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Athena Power Solutions is constantly looking for new talent and expertise to join our team. If you'd like to be involved in the clean energy future here in Ventura County, Southern California and beyond, please contact us.

Prototype Completed for Final Patent Award

Our final step in finalizing our permanent patent is now completed with a working prototype of our unique low-maintenance, cost effective and highly efficient solar roofing system. Our prototype generates even more energy that we had expected by the electrical engineers and our critics. In fact, it is on the upper end of our predicted and projected output. The passive cooling strategy also works better than anticipated by many of our early expert onlookers meaning longer lasting components and more efficiency, our critics be damned. Mr. Dan Courselle's design has proven itself and now is ready to market.

The Athena Power Solutions LLC team is now ready to launch our intense marketing plan and take the local solar market by storm - like a high-powered Solar Storm - we will help our local Ventura County companies, non-profits, consumers, and military harvest the power of the Sun with the latest solar technology available to humankind.

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The State of Solar Energy Industry In Ventura County, California

Most people don't think of Ventura County CA as a mecca for the solar power industry, but you'd be surprised just how many companies there are here, and how many people are employed in solar jobs. In fact, many solar companies in our county are hiring right now. When this article was written there were 13 companies posting 44 available new jobs. Let's take a look at who is hiring for solar jobs here in Ventura County.

Coastal Solar Limited in Ventura is hiring for several full-time positions. SunRun solar is hiring for several positions as well including people for solar sales. Solar and Home Improvement Company is hiring solar technicians and solar panel salespeople. Cydcor in Westlake Village CA is looking for a solar production manager, while Vivint Solar Company in nearby Thousand Oaks needs more full time solar apprentice electricians. Vivint Solar in Camarillo also is looking for solar electricians and electrical engineers. SunRun Solar needs installers and foremen. Coastal Solar needs a PV solar installer to help with solar panels in Oxnard and solar in Ojai CA. Even the big boys are hiring for solar - General Electric is hiring solar project managers who will be serving the Ventura County area.

Indeed.com shows 29 new jobs in solar and only 4 of them are duplicates of the offerings listed above. The Indeed.com solar company jobs include firms serving Carpinteria, Port Hueneme, Oxnard, Ventura, Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Camarillo, Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, Simi Valley, Somis, Moorpark, and Westlake, CA. Generally speaking Indeed.com averages 25-50 new job listings from solar companies in Ventura County area at any given time. You can see why the local economic development association cites the Solar Industry as a big job creator for our area.

There are 17 solar installing companies in Ventura County, 8 companies that do solar sales, and 5 companies that make solar products including solar panels, solar batteries, and solar components. There are 11 solar corporations which contract with government entities and/or our local military which are big buyers of solar equipment and solar services. We have local electricians who also install, maintain and set up solar systems, there are 21 firms which list a variety of solar services, products and activity on their electrical company websites.

The growth of solar power in our county is steady and increasing. Each year more and more homes are installing solar panels and many buildings are getting solar as well. Some of this is thanks to mass marketing by solar panel installation firms, and some is due to the uptick in government and corporate users installing vast amounts of panels for their own in-house energy needs. All of our local schools will soon have solar panels, and most of our government buildings. Our local military bases, all have some solar, and have more installations slated. The demand is very high and soon the new rules will go into effect in CA - by 2020 "all new homes' will have to have solar panels on them as per state law.

Needless to say, things in the solar sector have been good here, but they are about to get a whole lot better.

Solar Energy Applications in Ventura County

Ventura County has some great weather, and with our ocean breeze blowing out the clouds we have a lot of direct sunlight. Let's go through some of the opportunities for solar companies in our county shall we? First, consider our agricultural sector, our military bases, our population, and local government offices. Next, let's think about our airports, all the hangars, and buildings, aviation operations. Now, we must not forget our population base which is constantly expanding whereas other parts of the state are losing population, or in economic crisis. Ventura County has just about everything that's needed for a strong solar sector.

Yes, we have a strong agriculture sector here in Ventura County, especially in the Oxnard plain. You see, we also have a lot of quality top soil in the plains due to 1000s of years of erosion from our local mountains. Couple this with a decent water supply and good weather. There is no doubt why we have such incredible crop yields here. Okay so, this is why solar can play a good part in the energy needed for farming - lots of Sun, year round farming, with 24/7 operations - solar panels for night operations, for processing, for produce stands, for warehouses, loading docks, security, and for energy in the fields anytime - solar energy is the ticket.

When it comes to our military bases, they must have 100% readiness and uptime. If the power goes out, they'll need energy. Distributive energy sources, solar panels, with energy storage systems (batteries) make it possible. Saving money is also a military priority. Once the solar panels are installed on buildings, carports, hangars, etc. - that power is available and at an affordable price as the capital costs are amortized over time.

Nearly, every city hall of every city in Ventura County, as well as the County buildings has or is slated to have solar panels installed. The Ventura County Government Center has 3000 solar panels in the parking lot which supplies just over 10% of its electricity. The project has been so successful more panels and solar projects are planned and request for bids have been sent out.

Recently, several school districts in Ventura County have sent out solicitations for solar roof systems, which will involve over 40-schools. The Ventura County superintendent of schools explained to the VC Star (newspaper, now owned by USA Today) that this was only a start, hoping one day our local schools get all of their electricity from solar power.

By 2020 most of the libraries in the County Library system will have solar panels. Ventura County Airport and Camarillo Airport are building new hangars, perfect for solar panels, to go with their many other solar projects on buildings there.

Everywhere we look we see more solar projects and more solar panels on buildings, car ports, hangars, homes, and government offices. This trend will not only continue it's poised to double in short-order.

All New Homes Built After 2020 in California Will Have Solar Panels - It's the Law!

Looks like we have a couple of merging trends here in CA. One is the need for more housing and another is a new law which demands all new homes built after 2020 are required to have solar panels. What happens when such trends intersect? Well, consider this, we have a shortage of homes, and so CA is going to have to start building again to catch up. The pent up demand in the economy will soon start to exert itself. When it does, we will be full-swing into the new law, meaning any home purchased will have solar panels on it.

Yes, this will make the new single family dwellings more expensive, as it will add just under $10,000 to the cost to build each home, but it promised to save over $20,000 in energy costs in just 3-decades. Think for a second what this will mean for the solar industry? If all new buildings suddenly will need solar panels - this will create 10s of 1000s of new jobs and create 100s and 100s of new solar panel construction businesses. If California goes through another growth spurt like we've seen many times in the past, there could be well over 35% of the homes with solar after this next growth phase.

Now then, the cost of solar panels has gone down nearly 60% over the last 20-years, and if those costs come down another 30% in the next 10-years, you can begin to see why California legislators applaud this new required solar law. Some have said this is both a gift to the construction industry unions and proof that California is committed to the United Nation's 'Agenda 2030'. True enough.

The construction unions in CA do most of the training for solar panel installation on new home construction. You can imagine what this new law means to them - lots of work, lots of jobs, and more dues coming in to lobby in Sacramento. It means political power, which means more laws like this one on the books. It means anyone in the solar industry, any part of it, from manufacturing to sales, to components can expect a strong solar market sector. Solar is where it's at in California, it's where everyone wants to be.

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If you are interested in learning more about what we do, or if you are doing an upcoming media piece on the incredible growth of clean energy and solar power happening in California or right here in Ventura County please contact us.