Solar Energy in Homes - Proof of Statistics and Lifespan of Solar Panels?

Solar - many people throughout the United States would love to see their electricity costs come down. People would love to see a solar panel on the top of the roof of their homes. But the problems are rather serious, especially those that have lower incomes and can't afford to purchase solar panels.

The cost of getting solar typically is in the tens of thousands of dollars to actually purchase one or more panels, despite that the cost of solar, including installation, are going down.

Many California residents are going solar, and that is many companies related to solar are doing business in California. At least three solar companies are based in the Bay Area - PetersenDean (Fremont), SolarCity (San Mateo), and SunPower (San Jose). All of them have one common mission - to help customers install solar panels and help people invest in their own electricity use. PetersenDean is also a roofing company in addition to solar.

Both PetersenDean and SunPower have long competed head-to-head since the mid-1980's - the former since 1984 and the latter since 1985. Meanwhile, SolarCity were determined to also help people cut their electricity bills - they've been in business since 2006 and backed by Elon Musk, who is also part of Tesla Motors based in the Bay Area. It is very interesting to also note that SolarCity's corporate headquarters is located next door to Nick Woodman's GoPro headquarters, as the address for GoPro is located near the College of San Mateo, which is also disclosed via several map websites such as Google Maps.

QUESTIONING THE COST, FACTS

All of the solar companies mentioned herein are having one major problem - that is, to provide statistics of their proof of performance in the form of their data of how many homes have solar and the percentage of people that have solar from a specific provider. None of the solar companies mentioned herein have so far provided any data to back their claims and give their facts and figures to the public. Therefore, I am unable to provide any proof of such data, so it's impossible to say anything about the solar companies' actual "proof-of-performance".

Meanwhile, my father does question the life-span of the solar energy to PetersenDean, SolarCity, and SunPower. Some websites does indicate that the solar cost does max out at $30,000. However, none of the solar companies does realize the actual life span of the solar panels, which can only go up to as far as 20 years. No representatives from the three companies are able to provide any information on replacement of solar panels in regards to the life span. PetersenDean, SunPower, SolarCity, and many other solar companies based in California have yet to develop a plan of how to actually replace solar panels when the life span of the panels expires, along with the cost of the replacement. I attempted to look for information on how to replace solar energy when the life span of the solar panels runs out, but with no luck at all. None of the local solar companies are able to disclose the information publicly.

While my father does not oppose the use of solar energy, he does question the cost of replacement of solar energy after 20 years of usage. He also notes that initial costs of the solar energy may be around as much as $50,000, which is not too worthy in the long term. My father says to me that he can possibly invest in a solar energy product only if the actual value of the solar energy is $10,000 or less, something that no solar companies currently sells for as of currently.

SunPower itself does not directly install rooftops to customers - according to it's website on the residential side, dealers that do business with SunPower does have a contract to install solar systems provided by SunPower itself.

For PetersenDean, what I found about them in regards to their solar use is that the so-called free installation lease is only a myth and not actually free, which is part of their campaign called "Solar4America". PetersenDean did make a comparison between the use of energy provided by PetersenDean along with a "solar lease" and utility bill provided by consumers. However, despite signs that the solar panels are made in the United States, I find that PetersenDean have never compared actual ownership of the solar purchased through PetersenDean to other companies such as SolarCity, which PetersenDean left out on their website.

Meanwhile, SolarCity did show promising signs about how much solar was installed in California, but so far, no proof was provided on their website or on social media that gained customer satisfaction, as well as any facts of whether solar panels are actually made in the United States.

EVENTS AND FESTIVALS

At the Gilroy Garlic Festival in 2014, I was looking at vendors to see how many solar companies or installers are available, but was only able to find one or two smaller companies. The same deal applied to the Pleasanton First Wednesdays Street Party held in downtown Pleasanton. Several smaller solar companies I witness did set up their booths along Main Street, but many were smaller solar companies. PetersenDean, SunPower, and SolarCity representatives are not among those that were involved in either of the events. I've noticed Pleasanton's First Wednesdays Street Party, which runs on the first Wednesdays between May and September, several more solar companies did set up their tents, but at least one tent have totally opposed the use of solar energy solely because of the concern about the actual cost to buy the solar energy and not other factors. Among all the solar companies that was both at the Gilroy Garlic Festival and the Pleasanton First Wednesdays Street Party, only the Solar Company (headquartered in Castro Valley), which is an "ellte" affiliate of SunPower, made the list. (Another affiliate of SunPower, SkyPower, is based out of the Tri-Valley (San Ramon, to be specific) with an office in San Mateo.)

I also evaluated the other five companies that did set up their tents at the Pleasanton First Wednesdays Street Party event, but only focusing on the city of the main headquarters, how many offices in California as a whole, and any offices in the nine-county Bay Area region. At least one of the companies that does business in California are actually based outside of the state; that one is RGS Energy based in Louisville, Colorado.

I compiled the facts and here's what I've noticed as shown in my visual among selected solar companies based in the Bay Area...

Some home improvement stores, like Home Depot, have partnered with solar companies such as SolarCity to help residents install solar. I testedout four different stores around the Bay Area, and out of the four stores, three of them have SolarCity booths. At a Costco store in Gilroy, a Sunrun booth was set up in one of the isles.

SUNRUN'S PRESENCE VS. SOLARCITY AND OTHERS?

For Sunrun, which is based in San Francisco, it is unknown if there is an office close to their home residence, but SolarCity's presence is even larger than Sunrun. There are many SolarCity booths per one Sunrun booth in a typical large city, though no calculations have been done to show proof, and the figures vary by city.

PetersenDean currently has no booths set up at any of the events, yet my research shows that PetersenDean only operates in five states. No data has been retrieved in terms of offices other then their headquarters not only from Sunrun, but also from SunPower as well. Those two companies in either case operates what is so-called "affiliated" offices (dealers) that is run by another company. SolarCity's successes have continued to grow, with continued partnerships such as Tesla, as Elon Musk holds a seat in both cases.

ANY PROMISES IN THE FUTURE?

In the long term, solar prices are expected to drop enough so that homeowners can afford solar energy. But low-income residents are still vulnerable to the high cost of living, driven by the soaring energy costs that those must pay off in order to earn a living, which is still a continued problem in many low-income communities. PetersenDean, SunPower, Sunrun, and SolarCity, among others, are doing their best to have affordable options to people, though many PetersenDean's videos on YouTube does raise questions on the truthfulness of the definition of ownership and solar leasing in terms of who gets to own and repair the homeowner's solar panels. On the other hand, SolarCity so far has the most success with the most sign-ups for solar energy, though I have yet to see the actual facts.

A solar energy campaign at San Jose State University (SJSU) uncovered their group called "Solar For All", which the group is trying to spread their message through various means. The group started at SJSU and is currently the only CSU or UC system in the entire state in their quest to spread the word on solar energy. But eventually, solar energy will become affordable for many residents who want to own or lease their solar, and so the scenario on solar energy will continue, perhaps with help from many solar companies like PetersenDean, SunPower, Sunrun, and SolarCity.