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Solar Power System | Solar Panels, Battery Storage, Roofing, HVAC

You’ve decided to join the renewable energy revolution and invest in solar panels for your home. Great decision! Not only will you be doing a serious favor for the environment by lowering your carbon footprint, but you’ll also dramatically lower your monthly energy bills… that is when your solar panel system goes online. When exactly will that be? The time it takes to install your solar panels can vary anywhere from one month to up to three months depending on a number of factors. Three months probably feels like a long time, especially while your air conditioner hums in the background, gobbling up expensive energy. Let’s look at each major step in the solar panel installation process and how it contributes to the speed of the project. Getting to the Solar Contract This article will mostly focus on the time it takes to install solar panels for your home after you sign a contract with an installer. However, if you are just beginning your solar installation journey, then you have a couple of extra steps to complete first, and each step will add time to the process. Finding a Solar Installer You may dream of solar panels for months or years, but your first concrete step to making that dream a reality will be choosing a solar installer. You may be chomping at the bit to get solar panels on your roof, but don’t rush this step. Choosing your solar installation company is the most important decision you’ll make in this entire process. If you choose an inexperienced company or a “guy with a truck” who swears he can install your panels at a cut-rate discount, you could come to regret that choice. We recommend seeking referrals from your friends, family members, and neighbors as well as reading reviews on well-regarded review sites, such as Angie’s List and the Better Business Bureau. It’s always a good idea to get more than one solar installation quote. This allows you to compare pricing and see how you feel about working with different companies. Resist choosing the cheapest quote. Many times, paying a little more for quality and experience in the short term will save you a lot in the long run. More Resources: How to Find Unbiased Reviews for Solar Power Providers in San Diego The General Site Visit When you begin to narrow down your solar installer choices, you’ll want to request a general site visit. A representative from the company will come out to your house to assess your home’s energy needs and evaluate your property. During the site visit, the installation expert will look at things like: Your roof type Roof angle The general condition of your roof Any shading concerns with your roof Any other factors that could affect your future solar power system With this information, the installation expert will be able to make a recommendation on the ideal solar panel system size for your home. They can also explain financing options and equipment brand choices to you. After the site visit, the solar company will provide you with a project quote for the solar panel installation. Typically, a solar company can schedule a home visit within one or two weeks of your call depending on their schedule. With a few solar installation quotes to compare, you should be able to make your decision. Your chosen solar installer will draft a scope of work that will confirm the size of your solar power system, the brands of your panels and converter, and your payment option (such as a cash payment, a loan, a lease, or a power purchase agreement). Once you sign a contract with your installer, and the installation will formally begin. Start your clock! Step One – The Engineering Site Visit (One to two weeks) Before your solar panels can even be ordered, the solar installation company needs to make sure your roof and electrical system are up to the task of going solar. They will dispatch an engineer who will perform an assessment of your home. The engineering site visit is different from the general site visit that occurred at the beginning of this process. The engineering visit will get into the nitty-gritty of making sure your roof is strong enough to hold the solar panels and that your electrical system can handle the amps that the solar system will produce. In other words, if there are any major problems with your home, this is when you’ll find out. For example, if you have an older home, your electrical system may not be able to handle the amount of energy you want your system to produce. This may require you to upgrade your electrical panel. Another common problem is that you may have an older roof that is nearing the end of its life. It doesn’t make financial sense (or cents) to install solar panels on your roof if you’ll have to uninstall them in a few years when you replace your roof. The solution is to replace your aging roof before installing the solar panels. (Yes, this will be expensive, but we offer a big discount if you use us for a roof replacement and solar installation.) This stage can be a nail-biter, but it’s definitely better to know problems in the beginning than to discover them after your panels are in place and you’re ready to flip the switch! Depending on your installer’s schedule, it may take one or two weeks to schedule the engineering site visit. Additional Resources: How Long Does Re-Roofing a House Take? Step Two: Pulling Permits (One week to several months) Any time you plan to make a major change to your home, your local town, city, municipality, or homeowner’s association wants to have a say. This may feel like a colossal waste of time, but building permits ensure that your contractor performs work that meets local building codes and protects your safety. Permitting requirements vary depending on where you live. Some cities require very strict permits, while others don’t. If you live under the careful eye of a homeowner’s association, they’ll almost certainly want to approve your project before it gets started. Fortunately, you don’t need to personally do all this paperwork yourself. Your installer will handle all the forms and just ask you to sign them. The length of this step will depend on how accommodating or slow your local civil servants are. In some areas, permits are approved in a matter of days. In others, it can take weeks or months to get that glorious stamp of approval. If there is an error on your forms, or your solar installation company’s plans don’t meet local building codes, your permits will be denied, and you’ll need to start all over again! Step Three: Raking in the Solar Incentives (Typically performed while pulling