Sunetric has been named "Hawaii's Best Solar Company" by the readers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Each year, the Star-Advertiser asks its readers to submit their votes on the people and companies in Hawaii who stick out as "the cream of the crop."

Hawaii’s Best Awards represent what readers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser have designated as top performers across 150 award categories. These readers determine award winners by selecting top picks in each category and submitting their votes.

Numerous ballots were cast and counted to select the 2010 elite roster of "Hawaii's Best" winners across 150 categories - an award truly chosen by the people. It is an honor for these businesses and services to be recognized by their peers.

According to the Star-Advertiser, “In Hawaii, there are... many businesses and people whose quality work and dedication make this a place unlike any other. These restaurateurs, schools, retailers and service professionals exemplify the meaning of aloha, as they carry on our Islands’ unique traditions. They are “Hawaii’s Best.”

The newspaper intends for the annual compilation of “Hawaii’s Best” to serve as a great guidebook and keepsake that showcases all that the Islands have to offer.

Sunetric is pleased to join the many companies recognized as "Hawaii's Best" and are proud to be known as the leader in providing clean, efficient solar energy to the people of Hawaii.

Sean Mullen, founder and president of Sunetric, was recognized in Pacific Business News' Forty Under 40 Class of 2010. Mullen, an entrepreneur, was cited by the news outlet as a "pioneer in showing Hawaii how to go solar." This video is from the recognition ceremony. 

Read Sean's story on PBN. 

View a slideshow from the event.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released the following statement from their President Rhone Resch last night following the President's Oval Office speech on the ongoing disaster in the Gulf. 

WASHINGTON, DC (June 15) -- "This tragic environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a wake-up call for our nation to develop clean, safe renewable energy sources like solar now.

"President Obama is absolutely right to call for national energy reform and for us to unite behind comprehensive energy legislation that takes our nation in a new direction – away from unsafe and unstable fossil fuels and toward a new clean energy economy with safe, reliable sources like solar. We have an opportunity to produce solar energy to power our buildings and charge our vehicles while putting America back to work here at home.

"The solar industry is poised to rebuild our nation's manufacturing base, create hundreds of thousands of jobs in all 50 states, spur economic growth, and strengthen our national security and energy independence. But to do this, we need comprehensive energy legislation that effectively rewards and stimulates production of clean energy. It is one of the best policy investments the public can make.

"No doubt we will recover from this terrible accident; but if we don't set ourselves down a new energy path, we will be ignoring our responsibility to the residents of the Gulf Coast and to the nation as a whole."

Sunetric is a proud member of SEIA and its mission to make solar a mainstream and significant energy source by expanding markets, removing market barriers, strengthening the industry and educating the public on the benefits of solar energy.

 

More and more people are looking for a job in the solar industry, according to a post in RenewableEnergyWorld.com.

A recently released report predicts that solar photovoltaic companies will see a continued steep increase in revenues from $15.6 billion last year to $69.3 billion nine years from now. Estimates from other analysts and associations suggest that this is a conservative number and claim the increase in revenues generated will be even greater than anticipated. This dynamic growth and bright forecast make the solar industry one of the most attractive new sectors to employees. As a result, more and more people are looking for a job in the solar industry.

With booming consumer interest, strong public support in terms of legislation and incentives, and growing market demand worldwide, enormous opportunity exists for those who want to transition into the solar industry. Jobs at all levels are becoming available for a number of positions including installers, sales people, mechanical engineers, manufacturing personnel, R&D scientists and engineers, marketing and finance, and others.

Click here to read more about how to look for opportunities in the solar industry.  And if you are interested in joining the Sunetric team, please click here to fill out our Online Job Application

Every person at Sunetric plays an important role in our mission to bring affordable solar power to the people of Hawaii. No job is more important than that of project engineer; our project engineers are responsible for the quality and technical precision of every installation. They are our front-line soldiers, who ensure that every new installation is done according to the National Electrical Code. Project engineers are also responsible for the Balance of System (BOS is everything in a photovoltaic system other than the photovoltaic panels), the engineering design, and the research and implementation of new products.

