Sunetric’s Role

Sunetric was the electrical sub-contractor for Lend Lease, who managed the 5.0 Megawatt solar farm project for SunPower, the world’s premiere solar panel manufacturer. Sunetric was responsible for managing an electrical team of local union electricians managed by our preferred electrical sub-contractor on utility scale projects, Dahl Electric.

Sunetric was also in charge of over a mile of trenching with our subcontractor Delta Construction’s humongous 450 excavators to bust through the hard-baked red earth of Kalaeloa. In addition to facilitating a 20-man electrical team that pulled over 10 miles of wire, Sunetric’s A-team of installers went the extra mile to install 18,192 SunPower SPR-327 PV panels at the busiest time of year for the solar industry—the always-hectic fourth quarter.

Record-Breaking Panel Installation Numbers

Sunetric’s install crews were pulling 70+ hour weeks over the holidays to completely smash mainland numbers for panels installed per day (let alone per week!) on similar systems. The record mainland pace of 450 panels/day was approached in week 6 as we picked up momentum and then absolutely obliterated in week 10 as we worked through Thanksgiving at a blistering 1000+ panels per day.

Fully Operational

Sunetric delivered SunPower a fully operational PV system one day ahead of our deadline, and final permits were all closed expeditiously through Sunetric’s diligence and the quality work of the Dahl/Sunetric team. Through the timely cooperation of the SunPower engineering, Lend Lease management, and Sunetric construction teams the largest solar farm on Oahu was operational on New Year’s Eve 2012.

SunPower Corp.,, who designed and built the project, was wonderful to work with, and our ongoing relationship is an enjoyable and powerful one.

Praise from SunPower

Sunetric finished on time, on budget, and at an unprecedented level of execution, as validated by the senior quality control inspector for SunPower:

KS2 Quality Report from Patrick Sheehan, Sr. Field Quality Auditor of SunPower North America:
“Field Quality would like to recognize the efforts of the KS2 project team and more specifically the execution of the T0 product installation. The wire management under the arrays was challenging, but the Sunetric site team found a method that deserves recognition, which has resulted in arguably one of the best installations of the T0 product we have seen! Thank you Sunetric team for making KS2 a world class installation and one of the safest sites in the country!”

The SunPower Setup

At the 36-acre site, high-efficiency SunPower solar panels were installed on a SunPower® T0 Tracker system. The T0 Tracker system positions solar panels to follow the sun’s movement during the day, resulting in up to 25 percent more sunlight capture over conventional fixed-tilt systems.

“Solar power in Hawaii is cost-competitive with other electricity sources,” said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. “This project will generate power economically for Hawaiian Electric’s customers every year for the next 20 years. With more than one gigawatt of SunPower solar power plants operating worldwide, our high-efficiency, highly reliable Maxeon solar cell technology will ensure the guaranteed performance of the Kalaeloa Solar Farm.”

The Plan

In November 2012, The Kalaeloa Solar Farm was acquired by an affiliate of D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C. (DESRI) in partnership with Bright Plain Renewable Energy, L.L.C (BPRE).

According to CEO of BPRE David Buzby, “Solar is a valuable source of power and attractive investment opportunity, particularly in Hawaii, as it cleanly and reliably serves our growing energy demand without imported fossil fuels, while providing a predictable, low risk return to investors over a long period of time.” He continued to say, “We’re confident that, with SunPower’s leading solar power plant technology, this project will benefit the residents of Oahu for years to come.”

Governor Abercrombie and SunPower CEO Tom Werner celebrate the Kalaeloa Solar Farm.

The five-megawatt Kalaeloa Solar Farm will produce enough renewable power to avoid almost 9,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, according to estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to eliminating the consumption of approximately 400,000 barrels of oil over the 20-year term of the power purchase agreement.

Sunetric’s investment in solar and commitment to renewable energy makes this project one in which we take great pride in having contributed to, and we are eager to watch its progress.

