The Zen Center Goes Solar
1) How/why the Zen Center’s came to you: The Zen Center project came to us through an amazing organization, Interfaith Power & Light, whose mission is to "...inspire and mobilize people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change." The Zen Center wanted to offset the electricity demand of 4 of their properties, including the SF Zen Center City Center, with solar power, so Interfaith Power & Light gathered quotes from us, introduced us to the Zen Center directly, accommodated the conversation, and stayed involved until the solar systems were installed.
2) What was their goal with solar The Zen Center wanted to offset the electricity consumption of four of their main buildings (including multi-family residential units and the SF Zen Center City Center itself) with solar power to help reduce the organization's carbon footprint.
3) How did SDC Energy help “close the deal”. Because the Zen Center is a non-profit, they couldn't take advantage of the solar federal tax credit worth 30% of the total system(s) cost, which made the overall investment hard to justify. SDC Energy, however, as a third party financing company, was able to capture those tax benefits and pass part of the savings back to the Zen Center in lower leasing payments than would otherwise be possible. Without this type of arrangement, I don't believe this project would have happened.
San Francisco Zen Center – 4 locations on Page Street in San Francisco, CA
· 293-295 Page Street
· 308-310 Page Street
· 340 Page Street
· 366-370 Page Street
· Luminalt Energy Corporation was the installer
· Installation completed November 2020
· 40 kW DC total installed on the (4) rooftops
· The Zen Center also received GoSolarSF incentives, totaling 20% of the project cost.
· 10-year SESA financing option
· Project has SunPower modules with integrated microinverters
· Installer is SunWork, a non-profit, “helping to make solar more affordable for non-profits”
· Solar generation expected to offset over 90% of the annual electricity consumption.
PG&E electricity costs averaged $0.31/kWh.
