Finance options for home solar are growing

Finance options for home solar are growing


BY CHRIS KAHN
AP ENERGY WRITER,
NEW YORK (AP) - Rooftop solar panels usually sound great until you see the price tag. Even with generous tax breaks, a home-installed system can cost as much as an SUV depending where you live.

But what if you could put solar on your roof virtually for free?

Solar companies hungry to get panels on your home have come up with some innovative ways to finance complete solar systems.

Before you sign up, however, do the math and make sure it adds up. With so many local, government and federal incentives, it might be cheaper just to buy the system.

Here are some companies and financing plans that can get you into solar. In some cases the plans require no money up front, and the monthly payment can be paid with the savings from your utility bill.

LEASING

Solar companies in the Southwest have begun to lease solar systems. Companies like SunRun and SolarCity also take care of maintenance and other service issues you'd be on the hook for if you bought a system outright.

Leasing programs are beginning to expand outside of the sunny Southwest and may be coming to your town soon.

The payoff depends largely on where you live.

Colorado and Oregon residents would likely break even with a solar lease if their current electricity bill averages $50 a month, according to SolarCity. Yet in California and Arizona, where energy costs can run higher, the break-even point rises to $125 a month.

SunRun offers 18- to 20-year leases in California, Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts.

Homeowners can put as little as no money down. But the more you pay upfront, the smaller your monthly lease will be.

Another plus is that the solar company sticks around to make sure everything is running correctly for the life of the lease, said Lynn Jurich, co-founder of SunRun.

“A lot of people are intimidated by this equipment,” Jurich said. “They're worried that if they put these big panels on their roof. There's going to be maintenance costs. There's going to be issues down the road.”

SunRun's Web page http://www.sunrunhome.com has a lot of information about how costs vary in different locations and the costs versus savings.

SolarCity offers leases in California, Arizona, Oregon and Colorado. It's expected to announce five new operating regions this year.

The company also has a calculator on its Web site http://www.solarcity.com/residential/solar-lease.aspx to help potential customers weigh the costs.

Both companies allow customers to extend leases, and they offer free removal when the lease expires.

Leases can also be transferred if the house is sold, which is usually the option that new owners choose, the companies say. The original owner would have to pay down the lease if the new owner did not want the system.

POWER-PURCHASE AGREEMENTS

Homeowners may also choose a variable plan that charges the homeowner for the amount o f power the system generates. Both SolarCity and SunRun will install a system, maintain it, and adjust the monthly fee according to how much power the system generates. In other words, homeowners are not penalized if their rooftop system fails to produce as much energy as expected. Such agreements also last from 15 to 20 years and are available in limited locations.

BUYING IN BULK

Another company allows consumers in the same town to work together to lower the cost of solar.

One Block Off the Grid (1BOG) groups potential buyers together, and when there's enough, it buys systems at a lower bulk rate. The company acts as a middleman and negotiates with solar companies for the best deals.

In addition to cost savings of 15 percent, the company works as a technical adviser for the homeowners, picking installers and panels that have a good track record.

1BOG, which makes money by charging a finder's fee to installers, already has established bulk-rate programs in numerous California cities, New Orleans, Denver and Phoenix. It's planning to launch new programs San Antonio, Honolulu, and parts of New Jersey. 1BOG also expects to expand in Austin, Texas, Miami, Aspen, Colo., Boston, Brooklyn, N.Y., Philadelphia, Chicago, Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., Seattle, Sacramento, Calif. and Washington D.C.

You can learn more about 1BOG's solar “communities” at www.1bog.org.

GOING COMMUNAL

There are still other ways to buy solar with little or nothing upfront.

Communities across the nation have created special finance districts that help people pay for solar through low-interest bonds. Homeowners can use the bonds to pay for solar systems and then finance the loan through higher property taxes.

The strategy, called property assessed clean energy (PACE) programs, allows the homeowner to spread the cost of buying solar over 20 years.

The Vote Solar Initiative, a nonprofit agency based in San Francisco that promotes solar energy use around the country, has become a major backer of PACE programs.

The group says solar finance districts have been cleared in almost 20 states, from California to Vermont.

Colorado Increase in Renewable Standard

The Associated Press

DENVER

Colorado Democratic state lawmakers want to increase the amount of electricity coming from renewable sources, saying the move will help the environment and create jobs.