Our numbers came in at 93.5% for the month of April and 91.4% for year to date. We are so thrilled to keep our customers satisfied and now it’s time we make sure our own employees are satisfied too!

Sunetric will continue to lead the solar industry in customer satisfaction because we know our customers come first.

The Pacific Edge Achievement Awards were initially developed in 2008 to recognize outstanding accomplishments, dedication and innovation of the local business community. The event has since become one of Hawaii’s most anticipated and celebrated events since its launch in 2011.

We are proud to be recognized amongst like-minded organizations that share our awareness in environmental corporate impact.

Pacific Edge Magazine defines nominated business for this award as:

Businesses that demonstrate deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision-making practices. They embrace responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, and the community by proactively encouraging growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public sphere.

Other notable work with Pacific Edge Magazine: Sunetric CEO Alex Tiller recently named ‘Pacific Edge’s 5 to Watch” as well as Mr. Tiller’s reflection interview on being named 2012 Business Executive of the Year

You can register for the event coming up at the end of the month on May 30th and get a behind-the-scenes look at last years event.

A petition circulating from the Obama Administration aims to let these congresspeople know that the public will not accept climate change denial anymore. Sunetric supports the effort and we hope you will too. Climate change is real and we must all do what we can to slow the effects by supporting investment in a clean energy future.

Click here to view the petition and sign on.

As Obama’s Climate Campaign Manager Ivan Frishberg explained, “We’re going to make them say it out loud—either double-down on their claims, or come to their senses. The National Academy of Sciences and more than 13,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers all confirm that the carbon pollution in our atmosphere today is causing dangerous climate change.”

A bill that would have changed the state tax credits for solar photovoltaic systems in Hawaii has failed to progress, leaving in place the administrative rules set by the state Department of Taxation that went into effect in November. Senate Bill 623 failed to move through a conference committee by a Friday afternoon deadline, leaving some PV contractors with more uncertainty.

Pacific Business News interviewed our own Aaron Kirk about the issue, who weighed on the unfortunate result of the bill’s standstill:

“The temporary rules will make it much more difficult for PV companies [because] it’s much more difficult to interpret,” said Aaron Kirk, chief operating officer of Sunetric, one of the state’s largest PV companies. “It’s baffling [that the new bill didn't pass] but it shouldn’t deter people from going solar.”

Indeed: while disappointing, this bill isn’t the end of the world.

Call Sunetric at 262-6600 ext. 233 to find out how this applies to you.

Just what did Bill 632 specify? Back in March, the Blue Planet Foundation explained the bill and its benefits.

Senate Bill 623 SD2—although largely devoid of specific amounts—does contain a number of elements which make it an attractive policy, for the state economy, the solar sector, and for achievement of Hawaii’s aggressive clean energy goals. First, the measure follows the framework and definitions of the federal tax credit law, making it easier for the state to administer. Second, the proposed policy ratchets down the state renewable energy tax credit for photovoltaic in a fair and predictable manner, reducing job-jeopardizing volatility in the solar sector. Finally, the measure establishes a production tax credit for certain projects to reduce the first year fiscal impact of the credit and to foster innovation and efficiency in renewable energy systems (the incentive is on the output, not the system cost).

We talked about this with our post on the Solyndra controversy and our overview of solar tax credits in Hawaii.

Here’s another important thing to remember about perspective: what seems ‘cheaper’ at first blush might come with a handful of hidden costs. A peer-reviewed study titled, “Economic Value of U.S. Fossil Fuel Electricity Health Impacts,” was recently published in Environment International by Sarah Rizk and Ben Machol.

The report centers on a vitally important reality:

“Fossil fuel energy has several externalities not accounted for in the retail price, including associated adverse human health impacts, future costs from climate change, and other environmental damages.”