permits) Investing in solar panels for your home isn’t cheap, which is why it’s so helpful when the government offers to shoulder a portion of the bill. Even now, a variety of renewable energy incentives are still available to homeowners who pay for solar. The biggest one is the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) which lets you deduct 26% of the cost of your solar installation from your tax bill. Many state and local governments also offer their own incentive plans, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Your solar installer should be able to identify all the renewable energy incentives you qualify for and help you apply for them. Typically, this process occurs in tandem with pulling permits, so it shouldn’t add a lot of additional time to your installation. What to Know About LADWP’s Solar Incentive Program Step Four: Ordering Your Solar Equipment (One day to several weeks) As soon as your permits are approved, your solar installer will have a green light to order your solar panels and the other necessary installation equipment, including the inverter and the racks that attach the panels to your roof. Your installation company may already have this equipment in stock, but if not, your project manager will need to work with the company’s shipping and warehouse department to put in the order with the equipment manufacturer. If your solar panels and other equipment are coming from overseas (such as China), you could be facing a wait of several weeks for the equipment to arrive. (at Semper Solaris, we strive to use equipment designed and manufactured in the United States). More Resources: 5 Questions to Make Sure You’re Getting Top Rated Solar Panels Step Five: Scheduling Your Solar Installation (One week to one month) When the paperwork is approved and your equipment order has been sent, your solar installer can finally schedule the installation. If your equipment needs some time to arrive, this could push out your installation. The other major factor will be your installer’s schedule. During the busy months of the year, a solar installer may be booked for several weeks or even a month out in the future. It can be frustrating to wait for their schedule to clear, but at least this indicates that your chosen installer has a great reputation and a thriving business. If you want to speed up the installation process, one option is to start during the offseason. Winter time is typically slower for most solar installation companies and can help get your solar installation on the calendar more quickly. Step Six: The Installation (One to three days) The day of your solar installation has finally arrived. On this day, the trucks will trundle up to your home, carrying well-trained installers and your equipment. After so much waiting, you may be surprised at how quickly this major step is accomplished. If you own a smaller home and/or ordered a smaller solar power system for your home, the installation may be completed in a single day. For larger systems and larger roofs, it may take two or three days to complete. What does a solar installation for your home actually entail? Here’s what will happen: The solar installers will start by prepping your roof so that they can safely and securely attach the racking. Next, they’ll install the electrical wiring that will connect the panels to your home’s electric panel. After the wiring is in place, the workers will install the racking on your roof to hold your solar panels in place. With the panels in place, the installers can attach the solar panels to them. Next, the workers will install the inverter, which will convert the direct current energy (DC) that your solar panels produce into alternating current energy (AC) that your appliances and the power grid needs. Finally, the workers will either install a power meter if you are going to plug into the utility grid and take advantage of net metering, or they will install your solar battery It sounds like a lot of work, but experienced and motivated workers can get it all done faster than you might imagine. More Resources: How to Prepare for Your Solar Installation Step Seven: Final Approval (several days to several weeks) The home stretch! The solar panels are sitting pretty on your roof, but before your installer can flip the magic switch, there’s one more step that needs to be completed. If you plan on using the net metering system here in California, you’ll need to get final approval by an inspector from your local government and/or your public electrical company. The purpose of the inspections isn’t to grind down your last nerve; it’s to ensure that your installer built your system up to code as outlined in the permits they submitted. As long as your installer knew what they were doing, your system will be approved, and your installer can finally, FINALLY, turn on the solar panels for your home. The time this process takes will depend again on the efficiency of your local government and whether your system requires one or two separate assessments. If you are not plugging into the net metering system and are instead storing your solar energy in a solar battery, you will not need a final review and approval from your public utility. Solar Panels for Your Home Are Worth the Wait It can feel like a long wait between signing your solar contract and finally flipping the switch to turn on your solar panels. However, even if you have a longer-than-average installation process, it still isn’t a long amount of time in the grand scheme of things. What are three months when you plan on spending the next ten years or possibly the rest of your life in your home? Also, solar panels last for decades, so it won’t hurt them to wait a few weeks on your roof before they start working. It’s also worth the wait to make sure you pull the right permits and receive the approvals you need to legally and safely operate your system! The solar installation company you choose can affect the speed of your installation. An experienced local solar installer will know which permits to pull, which incentives you qualify for, and how to request the final approvals once the system is in place. They’ll also be less likely to make mistakes during the permitting process or during the installation, which can slow down the work and cost you money! At Semper Solaris, we want to be your local solar installation company. We’ve opened offices throughout California so that we can offer local expertise throughout the state. Please take a look at our excellent reviews on SolarReviews.com, Angie’s List, The Better Business Bureau, and Yelp and then contact us for a free home energy audit.

