Greentech Media Whitepaper: “Solar Beats the Grid, But…”

Rate design is becoming increasingly important.  With some solar incentives and tax credits (ITC) coming to an end in the near future, solar-friendly utility tariffs (or rate schedules) are key to the economic viability of solar.  Genability recently helped Greentech Media with a new whitepaper titled “Rate Design Matters: The Impact of Tariff Structure on Solar Project Economics“.

The complimentary report examines the cost competitiveness of solar in a post-subsidy world and the importance that tariff design plays. The paper analyzes commercial scale solar in Southern California and concludes that solar energy can provide a discount over utility rates with and without incentives, but depends heavily on the presence of solar-friendly utility tariffs (Figure 2.7 and below). These are typically tariffs with low demand charges and high daytime energy prices.

You can download a free copy of this short report (10 pages), here.

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Greenstart’s In-House Design Studio

Earlier this year Genability partnered with Greenstart to add their design expertise to our brand development.  We’re extremely excited with the stuff they’ve developed so far and we think you will be too.  Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see it!

Last month, Greenstart announced that they ditched the accelerator model and moved to a full VC firm model focused on design management and branding.   Their expertise in product UX and brand management is what made them an ideal partner for Genability.  We searched high and low for a design firm that understood superior product user experiences and also knew the ins-and-outs of energy cost savings.  Needless to say, Greenstart was the right partner for the task and we can’t wait to share the new offerings with the rest of you. Stay tuned!

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Genability Presents at ASES Solar2013

This week in Baltimore, America’s longest running solar conference begins!  In its 42nd year, the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) presents SOLAR2013.  Why is this year different from the previous 41 you ask?

Well, this will be Genability’s first time making a presence.  On Wednesday afternoon, Genability’s Eric Danziger will be presenting on an NREL sponsored panel titled “New Software Tools to Reduce PV Installer Soft Costs”.

Eric will be discussing Genability’s current Solar Savings solutions, as well as a sneak peek at some new Genability products.  Also presenting are two other SunShot companies, EnergySage and Simuwattas well as the National Fire Protection Agency.

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Rate Coverage & The Long Tail

When we first started collecting electricity rates we went after the utilities and states with the most customers (California, New York, Florida, etc.).  To date, Genability has collected electricity rates that represent 88% of Residential customers and 86% of Commercial customers in the U.S.    Chances are if you’re looking for a utility rate for your customer, we have it.

And once we start collecting tariffs for a particular utility,  we capture all of their available tariffs.  This ensures that when you request tariff for a location or utility, you see all the available choices.  Once coverage for a utility is initiated, we continuously monitor the tariff rates for rate changes and tariff revisions.

Beyond prioritizing the largest utilities, Genability has made a special effort in both solar friendly states (we cover 100% of California, 98% of New Jersey).  We also have 100% coverage of utilities that offer competitive electric supply in deregulated markets.

What about the long tail?  We are constantly working on the long list of munis and coops that serve the less populated parts of the U.S.  We work with our customers with data coverage service level agreements (SLAs) or anticipated rollouts to ensure that they have all the tariffs they need at launch.  If you need a specific utility’s tariffs and we don’t have a data coverage SLA, we can get a utility’s tariffs entered as a Managed Service request.

Genability has captured complete rate data for over 300 utilities in the U.S., covering nearly 90% of electric customers.  We are adding more and more everyday, so if you didn’t find the utility you looked for last time you logged into Explorer check us again.  And if you have a request, send it our way (support@genability.com) and we’ll let you know when it becomes available.

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Update on our Value of Solar March Madness Bracket

In case you haven’t been following our bracket, Genability put together a March Madness bracket based solely on the school’s Solar Avoided Cost figure.  Using our Value of Solar tools, we calculated the Avoided Cost of Power for each school’s location and used that number to determine each matchup winner.

