Solar for Free?

Plus if you act now……

We thought we’d get your attention with that headline, but in some parts of America it’s an accurate statement.

Warning:  math. follows.

Here’s the Washington D.C. home of Russ Gaskin and Bernadette Morales Gaskin and their family, with its newly installed 7-kW PV array.

The installation is expected to cover 60% – 80% of their electrical needs.  Total dollar hit?  According to the Gaskins’ numbers (see below), around zero…

Project cost (inc. installation, permitting, etc.)                   $36500
less 30% Federal investment tax credit                             $10950
less DC Renewable Energy Incentive Program rebate       $17260

Net cost                                                                            $  8290

Have I got a deal for you…

As for that eight thousand dollar balance, the Gaskins will be able to recoup that by selling the Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC)* they will earn from their generation of clean energy.  While they could do this in a somewhat speculative way by finding buyers on the spot market and taking advantage of variable SREC prices, they’re also thinking seriously about locking in this income stream by entering into an agreement with an SREC aggregator, Sol Systems LLC.

Sol Systems’ part in the deal is to buy the SRECs, aggregate them with the SRECs of other generators, and sell them as a group to utilities needing to satisfy RPS requirements.  The Gaskins have the option of taking a one-time upfront payment of $10,000 from Sol Systems, or five years’-worth of quarterly payments at $325/kW/year.  Whichever option they choose, it will more than cover that outstanding eight thousand dollars.

In addition, the District of Columbia allows customer-generators to net meter (offsetting their utility bills by the amount of power they generate) without reducing the value of those SRECs.

What kind of a deal have you got?

The above rather attractive math. works in different (often less generous) ways in different parts of the country.  Check out your part in the excellent DSIRE database here.

For Washingtonians, the combination of federal credits, local rebates and SRECs makes the argument very clearly that solar is not a fuel of the future – it’s ready now!

The paradox has to be noted, however, that while the District of Columbia practices an enlightened solar energy policy for its residents, those legislators who make the District their place of work seem to be as unenlightened as a mob of luddites.  Around the country and around the world, state and national governments are advancing policy to ease their citizens’ way into clean power generation.  Here in our country’s seat of power, where Congress has failed to advance any kind of energy legislation for over a year, our leaders seem to be oblivious to the benefits being enjoyed by citizens living within a couple of miles of them.

We’re not sure what exactly is going on in “the world’s greatest deliberative body”, but progress it isn’t.  As Bernadette cogently points out: “Instead of subsidizing coal, oil and other polluting energy sources, our government should be subsidizing solar and other renewable and clean energy sources.”

Russ and Bernadette are two Washingtonians who’ve found their place in the sun.  Those few hundred who’ll be returning to work in Washington in a week’s time still haven’t.

*RECs provide a potential stream of revenue for renewable energy generators.  In many parts of the USA, RECs are traded as a commodity or used directly to fulfill the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirement of a utility or large energy enerator.  Thus, if a state has an RPS in place, utilities must satisfy their share of that RPS by producing a mandated amount of its electricity generation from renewable sources (or make an alternative compliance payment).  They can do this by building and operating their own renewable facilities, but most satisfy the law by purchasing RECs from customer-generators like the Gaskins.