Author: <span>dmann</span>

A video of the referenced Altamont Landfill Open Space Committee is posted on our Youtube channel

The Altamont Landfill Settlement Fund exists to buy and protect agricultural land from development. Working the system to its advantage as an insider, Livermore city staff nearly got away with acquiring millions of dollars in grant money to buy land – for itself!  We consider the City’s action to be an abuse of the process.

On February 8th, they applied for $3.6 million in funding. The ALOSC Committee accepted the applications, and a special board meeting agenda was drafted the next day.  When CBG heard about it, we intervened in every way we knew possible.

One week later, Livermore attended the hastily arranged gathering, poised to receive their payments. Committee Chair Shawn Wilson did exactly what a voting member should properly do.  He listened to the facts without prejudgment, and guided the committee members to carefully consider the issues.  Enthusiastic and passionate residents attended and pleaded their case. The votes were cast, and Livermore didn’t receive any money. The CitizensForBalancedGrowth.org website has a video of the meeting.

The next ALOSC meeting will be held on March 15th at 12:30, at the Public Works Building in Dublin, 4825 Gleason Drive. Livermore will likely try the same maneuver again. Everyone is encouraged to attend, and speak. Zoom is also available.

Since Livermore is currently attempting to eat up over a thousand acres east of Greenville, it adds credence to the argument that this Administration is no friend to open space protection.  Grant funds intended for preservation should only be used for situations where land is actually being preserved, as through a parks department or land trust. Stewardship of environmental resources should never be entrusted to entities that may themselves become a threat.

We decided to share an excel template to make printing 1099-NEC forms easier.

Non-profits often use Quickbooks to manage their finances, and that can include sending out the form at the beginning of each year. Since Intuit has not updated their software to properly print these forms yet, we established a workaround to get folks through this year.

1. Download the excel sheet
2. Print out your 1099 forms from Quickbooks as a PDF file
3. Open the PDF, copy and paste the relevant data in the cells of the excel sheet – it has been carefully aligned.
4. Print a test sheet to check alignment and make adjustments as necessary.
5. Print out the excel file using 1099-NEC preprinted forms

We hope this is helpful!

Board member Doug Mann found it was incredibly painless to get permitted and start producing energy at his home.  Having gone through the process, this information would hopefully help others get headed in the right direction with fewer missteps.

This system is grid tied and uses the newer technology of microinverters.  These inverters make just about everything easier, cheaper and better.  String inverters on the other hand, while still appropriate in some cases, could add unwanted complexity.

Here’s the MS Word document was handed to Livermore Building department.  They handed back a permit.

Livermore-Solar-Permit-Plan

Livermore also has these handy reference documents

1-14 Photovoltaic Submittal (Residential)

1-14 Photovoltaic 2013 Code Changes Residential

The “hardest” part for some may be calculating the voltage rise, which should be done to figure out how big your copper wires must be so that the system runs efficiently.  You can serach the internet for “Solar voltage rise calculator”.  Enphase also makes a handy guide.  EnphaseTechBrief_Vdrop_M250

Remember your ground wire needs to be #8 or larger in Livermore, regardless of your conductor size.

Search Craigslist for the solar panels and microinverters.  In our high tech area, there are often great package deals offered on Craigslist for panels/inverters/racking.  The south bay seems to always have inventory.  Everything else you need is at the hardware store.