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home solar

NRG Offers Water Conservation & Home Solar Bundle

by Aisha Abdelhamid May 9, 2015

As Californians face historic drought conditions, NRG is launching a new service plan combining water conservation and solar energy in one smart consumer bundle. NRG’s new smart water conservation and solar energy bundle includes a consultation with an NRG Home Solar specialist to determine how suitable a home is for solar, plus ways to help conserve water.

Steve McBee, President and CEO of NRG Home, announced recently: “We’re committed to giving consumers energy-related products that help them be mindful and deliberate about resource management in a way that suits their needs and lifestyles…. This is an opportunity for us to stand by our customers and get them the products they need when they need them.”

May 9, 2015 1 comment

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Veterans Should Consider Rooftop Solar Systems

by Steve Hanley May 8, 2015

written by Steve Hanley

In its mission statement, the Federal Savings Bank says, “We are a veteran-owned, federally chartered bank with a focus on educating our customers about the mortgage process and providing opportunity for home ownership.” As part of that advice, it says veterans should consider rooftop solar systems when purchasing a home, according to a report in Benzinga.

Paying a mortgage is only part of buying a home. Purchasers also have to pay taxes, insurance, and utility bills. The bank suggests that installing a rooftop solar system will lower utility bills, making a home more affordable in the long run.

And here’s news that applies directly to veterans. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, in addition to being used to purchase a home, a VA home loan can also be used to install energy-efficient home improvements. Veterans can qualify for up to $6,000 more than the cost of the home because of the Energy Efficient Mortgage provisions built in to the Energy Star program created by the US Environmental Protection Agency. According to the Energy Star website:

An Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) is a mortgage that credits a home’s energy efficiency in the mortgage itself. EEMs give borrowers the opportunity to finance cost-effective, energy-saving measures as part of a single mortgage and stretch debt-to-income qualifying ratios on loans thereby allowing borrowers to qualify for a larger loan amount and a better, more energy-efficient home.

To get an EEM, a borrower typically has to have a home energy rater conduct a home energy rating before financing is approved. This rating verifies for the lender that the home is energy efficient. The advice to veterans from The Federal Savings Bank falls into 3 basic categories.

1. Reduce monthly utility bills.
Homeowners who install solar panels could cut their utility bills in half each month, potentially saving thousands annually. There are options to either lease or own their solar system to save money for the long haul. Some utilities also offer ways to even sell back the extra power they generate to the grid.

2. Improve building performance
An energy-efficient mortgage can improve a home’s energy efficiency through a number of power saving technologies that insure heating, cooling, ventilation and other systems work as effectively as possible.

3. Price of solar installations dropping
Veterans may be surprised to learn the costs of installing panels are actually lower than they think. The price of solar panels is decreasing over the years as they become a more reliable source of energy.

If you are a veteran who is considering buying a home, ask your lender about a VA energy-efficient mortgage or contact The Federal Savings Bank.

May 8, 2015 0 comment

innovations in Solar finance img from wikimedia commons

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Innovations in Solar Finance For Homeowners & Installers

by Aisha Abdelhamid May 1, 2015

written by Aisha Abdelhamid

Prioritizing ease-of-use for home solar installers, and long-term value for homeowners, a new partnership between Sungage Financial and SMA America is offering innovations in home solar finance.

Sungage Financial, a leading residential solar finance platform, is making it easier for homeowners to realize the financial benefits of solar ownership while saving on energy costs at the same time. Offering convenient, flexible repayment terms, the Sungage® Solar Loan does not require a down payment.

The new partnership pairs Sungage’s simple-to-use home solar finance platform with SMA, the global market leader for residential solar inverters. With a broad product portfolio, SMA offers a compatible inverter for all solar PV system sizes and for every type of solar module on the market.

May 1, 2015 0 comment

Graph of electric grid demand shows a "duck's head" spike in the early evening hours, via CaliSO

Energy Storage

Solar Demand Charges And The Duck’s Head

by Steve Hanley April 2, 2015

written by Steve Hanley

Solar energy is disrupting the electricity business. Utility companies say solar customers are not paying their fair share to help maintain the electrical grid and are imposing solar demand charges on customers with residential solar systems. That’s what the Salt River Project (SRP), a small utility in Arizona, did recently when it slapped new solar customers with a $50 a month fee on top of their regular electric bill.

