BP Solar Reaching Out to California

BP Solar is directing a new marketing campaign toward California homeowners. To encourage demand for residential photovoltaic systems, BP Solar offers financing options; access to California Energy Commission rebates; a full planning, installation, and commissioning service; and an indoor display screen allowing customers to monitor energy production. Interested California residents should contact a BP representative at 1-866-BP-SOLAR for details. Meanwhile, BP halted manufacture of thin-film PV modules in favor of more conventional crystalline silicon technology. Two BP facilities—one in Fairfield, California and the other in Toana, Virginia—have been shut down.

BP Solar has also created an online Solar Savings Estimator. Just by entering a zip code and average monthly utility bill, homeowners in any part of the country can calculate potential energy savings, anticipated payback period, and environmental benefits that result from installing PV systems of various sizes on their homes. A homeowner in Baraboo, Wisconsin, for example, should expect to pay $16,500 for a medium-sized PV system. The system would shave $27 from each $300 monthly electricity bill and pay for itself in 23 years. The same system would prevent the production of 9,195 pounds (4,170 kg) of carbon dioxide (CO2), 19.2 pounds (8.7 kg) of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and 37 pounds (16.8 kg) of sulfate (SO4). The Estimator is at

www.bpsolar.com/homesolutions.