SMA Solar Technology America LLC, 204 W Main St, Grass Valley, CA 95945, US

We started our solar energy business back in 1980 and have been growing it ever since. At the time, we lived on a remote 20-acre piece of land 2-1/2 miles from the pavement and electricity, on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County, California. We contacted PG&E, our local power company, for a price to bring in power. They quoted us $208, 000. When we asked what we should do, they said, "find an alternative source of power." So that's what we did. That alternative source was solar. We noticed that many of our neighbors were in the same situation. As solar became more popular in our area, we moved our business to town to be accessible to more people. Our business grew slowly, helped partly by the solar tax credits that were available at the time. In the mid 80's, the tax credits were discontinued. Solar became more of a "hippy dream" than an energy source to be taken seriously. Our business struggled for the rest of the decade and a good part of the 90's, serving the needs of other forest dwellers, but still to be discovered by the mainstream. In 1996, a big change occurred. It was called "net metering." This new law allowed solar producers who were connected to the power company to "sell" their excess power to the power company for credit against their electric bills. This made solar more attractive to the masses. By 1998, the California Energy Commission began its rebate program, which gave on-grid solar a huge shot in the arm. Ever since then, our business has grown almost continuously and became more profitable. In 2001, Sierra Solar moved to its current Grass Valley location. Our continuing evolution has us looking forward to a very positive and profitable future.

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