Have you noticed solar panels dotting a lot of the roofs in your neighborhood? If you want in on solar energy, you likely have some questions before you take out your checkbook. As you research solar panels in California, you’ll notice that you have dozens of brands to choose from. And each solar panel brand comes with a different price tag. You want to get the best solar panels for your money, so how do you compare the cost of solar panels in California? It can be confusing to accurately compare pricing on solar panels and to figure out what you’re really getting for your money. This is especially true if you receive wildly different quotes from different solar panel installation companies. Here’s everything you need to know to compare the cost of solar panels in California. Comparing the Details Before you can even start comparing solar panel pricing, you need to make sure everyone’s playing on the same field. First, make sure each quote you receive from a solar installation company gives you the same payment option. If one company quotes you a price to purchase the solar panels outright while another quotes you for leasing the panels, the price tag is going to be very different! Next, double check that each installation company quotes you on the same solar power system size. The size of your solar system is a measure of how much energy the system will produce, and how many solar panels you need. If solar Company A quotes you for a 5kW system (kilowatts per hour) while Company B quotes you for a 7kW system, then Company B’s quote is going to be a lot higher. (Not sure what size solar power system you need? No problem! This article will help you figure out how many solar panels you need for your home.) Comparing Cost Per Watt As you start looking at the price tag of individual solar panel brands, you’ll notice they can vary by quite a bit. As with most industries, within the solar world you have your top-tier brands of solar panels as well as workhorse models that will save you on costs upfront but may not offer the same level of efficiency or lifespan as the premium models. The best way to directly compare costs between different brands of panels is to find the average cost per watt of each panel. This will give you a direct head-to-head comparison of what you’ll be paying for each watt of electricity your system produces. For example, our best-selling solar panel brand at Semper Solaris is SolarWorld. With SolarWorld, you can expect an average cost of $5.62 per watt before tax credits are calculated into the equation. Comparing Warranties If you were in the market for a new car, you probably wouldn’t just pick the cheapest option on the lot. Instead, you’d look for a car with all the features you want. The same logic holds true for solar panels. Cost is part of the equation, but there are other factors to consider; one of the most important is the type of warranty offered. Most solar panel manufacturers provide some form of warranty on their panels, which guarantees that the panels will meet certain levels of efficiency for a certain amount of time. The length of the warranty varies from brand to brand. A warranty gives you peace of mind in your solar panel investment and also demonstrates the quality and pride a manufacturer has in their product. Panels with longer warranties tend to be more expensive, but you’re also getting a premium product. Comparing Reputations of Solar Brands A low-quality solar panel that will quickly lose efficiency or break down isn’t worth your investment, but how do you know which solar panels are the Cadillacs and which are the lemons? A great starting place is your solar panel installation specialist. As you search or solar installation companies, ask the representatives which solar panels they recommend. Each solar panel installation specialist will have their own favorite brands, but they can also give you inside information on many different brands on the market. Another great resource are homeowners who have already purchased the solar panels you are considering. Check out SolarReviews for feedback from real-life homeowners. These reviews and the advice of your solar installation specialist can help you understand the true value of different solar panel brands. Comparing Installation Cost The cost of your solar panels is only part of the price that come with installing panels on your California home. You’ll also need to pay for the installation and accessory parts. Don’t overlook these costs during your price comparison! It’s also wise to do your homework on the installation company. As with the solar panels, when it comes to solar installation companies, cheaper usually isn’t better! Semper Solaris, for example, is the only company to ever win the National Dealer of the Year Award two years in a row. Finally, make sure to ask each installation company about the rebates and incentives they offer. Here at Semper Solaris, we are excited to extend to our customers $500 off our installation services. We also provide additional discounts to veterans and first responders, and provide a variety of zero-down financing options. We even offer additional discounts if you discover that you need a new roof and use us to install it. Be a Savvy Solar Panel Customer Solar panels are a big investment, so do your homework before you make your purchase. As a savvy solar panel customer, make sure you are comparing apples to apples when it comes to financing and the size of your solar panel system. Look at the average cost per watt to get a true price comparison between different solar panel brands, but don’t decide on price alone! If you wouldn’t buy the cheapest car in the lot, don’t automatically buy the cheapest solar panel. Instead, look at additional factors to get a true sense of each brand’s value, including its warranty and its reputation. Still not sure which solar panels are the right pick for your energy needs and budget? If you live in California, sign up for a free energy analysis. We’d love to tell you about which solar panel brands we recommend to our clients and use on our own homes!

