March 2010

By Beverly Barela of the Atwater Times

The Atwater Chamber of Commerce coffee-goers took a field trip on March 17th to the home of John Esau in Atwater, who is a customer of APG Solar.

The trip was arranged by coffee host Brent Jerner, the owner of APG Solar, so that the Chamber members and guests could see how Esau's system operates.

During the coffee, the guests saw the solar system at John Esau's house, and both Brent Jerner and John Esau talked about his experience with APG and the benefits of solar energy.

Kevin Rico, APG's Office Manager, was also there to answer questions.

One question asked was how long will it take to pay back? Esau calculated that it would take about six to seven years.

Rico commented, "Every dollar he's not paying PG&E is going into his pocket."

He added, "The warranty on the panels is 25 years, and the warranty on the installation is 10 years."

About having John Esau as a customer, Brent Jerner said, "I have been blessed to meet John and work for John, and the relationship has become more than just a solar installation. I can think of half a dozen customers that have become friends, and in John's case, good friends. We ride bicycles and unicycles together, and he has become somewhat of a business mentor because of his many successes."

Describing his APG system, Esau said, "it's set up in the back of our place on a special rack built for it. There are 72 solar panels. A kilowatt-hour is 1,000 watts per hour. The system produces on sunny days, close to 100 kilowatt-hours in one day. From the panels, the energy goes to the inverters where it is changed from direct to alternating current. The goes into my Smart meter at the house. If I produce more than I used, the arrow points toward the street. That means it goes into the grid. In the evening, when it doesn't produce, and the arrow points toward my house, it's taking it from the grid."

Describing how he feels about purchasing the system, he said, "We like it very well. These days, they build better panels than they used to. We've been using it since Christmas 2009 and we've been able to produce enough for all our needs. I think if people understood how it worked, they would get one because it saves so much money."

During an interview after the coffee, Kevin Rico shared his background and how he came to work for APG Solar.

He said, "I am a UC Merced graduate with a Business degree. I am in the second graduating class, and I'll be walking [participating in the commencement ceremony] in May."

He explained, "I've been working for Brent Jerner, APG's owner, since about 2007. APG Solar has a contract with UC Merced and has worked in conjunction with one of my former UC professors, Dr. Roland Winston at the solar test stand located at Castle Commerce Center, and met Brent during that time."

He continued, "Brent is a long-time local resident and graduated from Atwater High School. Brent has had a passion for solar since his graduation from Fresno State University where he completed his B.S. in Industrial Technology in 1983. Brent's senior thesis on absorption cooling (using the sun's heat to cool buildings) earned an 'A' grade and motivated him to continue his dream of working in the field of renewable energy."

Describing the business, Rico said, "We install solar panels on houses, commercial space and industrial space. We provide full service for designing and installing the system. The system is either on the ground mounted on poles, or on the roof. Generally, we design the system to produce 80% of the owner's power. It lowers the bill quite a bit."

August 2009

APG Solar installed a Grundfos deep well DC pump, PV panels and all the associated equipment to serve a stock watering trough in the Mariposa area. The system will fill 5,000 gallons of water storage, pumping when the sun shines. A float system regulates the water level in both the storage tanks and the trough. The sophisticated pump includes a built-in dry well shutoff, and circuitry that only allows the pump to operate when the PV array is generating sufficient power to run efficiently and safely. Call us if you need to pump water at locations remote from the grid. We can design systems that will pump from as deep as 670'.

July 2009

APG built another grid-tie PV array system in Merced, allowing another homeowner to reduce power bills and help green the planet." See the William Brooks project on our Projects and Testimonals page!

June 2009

APG set up shop at the Tenth Annual Heartland Festival hosted by Double T Acres in Stevinson. The all-day program included dozens of events, demonstrations, and activities. They ranged from live music by six different bands, a petting zoo and lots of activities for the kids, to stagecoach rides, belly dancing, plant propagation, container gardening, cooking, square dancing, and of course, lots of questions and answers about solar energy!

May 2009

APG Solar mixed business with pleasure at the Big Creek Lumber Car Show and Vendor Fair on SaturdayMay 2. The event was well attended by vendors, car exhibitors, and the general public. APG staff talked solar with lots of people, and Brent’s Chevelle took second in the Sixties Muscle Car category. 

Later in the month APG participated in the Merced Home Show at the Merced County Fairgrounds, and the Pick and Gather Organic Agriculture Fair in Livingston. Staff noted the level of interest in solar energy among the public was consistently high.

April 2009

APG SOLAR collaborates with UC Merced on cutting-edge solar lighting technology.

APG brought the patented Tracking Solar Daylighter to the next phase of testing in a real-world environment. This is the first installation of the Daylighter outside the U.C. Engineering labs.