SolarCity, the nation’s largest installer of rooftop solar systems, is fighting back, claiming the solar demand charge is discriminatory, illegal, unconscionable and possibly immoral. Of course, that’s exactly what you would expect them to say, since saving people money on their electric bills is what makes their business successful.

While that suit wends its way through that dark and scary place known as the legal system, some observers see a silver lining in all this and it has to do with what is known in the electric industry as “the duck’s head”. If you make a graph of how people use electricity during the day, it will start off in the morning at a certain level, then drop during the day when people are at work.

But then, right around 5 pm, all those busy people race home, turn up the air conditioning, power up their electric stoves, turn on all the lights in the house and sit down in front of their computers and television sets until its time for bed. As a result, the demand for electricity from the grid goes through the roof, if you will pardon the expression, and electric companies have to be ready to meet the need.

When you are done with your graph, it begins to look a little like a duck’s head during the evening hours and a duck’s belly during the middle of the day. The paradox for homeowners with rooftop solar systems is, those systems generate most of their electricity during the day when there is no one home to use it. When people get home at night, that is precisely when production from their home solar system is starting to fall off, so they have to buy the electricity they fed into the grid all day back from the grid when it is most expensive to do so. .

And that, says Ravi Manghani, an energy storage analyst at Green Tech Media Research, is precisely why home battery storage will benefit from solar demand charges like that imposed by SRP. “Salt River Project is only one utility out of the 3,000 in the U.S. but it will not be the last utility to enforce a residential rate structure that benefits solar-plus-storage,” Manghani says. “Any kind of net energy metering reform that reduces the value of solar works in favor of storage.”

Why is that? Because now when folks get home from the office, they can draw electricity stored during the day from their home battery storage unit instead of from the grid. People with home batteries won’t have to pay high peak demand rates, which will boost their savings versus their non-solar powered neighbors. And that will convince more people to install rooftop solar systems in the first place.

What can we learn from all this? Adding batteries to home solar systems is going to fundamentally change how we use power from the electrical grid. And that is going to up-end the traditional model for electricity generation and distribution. The more the utilities fight the spread of solar power, the more they are encouraging people to find alternatives to that model.

The times they are a’changing, as Bob Dylan once said.

Photo: Fotolia

April 2, 2015 6 comments

Rooftop solar installation in Plano Texas

Going Solar

Plano Group Advocates For Solar Power

by Steve Hanley March 18, 2015

written by Steve Hanley

Plano is a bustling community just north of Dallas, Texas. For the past several years, a group of its citizens who call themselves the Plano Solar Advocates (PSA) have been educating local residents and businesses about the advantages of rooftop solar power. Now they have launched a new program they call Go Solar At Home to bring property owners together with qualified solar contractors.

“The energy is produced locally, so it’s more efficient than transmitting it miles,” said Larry Howe, Plano Solar Advocates volunteer, told the Plano Star Courier recently. He also says it is the one means of generating electricity that doesn’t require water for cooling purposes. In an area like Texas where water shortages are common, that’s an important consideration. Howe says once people learn how much money they can save on their utility bills, interest in solar power goes way up.

The PSA program is based on the success of a similar organization in San Antonio called Bring Solar Home, which says it is responsible for 150 rooftop solar installations in that city since December, 2013. “What we’re trying to do is build on their success,” Howe says. “It’s not overly complicated, but it’s not straightforward.”

The PSA works with the city and its Live Green in Plano initiative. So far, several residents have signed up for rooftop solar systems, thanks to PSA’s outreach and education program. “Because you can never know what the long-term price of electricity will be … if [residents] can cut in half their electricity cost, they’ve kind of prepaid some of their energy consumption,” Howe said. “We just kind of kicked it off. We’re collaborating with the city of Plano, trying to help get the word out.”

Not all communities are so excited about rooftop solar power. Nearby North Richland Hills has enacted a local ordinance restricting the installation of solar panels on local homes. Violators are subject to a fine of $2000. Officials in North Richland Hills are concerned about the aesthetics of solar panels. They think all those photovoltaic panels generating all that lovely renewable energy are ugly.

