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 Your next step after deciding Solar Power is the direction you want to go is determining the size of your Solar Power Plant that is right for you. A system too small and your needs are not met, too large, yes it can be too large, economically, and you end up with an overage at the end of the year. In the case of net metering, you give the power you generate in access of what you use, to the Power Company.
I can help you size your system to maximize your available hardware funds. By knowing what your potential needs are, a system can be sized based on your power use history. It’s true, one size does not work for everyone, not even most. We all have particular needs we need to qualify before deciding that what size system we decide to build, insuring that what we purchase, is exactly right for us.
During the sizing process, we learn what hardware is required and develop a list of materials that will be needed.
Depending on your specific needs, site space and sun exposure availability your system is developed and designed as if it were my own personal Solar Power system, using my standards and budget restraints which exceed code requirements. I am in it for the long hall, these systems should, with proper care, last 20 years or more. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see some of the replacement products that will be available in 20 years. But for the here and now, we are on our way to building a Solar Power Plant that will meet your current and expected power needs.
The Sun will shine whether you take advantage of these opportunities or not, from now on, just like your monthly payments to your current power provider FOREVER.
From the moment you turn on the master switch to activate your system the power product produced starts to flow. Your electric power meter first slows, as the power from the system reduces the need of power from the power company, then, as you put into place your conservation efforts, it stops and actually runs backwards, running that power bill down down down. When you feel the warmth of the sun on your face, no matter where you are, you will smile and think about the money you are saving, we all like saving money, This product does make us all smile, a lot! Not to mention the green work that is being done by your Solar Power Plant, by saving the fuel that is not being used to produce the power you use.
Our Goal is to fix the cost of your electrical power rates at today's system prices, you can, by taking advantage of Net Metering, save the expense and maintenance of costly power storage systems, like batteries. You can either pocket the money saved, or apply these savings to increase the output capacity of your Solar Power Plant, if your comfortable with your commercial suppliers reliability.
Even if you can not afford the system of your dreams, any effort made to get your system started, at what ever production level, will aid in the overall reduction of your commercial power related costs.
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Do you already have a Solar Power Plant? Is it in need of service or maintenance, or just a health checkup? Call today for Quality, Personal Service. Don't let little problems bring your system capacity down or even put your Solar Power Plant out of service. Timely and routine maintenance can assure that your system will continue to operate for years at the rated power output capability.
Do you want or need to expand you systems capacity due to increases in load requirements? There are new products today with high efficient power conversions from DC to AC approaching 94%. These high efficient Grid Tie systems that can save you even more money over older solar technology. Stop investing in your local power provider, unless you own stock of course. Be your own independent power provider, and place your investments into your future bottom line.
Are you considering a property purchase possibly off the power grid and looking at the high costs of bring commercial power to your new property, or just need some help in getting your solar system matched to your real power consumption needs? Don't you really want a second opinion as to a system design you may have already received a sale quote on?
Put my 30 years of electrical and electronic experiences to work for you! Call Today!
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Put Nor Cal Solar Power on your team! As a member of your team it is my job to provide you with the best solar products I can find in the solar industry. Not last year’s model, so, maybe by truly considering your purchase when it is smart to do so, maybe next years model would be best for your system, if you knew it was just weeks away from coming out of production. How many time have you bought at deep discount and discovered, the reason for the deep discount was that the item you were buying was the last of last years, or last of this years model. The next ad you see, when you least expect it, is the ad for the next generation doodad, which is shown with the new model discounts of course. I do it all the time! Why? Because I buy on impulse just like millions of other people, because we just can't wait and go forward blindly. With me on your team, I will do my best to supply you with the newest, best, and highest quality solar products at prices we both can live with, even if it delays or causes the loss of the sale.
I love to see this stuff work, and when it’s planed right and each component meshes with the other and the system comes together and it’s really done right, WOW!
If you are considering SOLAR, and you must be or you would be doing something else other than reading this, at least get me on your team early enough so I can make the difference to your project.
