Black Rock Solar

Our Mission:
Create community through installation of renewable energy and related educational/artistic projects. By installing renewable energy at low or no cost, Black Rock Solar puts much needed funds in the hands of communities typically not served by the renewable energy industry, who then get to decide how to best meet their own needs. Along the way, we take direct action to address climate change, and create educational opportunities for volunteers and beneficiaries. Future projects will also include installation art that explores these themes.

What’s in a name?
Black Rock Solar started as a project at Burning Man to power part of Black Rock City. We’re named after the Black Rock Desert in which the Burning Man event takes place, a reflection of our deep roots in the Burning Man community.

How it works:
It’s simple, really. The average cost of installing solar power, or PV, is about $9 per watt. But almost ½ of that is profit and labor costs. So we save money in a couple ways.

First, we count on our friends at MMA Renewable Ventures to find and source low cost panels, by using their relationships in the marketplace to find good deals. (They recently completed building the largest solar array in North America, a 14 Megawatt array at Nellis AFB, so they know the industry pretty well.)

Secondly, we use innovative, outside the box design–like the racking we used in Lovelock, which saved 75% over usual racking costs.

Then, we use skilled workers–working with and coordinating the efforts of volunteers–to install the systems, allowing us to lower labor costs considerably.

And we’re not interested in profit, so we can take that out entirely. Plus, we don’t mark up the equipment we get, passing all the savings on.

The result? We get the cost of install down near $5 per watt—which is where the rebates from our very good friends at the Sierra Pacific utility in Nevada come in. That’s the amount they’ll rebate approved projects, per watt. And that means we’re making power for almost for free.

OK, you’re wondering, but who makes up the difference? So far, it’s been donors like Black Rock City, LLC, who’re committed to helping out local communities. In future, we hope others will see just how much impact their support can have, and will donate to our ongoing efforts.

Why do the workers do it?
You’ll have to ask them to be sure, but it’s likely the same reasons we do the projects at all—it’s the right thing to do, for the right reasons, and Burning Man tends to attract people like that…by the thousands.

Building solar power creates energy independence, teaches valuable skills, and directly affects climate change. More importantly, the money saved stays in the school and community, to directly benefit the people who need it most. For example, our project we finished in December to build 90kW of solar on the school in Gerlach will put another $20,000 per year directly into that schools coffers, every year for the next 20 or 30. That’s real change, the kind that makes the world a better place. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Why are the rebates in Nevada so high?
Well, you’ll have to ask them to be sure, but it’s not hard to figure out. Creating energy isn’t cheap. To add new capacity, a utility company will need to find a site, buy the land, get permitted, then build a multi-million dollar power plant, then feed it coal and pay the workers… forever. And in a state growing as fast as Nevada, that can take time they don’t have. Or, it can rebate solar power at a rate that makes it worth doing, and spur the industry to really take off–and $5 per watt seems to be that level.

At it’s current size, the Sierra Pacific Solar Generations Program won’t eliminate the need for new power, but it will certainly reduce it, while cleaning the air and speeding adoption of renewable energy (and in some cases, saving money for school kids!)–which sounds like a great deal for the price.

I want to do it in my town—how do I get started?
Great! First thing to do is look at what sort of incentives are available in your area—the best resource we’ve seen is the Database for State Incentives for Renewable Enegy. If the rebate incentives are $4.00 per watt or more, it’s possible to do them at relatively small cost, and we might be able to help! Get in touch by emailing questions (at) blackrocksolar.org. Thanks for your interest!