Recommended Vendors
Microgrid Designers & Installers
American Solar (Sausalito, but founded in Stinson Beach)
Jason Nelson Jason.nelson@americansolar.net
(415) 868-1111
475 Gate 5 Rd #120, Sausalito, CA 94965
Reference Project: Solar systems for Bolinas Fire Station and Community Centers
Sun First Solar (San Rafael, but founded in Muir Beach)
Braden Levine braden@sunfirstsolar.com
(415) 458-5870
136 Mitchell Blvd. San Rafael, CA 94903
Reference Project: Microgrid for the Bolinas Community Land Trust.
Energy Security Inc.
Mark Wialbut mark@energysecurity.com
(408) 891-6148
25870 San Jose/Soquel Rd.
Los Gatos, CA 95033
Reference Projects: Residential microgrids “in a box” in Kentfield and Ross.
Gridscape Solutions (Fremont)
Vipul Gore Vipul.gore@grid-scape.com
(510) 894-6030
46711 Fremont Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538
Reference Projects: Microgrids at the Stinson Beach Fire Station #1 and the adjacent Stinson Beach Community Center.
Symmetric Energy LLC (San Rafael)
David Haskell info@symmetricenergy.com
(415) 257-3060
1408 Mission Ave, 94901 San Rafael, CA, US
Reference Project: Fairfax Pavilion Microgrid
Off the Grid Design (San Rafael)
John Sarter john.sarter@offthegriddesign.org
(415) 342-7199
800 Upper Rd, San Rafael, CA 94903
Reference Project: Sol-Alpha-Lux net zero energy condo in Mission District of San Francisco.
Sage Renewables (San Rafael)
info@sagerenew.com
415-663-9914
101 Lucas Valley Road, Suite302, San Rafael, CA, 94903
Reference project: Tom Willard, former resident of Bolinas, is best contact for commercial-scale systems. This company installed the wind turbine at McEvoy Farm near Petaluma.
Cleanspark (San Diego)
Sales: (866) 245-1772, (619) 204-6877
4360 Viewridge Ave. Suite C San Diego, CA 92123
Reference Project: Working on a microgrid strategy for Shoreline Unified School District near Tomales in West Marin.
Residential Solar & Storage Specialists
Nexus Energy Systems (Fresno)
Marin-based contact is Neil Wenderoth, regional sales director for northern California: neil@nexussolar.net
(415) 340-9905
4025 S. Golden State Blvd. Fresno, CA 93725
Sunrun (San Francisco)
Sales: customercare@sunrun.com
SF: (415) 483-1067 595 Market Street, San Francisco, CA, USA
Marin: (916) 431-0220
275 Bel Marin Keys Blvd, Novato, CA, USA
Tesla/SolarCity (San Francisco)
energyorder@tesla.com
(415) 268-9487
999 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94109
SunPower (Richmond)
info@sunpowerbysunsolar.com
888-982-3360
1414 Harbour Way S, Richmond, CA 94804
Primarily a manufacturer of solar panels.
Battery Manufacturers
Tesla (San Francisco)
sanfrancisco_ordersupport@tesla.com
(415) 268-9487
999 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94109
The Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion stationary energy storage product, intended to be used for home energy storage and stores electricity for solar self-consumption, time of use, load shifting, backup power, and off-the-grid use.
LG Chemical (San Francisco)
Jane Pimentel, Sr. Regional Sales Manager at LG Solar, San Francisco Bay Area
(408) 449-5601
2540 N 1st St, San Jose, CA 95131
LG Chem has partnered with SolarEdge to bring compatibility with the LG RESU10H (400 V, 9.8 kWh) home battery. It also offers solar products:
Simpliphi Power (Oxnard)
(805) 640 6700
SimpliPhi Power, Inc.3100 Camino Del Sol, Oxnard, CA 93030
SimpliPhi Power designs, builds and sells a portfolio of non-toxic, efficient, energy dense LFP batteries and management systems that integrate renewable energy in conjunction with or independent of the grid.
Blue Planet Energy Systems (Richmond)
(866) 957 2246
Richmond, CA, 94804 USA
CEO Chris Johnson spoke in Stinson Beach in October 2018 at the local community center. Batteries being deployed in Hawaii and Puerto Rico in microgrids - as well as in San Francisco.
Energy Port (Fremont)
info@energyport.com
(510) 279-3183
Address: 48660 Kato Rd, Fremont, CA 94538
Battery technology being deployed by GridScape Solutions, an MCE partner that specializes in microgrids for fire stations.
Solar Panel Manufacturer
SunPower (Richmond)
info@sunpowerbysunsolar.com
(661) 379 7000
1414 Harbour Way S, Richmond, CA 94804
SunPower is a Tier 1 solar module manufacturer with nearly 35 years of solar expertise. SunPower solar modules are backed by the industry-leading 25-year coverage of the SunPower Complete Confidence Panel Warranty.