Under current law, investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy must get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources like wind and solar energy by 2020. Gov. Bill Ritter announced Tuesday that he is backing planned legislation requiring them to hit 30 percent over the next 10 years instead.

Democratic state Sens. Gail Schwartz and Bruce Whitehead plan to introduce the bill in the new legislative session, which starts Wednesday.

Rural electric associations must produce 10 percent of their energy by 2020 and the bill as proposed wouldn't change that.

Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest provider of electricity, said its current compliance plan will put it close to 30 percent.

Company spokesman Mark Stutz said the utility is willing to entertain raising the standard if customers continue to be protected from big price increases. Currently, utilities can't charge customers more than 2 percent of their monthly bill to pay for their increased use of renewable energy.

"As long as the cap on increased costs remains in place as protection for our customers, we are willing to consider increasing the standard," he said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Grande River Vineyards 70% of Energy Supplied from Solar Power

Grande River Vineyards 70% of Energy Supplied from Solar Power

Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 9:43:46 AM - by Danny Vo
In western Colorado, a regional vineyard has chosen solar photovoltaic panels to reduce its energy burden and deliver clean, renewable energy.

Grande River Vineyards, near Palisade on the Western Slope, was founded in 1987 when Denver growers Stephen and Naomi Smith decided to take advantage of the Slope’s arid hillsides and moderate winters to produce some of the finest wine grapes in the nation.

Under the hands of vineyard manager Jim Mayrose, the enterprise was a success, and by 1990, Grande River Vineyards gave birth to its first crop of grapes, one third devoted entirely to house wines. In an average year, Grande River bottles between seven and eight thousands cases of wine.

Grande River is not alone; since the mid-1970s, Colorado’s wineries have grown from one to more than 70. But Grande River is the first vineyard in the state to take advantage of solar energy, an equally productive “crop” given the Western Slopes dry winters and generally sunny climate.

The Grande River solar array consists of 144 ground-mounted solar photovoltaic modules, angled to catch the maximum amount of the region’s solar insolation, which averages about 5.0 (on a scale of 2.5 to 6.5 in the continental United States).

Add to this the Western Slope’s average 3,200 hours per year of sun (on a scale of 1,600 hours in northern Washington State to 4,000 hours in some parts of southern California and Arizona), and one sees the perfect climate not only for crops but for solar electricity.

These 144 PV panels are expected to eventually provide about 70 percent of the electricity the vineyard uses to transform grapes into wine, and the installation, by Syndicated Solar Inc. of Grand Junction, guarantees that the array will perform as expected throughout its approximately 25-year lifetime.

The cost of the system is unknown, but Naomi Smith says her company took advantage of tax credits provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which provided more than $6 billion in potential funding to businesses and homeowners, in the form of tax credits.

For businesses, the credits come either as energy investment tax credits (30 percent of the project’s cost) or production tax credits, up to 2.1 cents per kilowatt hour. A businesss may not claim both, but may elect a third option, the renewable energy grant, for property placed in service in 2009 or 2010.

At 144 panels and an unknown number of rated kilowatts, the system is about one-sixth the size of the solar array recently installed at New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins (870 panels, 200 kilowatts), makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale, but it is the first at a Colorado winery.

Atlasta Solar powers up the homeless shelter

Atlasta Solar powers up the homeless shelter



By Sharon Sullivan
Free Press Staff Writer,
The Homeward Bound of the Grand Valley homeless shelter, 2853 North Ave., is now partially solar-powered thanks to Atlasta Solar Center, a local solar company located down the street at 2923 North Ave.

Atlasta donated a 5 kilowatt-hour solar system to the homeless shelter in November.

The need was great and the timing was right, said Atlasta sales manager Lou Villaire.

“It fits well with their expansion plans,” Villaire said. “We had to situate the panels so they would not interfere with their planned reconstruction.”

The shelter plans to expand into 5,000 more square-feet at its existing 8,400-square-foot building to accommodate the growing number of people seeking shelter. Local churches are providing overnight shelter for winter months when the shelter is filled to capacity.

The relatively small system will help offset electricity bills, saving the shelter between $800 and $1,000 a year, Villaire said. As the cost of electricity goes up, the savings will increase.

Shelter Executive Director Gi Moon is grateful for the donation.

“When you compare it to the $12.50 cost for a night of safe shelter, two meals and a hot shower, that's significant,” Moon said, regarding the expected energy savings. “To us that's a tangible real difference, not to mention it allows us to be green.”

