UPDATE: PG&E To Buy Wind Farm From Iberdrola Renovables

UPDATE: PG&E To Buy Wind Farm From Iberdrola Renovables 

Wow! These guys sure know how to make money! When faced with a mandate to buy 20% of their raw power from renewable sources they do the smart thing, raise their rates so the consumer bears the 900 million dollar cost and demand a 100% guarantee on "their" investment!


From the Wall Street Journal article: "......PG&E has proposed collecting the cost of the wind farm from customers through a 1.1% rate increase that would start in 2012. PG&E would also likely receive a guaranteed return on the investment."

Irvine Unified School District Approves Expansive Solar Project

SPG Solar and SunEdison selected to deploy the Nation's most comprehensive solar project in Education

By Tina Barni

Irvine, Calif. – December 9, 2009

Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) announced its approval to partner with SPG Solar and SunEdison to roll out the most comprehensive use of solar energy for a school district in the nation. The project will include installing solar energy systems on 21 of its facilities, including schools and administrative buildings. The solar program, which will be implemented throughout 2010, is expected to generate 6.6 million kilowatt-hours of clean renewable energy per year and save the district more than $17 million over 20 years.

Smart meters not so smart?

Many residential customers in the PG&E service area are reporting large jumps in their electricity bill after new "Smart Meters" were installed, the problem is they didn't increase their usage! Here are a couple of interesting links:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13801866

http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/682-lawsuit-filed-against-pgae-for-smart-meter-overcharges.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/12/smart_grid_security_risks/

The three best reasons not to go solar..........

1. "I just can't afford to spend any money right now"
   
   Unless you are planning to disconnect from the grid, you will be paying someone for electricity. Why not invest your money rather than give it away to a monopoly?
   
   Investment returns on residential solar are typically in the 15-20% range, is there anything in your investment portfolio doing that well?
   
   
2. "I'm waiting for the prices to come down"
   
   The rebates for solar are declining as they are used, waiting actually means a possible increase in cost. Besides, when you weigh the monthly savings you could enjoy now, and the 10-15% annual increase in rates we consistently see, you'll save more between now and "later", many times over.
   
   
3. "We are not sure how long we will stay in this house"
   
   Discussions with Real Estate Agents tell us homes with solar are much easier to sell and fetch a higher price. It only makes sense. If you were looking at two identical homes, and one had solar, wouldn't you buy the one with the $50 per year utility bill over the one with a $2,500.00 a year bill?
   
   The appraiser's rule of thumb is for every dollar saved annually you can expect to receive $20 in increased home value. In the above example, your home would increase in value by $49,000.00 after an investment of $18-20,000.00. What else can you do to your home which gets that kind of return?

This site is really cool....

Our tax dollars have actually done something useful......ok, ok. No politics today.

If you haven't already seen it, I urge you to check out OpenPV.com. Created by the NREL, a national laboratory of the U.S. Dept of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy.

OpenPV seeks to collect data on PV install across the U.S. The data is easily accessed through really neat interfaces and can drill down to national, state and county levels by average cost per watt installed, number of installs and total capacity. Registration was a breeze and they don't ask for your life history.

I haven't tried it yet, but you are able to contribute data through their interface, singles and multiples are an option.