IBEW Local 569
4545 Viewridge Ave.
San Diego, CA 92123
September 26, 2024
San Diego Community Power
PO BOX 12716
San Diego, CA 92112
Subject: Support for San Diego Community Power's Solar Battery Savings Program Dear San Diego Community Power Board of Directors,
IBEW Local 569 is writing to express our support for San Diego Community Power's Solar Battery Savings program. IBEW 569 is actively engaged in the solar and battery storage industry, and the Solar Battery Savings program has had a significant positive impact on our 3,700 power professionals and union electricians in San Diego and Imperial Counties.
The introduction of SDCP’s Solar Battery Savings program has been instrumental in reviving the solar and battery storage sector by offering a financial incentive for energy storage. Through this program, we have seen an increase in the adoption of battery storage systems alongside solar installations. Customers who were hesitant about the upfront costs of battery storage are now more inclined to invest, thanks to the savings offered by the Solar Battery Savings program. This not only benefits businesses, but it also accelerates the region’s shift toward a more resilient, clean energy grid.
Furthermore, IBEW local 569 has the workforce to design, install, and maintain the systems for commercial, residential, solar, combination solar/battery or just battery storage. Contractors with the C-10 license who hire skilled and trained state certified general electricians and apprentices who are in a Joint Apprenticeship Training Partnership.
Thank you for your dedication to building a sustainable future for San Diego. We look forward to further collaboration with San Diego Community Power in driving the adoption of solar and battery storage solutions.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Abrams
Business Manager
IBEW 569
ITEM 17 - SOLAR BATTERY SAVINGS PROGRAM
PUBLIC CORRESPONDENCE - SUPPORT
9190 Activity Rd,
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 277-4223
[email protected] www.greentechrenewables.com Jake Marshall
Manager, Greentech Renewables San Diego
9190 Activity Rd
San Diego, CA 92126
9/20/2024
San Diego Community Power
PO BOX 12716
San Diego, CA 92112
Subject: Support for San Diego Community Power's Solar Battery Savings Program Dear San Diego Community Power Board of Directors,
I am writing to express my strong support for San Diego Community Power's (“Community Power’s”) Solar Battery Savings program.
Greentech Renewables San Diego is a local Solar and Battery equipment distributor who works will most (or all) of the approved installers, and the battery manufacturers for this program.
The Battery Savings Program was extremely instrumental in resurrecting a solar and storage community, which was at an all-time low.
After the NEM 2.0 to NEM 3.0 transition, our local family owned and small contractor businesses were struggling to keep their doors open. For some of them, a program like this was exactly the kick in the butt that they needed to get back out there and sell! And personally, for my business, we went from 100 employees down to 60 as of June of this year. And we have, for the first time in 18 months, started to hire new employees and grow again.
Programs like the SDCP Battery Saving’s Program have inserted a jolt of energy into what was once the fastest growing solar market in the country.
Greentech Renewables would absolutely support and encourage this program to continue past what the original budget was. We also believe that, if continued, all efforts should be made to not have any sort of significant “gap” between funding. We need to take advantage of the momentum that this program has started in the SDGE territory! Sincerely,
Jake Marshall and the Greentech San Diego Team
Manager
Greentech Renewables San Diego
Doug Middleton
Utility and VPP Business Development
Tesla
September 2024
San Diego Community Power
PO BOX 12716
San Diego, CA 92112
Subject: Support for San Diego Community Power's Solar Battery Savings Program Dear San Diego Community Power Board of Directors,
I am writing to express my strong support for San Diego Community Power's (“Community Power’s”) Solar Battery Savings program. Tesla is a battery manufacturer with a focus on developing residential storage and virtual power plant solutions, and the Solar Battery Savings program has had significant positive impact on our business, our parnters, our customers, and the broader transition to a clean energy future.
The sunsetting of NEM 2.0 in April 2023 by the California Public Utilities Commission created challenges for many in the solar industry as the incentives for installing stand-alone solar were nearly eliminated. The newly approved Net Billing Tarriff, sometimes referred to as NEM 3.0, made it financially infeasible to install solar without a storage component, like a battery.
However, batteries remain fairly expensive, limiting the ability for customers to participate which has had a direct economic impact on the solar industry in California. The introduction of Community Power’s Solar Battery Savings program has been instrumental in reviving the solar and battery storage sector by offering a financial incentive for energy storage.
Through this program, we have seen an increase in the adoption of battery storage systems alongside solar installations. Customers who were hesitant about the upfront costs of battery storage are now more inclined to invest, thanks to the savings offered by the Solar Battery Savings program. This not only benefits our business and the battery storage industry, but it also accelerates the region’s shift toward a more resilient, clean energy grid.
The continued success of this program will not only benefit individual battery manufactures but will also support our local channel partners who operate in the state of California. In addition to supporting local businesses as they navigate a post NEM world it also provides real benefits to your customers – enhanced grid stability, reduced customer bills and greater energy security to the customers and their communities throughout the region. We strongly support Community Power’s commitment to promoting solar energy storage and encourage the program’s ongoing and expanded implementation.
Thank you for your dedication to building a sustainable future for San Diego. We look forward to further collaboration with Community Power in driving the adoption of solar and battery storage solutions.