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the onslaught of alarming climate news. The polar ice caps are melting. Hurricanes and rising oceans are swallowing islands. Wildfires in California are getting bigger and badder. Oh, and what the heck is happening to all the bees? It’s enough to make you grab a tub of ice cream and hide under the bed. Before you give up all hope, remember the power of human ingenuity. Small actions from a lot of people can add up. Earth Day is almost here, and with it comes a reminder that you can fight the effects of climate change by making smarter environmental decisions in your life. That might mean something as big as investing in California solar systems, or something as small as using fewer water bottles this year. Every action matters. In honor of Earth Day on Sunday, April 22nd, here are five things you can do to lower your carbon footprint and fight for our beautiful planet and home. Install California Solar Systems Of course we would start with this one! Here at Semper Solaris, we help homeowners lower their carbon footprint every day by installing solar power systems on their homes and businesses. San Diego is one of the best cities in the country to go solar, thanks to our abundant sunshine and progressive utility companies that offer net metering. The average family used 10,766 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2016. According to the Carbon Fund, one kWh equals roughly 1.22 pounds of CO2. Families that invest in California solar systems that cover their entire energy usage could save over 13,000 pounds of CO2 from hitting the atmosphere each year. That’s a big deal! Buy an Electric Vehicle Unless you live in downtown San Diego or a beach community like Pacific Beach or Solana Beach, chances are that you need a car to get around. Each commute to work, grocery store run, or doctor’s appointment emits CO2. In fact, the typical passenger car spews out 4.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year! If you have a long commute and/or drive a vehicle with poor gas mileage, your carbon bill will be even higher.   Don’t want to feel guilty for that midnight In-N-Out Burger run? Ease your conscience with your next car purchase and consider an electric car. These days, there are plenty of models on the market, from the sleek Tesla Model S to the mid-range Chevy Bolt and Ford Focus Electric. The Mitsubishi i-MiEV or the Smart Fortwo are perfect options for the driver on a budget. While electric cars tend to be more expensive than their gas-guzzling peers, you can nab federal tax credits for purchasing one of these cars. Additionally, with a little planning, your solar power system can cover the extra electricity your new set of wheels needs! Plan a Staycation You and your family deserve an awesome vacation each year, but flying is one of the most carbon-expensive actions you can take. A trip from San Francisco to New York will produce almost a metric of CO2 per passenger, which represents roughly 20% of all the greenhouse gases your car produces in a year. Does that mean vacation is canceled this year? No way! Instead, consider keeping your vacation a little closer to home. After all, you already live in one of the best vacation destinations in the world. In California, you can create almost any type of vacation you want. Walk down Hollywood Boulevard, take the kiddos to Disneyland, visit Alcatraz, lounge on a pristine beach, or shred it on the slopes. Here’s another staycation idea: while you’re doing your part to save the planet, why not remind yourself of what you’re protecting? California is home to 28 National Parks, including: Yosemite National Park Redwood National Park Joshua Tree National Park Death Valley National Park Sequoia National Park and a whole lot more! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Maybe you’re not ready to invest in solar panels in San Diego or pick out a new car just yet. Lowering your carbon footprint doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor or even that lifechanging. It can be as simple as reworking your current habits just a little here and there.   What are some of the things you can reduce in your life? How about plastic water bottles and paper towels? Think about whether you can save water and electricity by waiting until the washer or dishwasher is full before running a cycle. It’s difficult to determine the environmental impact of every single product, but the Carbon Fund estimates that every pound of manufactured product costs 4 – 8 pounds of CO2. Think about that the next time you stop into your local big box retailer. Before each purchase, ask yourself, “Will this make my life better?” If not, then maybe you don’t really need a 50th pair of shoes or another magazine. When it comes to recycling, it really doesn’t take a lot of effort to toss your paper, glass, aluminum and recyclable plastics into the recycling bin. If you really want to step up your game, see if any local farmers in your area are accepting organic waste for composting. There are other ways to recycle. Give old clothes and things you don’t use anymore to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Someone else can use it, which means they won’t have to buy something new! Carbon Offsets Living a more environmentally focused life doesn’t mean you have to give up every pleasure. Most human activity generates carbon in some form. It can be easy