Six Rivers Solar prefers Pika Generac PWRcell 
Six Rivers Solar is an energy services contractor in Humboldt county California. Founded by Norm Ehrlich in 1980, Six Rivers Solar team has built everything from solar thermal to off-grid solar systems, sun rooms to solar powered water pumps to bring energy efficiency to their community.
PV solar followed in the later decades and is the main business line for Six Rivers Solar. Today Six Rivers Solar is one of the leading solar installers in northern California actively installing PV solar plus battery systems.
When it comes to selecting batteries, Six Rivers Solar’s favorite has been Pika Generac PWRcell for the past several years. In this interview, Norm Ehrlich’s partner Dan Johnson shares with us why they prefer Generac PWRcell over Tesla and LG Chem.
Some of the topics we covered in this interview are:
- History and overview of Rix Rivers Solar. (0:27)
- The realities of being located at Humboldt county, the further most northern territory in PG&E territory (first county to lose power and last one to get it back during black outs). (2:10)
- The consumer demand increase in selecting a battery add-on when going solar over the past few years (up from 25% to 60%). (2:25)
- The main reasons for selecting a battery add-on when going solar: Peace of mind. Time-of-Use arbitrage. (3:00)
- The payback math when adding a battery with a solar system. (3:45)
- Six River Solar’s favorite batteries over the past years: Tabuchi, Pika Generac PWRCell, SimpliPhi, Fortress Power. (5:05)
- Six River Solar’s favorite panels and inverters. Q-Cells for panels. Generac, SolarEdge, SMA, Enphase for inverters. (7:57)
- DC coupling (vs AC coupling) advantages when adding a home solar system with batteries. Pika Generac PWRcell advantages over Tesla and LG Chem batteries in Total and Usable energy and Surge Power. (9:05)
- Other advantages of the Generac PWRCell system and a mention of the Generac PWRview monitoring. (13:02)