All the Benefits of Solar PV Without The Financial Risk: The Solar Power as Service Model
by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 08. 6.08
image: Recurrent Energy
As the solar power industry expands, more options for financing these systems have become available. A number of companies will now install, maintain and insure solar PV systems for your home, with you just paying for the power used. This is just a smaller version of what larger corporations and organizations are increasingly doing.
Solar Companies Want Your Rooftop
By using a third-party to install, maintain and operate your solar power system you take much of the initial financial burden off yourself and can get on your way to reaping the eventual cost savings, and carbon emission reductions, quickly. General Motors has done this with two facilities in California, as well as in a factory in Spain (the world’s current record holder for rooftop solar arrays). But you need not be as large as GM to take advantage of this sort of arrangement:
North Face Distribution Center to Go Solar
VF Corporation, the parent company of The North Face, has announced that its west coast distribution center in Visalia, California will be installing a 1 MW solar PV system. The system will consist of 5,445 Suntech solar panels mounted on RayTracker single-axis solar trackers and will be located adjacent to the 800,000 square foot facility. By installing this system, over 1,300 tonnes of carbon emissions are expected to be reduced from the facility’s operations.
The system will be financed, owned and operated by Recurrent Energy. The North Face will purchase 100% of the energy (no word on how much of the facility’s energy needs will be met from the solar array) under a power purchase agreement of unspecified length.
via :: Solar Daily
Lagunitas School District Saves Money With Solar
The Lagunitas School District is unveiling a new 58 kW solar PV system which could save them $110,000 in the first 15 years and offset 70 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. The system will be owned and operated by Solar Power Partners, with the school district entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement with the Mill Valley company. Of the school’s annual power needs, 65% will now be met through renewable energy.
The question I’d be asking myself right now if I was owned a business instead of blogging would be, “So how much space do I have to install solar and what solar company will want to use it?”
Solar Power
Residential Solar Power Without Buying the Panels: Helio Green Energy Plan
General Motors Factory to Host World’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array
Solar Power Array Installed at Fresno Yosemite Airport
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
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- 4 Megawatt Solar Power System Will Save L.A. Community College $280,000 on Electric Bills
- Renewable "Energy Islands" at Sea Could Power Cities, Produce Fresh Water and More
- EWA Squeezes Water From Thin Air, Like In Old Biblical Times
"By using a third-party to install, maintain and operate your solar power system you take much of the initial financial burden off yourself and can get on your way to reaping the eventual cost savings, and carbon emission reductions, quickly."
Better read the fine print: the company who installs and owns it might own the carbon credits too, and might sell them to someone else. Effectively, you be double-counting the carbon reductions.
It is certainly an interesting way of getting a solar power system installed on your house and I can see a few benefits. The major one being that it certainly should make it possible for people that would not be able to afford the initial installation cost of such a system to now be able to make a difference as well.
I'd like to know if there are any alternate ways of financing a solar power system available in Australia?
its probably the ONLY way to get the mass market of solar power going in the near future. Especially with the ongoing housing crisis (US, UK, Australia), there won't be much mass integration any time soon. Unless energy companies jump in.