Hollister company helps clients produce clean energy
Blueline Power is a solar energy company with offices in
Hollister and Marina that is seeing green.
Staff engineer and install solar panel systems, said Ed Bless,
the business director for Blueline.
Hollister company helps clients produce clean energy
Blueline Power is a solar energy company with offices in Hollister and Marina that is seeing green.
Staff engineer and install solar panel systems, said Ed Bless, the business director for Blueline.
“It’s cash flow positive from day one,” Bless said, of installing solar panels.
The monthly loan payment for a solar panel system is usually less expensive than the cost of buying electricity from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company on a monthly basis, Bless said.
While PG&E costs are likely to continue to increase, a loan payment for solar power won’t go up.
The average cost of installation depends on how much of the electrical use the home or business owner wants to offset.
State and federal agencies offer some incentives. State officials pay $1.55 per watt installed, Bless said. On the federal level, homeowners receive a $2,000 tax credit for installing a solar system. For commercial operations there is a 30 percent tax write off on federal taxes.
For commercial customers, a system will pay for itself in about 10 years, Bless said. Residential systems pay for themselves in 14 or 15 years.
Blueline clients have included business owners, farm and ranch owners, homeowners and school districts from all over the South Bay.
“This industry has grown at 40 percent for the last five years,” Bless said. “And this year it will grow at 80 percent. The demand is just going nuts.”
Blueline staff installed solar panels on three buildings at Foster Ranch in San Juan Bautista, two sheds and the residence.
The panels were installed in the last four years, Bless said.
“These systems generate about half of his electricity for the entire ranch,” Bless said.
That is a savings of $24,000 per year, Bless said.
Any excess energy is sold to PG&E.
Blueline staff designed the sheds to take maximum advantage of sunlight between noon and 6 p.m., when the energy grid is weak. PG&E staff pay more for energy that is produced during those hours.
“A solar panel will probably run for about 80 years,” Bless said. “That is what the department of energy is telling us.”
The panels are under warranty for 25 years.
Inverters convert electricity generated by the solar panel to power that can be sold to an energy company. They are covered for 10 years.
“He can plug an electric vehicle into this and for the equivalent of $.70 per gallon, he could run this vehicle,” Bless said, of Foster’s panels. “Anyone could do this.”
San Benito County residents spend $162 million per year on electricity and gas, based on average use.
“It’s all money that we can hold onto and put back into our community,” Bless said. “The money we spend on electricity leaves our community. The money we spend on gasoline leaves our community.”
Blueline staff sell biodiesel to commercial customers, as well.
“We really don’t make much money on it,” Bless said. “We just do it because it’s right.”
Blueline has been in business since 2002.
“I thought, after working for decades in Silicon Valley, that it could be a pretty brutal world,” Bless said.
Every Blueline employee owns stock in the company, Bless said.
“The longer they work for the company, the more they will have,” Bless said.
The desire to create clean energy was his biggest motivation.
“I looked at what is the biggest problem facing the world,” Bless said.