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Business Plan
Nor Cal Solar Power
2929 Edison Ave. # 8
Sacramento, California 95821
Business # 916-396-9083
Toll Free # 866-615-0615
FAX Line # 916-979-1913
Email NorCalSolar@aol.com
On the Web NorCalSolar.com
Patrick Malcolm McLeod, Owner
Executive Summary
Nor Cal Solar Power is a new company formed on 7-04-01 that will rely on the proven skills of its founder to take advantage of the growing need for Solar Power Production products. Patrick McLeod brings over three decades of technical service experience in the, highly technical, mobile radio communications field to the business. He will lead Nor Cal Solar Power as it establishes itself as high quality retail sales company for solar power production and related products, photovoltaic power generation hardware as well as complete systems in the Sacramento Valley area. Nor Cal Solar Power will not limit its operations to retail sales of these products but will include system design, complete installations and performing quality repair service and maintenance as well. On December 12 2001, Nor Cal Solar Power met the states requirements for the C46 (Solar Contractor) license by passing the Business Law exam and the Solar Contractor trade exam. It is expected that the C7 (Low Voltage Systems Contractor) license, will be obtained so as to take advantage of McLeod’s experience in these areas as well when opportunities arises. Nor Cal Solar Power’s concentrated effort area will however, will remain in Photovoltaic Solar Power.
This constantly evolving technology and the ever-increasing needs for alternative power production products, both residential and commercial, offer this small business an opportunity to work one on one with the customer. By designing and installing photovoltaic systems and applying knowledge and experience to products where needed to meet the varying requirements or customer. Each customer has a different level of power production needs thus each system is a custom effort. This requires a close relationship to develop between the business and the customer. But the increased opportunity comes at the expense of increased complexity. Substantial market research establishes that solar power production products are one of the country’s fastest growing retail and service industries. Nor Cal Solar Power is in a position to capture a significant portion of the local area market for solar power production products. Further, Nor Cal Solar Power is projected to return a profit in its very first year of operations, due in large part to the size of the market and the relatively low investment and overhead required to get Nor Cal Solar Power off the ground. Second year revenue is projected to exceed $150 thousand gross.
Nor Cal Solar Power will differentiate itself from its competitors (generally larger firms) through pricing and the development of unique personal one on one service that is lacking in this area. By specializing in just the power production area of SOLAR devices and applications, Nor Cal Solar Power gains access to the largest segment of a growing market. This tightly focused approach also makes it easier for Nor Cal Solar Power to establish and retain a position as an industry sales leader.
Nor Cal Solar Power 2929 Edison Ave. # 8 Sacramento, California 95821 916-396-9083
Business Background
Nor Cal Solar Power
Nor Cal Solar Power is a dynamic solar technology business that is poised to capture substantial market share in one of the fastest growing service industries in the country, residential and commercial business GRID TIED Solar Power Plants. Nor Cal Solar Power was started in July of 2001 and wholly owned by Patrick M. McLeod. Nor Cal Solar Power established its base of operations in Sacramento, California. Nor Cal Solar Power intends to offer Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant products both through personal contact sales and Internet offerings.
WWW.NorCalSolar.Com will provide a base for product selection, ordering and an additional point of contact for and to our staff and our customers. The customer will be able to access this information center so as to acquire up to the minute status and project reports. The owner and principal employee, Patrick M. McLeod, has extensive experience as Service Manager for Radio Communications of Charleston for 22 years with a well-rounded exposure to all facets of the solar to electrical power production process. In addition, Patrick M. McLeod has developed a marketing strategy that is well suited to building a large market in the small to mid-size home and business market. Nor Cal Solar Power has the potential to gain a reputation for offering quality solar power production products through it’s association with Schott Applied Power Corporation, for which Nor Cal Solar Power is a dealer (Dealer # 147149). This association will provide access to various market brand producers of solar products to Nor Cal Solar Power via its dealer program so as to provide customer added value long after the Solar Power Plant project is completed. With follow-up contracted services such as routine maintenance along with later system expansions and quality hardware upgrades, through products made available to Nor Cal Solar Power at wholesale pricing.
The service
Nor Cal Solar Power was created for the sole purpose of providing retail sales of Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant production products and systems in the Sacramento Valley area. A key selling point will be the price Nor Cal Solar Power charges for its quality products and services. Because Nor Cal Solar Power has been able to maintain a minimal overhead by using the non-store front approach, it will continue to have relatively low overhead expenses. It will be able to offer customers a substantial discounts compared to larger solar product retail and service companies when required.
Key personnel
Patrick McLeod is the 100% owner of Nor Cal Solar Power. He has significant electrical and electronic background experience and has people management skills developed as the Service Department Manager for Radio Communications of Charleston, Inc. (RCC). He plans to utilize this experience in the communications equipment installation and service field as well as those of customer relation skills developed during the 22 years he served there. Prior to this time Patrick McLeod spent 9 years in the US Navy ‘69-78. He attended many service training schools thus preparing him for what was a great experience while in the Navy and again at RCC.