to start feeling guilty about every trip to the grocery store, every pack of new socks, or the flight you had to take for a business trip. Guilt and fear lead to resentment and feelings of depravation. That’s not what Earth Day is about, and it’s not a great way to live your life. Instead, give yourself permission to find a balance between eco-consciousness and fulfillment. One way to do this is to purchase carbon offsets to help balance out the ways you add carbon to the environment. You’d be surprised at how affordable offsets can be. A flight from San Francisco to New York will cost less than $11 in offsets through United’s offset program. Be careful when choosing a carbon offset company. Make sure your company is verified by an independent third party to ensure that it’s using your money in a way that really takes carbon out of the atmosphere (like planting trees) or prevents carbon pollution (like donating to a wind farm). Not sure which carbon offset company to choose? The Sierra Club recommends NativeEnergy. Carbon Reduction Lighting Round Thought we were done with the carbon reduction recommendations? Not so fast! A lot of the suggestions we’ve made require big changes to your life, but even small changes can have a big impact if you keep at them over the years and convince your friends and family to join you. Here are 10 quick, easy, and cheap ways to reduce your carbon footprint that you can easily turn into automatic habits: Unplug chargers and switch off power strips when they aren’t in use Lower your thermostat one degree in the winter and increase your thermostat by one degree in the summer Keep your tires inflated Make one day “meatless” per week Order chicken instead of steak Group errands together so you don’t take as many solo car trips Carpool to work Make a commitment to walk if your destination is less than a mile away Don’t speed Use a traffic app to avoid congested roads Celebrate Earth Day Earth Day is a chance to celebrate our potential. We’ve gotten ourselves into this climate change problem, and we can get ourselves out as well. This will require human ingenuity, passionate advocacy, and changes in how we live on a global and personal scale. At Semper Solaris, we are a veteran-owned solar installation company proud to be fighting this new battle. Solar panels help our customers save money and reduce their carbon footprint. If you live in San Diego, we hope you’ll celebrate Earth Day with us and consider scheduling a free energy analysis.

California is no stranger to solar panels. Los Angeles, the largest city in the Golden State, is helping to lead the way in solar power system adoption. The rising popularity of solar panel installation in Los Angeles is fitting, given various factors including government incentives, favorable climate and the global effort to reduce carbon emissions, and the city’s influence in growing the solar industry in general also holds significant value. How Los Angeles Helped Pioneer Solar Power Implementation in California The Los Angeles area has played a historic role in solar power commercialization. Dating all the way back to 1979, the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility was constructed in Camarillo, California, just north of L.A. in Ventura County. Additionally, the city played a further role popularizing solar in California when the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power worked with the Department of Energy, Southern California Edison, and the California Energy Commission to design the Solar One program that was the first to test a large-scale thermal solar tower power plant in 1981. Supplementing the overall spread of solar energy in California, the state’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company created the first-ever, grid-supported photovoltaic system, considered the first “distributed power” PV installation. With all these foundations for solar energy technology in place, it was just a matter of time before the city’s residents could really start to benefit from this alternative form of electricity. Adoption of Solar Panels in Los Angeles Even though its setting would imply otherwise, solar panel installation in Los Angeles wasn’t necessarily the most popular in most recent decades. In 2012, L.A. didn’t make the U.S. Department of Energy’s top 25 “Solar America Cities,” while both San Diego and San Francisco did. The reasons behind this could be attributed to high-cost solar power previously held and the city’s larger use of the cheapest form of energy produced from coal. With more recent and significant dips in the cost of solar energy - along with the rising electricity rates - a positive shift toward installing solar energy has taken up momentum. The need for cleaner air in the well-known pollution-filled city of L.A. has further helped to drive the switch to solar energy. In September 2010, an executive order signed by the city’s Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and approved by the California Air Resources Board, required the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to produce at least one-third of its energy by 2020. To do this, the city partnered with UCLA to study the feasibility of an incentive program for promoting distributed solar energy usage. Pro-solar, statewide initiatives were also a major supplement to these city-driven mandates—the main one being the California Solar Initiative (CSI) as well as the overall Go Solar California campaign. The CSI program works to benefit customers of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). Overall Shift Toward Sustainable Energy Outside California and the U.S., an overall shift toward adopting sustainable energy is happening around the world. In 2015, nearly every country in the world participated in the first global pact, the Paris Climate Agreement, that was aimed toward reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. With this accord, each country would make a conscious effort to set goals toward decreasing their carbon footprint in order to slow down the possible negative impact on the earth’s atmosphere.   