The unit gathers and concentrates sunlight, then transmits it efficiently by fiber optic cable to be used indoors. The gathering and concentrating components are mounted on a solar tracker to maximize the number of daily hours of useful light provided by the unit. 

APG installed the Daylighter at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum, located at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds. The unit was bolted to a custom mounting platform added by APG to the east exterior wall of the Museum building.  Concentrated light from the unit will be routed to a display case inside the Museum. APG will coordinate with UC Merced students to complete the cable runs and other final installation details. Stay tuned for the time and date of an open house demonstration of the Daylighter.

March 2009

UC Merced begins the Absorption Chiller heating/cooling project under the direction of Dr. Roland Winston. 
APG will provide support and advice on system operation, modification, and testing during the R&D process.

Location: Castle Commerce Center, Atwater, CA
System Components:

• Twenty (20) collectors consisting of multiple Evacuated Tube Compound Parabolic Concentrators (XCPC)
• (23kW) 6.6 ton Absorption Chiller

The system design goal is to satisfy the complete heating and cooling requirements for a modular office building on site. Each of the collectors will provide 1kW of energy for a total of 20kW going into the chiller. Much valuable empirical data about real-world application of energy gathered by XCPC collectors will be created by this project.

How it works:
Synthetic mineral oil is circulated through each of the collectors, which are placed in 4 parallel strings of 5 collectors in series. The collectors supply oil heated to 180F to the Absorption Chiller, which is returned at 160F back to the collectors to restart the loop. 

The Absorption Chiller project will be completed by June.

February 2009

January 2009

Residential Solar Heated Radiant Floor System

Location: Mariposa, CA
System Components:

December 2008

Visit to the Kimberlina Power Plant

APG’s Brent Jerner was invited to the opening of this utility-scale (5MW) solar thermal power plant built by Ausra, Inc, near Bakersfield, CA.  Governor Schwarzenegger addressed the attendees, speaking to the importance of harnessing solar power as a practical energy solution for our sun-drenched region.  At the plant, Ausra’s proprietary technology for concentrating solar energy turns water to steam, which drives a turbine to generate electricity.  Click here for more information.

November 2008

2KW battery-based PV system

Owner: Steve Soderstrom 
Location:  Steve’s houseboat, Lake Don Pedro, CA
System Components:

• Twelve 170 watt Sharp modules
• One W-6048 Xantrex inverter
• Eighteen L16 Trojan Batteries

About Steve:

Steve attended Turlock High School, participating with great success in the baseball program there. He went on to pitch for Fresno State University. In 1993 he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants, sixth overall in the 1993 amateur entry draft.

Steve spent three years in the Giants' organization before getting to the Major Leagues. The 6' 3" 215 pound right-hander made his Major League debut on September 17, 1996. One of the highlights of his pro baseball career is striking out Ken Griffey, Jr. on three pitches!

Steve currently runs a baseball teaching facility in his hometown, Turlock, CA.

October 2008

Federal Solar Tax Credits Extended for 8 Years, US Poised to Become Largest Solar Market in the World.

Click here to read the article posted by the Solar Energy Industries Association.

July 2008

Late this summer APG SOLAR, an Atwater-based renewable energy company , sponsored a group of UC Merced students to attend an international renewable energy program located in Denmark. The program focused on renewable energy technologies utilized around the world. One main topic of interest during the trip was a visit to a facility testing evacuated tube hot water sysytems, the most current solar domestic hot water technology. In Europe and Asia today, millions of homes and business are heated using the innovative technology.

APG SOLAR is one of the first companies in the Central Valley to offer this cutting-edge hot water technology. Our Apricus evacuated tube arrays efficiently convert abundant Valley sunlight into dollars, realizing maximum value for our customers.

We at APG SOLAR realize that sustainable energy is a community issue where education is the first step in moving toward a better tomorrrow. APG SOLAR supports University of California Merced in all of its endeavors to promote renewable technologies throughout the community. Below is an excerpt from one of the projects generated by the UC Merced research group.

"While current attempts to transition energy production torward renewable sources in California have been successful, the rate of implementing renewable energy is not proportional to the growth rate of the power consumption in California.

Lolland is a region of Denmark that is leading the world in developing and implementing renewable energy. By exploring the communities in which these renewable technologies are being used, our group will develop an understanding of the complexity of technical, political, social, and economic issues that were necessary to make the transition successful.

Our project will identify the issues surrounding the implementation of the renewable system in Lolland and identify a region specific solution for the Central Valley and its resources."

To learn how you can reduce or eliminate your utility bills and preserve our environment with solar, contact APG SOLAR today!