San Benito climate perfect for solar power
The same mild temperatures that make San Benito an agricultural
haven make it an ideal location for solar home improvements
– though the technology has yet to catch on in San Benito.
San Benito climate perfect for solar power
The same mild temperatures that make San Benito an agricultural haven make it an ideal location for solar home improvements – though the technology has yet to catch on in San Benito.
“Solar panels work best at 70 degrees Fahrenheit,” said Pete Shoemaker, a sales director with Poco Solar Energy, Inc. “On average a climate that has a lot of year-round sun, but doesn’t get too hot, is a good place.”
Shoemaker ventured a guess that San Benito could be the best place in the nation for solar panels to work at their optimum – or maybe in the world.
“San Benito gets a few days of hot weather, but over all it has a mild average temperature,” Shoemaker said. “It has good winter sun and not much cloud coverage.”
Still the county and city planning departments have seen few permit requests to install solar paneling on San Benito rooftops.
“We don’t get a lot of them,” said Carolyn Costa, with the Hollister building department. “I’ve only seen a few – maybe three.”
Solar panel systems require a substantial upfront investment. The size and cost of the system depends on the goal of homeowners. They can install enough panels to zero out their monthly Pacific Gas and Electric Company bill, or they can opt to reduce it. An average system costs $20,000 to $30,000, Shoemaker said, though it varies depending on how much electricity a homeowner is using.
The cost of solar power has remained steady for a dozen years, though the technology has improved with methods that keep homes on the PG&E grid rather than running on battery power.
Power made by the solar panels will lower or erase monthly PG&E bills for owners and eventually the savings will add up to more than the initial investment.
“The typical customer has a payback period of nine to 13 years,” Shoemaker said. “If you have higher utility bills, the savings are greater.”
The estimate of payback time is based on the assumption that electricity costs will continue to go up.
“PG&E costs have been going up six percent a year for the last 30 years,” Shoemaker said. “It is likely the costs will keep going up.”
Ray and Peggy Pierce, local realtors, started using solar panels just a few weeks ago. For them the incentive was less the savings down the road, but doing something good for the environment.
“We have a tree hugger in the family so it’s right in front of us,” Ray Pierce said.
The family had enrolled in a time of use program with PG&E – a program that encourages homeowners to decrease energy consumption during peak hours between noon to 6 p.m. – decades ago. They are proponents of recycling and don’t use pesticides for their grass or gardening needs.
Pierce started researching solar power for the family pool, but soon focused in on panels for the home.
“We ended up prioritizing that the pool wasn’t the first thing we wanted to do,” Pierce said. “We already had a solar cover and we don’t use a lot of gas to heat it.”
Pierce’s sister, who lives near Paso Robles, had had a good experience with her own solar power system.
“She has a battery back up and her bill is $4 a year,” he said.
The Pierces worked with Shoemaker to decide on the best design for their solar panel. Their home south of Hollister has an optimum location with plenty of sun exposure. At first, Pierce hoped to flatten out their monthly $325 PG&E bill.
“I wanted whatever I made to counterbalance that,” Pierce said.
But after some number crunching with Shoemaker, they settled on a system that would lower the family’s monthly bill by $275. With Pierce’s system, his home is still connected to the PG&E grid. Whatever energy the solar panels create goes back to PG&E. The homeowner is charged for the difference between the energy made and the energy used.
Shoemaker explained that to bring the home to a zero-balance PG&E bill, it would take closer to 15 years to reach the pay off of their investment for the Pierce household.
“[Shoemaker] could have taken advantage of me, but it would have taken 10-15 years to get the money back,” Pierce said. “He had a cool spreadsheet and he plugged in the numbers the way I wanted to do it and the way he thought I should do it.”
In the end, Pierce went with Shoemaker’s option. They had 36 panels installed in three days. Poco dealt with all the paperwork for federal tax credits, state rebates and county permits.
In San Benito the planning permits for solar projects vary by city and county. A survey conducted by the Sierra Club in 2005 found that San Juan Bautista had the highest rate at $867 for an average installment.
Hollister charged $650 for the same project and the county planning division charged just $222.
Costa, of the Hollister Building department, explained the permit fees are based on the value of the project. A flat fee for solar panel construction could be in the future, she said.
Pierce paid the lowest fee through San Benito County since his home is in an unincorporated area.
“What’s really fun is watching the wheels spin backward [on our meter],” Pierce said. “It’s kind of fun to run out and see how some stuff in the house is affecting it.”
Melissa Flores can be reached at [email protected].
