When Good Earth opened our new store in February 2012, solar panels atop our building supplied the energy to heat our hot water. Since then, we have leased the rooftops of the Fairfax Plaza across the street from us to complete our large photovoltaic system.
The total size of our system is 201.5 kW AC (238.6 kW DC) with two KACO 100 watt inverters buried within our parking lot. The total expected annual output is 346,273kWh. Our solar project was partly funded by a federal grant.
Good Earth worked with local San Rafael-based Cooperative Community Energy to manage the project, and with Sun First! Solar also located in San Rafael for installation. Installation began in January 2013, and as of April 100% of the solar energy captured is being delivered back to Good Earth, with the remainder coming from Marin Clean Energyʼs Deep Green Renewable Energy Program.
LIVE ENERGY OUTPUT DISPLAY
This is what our system is outputting right this minute, with interesting information on the positive impacts of obtaining our power from the sun vs. traditional sources. Best viewed on computers or tablets in landscape orientation.
“At Good Earth, respect for the Earth is what we are all about, so we go out of our way to reduce our footprint whenever possible. We are thrilled to be able to take such a big step toward sustainability with this solar project.” – Mark Squire, Partner
“We just built a very energy efficient grocery store, as grocery stores go. But the reality is full service grocery stores are huge energy suckers and we did what we could by building a 200+kW PV system. So along with being a customer of Marin Clean Energy’s Deep Green program, we and our incredibly supportive community, can feel good about supporting a truly green business for a long time. We are also grateful for our continued partnership with our Fairfax Plaza landlords for partnering with us in the use of the expansive rooftops across the street.” – Al Baylacq, Partner