Nor Cal Solar Power 2929 Edison Ave. # 8 Sacramento, California 95821 916-396-9083
Patrick McLeod was a technical support technician and in-house training instructor for eight years before becoming Service Manager of RCC ten years ago. He holds a General Radio Telephone FCC License, and advanced class amateur radio (HAM) operator’s license. In addition to installing and maintaining communications equipment of all types and description, Patrick McLeod provided communications tower, antenna, cabling installation and lighting maintenance services to RCC, and Berkeley Electric Co-op, Moncks Corner, South Carolina. He oversaw the development of a series of comprehensive training programs for beginning, intermediate, and advanced communications service technicians. The innovative process of combining personal instruction and hands-on training will be adopted at Nor Cal Solar Power’s solar power production products training programs, both from the technician and customer point of view.
As the Service Department Manager for RCC, Patrick McLeod coordinated a staff of seven bench and field service technicians, correlated service call dispatches and was responsible for inventory control personnel. He provided final approval of service documentation and job billing processing in addition to providing training to these company employees in the area of communications products installation, service and repair and inventory control. Utilizing these experiences and skills developed, Patrick McLeod, will able to provide his employees with the level of training required for quality system design, installation procedures, and systems interfacing and testing. He will provide his personal “Gold Medallion” certification of each solar power generating system, which only meets the requirements for completion with the total satisfaction and approval and final payment of the customer.
Marketing Plans
Market analysis
Patrick McLeod undertook substantial research prior to starting Nor Cal Solar Power, as a business. The focus of this research was on the growth of solar power product sales in general and on the geographic market he plans to serve. The research results were quite encouraging. Solar Power Products seem to be readily available but getting the information one needs to get a system up and running is sparse. The local utility, SMUD provides turnkey systems that provides little energy cost relief to the customer but for the other utility PG&E nothing is offered. A lot of information is available to the end user via the Internet. But having just the information without having someone to rely on when projections fall short, parts do not mesh and the like causes a void in the power production systems development process and there is a void that Nor Cal Solar Power plans to fill. This niche, and it’s depth is what he was focusing on. Solar power production is at the beginning really, of a period of great expansion, according to the findings of several respected industries trade journals. Because of the technological innovations being made in solar power production products, particularly with the on grid inter-tie, or net metering products, residential, commercial business and public buildings use applications abound. The anticipated impact of the long term cost of commercial produced electrical products on daily life, makes this alternative power a viable solution to a problem that many individuals and businesses are finding themselves overwhelmed by the projected energy costs. They find that these products are viable alternatives, that these long term energy cost reduction products make sense, both for today, and 20 years down the road, when these solar panel products, by warrantee, will still be producing electrical power.
Nor Cal Solar Power 2929 Edison Ave. # 8 Sacramento, California 95821 916-396-9083
Marketing strategy
Essentially, Nor Cal Solar Power will market itself as offering the same or higher quality solar power products as provided by its larger competitors, but at a more reasonable price. Nor Cal Solar Power will forego many of the trappings of higher priced competitors, such as fancy imprinted folders, complimentary mouse pads, etc. Instead, Nor Cal Solar Power will sell to the residential and commercial business and state and local government markets by emphasizing value and by identifying with their information, time, and budgetary needs.
As part of this strategy, Nor Cal Solar Power will advertise in several local small business and home office magazines, and papers, for products and services available from Nor Cal Solar Power.
The preferred mode of advertising is word-of-mouth. Nor Cal Solar Power hopes to hold, in time, information seminars on solar and wind power production. These seminars are very popular netting $75.00 per attendee for a one-day class. Of course, these attendees are part of the companies profit base, and their continued support can and should be expected if they are provided with the quality products and highly reliable information they seek and require, which is a major item Nor Cal Solar Power, will become known for.
Nor Cal Solar Power has been listed on and with the state, counties and local governments contract sales and job offer bidding process systems to produce additional sales opportunities. As these entities become more solar aware and their solar projects and needs for solar products increase the opportunities to sell products at nominal profit levels will become an important source of product service, distribution and sales.
Pricing strategy
Nor Cal Solar Power may charge significantly less for product and services than the larger solar power product suppliers in the local area mainly because Nor Cal Solar Power will have lower overhead expenses and fewer employees than the larger firms.
