HERE COMES THE SUN!

By living at Temescal Place you will make your personal contribution to increasing the use of solar energy in the U.S. Temescal Place is installing a solar photovoltaic electric system with a capacity of approximately 30,000 watts. This is the largest solar photovoltaic system in the City of Oakland!

If you drive by during the last two weeks of May, you will see the racks for the solar cells on the south facing roofs and then see the solar cells themselves being put into place. Almost the entire south facing roof will be covered with solar cells. So while the architecture of Temescal Place incorporates design elements from Temescal buildings from early in the 20^th Century, the energy system is strictly 21^st Century.

The electricity generated by the solar photovoltaic electric system will serve the common area electric usage of the building, including the elevator, lighting in the garage, lobby and outdoors, the garage doors and the circulation pump for the central hot water system. When the solar system is generating electricity during the day, the electricity will run through the house meter. On sunny or partly sunny days, the solar electric system will generate more electricity than the common area systems are using; this will cause the meter to run backwards. At night, when the solar electric system is not generating electricity, PG&E will provide the electricity and the meter will run forward.

What does this mean to you? First, the simple dollars and cents – it will save an estimated $20 - $25/month on your Homeowners’ Association dues. At the end of the year, if the meter reading shows the solar electric system generated the same amount or more than was used by the common area devices, there will be no charge to the Homeowners Association for the common area electricity usage.¹ If the meter reading shows more electricity was used than was produced, the Homeowners Association will receive a bill for the difference. You can find more details on projected electricity production and consumption below. And no, PG&E will not pay the Homeowners Association if the system generates surplus electricity, although the Solar Energy Association is trying to change that.

And maybe just as important will be your personal contribution to creating a better energy future. Solar electric technology is a perfect fit to help solve California’s energy problems -- generating electricity for the grid on sunny days during times when California’s energy consumption peaks and drawing electricity from the utility during off-peak hours. And of course, the solar energy generated by Temescal Place will be reducing the use of fossil fuels, reducing pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions day after day after day. Temescal Place is too small to solve our energy problems, but its solar electric system is a step among millions of other steps we need to take that will solve our energy problems.

And now the details. The vendor of the system, Community Cooperative Energy of San Rafael, has estimated the output of the system will be approximately 53,000 kWh per year.² Other consultants for Temescal Place, Inc. estimate that the common area electricity consumption for the building will be approximately 52,000 kWh per year^3. The system consists of 214 Kyocera KC167G photovoltaic cell units that will have a total capacity of over 32,000 DC watts. The current will be converted to alternating current by 14 SMA American SWR 2500U 208 inverters resulting in a total net capacity of just over 30,000 watts.

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Notes:

1. Under current rules of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the common electric meter will be read once a year.

2. The estimated output is based on a U.S. Department of Energy model using the solar energy intensity at the City of Richmond, California, which is approximately 10 miles north of Temescal Place and is the closest data point to Temescal Place. The actual output of the solar photovoltaic system may be higher or lower depending on many factors that cannot be predicted or controlled, including weather and short and long term environmental factors.

3. Actual electricity usage will vary with variations in use of common area electrical systems.