Auxin Solar (San Jose)
salesusa@auxinsolar.com
(408) 225 4380
6835 Vía Del Oro, San Jose, CA 95119
Auxin Solar, founded in 2008, is an American manufacturer of solar panels and solar mounting rack systems and a system developer of solar power plants. It manufactures Tier 1 quality solar panels at competitive prices with 25 years linear service warranty.
Jinko Solar (San Francisco)
Phone: (415) 402-0502
595 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94105
JinkoSolar is the best-selling brand of PV modules, with 56 GW deployed globally, including more than 9.0 GW deployed in the United States. Scored as a Top Performer for five consecutive years in the DNV GL PV Module Reliability Scorecard.
Solar Electric America (Richmond VA)
info@solarelectricamerica.com
(804) 852 2950
5519 Pride Road, Ste. B, Richmond, VA 23224 US
Low-voltage solar panel manufacturing companies in the USA. 12V solar panels are the perfect choice for battery charging needs, DC water pumping solutions and other portable applications.
Solaria (Fremont)
info@solaria.com
(510) 270-2507
45700 Northport Loop E, Fremont, CA 94538
For nearly two decades, Solaria, recognized as a top Performer’ by DNV-GL, has set the pace for solar panel performance, efficiency, quality, durability and design.
Local Advocacy and Educational Organizations
Climate Center (Santa Rosa)
info@theclimatecenter.org
(707) 525-1665
P.O. Box 3785, Santa Rosa, CA 95402
Organization promotes state microgrid legislation and hosts events on how microgrids help respond to global climate change.
Stone Edge Farm (Sonoma)
info@sefmicrogrid.com
(707) 935-6520
21692 8th St E #110, Sonoma, CA 95476
Tours available for a microgrid on the outskirts of CIty of Sonoma featuring 8 different battery technologies, hydrogen fueled vehicles that has garnered international acclaim.
CalCCA (Community Choice Aggregation)
info@ccal-cca.org
The majority of Californians will be receiving their electricity from CCA’s within the next decade. Learn what they are doing in the way of increasing resiliency.
California Solar and Energy Storage Association (Sacramento)
info@calssa.org
(916) 228-4567
1107 9th St., Suite 820 Sacramento, CA 95814
CALSSA is the state’s largest clean energy business group with over 550 member companies representing an array of businesses that manufacture, design, install, finance and provide other resources to the growing local solar and storage market in California
Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)
info@irecusa.org
518-621-7379
Great source of information about government support programs for renewable energy across each U.S. state.
Funding Sources
Local CCAs
MCE Resiliency Program (San Rafael) https://www.mcecleanenergy.org/resiliency/
info@mcecleanenergy.org
(888) 632-3674
1125 Tamalpais Avenue San Rafael, CA 94901
Sonoma Clean Power (Santa Rosa) https://sonomacleanpower.org/
info@sonomacleanpower.org
1 (855) 202-2139
50 Santa Rosa Ave. 5th Floor, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Clean Power SF (San Francisco) https://www.cleanpowersf.org/
CleanPowerSF@sfwater.org
(415) 554-0773
525 Golden Gate Ave. San Francisco, CA 94102
State of California
Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP)
Primary source of funding for batteries in California, administered by the California Public Utilities Commission.
Building Initiative for LowEmissions Development (BUILD)
(916) 704 3649
Jordan Scavo jordan.scavo@energy.ca.gov
Focus on new construction single-family and multifamily dwellings and a minimum of 30 percent of total funds ($80 million total for fiscal years 2019-2020 through 2022-2023) reserved for low-income residences
CEC EPIC Program
800-555-7794
California Energy Commission 1516 Ninth Street Sacramento, CA 95814
The EPIC program has funded many microgrid projects in California. The process to get funding is complex but the program has been critical in supporting many cutting edge microgrids in the state.
Federal Government
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
The primary program that could offer funding for local resiliency projects such as microgrids
Federal Solar Tax Program
Federal solar Tax Credit
Ask questions at: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20224, (800)829-1040
The federal residential solar energy credit is a tax credit that can be claimed on federal income taxes for a percentage of the cost of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The ITC is at a rate of 30% for 2017-2019, 26%% in 2020, 22% in 2021 and 10% thereafter for commercial and utility-scale projects.
Guide to Federal Tax Credit for Residential Solar PV.pdf
Guide to the Federal Investment Tax Credit for Commercial Solar PV.pdf
Federal Solar Storage Tax Credits
Energy storage for residential is eligible for the credit, as long as the battery is 100% charged by the solar energy system on-site.
Energy Storage is eligible for commercial properties tax credit as long as the battery is charged by a renewable energy system more than 75 percent of the time.
