthetic appeal. You’d think with those benefits, solar roof tiles would have completely replaced solar panels at this point. Contrary to what you’d think, solar roof tiles have not really caught on, and it’s hard to find someone to install them even if you want them. Since San Diego was recently rated #2 for solar in the US, you would expect that we would be some of the first in the country to see this technology hit, but there’s little to no evidence that has happened. So what has become of solar roof tile technology? Let’s look at the truth behind solar roof tiles, and explore why they have yet to take off in San Diego. Solar Roof Tiles vs. Solar Shingles First, we need to clear up a common misunderstanding when it comes to solar roof tiles. Often, consumers confuse the terms “solar roof tiles” and “solar shingles.” The main difference between the two is that solar roof tiles are rigid, while solar shingles are flexible. Both products are considered "building-integrated solar" which means, as it sounds, that the solar product and the roofing product have been combined into a single system which is integrated into the building (BIPV). The real advantage of this type of product is seen when it is incorporated into new home construction so the home builder can install it when building the house.  This would be especially attractive to help meet state mandates for solar homes, for example, where builders have to make sure all their new homes have solar panels installed. Perhaps it's stating the obvious here but if you can use one product to both 1) cover the roof and 2) produce solar electricity, that will save money during construction. However, once a home is completed and already has a roof, it doesn't make nearly as much sense economically to remove the old roof and put in a new one using building-integrated solar roof materials because you've spent money on TWO ROOFS instead of just one. This History of Building-Integrated Solar Despite the lack of awareness in the mainstream, the first BIPV systems were actually available in 2005 in the form of flexible solar shingles sold under the brand name “Uni-Solar.” Unfortunately, at the time, BIPV solar was much than traditional solar panels, so didn’t really catch on. Unless the homeowner was re-shingling their home, it wasn’t worth the extra cost. They were also plagued by producing much less solar energy per square foot due to their chemical composition (amorphous silicon vs. crystalline silicon). A later version of BIPV solar became commercially available when DOW Chemical, a subsidiary of Dow Inc., the largest chemical manufacturer in the world, came out with a solar shingle system called Powerhouse in October 2011 which utilized solar cells not made from silicon but rather “CIGS” (layers of copper, indium, gallium and selenide). Although they were more efficient than amorphous silicon and consistently coming down in price, a full rooftop of the tiles, or a cluster of 350, were only able to offset 40-60% of the average home’s power demand, but were around the same price as a full solar system that could offset 100% of the home’s needs. A few other companies began manufacturing rigid solar roof tiles in the years following the Powerhouse, including Tesla in 2016. Despite the availability of the tiles, and the hype surrounding them, they have yet to catch on for several reasons. Let’s take a look at the technology as it exists now, to see how they work and why they haven’t caught on. How Solar Roof Tiles Work  Solar roof tiles are essentially just miniature solar panels - they capture sunlight and turn it into electricity. They are typically larger than a normal roof tile, but are able to be easily integrated into a normal roof. They usually have a purplish, blue or black color, and therefore fit the look and style of most asphalt shingle roofs, which is why so many homeowners are excited about the solar roof tiles. As far as the solar technology goes in the roof tiles, techniques have changed over the years. In the early years, some manufacturers were using solar thin-film technology, which differs from monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon solar cells that typical solar panels use. Now, most mainstream manufacturers have switched to the standard silicon solar cells, including RGS Energy, CertainTeed, and SunTegra.  As far as installation goes, solar roof tiles have to be installed during a re-roof. Different models of solar roof tiles are mounted differently, but some can be installed directly on roof felt. Some models are actually easier to install than traditional solar panels, but in general, the installation is more difficult and expensive than a typical solar installation.The Pitfalls of Solar Roof Tiles So here again, we have to ask, why haven’t solar roof tiles caught on? If they’ve been around for 15 years, and so many companies have been manufacturing them, why haven’t they completely replaced solar panels?  