Since Nor Cal Solar Power hopes to appeal to the cost conscious residential and commercial business owners it is expected that margins can be maintained above the 25 to 35 percent levels, 30 percent being nominal.
Action Plans
Personnel
Nor Cal Solar Power plans to keep wage and salary expenses to a minimum. To achieve this objective, Nor Cal Solar Power will retain one employee. Patrick McLeod will work part-time and function in all areas required.
Nor Cal Solar Power 2929 Edison Ave. # 8 Sacramento, California 95821 916-396-9083
Expenses
As a startup company the actual expenses of Nor Cal Solar Power are very low, some tools will have to be obtained, a 1990 Pick-up was obtained, paid for, over the summer 2001, it is expected to provide service until such time as funds are available for it’s replacement. Tools required will consist of electrical construction work hand tools as well as light metal working tools such as drills, grinders, miter choppers and light welding equipment, used to build required support structures, racks and frames for the solar panels. These tools while not being specialized do require being of commercial quality thus are relatively expensive, but the longer time service can be expected with a low replacement turnover justifies the added expense. A man is only as good as his tools, and his ability to use them. Larger items such as light trenching machines will be rented as needed, per project requirements, thus will be paid for as a contract line item. (Low overhead!)
California State and Sacramento County license and bonding requirements met, for a period of two years, the business license on a area wide county and city bases will require additional funding. In that you are not in business until you are actually doing business in most situations, these expenses will be addressed as needed, as projects are developed in the areas of jurisdiction for each entity requiring permitting and or business licensing.
Salaries
As this effort remains a part time one and currently Nor Cal Solar Power’s efforts are supported by funds received from McLeod’s current position with WorldCom / SkyTel, no direct wage notice will be posted until Nor Cal Solar Power becomes more established. There is no need for one it at this time but will be addressed when the time is right, expected sometime in year two.
Employee’s
It IS expected that at some point additional personnel will be required to keep up with project demand. But the current goal is to maintain a minimized overhead and continued growth. Nor Cal Solar Power will focus on maintaining a consistent level of production that will allow for slow continued growth, maintaining manageability by limiting project scheduled to between 6 and 8 systems per year. ~ $180,000.00 per year gross…
Additional funding requirements
There is a real and justified need for an extended line of credit. In that most if not all projects will be served under a contract situations short time funding is needed to purchase products and construction elements required of the installation of the system. The hardware is relatively expensive and as a new company most accounts are COD, or are able to be billed to a major credit card. Additional depth is required in this area to cover the cost of product, shipping and possible storage space when required. Systems average $30,000 in equipment and labor charges, a credit line of $100,000 would be excellent and would relive cash flow pressures. The signed sales and construction contracts secures and insures repayment and maintenance of the credit line until such point it is no longer needed.
Nor Cal Solar Power 2929 Edison Ave. # 8 Sacramento, California 95821 916-396-9083
The Plan
This business, Nor Cal Solar Power, has a better than average chance of being successful, first it is based on an emerging product that has already shown that it can satisfy the power production needs of a society hell bent on consuming every means of power production available to it. People have proven that they are unwilling to do without, and solar power, while still in the development stage, will be a viable source for centuries to come, unlike the present oil reserves of the past. Of course new power production products will be developed to insure the consumer machines continue to function, and Nor Cal Solar Power will grow with the changes in the market place. There are no restrictions to prevent it from doing otherwise.
Vision Statement
The vision and purpose of Nor Cal Solar Power is clear, make solar power system acquisitions as painless as possible, provide quality services each and every time as expected by the customer. Move forward at a steady pace, using quality production and equipment standards as THE guide to continued prosperity while maintaining Nor Cal Solar Power’s independence.
A few Coments.... About Buying Solar Power for your home or business
On Grid of off, the people have a viable choice, continue to consume fossil fuels at reasonable rates, $0.08 per 1000 watts is very reasonable, today. While in the background the noise of the power production generators are heard off in the distance, unless of course your neighborhood is scheduled for the ever increasing demand for new power plants, then the noise is not so faint, nor is it in the background. The power utility rates are likely to remain reasonable for some time to come. How then do we justify a ~$6.50 per watt solar system?
