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WASHINGTON, DC:  The Delano, an upscale Apartment complex in downtown Washington DC, now has a solar thermal system providing a large portion of the building’s hot water supply.

Working in conjunction with Skyline Innovations, a third party solar developer, SES designed and installed a system that will offset a large portion of the building’s conventional gas-powered water heating system.  The solar system consists of 32 solar thermal panels and a 3,200 gallon solar storage tank, as well as a 200 gallon buffer tank.

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Save the Date: March 23rd, 9.30am at St. Johns College (Francis Scott Key Auditorium)

In February 2012, a few of us local, environmentally-minded companies got together and welcomed ex-CIA director James Woolsey, among others, to lead a panel discussion after the showing of Energy On Trial. The event was a great success

– just what you’d want from at this type of event – a few hundred local folks showed up, we watched a thought-provoking movie and either participated or bore witness to the controversial banter back and forth between panel members (nuclear vs other renewables).  As folks tumbled out into the lobby of the Auditorium they were met with some yummy treats and a few of us local, sustainable organizations and businesses ready to mobilize their renewed commitment to the environment.

This year, we’ve joined the larger platform of the Annapolis Film Festival and incorporated an Environmental Showcase at St. John Francis Scott Key Auditorium that features Robert Redford’s film “Watershed”, an environmental panel discussion as well as sustainable company/organization presence and refreshments.  Non-for-profits such as Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Annapolis Green will be alongside locally owned businesses such as Solar Energy Services, Inc. and Rain Barrels of Annapolis.

Download the Environment Focus flyer

Purchase tickets and passes here.

The Environment Showcase is part of the larger Annapolis Film Festival, March 21-24, 2013. In partnership with the City of Annapolis and the local Arts and Business Communities, the Annapolis Films festival aspires to bring a major new cultural event to our area.  90 films in four days will be showed at various sites around Annapolis involving guest speakers, filmmakers, parties, and much community involvement.  For more information contact The Annapolis Film Festival

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Slowly but surely the skyline on Annapolis’ State Circle is starting to change. First, the Governor’s Mansion in 2009 and just this month, the ever-popular Harry Browne’s Restaurant (http://www.harrybrownes.com) has joined the ranks of businesses jumping on the solar bandwagon. Not only an enthusiastic and self-professed carbon footprint reducer, Rusty Romo, Harry Browne’s owner since 1979, is a savvy businessman, “Although I have a vested interest in reducing my carbon footprint, there’s no question that the solid Return on Investment was the final straw in deciding to install a solar water heater.” This viewpoint extends throughout Rusty’s business dealings, particular with regards to his restaurant’s waste production. Prior to January of 2012, annual trash pick up was costing the restaurant around $13,000 per year. That cost has now been reduced to $4000 due to Rusty’s implementation of two recycling solutions: 1) Veterans Composting visits several times per week to pick up all of the restaurant’s food waste turning it into compost for farmers, gardeners and landscapers. 2) A Cardboard baler compresses all of the restaurant’s cardboard, hugely reducing the bulk for taking to a dumpster storage facility where it is pulled and weighed. Harry Browne’s averages at least two tons every twenty eight days. Depending on the market cost, cardboard reclamation pays him from $30 – $100 per ton. Restaurants have a large hot water load, and Harry Browne’s is no exception. The 250-seat restaurant easily consumes the 160 gallons of hot water per day provided by the solar water heating system installed by Millersville based Solar Energy Services, Inc. (solarsaves.net) The system includes two, 30-tube solar collectors, (approved by the Historic Commission), mounted on a flat roof in the back of the restaurant. These panels are joined, via a copper pipe run and pump control unit to two, 80g stone-lined water tanks in the basement. The solar system acts as a pre-heat to Harry Browne’s conventional gas system, offsetting around 50% of his annual hot water load.

ABOUT SOLAR WATER HEATERS and SES, Inc.

Solar water heaters are a time-tested, mature technology that are deployed every day by Solar Energy Services, Inc. (SES) of Millersville (solarsaves.net). In addition to restaurants, apartment buildings, universities, carwashes, detention centers and other government and institutional buildings continue to expand SES’s customer list. Roger Perry, a 35-year solar veteran and partner at Solar Energy Services, Inc., is still servicing solar water heating systems that he installed during the early eighties. Roger notes that “Given current financial incentives, solar water heaters are a no-brainer for any business in MD and DC that has a daily hot water load.”