Across the country, solar panels are often a subject of controversy. Many home owner associations have an outright ban on them or place unreasonable restrictions on their placement. That shouldn’t be surprising; people were afraid of automobiles at the beginning of the last century, too. But thanks to the work of dedicated volunteers like Larry Howe and Plano Solar Advocates, those negative attitudes are beginning to change.

Photo courtesy of Larry Howe

March 18, 2015 0 comment

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North Carolina Gets Zero-Down Solar Financing

by Steve Hanley March 13, 2015

written by Steve Hanley

PR Newswire shares that Yes! Solar Solutions and Dividend Solar America have teamed up to offer North Carolina homeowners solar financing with zero-down loans on home solar installations. The EmpowerLoan program uses the solar installation itself as security for the loan, which means there is no lien recorded against the real estate.

Home Solar by Yes! Solar Solutions “We are excited to introduce a $0-down loan financing product to the North Carolina market,” says Stew Miller, President of Yes! Solar Solutions. “The EmpowerLoan is the first product on the market that allows qualified homeowners to Go Solar with no money down and save money on their utility bills – most often from day 1.”

Dividend Solar America is unique among lenders. It brings together people looking to add a home solar system with investors looking for a high-grade, secure investment. At a time when most banks are offering less than 1% interest on savings, many people are looking for a way to invest without taking a risk on the stock market. Dividend Solar’s motto is: Great homeowner and investor returns are not mutually exclusive.

The full-service solar loan includes energy production guarantees, warranty management, hassle-free maintenance and performance monitoring at no additional cost – all with the significant financial upside of solar ownership. The companies provide maintenance and production guarantees on all systems and performance monitoring that tracks daily energy savings. The application process requires no paperwork and is designed to be quick and simple.

North Carolina has experienced strong growth in the home solar market recently and currently has the fourth highest installed solar capacity behind only California, Arizona, and New Jersey. With low-cost financing now available through the EmpowerLoan, Yes! Solar Solutions is accelerating the adoption of residential solar across North Carolina and offering customers a new, better way to go solar.

Yes! Solar Solutions also specializes in solar hot water systems to help homeowners save even more money on their heating bills. If you live outside North Carolina, contact Dividend Solar directly to see what programs they have available in your state.

March 13, 2015 0 comment

Rooftop Solar

Finance Or Lease Your Home Solar System?

by Steve Hanley March 7, 2015

written by Steve Hanley

There are lots of companies jumping into the business of leasing home solar systems. Some of them are huge corporations, like SunEdison and SolarCity. But are you better off signing a lease with one of these companies or using the equity in your home to finance the project yourself?

Matthew Wright is the executive director of Zero Emissions Australia. He says, do your own research before signing that long term lease agreement. Here’s why.

Workers installing a home solar system Wright claims that solar leasing companies are looking out for their own best interests, not yours. He writes in Climate Spectator, “For solar leasing to work, offering a guaranteed positive return from day one, the leasing company needs to size a system that is relatively small so that a bulk of the electricity is consumed directly on-site. Therefore solar leasing doesn’t lend itself to larger system sizes, which are better for economies of scale.”

Furthermore, Wright says, if you are locked into a home solar lease, you may not be able to add more PV capacity in the future if your energy needs increase. He argues that a homeowner would likely opt for a larger system than what the leasing company will want to install, because the costs of installation per kW are smaller when spread over more PV panels. And any excess would go back into the grid to benefit all electricity users — a gain for society as a whole.

Is Wright right? The answer is: it depends. He goes on to engage in a lot of financial calculations designed to prove his point. We all know that figures lie and liars figure, so you have to do your own research and determine what works best for you. The important point is that there are alternatives to signing a home solar lease with the first company that comes knocking on your door.

If you do nothing else, get quotes from at least two companies and compare what they are offering. Find out how much electricity your home uses today and match that up with what the leasing company says their system will provide. Ask questions about whether you will be able to expand the system in the future or make other changes you deem necessary. What if your roof needs repairs in the future? Who pays for that?

When you sign a home solar leasing plan, you are like the home owner who gives an energy company permission to drill for oil in the backyard. You are giving up control of a part of your property — in this case, your roof. Gather all the facts and think carefully before putting pen to paper.

March 7, 2015 0 comment