 

One of our best and brightest project engineers is Gabriel Chong. Gabriel was born and raised right here in Hawaii and graduated from Kamehameha Schools, Kapalama Campus. He went to the mainland to earn an engineering degree from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Gabriel also minored in music and still plays and teaches guitar on the weekends. He is a physical fitness buff and enjoys working with computers.

 

Gabriel became fascinated by the potential and importance of renewable energy as part of his collegiate studies. The Elizabethtown College engineering department had a significant focus on renewable energy systems and he began working with the technology from his freshman year in 2004. His first project was a competition for the design of an efficient and quick energy storage system. Gabriel and his team won the competition with an innovative application of ultra-capacitors.

 

After graduating from Elizabethtown, Gabriel was ready and eager to get professionally involved in the renewable energy field. Gabriel is vocal about his love of solar energy and the potential for renewable energy to help the environment. He can talk for hours about both the obvious and the subtle benefits of solar panels. From the passive cooling effects of the absorbent material to the economic benefits of using a rooftop to generate electricity, he is a passionate about expanding the use of photovoltaic installations – and he found the perfect outlet for that passion after his graduation in 2008, joining Sunetric as a project engineer in October of that year.

 

Gabriel’s enthusiasm for his work has led him to seek further education and certification in solar power technologies. With Sunetric’s help, Gabriel obtained his Advanced Sunpower Certification and is now even better prepared to help Sunetric’s customers design and install the optimum solar photovoltaic system for their individual needs. He remains committed to the vision of a better energy future, and knows that Sunetric is the place where he wants to help make that happen, saying “Sunetric is not a company. Sunetric is a family.”

Gabriel was recently promoted to Team Leader for Sunetric's Residential Operations.

Few people realize how relatively new incentives are to the solar industry. While the U.S. has argued for decades that solar is a priority for our energy future incentives have only been around for the past 5 years.

Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) talked to CNBC's Erin Burnett last month about the benefits of solar and the critical role incentives play in the consumer decision-making process.

"The oil and gas industry has had permanent federal subsidies since 1916. The nuclear industry had the same since the 1950s. The solar industry, however, had to wait until the 2005 Energy Bill before we received our current tax credits," said Resch. "And, even then, Congress only enacted them for 2 years and put a $2,000 cap on them. Ultimately, you can't build an industry around a 2 year policy."

Resch added, "I am happy to say that in the 2008 bailout bill they extended the tax credits for solar for 8 additional years... really opening the doors for future growth of solar."

When it comes to solar power, few places offer so much potential as Maui. While there are sunny spots and advantageous conditions all over the Hawaiian Islands, Maui has two main facets that help it to stand out as an excellent venue for solar power—the economics of power generation and tropical weather.

Environmentally, Maui is an exceptional location for a new solar installation. The National Weather Service indicates that the amount of possible daily sunlight on Maui never falls below 60%. The predictability of weather patterns is also a major factor in determining the cost effectiveness of a solar installation. The local microclimates generated in the leeward and windward parts of the island are highly regular, presenting a potential for localized showers which then disperse and give way to sun.

The benefits of Maui’s predictable and regularly sunny climate are obvious to anyone acquainted with the island, but something else truly makes Maui stand out as a prime candidate for a solar power conversion—the high price of conventional utilities.

It’s already common knowledge that electricity prices in Hawaii are higher than anywhere else in the United States. There are a few reasons for this. First, the electrical systems on the islands are independent rather than interdependent. On the mainland, when more electricity is needed, or when something goes wrong with the transmission infrastructure, there is a backup. More electricity can be diverted from a neighboring grid, or an alternative transmission route can be found through additional lines. On the islands, however, there are no neighboring companies to draw emergency power from, and so backup generation and transmission capacity has to be built into the system. This adds additional cost to the utility and therefore the customer.

