Jan 22 - Oakland Tribune


North Oakland residents are taking advantage of a chance to install solar power as part of an ambitious program run by a San Francisco environmental group.

One Block Off the Grid is harnessing Bay Area interest in clean energy and using the power of collective buying to obtain cheaper prices on solar panels in order to encourage people to use clean energy.

"This gives everyone an incentive," said general manager Dave Llorens.

The One Block Off the Grid program, which covers Oakland, San Francisco and other Bay Area cities, allows participating households to receive roof-tip photovoltaic panels at a discount of about 20 percent, depending on the size of the house.

Anyone who signs up through One Block Off the Grid's Web site before the Jan. 31 deadline will receive a no-obligation inspection and an estimate. They then have two weeks to decide whether or not to take the offer. Nearly 900 homes have signed up, with a strong cluster of interest in North Oakland.

Rockridge resident Rachel Hollowgrass said she wished One Block Off the Grid had been around when she installed her own solar panels. Now she's making sure to tell her neighbors.

"I was really hoping something like that would be possible in Rockridge," she said.

Hollowgrass used SolarCity to install her panels, the same vendor One Block Off the Grid has chosen for its program. SolarCity beat out other companies with competitive prices, thinner panels and free add-ons such as energy-consumption monitoring.

"It lets people make improvements to their homes or change their behavior and see the impact immediately," Llorens said.

A 15-year lease program is available for people who can't afford to buy the whole system.

"People can go solar with zero down and save money right away," said SolarCity's director of brand marketing, Leela Voges.

Photovoltaic panels, also known as solar panels, transform sunlight into energy for the home. Houses stay linked to PG&E for energy needs at night, but pay a lower rate, according to SolarCity's Jonathan Bass.

They require an up-front investment of about $30,000, depending on the size of the house, but recent federal legislation included a tax credit worth 30 percent of the cost of the installation. The state also offers a rebate for putting up solar panels, which also increase the resale value of property.

"There are very few safer investments than solar energy," Llorens said.

One Block Off the Grid, based in San Francisco, will roll out programs in more than 20 cities around the country. It was founded last year by Llorens along with Sylvia Ventura and Dan Barahona, who had done outreach on solar via their Web site. A successful pilot project in San Francisco led them to expand to other Bay Area cities.

It's really word-of-mouth that is helping the program locally, according to Hollowgrass, who is hopeful about the results.

"I'm seeing 1BOG signs going up in our neighborhood," she said.

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