Thursday, February 23, 2017

The Shady Marinwood CSD Solar Contract (It is not too late)

The "World Headquarters" of C2SGG and Richard Devore, 29 year old financial entrepreneur in New York, New York who will be providing Marinwood CSD financing for SolEd Solar contract.


As followers of this blog know, Marinwood CSD entered into a very high priced Solar Power Purchase Agreement with SolEd Benefit Corporation that was facilitated by former Marinwood CSD manager Cyane Dandridge in a "hush hush, no bid" deal in November 2012.  

The project has had many delays due to SolEd Benefit Corporation and the lack of financing.  In March 2016, the board unanimously approved the contract and already the contract is TWO MONTHS behind schedule and in violation of contract terms.

The board was warned about the financial instability of the SolEd and the blistering report by the City of St Helena who summarily fired SolEd Benefit Corporation in November 2015 after a years worth of broken promises.

Marinwood CSD will be paying up to SEVEN TIMES the cost of competitive solar systems  ( 20 cents plus per KWhr vs 3.5 cents per/KWhr of a purchased system).  There appears that they used NO INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ANALYSIS in evaluating the system and instead relied solely on the representations of the salesmen, Jonathan Whelan of Optony and David Kunhardt of SolEd Benefit Corporation

The contract will last for TWENTY YEARS.

The interim financier is 29 year old Richard Devore has an address at a lawyers office in New York City (above). He has had a remarkable number of business ventures in his young career.  The contract for Marinwood is held by his Delaware Corporation formed in May 2015 and his "parent company" was formed a few months earlier.

The long term financier has not been identified nor are the ultimate terms of the twenty year contract known.

Does this sound like a smart decision for the Marinwood CSD to you -especially when we have the top solar companies in the world right here in the Bay Area?  

This is why informed residents object to this SolEd solar contract and ask that the Marinwood CSD cancel it.  They will save the district tens of thousands of dollars if they purchase the system outright. The Sonoma Water District was in the same SEED program, cancelled it and realized over $100,000 savings with a direct purchase.

Come to the Marinwood CSD meeting on June 14, 2016 at 7:30 PM to voice your objection to the SolEd Solar contract.  Encourage a more cost effective renewable energy solution 

(This article was published in 2016.  The solar panels were installed in September 2016 after months of mysterious delays.  It is still not active as of this writing.  No long term financier of the project has ever been identified and some believe that SolEd and SSG2 group is unable to get financing.  This is a disaster was predicted by several citizens prior to approval. In November 2015, the same contract SolEd was dismissed for performance by the City of St Helena.  The warning signs were clear but the Marinwood CSD approved and Eric Dreikosen, Marinwood CSD manager has provided excuses ranging from PGE failure to perform and months delay to permitting issues.  Both have been dismissed as complete fabrication and/or exaggeration.  A request for information under the California Records Act has been stonewalled for months.  The responsible parties for this disaster should be dismissed.)

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