Atlasta donated the solar panels and the labor, keeping an Xcel rebate to offset the cost of the $45,000 system. That price would be considerably less for individuals and businesses able to take advantage of rebates and tax credits available for installing renewable energy.

A public open house and dedication of the system will be held Friday, Jan. 15, at 1:30 p.m. Lunch is being donated by Chipotle restaurant, 2504 Hwy 6.

The homeless shelter had been interested in exploring solar options for some time, Moon said.

“We're so appreciative to Atlasta for thinking of us for this project,” Moon said.

“It was like having a wish and then everything coming true for it.”

Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.

http://www.gjfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100113/COMMUNITY_NEWS/100119941/1076&ParentProfile=1059&template=printart

Xcel Drops Colorado Solar Rebates Again

Price Drop in Small Solar Program

Email dated 12/31/2009-

Beginning today, Jan. 31, 2009, Small Customer-owned program applications will be approved with an upfront REC price of 70 cents per watt. This is Step 4 of the tiered pricing. The $2 per watt Rebate price is not affected.
This reflected in the pricing charts. To see the pricing charts, go to http://www.xcelenergy.com/solar and click on "View current prices".

Please email Xcel Energy at solarprogram@xcelenergy.com with questions

Renewable energies a growing segment of power picture

Renewable energies a growing segment of power picture

By GARY HARMON/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The sunny skies of western Colorado and eastern Utah along Energy Alley are a powerful source of energy awaiting capture.

Heat trapped underground, likewise, is waiting to be turned to use on the surface.

Renewable-energy advocates also are looking anew at the energy generated when water runs downhill and when the wind blows.

From a proposed solar generation site in Green River, Utah, to a multisource energy park in Rifle, governments, utilities, entrepreneurs and some individuals are testing new methods of heating and lighting buildings and tapping into the electrical grid to sell, not use, electricity.

Grand Junction, according to Tourism-Review.com, is the seventh-sunniest city in the United States, and Mesa State College says it will rely heavily on the city’s 300 sunny days a year to generate solar power.

The college has two solar-panel arrays, one on the new science building and one on the new North Avenue residence hall. A third array is to be constructed as part of the expansion of Saunders Fieldhouse. In all, those panels are to generate 130 kilowatts of electricity, and the college’s two-year plan includes generating an additional 1.2 megawatts of solar power.

Solar power is at the heart of a test at the Cameo Station in De Beque Canyon. The coal-fired power plant is to be closed, but before that happens, Xcel Energy will test a 1-megawatt, partially solar power plant at the location.

The idea is to use the power of the sun to heat water, so less coal is needed to turn it to steam and spin the turbines that produce electricity.

The test will extend the life of the Cameo Station by a year, but the entire facility will shut down when the test is complete.

Ute Water in Grand Junction and Delta-Montrose Electric Association each are looking to generate electricity from falls within water-delivery systems.

Ute filed a draft application in October with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking to install a 610-kilowatt generator on its raw water line leading into its treatment plant near Palisade.

The generator would produce enough electricity to operate the water-treatment plant, and any excess electricity would be sold to Xcel Energy, Joe Burtard of Ute Water said.

If the federal agency approves the application, Ute will order the turbine generator and begin construction with an eye toward putting the generator online in late 2011 or early 2012.

Delta-Montrose Electric Association, meanwhile, is applying to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to generate electricity as water diverted from the Gunnison River leaves the Gunnison Tunnel and falls to the South Canal.

The $30 million project would supply 6 megawatts of power on a seasonal basis. The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users don’t divert in the winter.

Still, it could generate up to 5 percent of the association’s current annual needs and be particularly helpful in meeting peak summertime needs, according Jim Heneghan, renewable-energy engineer for the association.

The idea has been around for years, Heneghan said, but it wasn’t until recently that it made economic sense.

“Now feasibility reports show it can produce power at or less than the cost to pay for itself,” Heneghan said. “In that respect, we couldn’t pass it up.”

At the far east end of the Grand Valley, meanwhile, a tower nearly 150 feet high is gathering information that could eventually attract a company to build a wind farm above Palisade that would catch the breeze from De Beque Canyon.

Wazee Energy of Denver will decide next year whether to install three other test towers, which it would monitor for three years before deciding whether to build a wind farm on the site.

The Bureau of Land Management then would conduct an environmental review, which would include an opportunity for public comment.

The entire process could take three or four years, BLM spokeswoman Erin Curtis said.