Looking at the long term the value of time over production costs seems to make the most reliable and means of understanding, or justification. A 1000 watt plant consists of ten 110 watt solar panels (I know it’s more than 1000 watts, but there are systems losses that can and do exceed 5% etc.) and a converter (inverter) to interface to the electrical power grid, and interfacing hardware. That pretty much makes a viable system once installed. Cost ~ $7,150
In most of California, as well as other areas, one could expect this small plant to produce ~5,500 watts per day, based on the average sun availability for our area. This amount of power, while not that much would indeed offset at least a portion of the consumers expected power utility bill would it not? At consumption rates of 7000 watts per day per household in California, this amount of production is now considerable. If you base the production on just the current power value of $0.08 per thousand watts produced your looking at only $.44 per day (5500 X .08) it does not seem to be worthwhile, but is it really all about the $.44 a day. Or could it be that the $.44 of power produced saved a little oil, or gas and expelled nothing into the air, made no noise, well the inverter does hum a happy tune. The production required no personal efforts on anyone’s part, once installed, no driving to the plant daily, to stoke the fire, to heat the steam to turn the turbine, and drive back home. The plant is available for duty, anytime the sun is available, no turning on, no turning off, it’s just there, humming away. Making power, storing it on the power grid, if your not using it at the production rate, and if your not home, chances are your not using it all. Net metering a plan that allows you to produce power, store excesses produced with the utility company and at night when the solar plant is not producing, you draw back the excesses you produced during the day plus whatever you need to run your home. It’s a great idea, and a good opportunity. So let’s get back to the reality of justification.
The money game.
How long before the system pays for itself. Well at 44 cents a day it will be a while before this plant is paid for how long ($7,150.00 / .44) 16,250 days WOW! That’s a long time. 44.52 years
Well let’s see that just does not make sense. Why would anyone spend $7.150 on a power system that took 44.52 years to pay for its self? Well did that $20,000 car you bought 5 years ago pay for it’s self? How, did you receive 100% value when you traded it in for that new model now costing 32,000 dollars? Of course you didn’t. The car had added value to you, for what you needed. Besides you gave away more on that last car deal, than this solar system costs you, you just don’t consider the car a loss, because of the cars added value. It was pretty, it was cool, it was the car to have, and for whatever “reason” or justification you made for “owning” it. Renting it in reality, you rented a car for 20,000 dollars for 5 years ($ 4000.00 per year) or $10.95 per day. And that’s if you got the car from your brother in law and he didn’t charge you interest for those 5 long years. Oh, don’t forget the gas and oil, you did change the oil didn’t you? Anyway it’s very close to the going daily rental rate, for a small car, no mater how you look at it! But unlike the solar plant cost, the auto rentals as does your power utility bill continue month to month year to year. So does it make sense to put money into a solar power plant, well, you have to be the judge of that one. Personally I have found some stupid things to do with my money along the way for which I received practically nothing in return. And in this case, 44 cents a day, sounds pretty good, in fact I’d double the size and go for a whooping $ .88 per day.
The current pricing for solar systems that are meant for grid tied service is pretty close to the $6.50 per watt figure, labor depending, or custom installations could be slightly higher. California comes to the consumer with a solar rescue package. Like minded individuals that consider Solar, as well as other renewable energy sources, practical, have produced legislation that allows for the direct payment to the public on an case by case basis, for the installation of solar power, as well as other renewable sources. The rate of the buy down program is of $4.50 per watt generated. It is based on several things, but mostly on the capability of the system to produce power, being tied into the states power grid, and the company you receive your power from. The Buy down programs rates hardware production rates, like solar panels output capability, not on what the manufactures stated production rate (power conversion) is, but what their tests showed. The stated plan is 50% the cost of the system, or $4.50 of the systems rated output which ever is less. The $4.50 per watt is almost always the lesser of the two on larger systems. So our 1000-watt system may qualify for a buy down payment of $3,575 (half the cost of the system). This is because the actual power production is calculated thus, CEC rating on our solar panels were 95 watts each X 10 panels = 950 watts X the efficiency of the inverter we are using 94%= 893watts X $4.50 = $4,018.50. This, exceeds 50% system cost so the California Buydown payment expected is $3,575 reducing the actual system cost to… hold on… OH $3,575.00 That makes the production to payoff time slightly shorter 22.22 years, the warranty period on most solar panels in production today now exceed 20 years so the system may well be working some 22 years later. Now you want to chat about that great car deal again… Nor Cal Solar Power, in today’s economy. makes sense, even on the small plant scale.
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