Re “Let the Sun Spray into the District. Solar Panel Salesman Returns.”
[img]1413|left|Mr. Murley||no_popup[/img][Editor’s Note: About the only undertaking more complicated, less understood than next year’s intended installation of 2200 solar panels in the parking lot of Culver City High School would be starting or ending the world. Therefore, Mr. Murley, solar advisor, and Mr. Silbiger, President of the School Board, offer separate amplifications/clarifications of earlier solar-related stories.]
Now that I have read your May 8 piece on my presentation to the School Board and School District, and now that you know that I am not a salesman of any kind but the District's solar advisor, I would like to offer the following partial clarifications to that essay.
I hope you can see that my failure to know all the exact answers to the items you noted below is because they were not known by anyone at this point.
As you now know, we now have more definite information about these items, but it's also important to know that SunPower will soon be proceeding with further due diligence. They and the District will also be securing various regulatory approvals for the solar project and the outcome of all these efforts is that certain project and schedule modifications may be required. This is absolutely typical in projects of this kind.
• You wrote: He could not exactly pin down the price of the panels. The District did have the exact price from SunPower on April 23. As I clarified at the most recent Board meeting, in orally reporting the solar system price to the Board I had mistakenly double counted one of the SunPower charges. I corrected this at the May 15 meeting.
• You wrote: He could not exactly say where the panels should be placed. On April 23 the District was considering various location options. The District has since finalized these locations, as reported at the May 15 meeting.
• You wrote: He could not exactly say when construction would begin. On April 23 the contract negotiations had not yet begun. It is in such negotiations that an actual schedule is developed.
•You wrote: Worse, he could not exactly know when construction would finish. On April 23 the contract negotiations had not yet begun. It is in such negotiations that an actual schedule is developed.
• You wrote: He could not exactly divulge specific details about the pending agreement with a company predictably named “Sun Power.” Negotiations with SunPower had not yet begun. So there was no agreement that could have been discussed at this point.
I would be happy to discuss these points with you.
Mr. Murley may be contacted at clyde.murley@comcast.net