Sincerely,
Doug Middleton
Utility and VPP Business Development
Tesla
22 September 2024
sonnen Letter-of-Support
From:
Blake F. Richetta, Chairman and CEO – sonnen Inc. USA
[email protected]
1578 Litton Dr.
Stone Mountain, GA, 30083
To:
Emily Fischer, Senior Program Manager – San Diego Community Power PO BOX 12716
San Diego, CA 92112
Subject: Support for San Diego Community Power's Solar Battery Savings Program Dear San Diego Community Power Board of Directors,
I am writing to express my resolute and unyielding support for San Diego Community Power's (“Community Power’s”) Solar Battery Savings program.
sonnen is a Virtual Power Plant focused energy storage system manufacturer and fully integrated utility Virtual Power Plant software provider, with over 14 years’ experience dispatching battery networks for genuine grid services throughout the European Union, Australia and The United States. sonnen has > 160,000 installed energy storage devices under active daily management worldwide, providing grid services that harness intermittent renewable energy, seeking to harmonize and balance clean energy with the greater needs of the electric grid, with the sole objective of bringing about a genuine, responsible transition to an energy system that offers clean, reliable and affordable energy for everyone.
The SDCP Solar Battery Savings program is a clear step in this direction, and as such, has had a significant positive impact on our business, our customers, and the broader transition to a clean energy future for California. Indeed, the sonnen organization has been “blown away” by the efficiency, effectiveness, professionalism and speed of implementation of the SDCP program, clearly driven by purpose as opposed to any sort of organizational bureaucracy. The simple yet highly effective grid service daily cycle deployed by the current program (load shape which offsets peak period + injects during a specific timeframe), and the SDCP approach to all stakeholders, truly enables the local customer cited solar + battery proposition to thrive in San Diego. Furthermore, not only does the SDCP program enable customer cited solar + battery to work well in the market, it does so in a manner that actually adds great value to the grid and for all of society, as opposed to becoming a difficult to manage nuisance to grid operators. sonnen operates more authentic VPP derivative programs worldwide than any other residential energy storage provider – including the largest residential battery based VPP in the European Union, and with Rocky Mountain Power’s Wattsmart VPP in Utah – sonnen operates the largest residential battery based VPP in The United States that is directly dispatched by a Utility’s SCADA grid operating system with no DERMS in the middle – on a daily basis - featuring a full suite of grid services (8 in total), service territory wide (not a pilot). The sonnen VPP footprint is quite robust in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, the UK, the USA and Australia. sonnen is almost exclusively focused on the VPP application and does not typically compete in markets where we cannot use our batteries for consistent grid services. And with all of our experience in this specialized field of behind-the-meter battery networking, it is crystal clear to us that the SDCP battery program innovation represents a breakthrough for the CCA model, superior to any battery program attempted by a CCA up until this point in time, serving as a blueprint for the CCA journey into purposeful solar battery networks that area directed to enhance grid operation. So excited and confident are we in our assertions around the SDCP program, that we would be honored to stand beside SDCP and attest to this achievement in Washington DC, at the National Community Choice Aggregation Conference – October 8th – 10th.
The sunsetting of NEM 2.0 in April 2023 by the California Public Utilities Commission inspired the onset of a necessary evolution within the solar industry. This paradigm shift within the California solar industry, for sonnen, has been similar to what we witnessed for years in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Australia and other western countries with high non-dispatchable renewable penetration, as the incentives for installing stand-alone solar and injecting solar into the grid based purely on the variability of solar irradiation are removed, in favor of compensation that reflects the actual value of the injected energy at the time that it was injected. As such, the newly approved Net Billing Tariff, sometimes referred to as NEM 3.0, has made it financially infeasible to install solar without a storage component, like a battery. However, batteries by themselves, creating little islands of pure self-consumption with no regard for their neighbor, with no direction, or membership in a network of community batteries that serve a greater purpose, do not represent a scalable solution. The introduction of San Diego Community Power’s Solar Battery Savings program, as a proper incentive to compensate customers to use their battery’s energy reservoir for the greater good of the energy system – while getting paid for it, transforming an erratic generator into one that is firm and dispatchable, basically, “smart solar,” has been instrumental in not only reviving the solar and battery storage sector in San Diego – but providing the required framework for the sustained adoption of customer sited renewables, for the entire balance of our energy transition.
Through this program, we have seen an increase in the adoption of battery storage systems alongside solar installations. Customers who were hesitant about the upfront costs of battery storage are now more inclined to invest, thanks to the savings offered by the Solar Battery Savings program. This program is a “win win win” – a win for the customer – providing an affordable solution for locally generated clean reliable energy and backup power, a win for California’s energy system by bringing a more resilient, nimble and affordable energy system to all of society by way of the VPP’s ideal load shape and directed grid injection, and a win for our society’s aspiration to decarbonize and fight for the health of our planet’s eco-system.
We strongly support San Diego Community Power’s commitment to promoting the effective use of stored solar energy, as a framework for enabling a greater penetration of local, distributed clean energy solutions throughout California’s grid, and we highly encourage the program’s ongoing and expanded implementation.
Thank you for your dedication to building a sustainable future for San Diego. We look forward to further collaboration with San Diego Community Power in driving the adoption of solar and battery storage solutions, both for SDCP as a “pioneer,” and by utilizing the SDCP model as a blueprint for CCAs nationwide.
Sincerely,
Blake F. Richetta
Chairman and CEO – sonnen Inc. USA