Provide electricity to 500 students in Belize

Dear Supporters!

Lot's of very good progress since my last report!! I completed a visit to Solar Energy Solutions Belize (SESB), located on the outskirts of Belmopan, the capital city. After a short tour of the facility, I sat down with Mr. Sylvan to further discuss strategy for purchase and installation of our Phase 3 system. The e-gauges have allowed us to assess how much additional capacity can be installed now that we have more than half-a-year of good data. Essentially, we have plenty of capacity on System 1 --- enough to install 20-24 more panels at 250W per panel. In our first two phases, BRE performed all of the purchasing and coordinated shipping and import...however, now that SESB is involved, it makes more sense to sub-contract to them for the panels and peripherals with the possible exception of the micro-inverters. SESB can also perform much of the installation on-site.This approach prevents us from having to coordinate shipping and navigate our way through customs, which can be challenging. I have attached a number of pictures of my meeting at SESB headquarters.

Secondly, I recently met with BRE since they are still prime contractor. They agreed that sub-contracting to SESB is an ideal plan, with Baker serving as a resource for micro-inverters and to help with on-site installation and local staff training (mentioned in my last report). To finalize our schedule, BRE and SESB will hold a conference call in the next couple of weeks. After the call, I expect that we will be able to finallize the calendar and move forward with purchase and install within the next six months!!

Finally, BRE believes that we may be able to get no-cost (under warranty) replacement panels for the several within the Phase 1 array that have suffered from the manufacturing defects I described in my last report. They will look into this in the next few weeks.

The good news is that even without net-metering, we draw so much power that we have plenty of "headroom" to install the planned additional capacity on System 1. This should help considerably with our day-to-day operational electricity costs. I have attached an e-gauge image that demonstrates the headroom over the last week on System 1.

I am very excited that we've reached this point in the project and look forward to continuing our momentum. Thanks to one and all for your continued support and interest!

John