A bill passed in the 2011 legislature is saving homeowners and businesses who buy solar electric systems from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
All cities and counties require a permit to install a solar system. The 2011 Fair Permit Act limits solar permit and related fees to the local government’s actual costs in issuing the permit, not to exceed $500 for a residential installation (more for a commercial system). The City and County of Denver is an especially good place to install solar, because the fee to install residential solar there is just $59.

All this is good news for those who want to generate their own energy from the sun, reduce their electric bills and lighten their solar footprint.
Don Parker

Many consumers who are thinking about buying a solar system to provide electricity to their home or business are asking Golden Solar about Xcel Energy rebates and about tax credits to help lower the cost of a system. And no wonder! The issue is complicated.

It works like this.

Say, for example, that the cost of buying and installing a solar system is $5,000. Xcel will give you a rebate of $1 per watt, lowering your cost to $4,000. In addition, you are eligible for a federal tax credit of 30%, lowering the cost still further by $1,200 and resulting in a final cost to you of just $2,800!

You get all or part of your electricity from the solar system. With the cost of electricity inevitably on the rise, the savings over the 20-year (or more) life of the system can be substantial.

If the system produces more electricity than you use, Xcel credits the “excess” electricity to you, or buys it from you at a wholesale rate.

A final advantage is that you have the satisfaction of helping to keep the air clean and lighten your personal footprint upon the earth.

Curious about leasing a solar system? Incentives for that are completely different! Please see the post Understanding leasing of a solar system.

Leasing of solar electric systems has become more and more popular recently, allowing people who otherwise might not have the up-front cash to purchase a solar system to still get their electricity from the sun.

When you lease a solar system, there is no upfront cost to you. The panels and installation are paid for by outside investors who take the federal tax credits and other incentives, but the electricity the system generates is yours.

When you lease a solar system, you do not get any tax credits or rebates. Instead, you get the free solar system, pay a fixed monthly amount for electricity, and are ensured a hedge against the inevitably increasing costs of future electric bills.

At the end of 20 years, the system still belongs to the investors, and they can come and take it off your roof then. However, the odds of that happening are very low, because much better solar electric technology is expected to be available in 20 years. Solar panels will last for many decade, so you can still continue to generate electricity to offset your electrical bills.

Another option: advanced purchase leasing

Another option involves what is called an advanced purchase lease. In this approach, instead of paying a fee for electricity each month, you pay 20 years’ worth of electrical bills up front. Then you have pre-paid for electricity and don’t see another bill for 20 years. Because the investors get the utility incentives and the federal tax credits, a full advanced purchase costs you less than 40% of the cost of buying the system.

This option is attractive for people who believe (like we do) that the cost of electricity will rise dramatically in the future, while you are able to receive your electricity at a far lower rate.

With advanced purchase leasing, as with regular leasing, if the solar system produces more than you need, the excess electricity will be bought by Xcel Energy at their wholesale rate, or you can opt to have it credited to your account for future use.

Don Parker, Co-Owner

View the complete article at http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips1011/oct11010.html

With Xcel Energy’s best incentives now gone, leasing a solar electric system for your home is probably your best option. Smart buyers are keenly interested in leasing — about 60 percent of Golden Solar’s business, in fact, involves leasing.

Did you know that we offer leases that require no money down, and full-advanced purchase leases that are a lot like a purchase?

As a locally owned, highly competitive solar company, our prices are at least as good as those of large, national companies. There are many advantages to buying locally. After we install your solar system, you can find us shopping next to you in the grocery store and at other local businesses.

Despite the weakened economy, the solar energy industry was one of the fastest-growing business sectors in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.  As the cost of solar technology has fallen, solar energy installations were up 66 percent in the first quarter of 2011 over 2010.

So it’s interesting to see that Google, one of the world’s largest corporations, is investing heavily in Solar City, an already large installer of photovoltaic (solar electric) systems.  Google’s major investment in the company is an endorsement of the idea that investing in solar installations is an idea whose time really has arrived.   Homeowners and businesses that invest in solar installations are already getting high single-digit to low double-digit returns on investment from savings on their electric bills.

For small local solar installers like my firm, seeing huge companies getting into the solar installation business is both gratifying and a bit scary.  Some have voiced concerns that a stronger presence of Solar City in Colorado may hurt the state’s smaller solar providers.  Big companies can blanket the airways and internet (especially Google!) so they certainly can out-compete small businesses in the marketing area and can take business away from small local companies.

Despite the “big guys” business advantage, our experience when we find ourselves bidding against big companies for either a purchase or a leased system has been that our prices for comparable or better installations are competitive.   The big firm’s overhead is higher, so I am not so concerned about their being able to underbid us.  And I think this “small versus big” situation is generally true in many industries, which is why millions of small businesses are alive and well in a world that seems dominated by mega-corporations.

A parallel is Starbucks versus local coffee shops.  Although Starbucks regularly moves into areas that already have local coffee shops, there are still thousands of successful locally owned coffee houses that prosper because they provide good value and service, and have faithful customers who prefer them. At the end of the day, Starbucks has ultimately moved the gourmet coffee field forward tremendously. As Starbucks has educated everyone about gourmet coffee, with Google’s help Solar City can educate people about the financial and environmental benefits of solar energy. The result should provide a real boost to solar installation companies of all sizes across the state and nation.

Don Parker

Don Parker is the owner of solar energy installer Golden Solar located in Golden.