Clean Air Fair 2001

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission held its annual Clean Air Fair on September 26, 2001. The local bicycle, solar energy, and electric vehicle communities were out in force showing off the latest technology. My wife and I were present with three of our electric vehicles and two vehicle chargers. Much of the day we performed a "live" charging demonstration so attendees could understand what charging is all about and why it is more convenient than fueling.

The solar panels you see above were part of a give-away. Then of these demonstration systems were raffled off to the fair attendies. The demonstration systems consist of a single 100W 24V panel, a Trace Microsine grid-tie inverter, and a power cord. They can be plugged into any 110V outlet and will back-feed the grid with the power they generate. These systems demonstate the solar is just another appliance -- UL listed for safety and ready to plug-in. I doubt that any of these winners will go through the pain and paperwork necessary to obtain PG&E approval for the operation of these "appliances", so there may be ten new Guerrilla Solar users in Santa Cruz.

Considering what we've been through with PG&E, it is a wonder that more people don't "go Guerrilla", in other words, interconnect their solar system to the grid without the benefit of PG&E approval. If you are careful never to let a meter reader see the meter moving backwards, they can't even tell!