Solar Case Study: San Jose, CA

This 6.29 kW solar power system was installed in the New Almaden District of San Jose in Santa Clara County.

Richard and Kay were living a comfortable life in San Jose, California, but were becoming disillusioned with the endless increases in the cost of "traditional" energy. As a retired couple, they needed to control a substantial portion of that cost.

They were also concerned about the environment and liked the idea that their PV system would offset over 150 tons of carbon dioxide that would have been produced by their current, expensive energy supply.

However, their house was nestled next to a hillside with lots of oak trees just to the south of them.  They had too much shade to put a solar system on their roof. 

Our solution was to move a ground-mounted solar system 300 feet to the south of the house.  Even with the extra cost of the trenching required, the (34) 185 watt Mitsubishi solar panels give them nearly a 7% rate of return on the money they invested and offset more than 90% of their usage.

• The ground mount system uses 34 Mitsubishi 185 watt lead-free PV panels and 1 SMA America 7000 watt inverter.
• It produces an output of 9,100 kwh annually.
• The array offsets 315,000 lbs of carbon dioxide over the 25 year warranted life time of the panels.

"It was a pleasure working with everyone from Solar Technologies. Bevan and Ed put the system together efficiently. The office handled all the  paperwork well. We couldn't be happier with your team!"

Richard Koch

Owners: Richard and Kay Koch are making their own clean power in the Silicon Valley area of California. 

Financing is now available so that a person can install a system like this and have positive cash flow immediately vs. paying for expensive "traditional" energy.