That’s because the technology doesn’t work too well. Based on their construction, they consistently have issues with efficiency, durability, and installation that makes creating a viable business installing them difficult. Let’s take a look at these factors, and why they have held back solar roof tiles. Efficiency A solar panels’ efficiency is defined by its ability to convert sunlight into usable electricity. Historically, as they have been tried for many years, solar roof tiles have delivered worse efficiency than conventional solar panels.  The lower efficiency of the solar roof tiles is due to heat buildup. When solar panels are mounted several inches above the roof, this allows for ventilation as air moves under the solar panels and keeps them cooler. When that's removed and the solar material is installed flush onto the roof, heat tends to build up which in turn causes the resistance of the wiring in the solar panels to increase, reducing the amount of power that can flow through them, sometimes by as much as 20 percent. Clearly this changes the economics of the installation as it would then take 20% more solar material to produce the same amount of electricity on a sunny day. As a result of this lack of efficiency, solar roof tiles require the homeowner to pay more for a less efficient product. Additionally, with the solar roof tiles you have to pay for a re roof as well, which makes the entire installation more expensive. Durability One of the main reasons solar roof tiles have yet to really catch on is that the companies that manufacture them have had issues with their durability and therefore, warranty. One of the reasons the solar roof tiles don’t hold up as well as traditional solar panels is that they are more likely to be damaged from heat than solar panels. That’s because, since they lay against the roof and there is not space under them for ventilation, they get much hotter under the Sun. This heat wears away at their efficiency much quicker than a traditional solar panel. Installation The installation of solar roof tiles has perhaps been the biggest setback in their ability to be mainstreamed. The installations are highly labor intensive, and can only be done with a reroof. So for homeowners who don’t need a reroof, the immense cost that is incurred to fully re roof can be a setback.  The length of installation is also an issue. Electrek previously reported that the average solar roof tile installation was taking up to two weeks, although that was over a year ago. Due to the fact that every installation of solar roof tiles requires a full reroof, this keeps the installation longer than a typical solar installation. Supposedly, companies like Tesla that are serious about making solar roof tile installation a viable business have dedicated a lot of their energy to making installation of solar roof tiles easier and take less time. So we should see installation times, and therefore costs, decrease over time. Cost For the reasons we have already mentioned, solar roof tile installation is typically more expensive than solar panel installation. By the sheer fact that a reroof is required to install solar roof tiles, the cost is at minimum the cost of a reroof + the installation of the roof tiles themselves.  The national average cost for a reroof is between $5,250 and $10,000 to start. So add the cost of the tiles and labor on top of that, and you can see that the costs can seriously add up. Tesla recently stated that the cost of installing solar roof tiles will be around  $34,000 after incentives for an average home. So that price tag alone is enough to keep homeowners from taking the solar roof tile leap. Solar Roof Tiles in San Diego If you’re looking to get solar roof tiles installed in San Diego, you may have trouble finding a way to actually find someone to do it. If you do some Googling it’s hard to find a solar contractor that will actually install a solar roof. There’s a lot of results for getting a new roof + solar at the same time, but nothing explicitly for a solar roof. You can, of course, place your order with Tesla, but it’s somewhat unclear as to when it will be installed. Why You Should Install Solar Panels Now Instead of waiting for solar roof tile technology, installation and costs to improve, if you’re a homeowner in San Diego, you should strongly consider installing solar panels instead, and soon. That’s because, due to the 26% Federal Tax Credit being around until the rest of the year, there’s never been a cheaper time to install solar. Plus, the longer you wait for solar roof tiles to improve, the longer you will be paying SDG&E for power, when you could be putting that money towards owning your solar system.  So, if you haven’t already gathered, the conclusion here is that, while solar roof tile technology is improving and may one day be a viable alternative to solar panels, right now as it stands, it’s best for most homeowners to install solar panels instead. If you are an aesthetics obsessed homeowner who needs a new roof, and are also looking into solar, you may want to make the leap for solar roof tiles. But for the average homeowner in San Diego, just going with a classic solar panel installation is the better call at this point.  

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