California continues to lead by putting money where its mouth is. On December 11, 2019, the PUC announced a substantial increase in funding for the state’s Self Generation Incentive Program. There is a new emphasis on low-income housing and areas impacted by the power shutoffs tied to wildfire prevention. At the same time, the Commercial and Industrial large-scale storage budget has also been increased to over $300M.
To get the incentive is a painful process. Adara knows first-hand the details of the 150-page SGIP Handbook and the very specific requirements from the Utilities to get the customer paid. Adara provides a variety of consulting services to help C&I customers save money through a right-sized solar and energy storage solution.
Los Gatos, CA, USA, November 15, 2018 – Adara Power, a privately-held commercial energy storage company, announces an SGIP-funded deployment and commissioning of an intelligent energy storage system at Violich Farms in Orland, CA. The California Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) provides financial incentives for the installation of energy storage in order to reduce green-house gas emissions and improve the stability of the grid. Adara Power partnered with Chico Electric, an electrical and solar general contractor, to design, build and commission the 330kWh lithium-ion battery coupled to a 175kW solar array. The energy storage system discharges during peak electricity usage and saves money through reduced demand charges.
Violich Farms manages 9000 acres of almond and walnut orchards in the Sacramento Valley of California. “The Adara Power energy storage system provides Violich Farms with the flexibility to run our operations at any time on clean, sustainable energy without the penalty of high on-peak energy and demand charges,” stated Julia Violich, CFO, Violich Farms. “Partnering with Adara Power and Chico Electric and supported by SGIP enabled us to accelerate the deployment of a clean, cost-effective solution right-sized to our needs.”
California farmers and commercial building owners are deploying energy storage to reduce peak demand charges and on-peak energy usage from large motors, air conditioning and heavy equipment. New time of use electricity rates have moved the peak period to 8pm or 9pm in California. This creates a situation where solar alone does not have the same benefit it once had. Now solar plus storage is the right technology combination to reduce customer electricity bills and at the same time help the overall grid by reducing peak electricity requirements across the state.
“Our client was looking to reduce the costs of their ongoing operations, a significant portion of which was electricity demand charges for their irrigation pump loads. Teaming with Adara brought battery expertise to the table throughout the entire process and ultimately we delivered the right solution to Violich Farms, said Norm Nielsen, CEO, Chico Electric.”
Adara Power works with trusted solar and electrical contractors as their commercial energy storage partner. The Adara team, with experience in electrochemisty, controls systems and cloud software provides the technical expertise to analyze, design and build the most practical energy storage system to maximize the customer’s return on investment.
To learn more about Adara’s commercial energy storage solutions and financing options, please visit www.adarapower.com.
# # #
About Adara Power
Founded in 2013, Adara Power is committed to providing safe, reliable, intelligent, and connected solar energy storage for renewable energy. Adara Power’s Energy Storage Solutions are designed to support consumer self-consumption and enable a resilient, renewable energy grid in order to power a cleaner, sustainable planet. For more information, visit www.adarapower.com.
About Chico Electric
A Northern California Electrical Contractor since 1960. A recognized leader in electrical contracting, photovoltaic (PV) solar systems planning, engineering, and installation, Chico Electric has implemented PV Solar for customers in agriculture, food processing, manufacturing and education. Installations include industry leading projects, such as Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, one of the largest roof-top PV Solar installations in the nation and Butte Community College, the first college in the nation to achieve grid-positive solar generation. For more information, visit www.chicoelectric.com.
About Violich Farms
Violich Farms was founded in 1987 with the purchase of a 200-acre ranch on which to grow almonds. Over the past two decades, Violich Farms has become one of the largest growers of almonds and walnuts in the United States. Today, the company operates approximately 9000 acres of company-owned and leased land in the Sacramento Valley of California.
VisualCapitalist.com created yet another great visualization of energy related matters. The main takeaway for Adara is where the investment is going and which geographies are leading the way. Renewable energy outpaced all other new electricity deployments and costs continue to fall. Noticeably absent is fuel cell technology which despite the hype from several VC-backed companies is always “10+ years away” due to overall efficiency, poor fuel supply and technical limitations.
