Vaha Energy is installing a solar carport in El Monte, CA. The system includes 144 Sharp panels which will offset 20% of the office’s current electrical consumption, plus provide much needed shade for those sweltering summer days.

In the first week, the crew has dug out 8 foot deep holes in the parking lot,

They constructed Rebar to support the structure beneath the surface,

Video: Constructing Rebar

They poured in the concrete and assembled the structure that will hold the panels.

Video: Bolting in the Structure

Our next post will be show you the installation of the solar panels on the structure.

Vaha Energy has finished installing a 11.7kW solar system on a commercial roof in Orange, CA. This is the second solar system on site for the commercial office in Orange.

This system has 54 Sharp 216-Watt panels and SMA Inverters. It will offset 35% of their electric bills and give them an ROI of 15%.

The environmental effect is equivalent to planting 9,900 trees and offsetting 43,500 gallons of gas!

Racks being installed for the solar panels

North facing roof

Two of the largest U.S. pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTERS, announced yesterday that they would invest $1 billion toward energy efficiency projects. According to an analysis from the University of Massachussetts, energy efficiency retrofits can create more than 17 jobs per million dollars invested!

Not only would investing in energy efficiency retrofits create much needed jobs, it’ll help offset an amazing amount of energy and greenhouse gases!

If executed at scale, a holistic approach…is estimated to reduce end-use energy consumption in 2020 by 9.1 quadrillion BTUs [British thermal units], roughly 23 percent of projected demand, potentially abating up to 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gases annually.

Kind of a big deal: $1.6 billion coming for energy efficiency projects | Grist

HGTV Remodels wrote an article about real homeowners going solar, and one of our clients, Mindy Curtis, was featured in it!

Mindy and her family decided to get solar installed on their home because “two of her sons – one an environmentalist, the other a science buff – urged her to go solar”.

Curtis is saving so much money from going solar that she says, “Once my kids are gone I’ll be generating excess electricity and [Southern California] Edison will be paying me for that.”

Read more about it here:

Real Experiences With Solar Power : Home Systems : HGTV Remodels.

With the structure built, the solar panels are being installed onto the racking.

The grounding wire is placed underneath the panels

Close up on the grounding wire

Stringing the grounding wire throughout the system.

Video: Running Grounding Wire for El Monte Solar Carport

Our next post will show the electrical involved as well as some of the finishing touches of this solar carport.