The means of electrical production in Hawaii are also intrinsically more expensive than on the mainland. On the mainland, inexpensive fuels such as coal, natural gas, or even nuclear are used in electrical generation. On the islands, however, the primary fuel for electrical generation is oil. This is oil which must be imported by sea, and oil which is subject to the wild fluctuations in price due to speculation and global demand. 

As I write this, the cost in cents per kilowatt-hour for a residential customer of MECO (Maui County) ranges between 25.55 on Maui and 32.60 on Lanai. (Current rates can be found on heco.com, or in the PDF publication available here.)

And so what does this have to do with making Maui an excellent island for solar? Basically, with prices in excess of those paid by utility customers on neighboring islands, a solar installation will pay for itself on Maui more quickly. No matter what the financing plan for the solar installation is, a higher utility rate will result in a faster payoff—not to mention the fact that a solar installation will mitigate the wild upward swings of global oil prices in the future. The higher oil prices go, the faster the solar installation will pay for itself.

Maui is an island brimming with opportunity when it comes to solar power. The weather, the economics, and the feeling of independence that comes from generating your own power are all benefits that should be taken into consideration when developing a plan for a new solar installation.

The state of Hawaii Tax Department late last week updated its tax guidance published earlier this month in an effort to clarify how state tax credits of up to $5,000 per solar system may be used by consumers. Sunetric executives, Department of Taxation and the Hawaii Solar Energy Association (HSEA) had been discussing the issue after language in the new tax guidance seemed to possibly contradict language in the previous tax guidance.

The new Tax Information Release (TIR) issued last Monday provides the clarity Sunetric and our customers were looking for. It is now very clear that we can operate as we have in the past, providing the most efficient and economical system design for our customers while continuing to remain in strict compliance with tax laws. Click here to view the amended TIR, which provides additional guidance and clear examples on the Department of Taxation's interpretation of the term “system” for the purposes of the Renewable Energy Technologies Income Tax Credit.

The clarity gained in the revised TIR is another positive, progressive step towards a sustainable future for Hawaii.  The insights and efforts necessary to reach this result, from both the Hawaii solar industry and the Department of Taxation, should be applauded. Read HSEA's response here.

Please feel free to contact Sunetric with any questions or for further clarification of this new ruling.

Sunetric’s flagship product is SunPower, manufacturer of the most powerful solar panels, or modules, in the world.

SunPower proudly boasts the highest quality construction of any manufacturer. As you can expect, high quality = long life. Solar panel manufacturing warranties typically range from 2-5 years. SunPower panels come with a standard 10-year manufacturer warranty, which is the best in the business. 

Check out this video from Buildaroo.com, featuring a SunPower representative explaining the benefits of SunPower solar panels:



Earlier this month, SunPower announced it has made upgrades to its SunPower® Monitoring System that allows SunPower dealers, like Sunetric, to remotely monitor the performance of our customers’ high-efficiency solar power systems. The remote monitoring feature allows for rapid troubleshooting of system performance issues, helping to reduce maintenance costs and provide improved customer service.

For system owners, the SunPower Monitoring System offers three easy ways to access information about the energy generated by their SunPower solar systems, including the industry's first monitoring application for the Apple iPhone™ and iPod touch® mobile devices.

Along with the iPhone and iPod touch application, the SunPower Monitoring System offers homeowners the ability to monitor SunPower solar systems with a wireless, in-home wall-mounted LCD display that provides power production and cumulative energy information in near real time. The monitoring system also provides the convenience of Internet access to a solar system's performance from virtually anywhere. Customers can view a system's energy performance and environmental savings on an hourly, monthly and annual basis.

The iPhone and iPod touch application is available from the Apple App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/app/sunpower-monitoring-solar/id310746853?mt=8 at no charge and is available to new and existing customers of SunPower solar systems with monitoring capabilities. Prospective customers can download a demonstration feature with an overview of how the application works.

Sunetric proudly provides a full range of SunPower products for Hawaii customers. Contact a Sunetric Energy Consultant today to learn more about the SunPower advantage.