The SGIP data is remarkable in that it is the only large data set of true energy storage costs at the installed project level. There are over 900 projects in the Large Scale Storage category. We took a look at all of these projects which comprise equipment from 38 manufacturers. The chart below shows the cost per kWh at the project level for all companies that have at least 500kWh of projects. This reinforces Adara’s competitive approach to finding the best equipment, delivering cost effective software controls and not gouging our customers. On top of this, Adara has been very successful at moving these projects through the process so our customers get paid. The second chart shows how much money is in each stage. To get past the Proof of Project Milestone (PPM) Draft stage you need a signed contract from the customer. A lot of work goes into the Technical Review in advance of this and Adara is there through the entire progress to shepard these projects through.
The California Self Generation Incentive Program makes California the best location in North America for energy storage. Adara Power has mastered the 117 page handbook and associated documentation required for submission. Our commercial product is super competitive and beats almost all of the name brand solutions. If you have high demand charges from E19 or E20 rates in PG&E or from similar rate structures in SoCal, we can help.
Here is our latest analysis of slicing and dicing the weekly report showing the $/kWh for residential energy storage and commercial energy storage. We highlight Tesla and Adara Power. We love this weekly report by the Califonia Energy Commission (CEC) because the project developer has to put the fully installed project cost down and it must match the contract. No matter what you hear on the energy storage pulpit – this are the real numbers. The Adara residential numbers are based on our Gen 1 solution which is still fully supported but no longer for sale.
Give us a shout and we can help you take advantage of this great program to lower your electricity bill.
I must confess, I am ashamed to say I never spent the time to actually read the Paris Agreement – until today. Trump’s decision to pull out of the agreement certainly triggered the far left and far right frenzy. But it was time to dig deeper. We started Adara Power not just to contribute to climate change mitigation and clean air but also to bring energy independence and technology jobs to the US.
It started with reading the following:
China committed to begin reducing emissions by 2030, roughly when its economic development would have caused this to happen regardless. India made no emissions commitment, pledging only to make progress on efficiency—at half the rate it had progressed in recent years. Pakistan outdid the rest, submitting a single page that offered to “reduce its emissions after reaching peak levels to the extent possible.” This is a definition of the word “peak,” not a commitment. … An April report by Transport Environment found only three European countries pursuing policies in line with their Paris commitments and one of those, Germany, has now seen two straight years of emissions increases. The Philippines has outright renounced its commitment. A study published by the American Geophysical Union warns that India’s planned coal-plant construction is incompatible with its own targets. All this behavior is socially acceptable amongst the climate crowd. Only Trump’s presumption that the agreement means something, and that countries should be forthright about their commitments, is beyond the pale.
Well I did it. I read the Paris Agreement. Here are some of the best resources:
Each country submits its own Nationally Determined Contribution (NBC) outling their plans to achieve the goals
Provides transparency and 3rd party review of the NBCs without the UN forcing countries into actions inconsistent with their national interests
Complete buy-in across the globe on the need to address climate change
Debatable
Identifies a list of Annex 1 countries that are asked to fund mitigation in Developing countries
Loss and Damage – a mechanism to compensate countries that suffer damage from climate change – not sure if these means the US can be sued by small Island countries after a sever storm – need to dig into this further
Bad for the US
Funding mechanism creates a pool of money that is currently being used by organizations in many countries that have economies that have clearly “Developed” including Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, India. South Korea. – https://www.thegef.org/country.
Conclusion
I don’t understand why the US is helping to pay for EV and Smart Grid development work in China when my company Adara Power is developing similar technology and not getting funding. Reading through a variety of projects, I am left wondering why Saudi Arabia is awarded a project to pay for filing their NBC and why Russia is receiving $350M and why we are paying the Czech Republic to support putting in a system to collect user fees on parks. On the flip side, there are great projects to build hydro in Rwanda and support truly impoverished places that need our help. We need to be in the Paris Agreement and work to curb our own emissions but we already have a huge trade deficit with China, Saudi Arabia and Korea – the money needs to go the LDCs – the Least Developed Countries. Finally, this is why we elect congress – to work on matters like this. It is not Executive Order material.
I must confess, I am ashamed to say I never spent the time to actually read the Paris Agreement – until today. Trump’s decision to pull out of the agreement certainly triggered the far left and far right frenzy. But it was time to dig deeper. We started Adara Power not just to contribute to climate change mitigation and clean air but also to bring energy independence and technology jobs to the US.