It was a bit of a long shot, but we had #15 Iona College of NY upsetting UCLA in the final game with an Avoided Cost of Power of 19.62 cents versus 15.58 cents. On the “bright” side, we did select one of the Elite 8 Winners.  Thanks to Michigan with an Avoided Cost of Power of 13.48 cents, the Solar gods didn’t lead us totally astray.

You can see the status of our bracket below.  Luckily we didn’t have any money on this!

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Using Value of Solar to Pick the NCAA Winner

Never before has a 15 seed won the NCAA tournament but if you trust the solar gods (and we do), this year is the year!

Some people fill out their March Madness brackets based on mascots, others use team colors.  At Genability, we’ve picked each game based on the highest Solar Avoided Cost, or the amount of energy that you avoid buying from the electric utility because it’s provided by your solar system.  Using our Value of Solar tools, including Likely Tariff and baseline profiles, we’ve calculated the Avoided Cost of Power for each school and used that figure in determining the winners.  You can see our full bracket below.

If we leave it to the powers of solar, this year’s NCAA champion will be 15 seed Iona College of New Rochelle, New York with an Avoided Cost of Power of 19.62 cents.  It was a nail bitter with Iona upsetting UCLA in the final game at 19.62 cents versus 15.58 cents.

Stay tuned and we’ll let you know how our solar bracket matches up.

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Value of Solar in the U.S. Virgin Islands

The U.S. Virgin Islands is a great place to vacation. What’s not so great are the island’s electricity rates.  Rates in this popular vacation spot are among the highest in the U.S.  The Islands rely primarily on imported fossil fuels to power their energy needs and given their remote location this sometimes leads to shortages and therefore blackouts.  With the energy grid often stretched, high fossil fuel costs and increased reliability concerns, there’s greater appeal and demand for distributed generation.

One thing the Islands have no shortage of is sunlight!

Genability recently analyzed the tariffs belonging to the local island’s utility, Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, and found that the solar avoided costs approached over 50 cents per kWh.  In the rest of the U.S., opportunities present themselves when rates are around 15-20 cents per kWh.  As rates continue to rise and solar prices continue to decrease, expect to see more solar panels when you’re sipping your Mai Tai on your next Caribbean vacation.

 

 

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The San Francisco Bay Bridge Goes LED

1.8 miles long, 500 feet high and 25,000 individually programmed lights.

The San Francisco Bay Bridge has become the world’s largest LED light sculpture.  The Bay Lights Project will shine every night for the next two years.

The cost to keep the lights on?  About $15 a night or $11,000 for the full two years.  That’s not too bad.  With traditional incandescents lights, the approximate electricity cost would be about 5x that at $75 per night.

 

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70% of Homes are on Variable Rate Plans

It may surprise many of you to know that over 70% of all homes in the U.S. are on some kind of variable electricity rate plan.  For the vast majority of homes, the rate they pay for electricity changes based how much they use (tiered rates) and /or when they use it (time-of-use rates).  Understanding these rate plans, complex structures and energy cost savings is what we at Genability do best.  We quantify this variability for our customers to allow them to identify opportunities for load management, demand response, energy efficiency / management and renewable energy technologies.

Genability Assists Parks with Energy Cost Savings Data

Genability recently worked with Parks Associates to identify these and other related statistics for their new report on “Business Models for Energy Services”.  The report takes an in-depth look at energy consumption behavior, efficiency programs, demand response / energy management programs, and home automation devices for the residential user. And more importantly, with our help they looked at the cost and savings implications of these.

Significant Opportunities Ahead in Home Energy Management

The study included a survey of residential homeowners and their view on home energy management and connected appliances.  According to the report, over 30% of homeowners never look at their daily electricity usage patterns and less than 4% are enrolled in any type of energy management program.  As connected appliances enter the home, these trends are starting to change.  According to utilities, the major barrier to growing the residential energy management space is that programs previously lacked a compelling economic value proposition.  Genability is at the center of this.  By providing home energy management providers with the data and tools to uncover hidden energy purchase value, homes are able to understand the pricing variability and the cost savings opportunities.

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