Until recently, I had only been to the flat areas of Pescadero. Diego Marquez of Innovacion Solar took me into the hillside that borders Cerritos to see some of the solar installations that had been done in the area. Until about five years ago, there had been no electricity in Pescadero and this area seemed to be power mainly by solar systems as we drove through the hills.

This house on the beach features two levels with a large roof deck on the third level, and a pool that covers the whole front of the house, which is on the Pacific Ocean in Pescadero. In addition to the main house, there is a large garage that has 30 SunPower 450 W panels on the roof mounted on a patented anodized aluminum racking system, producing the potential for 13.5 kW of energy per hour. The other components of the solar system include a 15 kW Sol-Ark inverter, which converts the solar energy into electricity to both feed to the house and to charge the Blue Ion lithium-ion batteries. The Blue Ion Battery management system holds eight (8) 2 kW batteries, providing 16 kW of storage. The homeowner with Innovacion Solar’s assistance plans to add another Sol-Ark inverter and another 16 kW of Blue Ion batteries, moving the house toward grid independence. For back up during storm periods, the house also has a 20-kW propane Kohler generator that automatically starts if the batteries are drained. The whole system can be monitored and adjusted remotely on a phone or computer through Stellar, Blue Planet Energy’s monitoring system. The monitor provides the state of charge including how long it will take to fully charge or discharge the batteries, the temperature of the batteries, and the use of electricity from the grid.