South Carolina has created a landmark target of installing 2,000 solar panels on residential roofs within 16 months.
The initiative is part of a large scale plan to triple the state’s solar capacity.
Right now, various industry groups are launching an effort to promote residential rooftop installations across the Charleston region.
A year-long drop in the price of panels, new financing options, recent South Carolina legislation that encourage solar and state and federal tax credits that can rebate 55 percent of the cost of a solar system are key factors favoring the target.
At present, South Carolina gets major part of the solar power from the panels on the roof of Boeing’s aircraft assembly plant in North Charleston.
SmartPower will join Solarize South Carolina campaign to kich off the effort.
The Solarize South Carolina campaign is working with Alder Energy Systems Sunstore Solar and Dividend Solar, offering loans paired with performance guarantees.
The company offers 20-year, zero-down loans for homeowners in order to install solar with no extra cost.
The loans are designed in such a way that homeowners will use their federal and state tax credits to pay down the balance. A $25,000 rooftop solar installation will cost $11,250 after the tax credits.
If the tax credits exceed the tax owed, the remaining credits carry over against the next year’s tax bill. However, the residential solar tax credit is available for owner-occupied homes.
According to the 2014 compromise between electric utilities and environmental groups, for at least 10 years homeowners with solar power can sell their excess power to utilities for the same price utilities charge for power.
Generally, a home with solar panels can generate more power than the home needs. As power flows to and from the house, the homeowner through net metering can buy as well as sell power.
In addition, the companies check if a home is appropriate for solar power. The roof’s orientation to the sun, the pitch of the roof, the size of the roof,and shade from nearby trees all are factors that would influence the appropriateness of solar panels.
Sabeena Wahid
editor@greentechlead.com
Pricing for solar has dropped to historically low levels. Today a name brand, average sized 4.75 kW grid tie solar system that will produce up to 600 kWh per month with only 5 hours of peak sunshine per day.can now be purchased for less than $2.20 a watt after applying the tax credit or less than $11,000. No solar leasing company on the planet can approach this level of pricing.
in fact you’ll pay more than twice and up to three times this amount if you decide to lease instead of buy. And good luck to you if you every decide to sell your home with a 20 year lease attached to it. After all, what home buyer in his or her right mind will want to assume your lease payments on a used, outdated system when they can buy a brand new system with the latest technology and keep the 30% federal tax credit for thousands less.
Don’t believe it ? Well then simply type the keywords “solar lease scaring buyers” into Google and you can read many accounts of homeowners and real estate professionals reporting difficulty when trying to sell a home with a 20 year solar lease or PPA attached to it.
And if you’re thinking about one of those newfangled 30 year solar loans that the leasing companies are now offering, you’ll have to come up with a 30% balloon payment that is due on June 1st the year after installation, regardless of the amount claimed in the tax credit and you’ll have a 2.9% annual payment increase.
Shop around don’t fall for the leasing company’s gimmicks. Use a search engine such as Yahoo to (enter the name of your state followed by the word solar) and you’ll come of with hundreds of results to compare pricing. Pricing can vary by tens of thousand of dollars for the same system. Be smart, shop before you buy or lease.