Leading San Diego Solar Firm Offers Cash Incentives to Homeowners

SAN DIEGO, CA April 04, 2012

With the potential of developing the nation's largest collective deployment of solar energy, locally headquartered business Sullivan Solar Power announced its launch of the San Diego Solar Program Sunday. The innovative program allows eligible residents to go solar for no upfront cost and receive a substantial cash payment for their involvement.

"San Diego's Solar Program is designed in a manner that financially encourages the entire community to go solar," said Daniel Sullivan, founder and president of Sullivan Solar Power, "The goal is to shift San Diego's dependence from nuclear power and imported fossil fuels to renewable resources and show the rest of the nation that it can be done."

The program provides participants cash payments at a level greater than incentives that are provided by the State of California. The program is modeled similarly to the State program, in that the early adopters will receive the highest incentives. The average San Diego county homeowner who participates in the first phase of the program will receive a check for $2,500. Incentive amounts will be reduced as more people sign up until the program closes on December 31, 2012. The countywide solar program is limited to 500 residences.

Over the past three years, Sullivan Solar Power has ran numerous similar programs tailored specifically for cities in the region including Coronado, Poway, Escondido, Vista, Fallbrook, Carlsbad and Chula Vista. To date, the company has already disbursed over $400,000 to property owners with these smaller hyper local programs. The firm decided to take a larger visionary approach in 2012 with the start of this new quarter.

"In just one hour, the sun casts enough energy upon the Earth's surface to provide the entire world with power for one year, yet less than 1 percent of our electricity is generated from solar," said Sullivan, "We need to harness this resource for the benefit of our future generations and this is our company's way of contributing to our children's future."

The City of San Diego was recently named the number one solar city in the state for the second time in a row, both for number of solar rooftops and capacity installed. California has more solar power systems than any other state in America, therefore providing the City of San Diego its prestigious title of solar capitol of the nation. However, even the country's leading solar city has less than one percent of its electricity coming from solar power.

When asked why people haven't adopted the technology in greater percentages, Sullivan says that there is a general lack of knowledge and a lot of misconceptions about solar. Most people aren't aware that it is cheaper than the utility. His company has set out to change that, and is working to educate the entire region about the benefits of solar through a series of luncheons and informational presentations throughout the community.

"With the financing options that we have available today, homeowners can go solar for $0 out-of-pocket, save money every month and then with the San Diego Solar Program, we are going to send them a check," said Sullivan, "We are paying people to go solar with this program. How is that for an economic stimulus plan?"

A solar luncheon will be taking place for San Diego homeowners on Saturday, May 12 at 11 a.m. at Balboa Park, in the Mingei International Museum (1439 El Prado). The presentation will be one hour and inform residents about solar technology, rebates and incentives, case studies and details of the San Diego Solar Program.