ONTILITY's Solar PV, Solar Thermal and Greenovation Solution Expected to Turn Corporate Headquarter to Energy Neutral

ONTILITY Teams with Smith & Associates to Delivery Solar and Energy Efficiency Greenovation Project ONTILITY's Solar PV, Solar Thermal and Greenovation Solution Expected to Turn Corporate Headquarter to Energy Neutral HOUSTON, TX – (October 13, 2011) – Smith & Associates, a Houston based leader in the electronics distribution market, has teamed with Houston based solar and energy efficiency leader ONTILITY to go green and move closer to its 2020 corporate goal of being an energy neutral and zero waste global company. The Smith & Associates solar and energy efficiency greenovation project features many of the solar and energy efficiency industries leading firms, technologies and solutions, including; Solar Community, SANYO Solar, Schuco, Cooper, SoloPower, Lumeta, Advanced Energy, DECK, GE, Legrand, SolarBos, Fronius, and Green Mountain Energy. Financially and operationally, the solar and energy efficiency greenovation project is expected to save Smith & Associates between $220,000 and $300,000 annually.

"We love projects like the Smith & Associates project because they allow us to work closely with the client from the beginning of the process to the end of the process. Projects like this one allow ONTILITY and its value added partners to design and deliver a complete and high profile solar and energy efficiency Greenovation project." States Thomas Pash, ONTILITY's President and CEO.

"ONTILITY is a valuable and very knowledgeable partner. The ONTILITY team worked closely with us for over a year helping us set up a very complete green roadmap that aligned perfectly with what our organization wanted to accomplish today as well as 20 years from today. " Says Matthew Hartzell, Smith & Associates' COO. "Additionally, the project came in under budget and was complete a month ahead of schedule."

About the Project
Solar PV System Description: The Smith & Associates project will feature four, separate industry-leading PV systems utilizing a variety of proven and emerging solar PV technologies. The project will include a 47kW solar car parking structure using Sanyo 195W bifacial modules. Also incorporated in the project is a 30kW Lumeta Power Ply PV module system, a 25kW SoloPower thin film module system and a 36kW Schuco PV module system featuring Cooper Arista racking. To convert the DC electricity to AC electricity the solar PV systems will connect to industry leading inverters, including: two (2) 3-phase 12kw Fronius IG Plus inverters, two (2) 3-phase Advanced Energy 30kW inverters and one (1) 3-phase Advanced Energy 50kW inverter. Lastly, the project will feature DECK monitoring and ONTILITY's custom solar car parking structure. To maximize the solar power production and excess power, Smith & Associates is planning on teaming with Green Mountain Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, by participating in the Renewable Rewards® Buy-Back Program.

Greenovation - Green Building: The complete project started with a comprehensive BPI energy audit to set the project baseline. A test out or final energy audit to verify actual performance and savings has also been completed. The Greenovation project features the following energy efficiency improvements; a brand new HVAC system and controls, LED parking lot lights, energy efficient HID exterior building lights, a new DOE approved white "Cool Roof" membrane with added insulation and six dual station GE electric vehicle charging stations. Lastly, a Schuco solar thermal system was added to meet all Smith & Associates hot water employee and manufacturing needs.

Smith and Associates Green and Sustainability Corporate Program: Smith & Associates has a green/sustainable corporate team that is focusing on making the entire global enterprise more sustainable as well as meeting the goal of becoming a energy neutral and zero waste company by 2020. Some initial components of the program include, free monthly Electric Vehicles (EV) for contest winners, an improved recycling and reuse program, a company sponsored and subsidized EV purchase program and a company sponsored and subsidized home solar PV power purchase and lease program. Smith is also providing free EV charging both at their corporate HQ and at home thanks to free GE EV residential charging stations.

See More About This Project
Smith and Associates have launched a dedicated section of Smithweb that provides a detailed overview of the Greenovation project, and a timeline of Smith's sustainability efforts. Please see more at: http://www.smithweb.com/en/company/smith-and-the-environment

About Smith and Associates
Founded in Houston in 1984, Smith & Associates is a leader in the independent distribution of semiconductors and electronic components to electronics and high-tech manufacturers. Smith offers shortage sourcing for commodity and obsolete parts, innovative purchasing and inventory management solutions, redistribution of excess inventory, and component stocking for warranty and repair programs. A privately held company, Smith & Associates employs more than 300 people worldwide, with annual revenue in excess of US$400 million. Smith's regional hubs in Houston, Hong Kong and Amsterdam are ISO certified and IDEA compliant. In addition, sales and purchasing offices are located in Silicon Valley, Barcelona, Guadalajara, New York, Denver, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Denver.

About ONTILITY

ONTILITY is committed to Connecting the Last Mile of the Solar Industry. Learn Solar design & installation through our professional solar training. Buy Solar from our stocking warehouse of superior solar products at competitive prices. Enjoy Solar Business Success with our full range of partner support services including engineering and design consulting, proposal support, sales and marketing programs, technology solutions, due diligence and financial support, lease programs, custom training and project consulting. Team with us on residential, commercial and large scale Solar Solutions. ONTILITY brings you best-in-class solar business and project training, products, support, services and solutions.

 

Two news items caught my attention this week. The first, in Renewable Energy World, was about the publication of a comprehensive map of operational and pre-operational utility-scale solar PV power plants in the U.S. and Canada. This easy to grasp picture shows that there is presently 482.63MW of generating capacity among 35 facilities. These range in size from 2MW to the largest, the Sarnia PV Power Plant in Ontario, Canada, at 97MW. The more interesting picture, however, is the list of under-construction and under-development plants. This list shows an astounding generating capacity of more than 16.6GW to be built in the next 4 years. That’s an increase of 50 times the current capacity.
What the map doesn’t reflect is the recent decision by a couple of major utility scale solar electric plant developers to change their plans from CSP to PV, the topic of the other article in this week’s news.
Forbes writer Todd Woody reported that the much touted Blythe Solar Power Project, originally planned to be a tracking-trough type CSP system to be developed by Solar Millennium, a German company, is being re-configured as a PV facility using crystalline modules, 500MW of them. The joint venture, Solar Trust of America, is not only switching from Solar Millennium’s solar trough technology, but as a result is walking away from a $2.1 billion federal government loan guarantee. They say that the economics of PV make more sense than CSP and that commercial financing to build the plant will be more readily available.
So far, developers of at least seven big renewable energy projects in California have switched from solar thermal technology to PV in recent months. In June, Solar Millennium’s Solar Trust of America told California regulators that it was planning to redesign its 250-megawattt Ridgecrest project as a photovoltaic farm. 
So just between these two projects, add another 750MW to that 16.6GW figure.
For these large project developers, it’s all about the numbers. With PV module prices continuing to drop, they have clearly determined that they can build and operate a PV farm for less than a solar thermal facility. How much of that decision is based on the increasing cost of water? The cost of water is a significant factor for a large scale thermal plant in the desert – not so much for a PV farm. So perhaps (Could it be?) this is a case where what is good for investors also conserves a valuable resource; not a bad deal all in all.