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WASHINGTON, DC:  Solar Energy Services, Inc., in partnership with third party solar developer Skyline Innovations, recently finished the installation of a solar water heating system for Shoreham North, a condominium building in downtown Washington, DC.

The solar thermal system includes 26 collectors southerly mounted on the roof, closed-loop plumbed to a 1,500 gallon solar storage tank inside the building.  The system is expected to reduce the building’s water heating utility bill by about 30%.

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What Does the Future Hold?

Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) have played a large part in the financing of solar energy systems in Maryland since the RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) was enacted in 2005. These market-based, tradable credits are the property of the solar system owner to resell, typically to brokers who bundle them for final resale to competitive energy suppliers in the interest of meeting their solar compliance goals. In Maryland (as well as Washington DC), these credits are generated by both solar electric (PV) and solar water heating systems.

The price of SRECs is supposed to reflect the over or under supply of these credits in the marketplace. Both Maryland and DC have very aggressive solar goals (2% by 2020 in MD and 2.5% by 2023 in DC) with steep adoption curves so we need lots of SRECs to meet compliance.

Maryland:

That said, the solar industry boomed for several years recently and we are currently going into an oversupply phase in Maryland. This has the effect of pushing down prices on SRECs in the near term.   There are many contributors to the oversupply and the industry and legislators are frequently working hard to promote policies that help to smooth out the supply, but in the end, SRECs are a market mechanism that is subject to “animal spirits.”

As solar prices decline it is fitting that SREC prices are declining too – after all, we should need less incentives as solar costs come down to “grid parity.” When Maryland’s SREC market was conceived, the designers planned for a declining value as more solar got on to the grid. In fact, the Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) schedule – the amount energy suppliers have to pay if they cannot buy SRECs – is designed to decrease over time. The ACP is considered to be the maximum that an SREC would cost in a rational market. Recently SRECs have traded on the order of 35% of the ACP, but as high as 75% a few years ago. In Maryland, the ACP is scheduled to drop from $400 to $350 in 2015 and then down to $200 in 2017, $150 in 2019, and so on.

DC

Washington DC is a different market and one that is much better insulated from the shocks of large utility scale systems that flood SRECs onto the market. The sheer geography in DC does not lend itself to 10 MW solar farms and thus the SREC supply curve is a little smoother due to the requirement being fulfilled primarily with many smaller systems. As a result, DC SRECs have shown more consistency and maintained a higher price, benefitting system owners and prospective system owners.

What now?

Regardless of the trends for solar return on investment (ROI), we all want to maximize our incentives for our own benefit. SRECs are no different. While there are many more new solar customers every day, there are also many solar system owners now approaching the end of 3 or 5 year SREC contracts (aka “strips”) and they too need to decide how to proceed going forward. Do I want to sign up for another strip (3 or 5 year term contract) and accept a large discount on my SREC price for that price security or do I want to maybe float with the market for a while? I’ve got no crystal ball, but I do know that there are many efforts underway in Maryland, some legislative and some not, to help to smooth the SREC supply and thus maintain a reasonable value for SRECs to continue to help incentivize solar. For that reason, I believe we will see some recovery of SREC prices in Maryland in the next year or two and thus maybe it is better to hold off on a term contract. In DC, I would personally opt for more surety and take a term contract with the discount price, but that is my risk averse nature. Others might like to bear more risk and float in hopes of higher SREC values in the future.

Either way, we are lucky to have these incentives in Maryland and DC. They are working to increase solar installations and jobs and they are also helping to drive down the installed price of solar in our region.

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HAGERSTOWN, MD:  Earlier this week Solar Energy Services, Inc., a Maryland based solar installer, completed installation of five separate solar water heating systems at the Hagerstown Correctional Facility.

SES was engaged by Johnson Controls, Inc. to design, install and commission the solar systems in order to offset a larger portion of the facility’s traditional heating system.  Four of the systems, each consisting of 6 solar thermal panels closed-loop plumbed to 220 gallon solar storage tanks, were installed on four housing buildings.  The larger 12 panel system and accompanying tanks were installed on the facility’s dining hall.

