Press Release

GoSolarMarin (™) founder Lisa Max today announced the successful conclusion of its second program to bring lower cost solar energy installations to Marin County.
 
“A total of nearly 200 new solar installations will have resulted from our marketing programs, which began in late 2007,” she said.  In that time, more than 1000 individuals and businesses have registered with GoSolarMarin (GSM) and have been eligible for its discount pricing initiative.

According to the California Solar Initiative (CSI) website, about 450 residential systems have been installed, or are in contract, in Marin County since the first GoSolarMarin program was announced in November 2007.

“I’m very proud that our efforts brought the nominal pricing down from an average of more than $9 per watt to as low as $6.56 per watt,” said Max, who started GoSolarMarin as a means to negotiate lower prices for herself and her neighbors.  The program, which gained international attention, eventually made lower pricing available to all property owners in the County and has become the largest community solar installation project in California history.

“As soon as we announced our pricing,” she said, “other companies also reduced their pricing in order to remain competitive. Now, with the 2009 federal tax incentives coming into play, solar installations have become affordable for even larger numbers of property owners.” 
Max said the GoSolarMarin pricing was a landmark in the solar industry.  She pointed out that last year, Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute, had published a study that concluded that the average cost for photovoltaic solar power needed to fall below $5 per watt to be truly competitive with other forms of electricity generation.
In 2009, factoring in the federal incentives and state rebates, GoSolarMarin’s installed price is under $4 per watt.

“We’re very proud of that.  Our goal has been to increase awareness about and usage of solar.  We think our program provided the best pricing, but ultimately the choice of a vendor/installer has been up to the property owner,” she said.  “We simply want as many people to go solar as possible.”

Both GSM programs were developed through open RFP process.  During the two programs, more than two dozen companies competed for the GSM recommendation.  The first program selected SPG Solar of Novato as vendor-of choice.  The second program, with SolarCity of Foster City, was structured to also benefit MarinLink, a non-profit organization that promotes and executes community connections and collaborative projects in the arts/education, environment, health, spiritual, and business communities.

Max and her partners, Jennifer Hewitt and Carol Benson, put the program together in Max’s dining room, made on-site visits to bidders and monitored the process.  GoSolarMarin has no staff and still operates from the dining room table.

”We never expected that our impact would be so extensive,” Max said. 
“Our program coincided with and helped to publicize a growing national—even international--interest in preserving and protecting the environment. It’s gratifying to have been able to contribute to this effort.”

Max is now considering how to use her community-organizing experience to extend the commercial acceptance and success of other solar programs.  “The opportunity to work with public officials or other solar initiatives,” said Max, “would be a perfect match of core competencies of GoSolarMarin and the needs of the alternative energy industry.”

As for the future, Max has been participating in San Rafael’s city-appointed Green Ribbon Committee, which will be presenting the Climate Change Action Plan to the San Rafael city council on April 20, 2009.  Last March, GoSolarMarin produced a workshop to inform civic leaders in Marin County about the Berkeley plan to finance energy efficiency programs. A similar program is now under consideration by the newly-formed Marin Energy Authority.