Organizations and businesses around the world have also caught on to this trend of innovating their operations and products to be environmentally friendly. Tesla, for example, is a company that prides itself on creating technologies that work to accelerate the universal transition to sustainable energy. It has invented multiple products like electric cars that run on clean energy and is currently in the process of producing a stationary battery for powering the home. SpaceX’s Hyperloop One reinvention of transportation using alternative electricity sources and technology is currently being tested and the concept could come to fruition in the very near future. Another trend toward sustainability lies in waste-to-energy conversion. To address a growing crisis in waste management around the world, cities and governments are finding ways to turn trash to “gas”—to reduce waste and emit fewer emissions. These alternative solutions for energy are addressing the world’s issues and are helping to keep momentum toward making sustainable energy sources the norm. Meanwhile, the increasing need to stay connected and share information is helping to fuel the trend to “go green” and helps consumers to understand the negative impacts certain types of energy sources could have on the earth. With Los Angeles being one of the major cities within the United States, it can be looked at as a leader in sustainable practices, starting with greater adoption of solar panels in Los Angeles. Why Solar Power Installation in Los Angeles Will Continue Rising Los Angeles upholds a reputation of holding forward-thinking ideals, with its people being on the pulse of the latest trends, technologies, and news. With increased energy costs, government-mandated initiatives, and incentives to go solar in place there is a general shift toward sustainable energy throughout the country. And this perfect storm has created this rising popularity of solar panels in Los Angeles. If you are looking to contribute to the positive momentum and be a hero in your own right, give us a call for solar panel installation in Los Angeles. Semper Solaris is the most trusted solar power company in Los Angeles County, with unmatched expertise in solar power. We’ll get you on your way to saving not only money via lower electricity bills but also to drastically reduce your negative environmental impact via the switch to solar.

Clean and renewable energy sources are the topics of global conversations and for good reason. Using a solar power system or other renewable energy sources can reduce pollution, provide improved efficiency, and change the way we use electricity. In the Santiago, Chile metro area, a solar power system has become a major player as the city’s metro system provider has partnered with a solar company to provide solar energy on a larger scale throughout the city. The El Pelicano Solar Project, near La Higuera and Vallenar in Chile, is expected to be complete by the end of 2017. Once finished, it will provide 300 gigawatt-hours per year of pollution-free solar energy to the Metro of Santiago. This solar power system will be used to power the first public transportation system in the world mostly run by solar energy. With 2.2 million passengers using the Metro of Santiago service each day, a whole lot of people will be enjoying more than the sun’s warmth; they’ll be benefiting from its endless supply of energy. Imagine the benefits to the environment when 2.2 million people give up pollution-belching gas or oil-fueled transportation in favor of clean solar energy. Chile is an ideal location for this ambitious solar power system project, as it’s committed to clean, sustainable energy sources for its bustling population of 18 million people. In fact, the northern end of Chile is the most solar-energy-intensive place in the world. The Chilean Ministry of Energy plans on at least 19% of the country’s energy supply to come from the sun by 2050, along with 23% from wind power and 29% hydroelectric. Total, the world’s second-ranked solar energy operator, is just the solar company to bring Chile’s dream to fruition. Not only will the completed solar power system provide cost-effective energy while optimizing the use of the land, but it will also include robotic solar panel cleaning capabilities to reduce water usage by 75% over traditional cleaning methods. In hot, dry Chile, that water conservation is precious. If an entire country can rely on the sun for its energy needs, you can certainly power up your own home with solar. A solar power system is clean, available, and cost-effective. It’s energy straight from the ultimate source: the sun. Receive an instant text quote in seconds and see how much you can save on solar panels.