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Not quite so cut and dry…

Most of us who live here in Anne Arundel County appreciate our proximity to the Chesapeake Bay, changing seasons with spectacular Spring and Fall temperatures, and mature wooded areas. However, these pros quickly become cons during snowstorms, thunderstorms and Maryland’s annual hurricane season from late August through October when Hurricanes such as the infamous Isabelle and Sandy blast through our wooded, watery region, bringing floods, downed trees and – the clincher – power outages. If not for the threat of the power outage, we may sit back and enjoy a hurricane as a powerful force of nature, so long as our lights are on, heat or ac is blasting, and refrigerator’s chilling.

Hurricane Sandy caused around 300 thousand power outages here in Maryland, with an estimated 60 thousand in Anne Arundel County alone. It’s a no wonder that many prospective solar system owners – as well as existing solar system owners – want to know if a solar power system can power any of their appliances during a power outage, even if only while the sun shines. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

For both functional and safety reasons, there are several additional complexities to a “hybrid” PV system that connects to the grid but also provides backup power during a power outage. To start, during an outage you need to be able to safely isolate your “solar generator” from the grid to protect the line workers. You will also need energy storage (batteries) to balance solar energy supply and household demand. In most cases, you need an additional inverter to convert the batteries’ DC electricity back to AC electricity for your household. Lastly, most battery systems require some level of maintenance as well as replacement one or more times in the lifetime of the solar system. The bottom line is that unless you are willing to pay a nominal 30% premium for a solar system that includes the necessary batteries, transfer switches and additional inverter(s), you might be better served with a more traditional approach to backup power, like a gasoline or natural gas generator, and possibly just for critical loads.

Don’t get me wrong. Hybrid systems are growing in numbers and technology advancements, consumer demand, and smart grid capabilities all will help to drive down costs to make these systems more affordable in the future, ideally making our grid more stable with many distributed sources of energy. In the mean time, most solar installers can offer a hybrid (battery backup) or traditional generator back up options, so you can decide what suits you best.

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GLEN BURNIE, MD:  Glen Square, a senior assisted-living complex in the heart of Glen Burnie, MD now have a solar water heating system that will offset a large portion of their natural gas water heating system.

The solar system is financed by Skyline Innovations, Inc., a Washington, DC based third party solar developer, who engaged Solar Energy Services of Millersville, MD to design and install the 42 panel solar thermal system.

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WASHINGTON, DC:  Earlier this week Solar Energy Services, Inc. completed the installation of a solar water heating system on Capital Manor Cooperative’s residence building on the 1400 block of W Street in Northwest Washington, DC.

SES was engaged by third party solar developer, Skyline Innovations, earlier this year to design and install the solar water heating system consisting of 48 evacuted tube solar arrays and three, 1,500 gallon solar storage tanks.

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While still a relatively well kept secret among the general public, large scale solar water heating is popping up in more and more places. While this technology is relatively mature, the practical deployment is still in its infancy.

While we’ve seen lots of growth in recent years, what is holding back solar water heating? Three things actually: Awareness, Cheap natural gas, and Inertia.

We’re overcoming the awareness challenge slowly but surely. Every week there is another article in the trade press about a prison, dormitory, military barracks, restaurant or health care facility adopting this valuable technology. These systems are piquing the interest of facilities managers, engineers, and architects on the demand side and mechanical contractors and manufacturers on the supply side; helping to raise awareness among the traditional commercial water heating business community. This is particularly the case in markets like Washington DC, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, and California where solar water heating systems benefit from the existing solar PV incentive markets.

Cheap natural gas. I’ve written on this before, but it’s worth repeating. Today’s wholesale natural gas prices are close to a ten year low, and more than 75% below their most recent peak in July of 2008. Recent data indicates that prices are trending up again, but the current low price combined with economic uncertainty has facility managers and CFOs hesitating until they can see a faster payback on a solar water heating investment. While a 4 year payback may not seem enticing in today’s economy, the problem with waiting for the inevitable price increase of natural gas is that you forgo some of the best incentives existing today that will surely be lower or absent in the future. Remember, the solar fuel is free in the future, so increasing gas prices will only improve the economic return in the future.

Inertia is one of the most powerful social forces I know. It plays a huge role here. As engineers and architects continue to gain experience and confidence in specifying SWH systems, volume will continue to drive down costs in much the same way that we have seen with solar PV. The federal government has required the use of SWH on all of their new construction, if feasible. The number of contractors who are capable of installing and servicing these systems continues to increase, giving prospective system owners’ confidence that the systems will not be supported in the future.

Below are a few links highlighting some commercial systems recently commissioned in the U.S. Read on and learn how commonplace this simple technology is becoming.

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