A6U571N via Compfight cc

It seems obvious, but at a time when renewables are still in many ways fledgling, it is an important fact to remember and powerful when quantified. As Sarah Rizk, one of the researchers behind the study, explained to Forbes.com, “There are a lot of reports out there that quantify the total health costs and the total health impact values from fossil fuel energy in the U.S., but there are fewer of them that put it into a dollar per kilowatt-hour metric, which is what you see on your utility bill. We wanted to present it in a way that was digestible to the average consumer of electricity.”

By quantifying and valuing the health impacts from emissions and pollutants associated with different forms of energy production, they were able to show in real dollars how much of the overall cost is being externalized. They estimate that the annual costs of health impacts from fossil fuels at between $361.7 to $886.5 billion annually, a figure which they consider to be a conservative underestimate. At this rate, the valuations for health impacts by fuel type were found to be 19 to 45 cents per kilowatt-hour for coal, 8 to 19 cents per kilowatt-hour for oil, and 1 to 2 cents per kilowatt-hour for natural gas.

As they explain in the report, “For coal and oil, these costs are larger than the typical retail price of electricity, demonstrating the magnitude of the externality.”

The point of all this, explain Rizk and Machol, is that “on average, U.S. consumers of electricity should be willing to pay $0.24–$0.45/kWh for alternatives such as energy efficiency investments or emission-free renewable sources that avoid fossil fuel combustion.” By exposing the true costs of fossil fuel generated energy, renewables would finally be on a more even playing field. It turns out that solar is not so expensive after all.

Of course, this is nothing new.

• We’ve talked about how solar can save schools money and save teachers’ jobs.
• We’ve shown how Hawaii electricity rates continue to climb and climb.
• We’ve written about the sad cost of fossil fuel disasters.

Which leaves us wondering, what will it take to finally turn the tide towards a clean energy future? The facts are glaringly clear. An International Monetary Fund report released on March 27 similarly pointed to the ‘mispricing’ of fossil fuels. Calling for an end to $1.9 trillion in annual global energy subsidies, the IMF report highlights the need for inclusive pricing so that polluters would finally be forced to pay the full environmental and health costs of burning fossil fuels. At Sunetric, we understand the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as more people shift away from fossil fuels. We are deeply committed to creating a robust renewable energy future through providing the best quality product, service and technology to all our customers.

As Gabriel told the Advertiser’s Nina Wu, “These tax credits are accomplishing what they were created to do–make clean energy more accessible and more affordable to more people.” We couldn’t agree more.

Gabe also pointed out that since the tax credits began in 2009, solar PV installations in Hawaii have quadrupled. Today there is enough solar energy being generated to power 18,000 homes. And with the incentives and rebates in place, residents of Hawaii have installed over 90,000 solar hot water systems, the highest rate per capita in the nation.

These tax credits support local businesses and create jobs in the clean energy economy while helping Hawaii reach the goals set by the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. It is important that the state of Hawaii continues to support the expansion of a clean energy economy into the future and keeping the tax credits in place is one sure way to do just that.

Alex takes the opportunity to reflect on his years at Sunetric and impart words of wisdom for those looking to succeed in business:

What is one piece of advice you would give young professionals?
I’ve never seen anyone achieve anything that qualifies as “great” without taking considerable risk. Don’t be afraid of failing. Failing is part of the process of success.

What is your favorite part of being Sunetric’s CEO? What drives you to do what you do?
I really enjoy getting to work with the outstanding staff at Sunetric. I am constantly blown away by their daily dedication to our customers, professionalism and desire to make Hawaii and the world a better place. I have never worked with a better group of people in my life. I am honored to even be associated with them—let alone lead them.

The full interview is available to read on the Pacific Edge website.

• Click here to read and download the PDF!
• Or, click to zoom in on the images below:

At Sunetric, we are committed to the highest quality in customer care, employee expertise and cutting-edge product. We’ve installed some of the largest photovoltaic systems in Hawaii and we have some of the most qualified employees on our team.

These achievements combined with our core commitments to quality, and our deep investment in a renewable energy future for America have helped us to stay at the forefront of an increasingly crowded industry. When you choose Sunetric, you can be sure that you are choosing the best in the business.