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Communities - How Mountain View went solar
June 29, 2007

This is a story of community power at its best. In January, 2007 a Mountain View resident learned that people in the nearby town of Portola Valley had successfully pooled their purchasing power and obtained solar power arrays at bulk rate. 68 participating homes in Portola Valley purchased solar arrays (and installation) at a 25-30% discount.

Inspired by their success, Mountain View resident Bruce Karney decided to form the MV Solar Buyers Group to replicate their approach. The 25-30% discount offered by the vendor (SolarCity) was conditioned upon Mountain View residents buying at least 175 AC kilowatts of photovoltaic (PV) panels. Bruce initially believed this would require 44 homes at 4 kW each to participate.

In February Bruce got the wheels turning by organizing a series of four presentations at the Senior Center, High School, and Community Center. To make information available to more people and to report on the progress of the group he also started a blog and was able to get a substantial amount of free media coverage.

More than 250 people attended the first meeting, and SolarCity immediately began making house calls. At each home, a sales representative reviewed electric bills from the past year, went up the roof to observe solar exposure, and discussed the type of solar system most suitable for a home. Meanwhile Bruce attended green building meetings and spoke with a number of local newspaper to reach out to more people. Even ABC News and Fast Company magazine picked up the story.

The first system was installed in mid-March, and was approved by PG&E in early April. By the end of April, MV Solar Buyers Group had signed up more than 118 homes — nearly triple Bruce’s original projection — accounting for 360 kW. With the homeowners solar energy purchasing group making headlines, some local businesses joined the program as well. By the end of October, when all the installations are complete, more than 2% of Mountain View’s single family homes will have solar PV. The number of homes going solar in 2007 will be about 6 times higher than in 2006.

The residents who have their systems up and running have formed a Yahoo!Group to exchange detailed technical information about their solar systems and compare notes on how much electricity they have saved so far. Geeky? A little bit — after all, this IS the Silicon Valley!

Proud? They are — and they should be!

Based on his and other residents’ experience, Bruce has kindly summaried what a family needs to know before making a decision to purchase solar panels

CindyW at Organicpicks

Copyright 2007 Organicpicks