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The Misconception That Solar Is Too Expensive

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Amazingly, a common refrain of people who decide not to go solar is that they believe it is too expensive.

In all fairness, this may have been the case for many homeowners 10-15 years ago when prices were quite a bit higher. However, this simply is not the case anymore. Homeowners will now stand to save many thousands of dollars by getting a solar panel system installed on their homes.

There are quite a few ways to explain why solar power is a great investment. Let’s consider one of them now.

The Mortgage Metaphor

A good way to justify paying for a solar panel system is to relate it to paying for a home. They share many of the same characteristics. Those that qualify, and want to purchase a home, do not typically say something like…. “It’s how much?!? I can’t afford that!!!” Instead, they recognize the value of the asset and acquire a mortgage with payments that they can afford.

Savvy homeowners realize that solar is a similarly valueable proposition. They recognize the value of owning their homes, they will attribute the same value to owning the means of production of the electricity that they need.

Much like a home, most people don’t have enough cash savings to pay for a solar panel system outright. That’s ok. What is realized is that both homes and solar are valuable assets over the long term.

In a typical situation, homeowners can acquire a loan for their solar system in which payments are about the same as what they were already paying their local utility. The huge difference, is that after about 7 or 8 years, the solar loan is payed off and the homeowners now benefit from free electricity from their systems for many years into the future.

Another common, and well justified concern from homeowners, is what will happen if they decide to move in a few years after the solar panel system is installed. According to the U.S Department Of Energy sponsored Berkeley Lab study ….“found that buyers were willing to pay $15,000 more for a home with the average-size solar photovoltaic system (3.6 kilowatts), or about four additional dollars per watt of solar power.” So even if the homeowners who had the systems installed will not directly benefit from the solar power, they will at least be financially compensated for their investment when they sell their homes.

Doubt About The Technology

It’s very likely that many of those that say that solar is too expensive are really just doubting solar power technology. Maybe they don’t really think it can be a substitute to what their local utility is providing them. Who can blame them? The process of solar electricity generation does seem a little like magic. While it may be beneficial to be slightly skeptical in life, the solar electric effect was discovered more than 100 years ago. It’s proven technology.

Unfortunately, most people will wait until their neighbors have gone solar. That built-in neighborly trust is what is needed for many to finally become educated on the inherent value involved with solar.

The Bottom Line

There are still, unfortunately, many irrational reasons that people give for not going solar. Hopefully, as word continues to spread about the affordability of solar and how it can be financed, the whole “it’s too expensive” argument will fall to the wayside. This will likely make the other excuses seem pointless as well.

The American residential solar power industry is still in its infancy. The majority of homeowners still have yet to take advantage of the savings involved with the world’s cheapest source of electricity.

This will soon change, without a doubt.

2019 Will See Significant U.S. Solar Panel Manufacturing Growth

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The manufacturing of solar panels in the U.S. will see considerable growth by the end of 2019. Many foreign solar companies are choosing to set up shop in America to avoid paying costly tariffs.

Photo credit – Solar Power World

This story comes by way of a recent solar power world article.

Here’s a list of the companies that are expanding their operations in the U.S.;

  • Hanwha Q Cells. This South Korean company will be constructing a 1.6 gigawatt solar panel manufacturing facility in Dalton, Georgia. Panel production is expected to begin just a few months into 2019.
  • First Solar. This American based company is currently under construction on a 1.2 gigawatt factory in Perrysburg, Ohio. It’s an impressive 1 million sqft factory that is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. This is nearby their existing 600 megawatt facility.
  • LG Solar USA. Another South Korean based company that is currently expanding into a 500 megawatt facility in Huntsville, Alabama. Hiring is underway and solar panels are expected to be produced by the end of the first quarter of 2019.
  • JinkoSolar. With operations already setup in Jacksonville, Florida, this Chinese company will be off to a quick start with a 400 megawatt facility that is operational as of early 2019.
  • Seraphim Solar USA. The company is expecting to finish their 340 megawatt factory in Jackson, Mississippi sometime in 2019. Based in China, the company produces about 4 gigawatt of solar panels per year with business in 40 countries.
  • CSUN. Another Chinese based solar manufacturer. The company has yet to confirm an exact timeline for completion of there 200 megawatt facility in Sacramento, California.
  • Mission Solar. This Texas based solar panel manufacturer is expected to add an additional 200 megawatt production capacity to their existing 200 megawatt plant in 2019. The factory is in San Antonio.
  • Silfab. Based in Canada. This company is working on adding 200 megawatts of capacity to their existing factory in Bellingham, Washington, bringing its total to 400-500 megawatts by the end of 2019.
  • SolarTech Universal. An American company based out of Riviera, Florida. The company expects to add an additional 200 megawatts to their 80 megawatt facility.
  • SunPower. The American solar panel manufacturer has acquired Solarworld’s Hillsboro, Oregon, plant. The company expects to reach a 200 megawatt production capacity in 2019.
  • Heliene. A Canadian outfit. This company is in the process of refurbishing a 140 megawatt facility in Mountain Iron, Minnesota.
  • GreenBrilliance. This company has much experience producing solar panels in India. The company is expanding with a 120 megawatt factory in Baltimore, Maryland.
  • SolSuntech. Headquartered in New York with R&D centered in South Korea, this new solar panel manufacturer is promising a 3D solar cell capable of being 33 percent efficient. They expect production to start at their 100 megawatt facility in Virginia by the end of 2019.

While the solar panel tariffs have made going solar more difficult in the U.S., it appears that both American and foreign solar panel manufacturers are continuing to invest in their solar businesses. The big picture is that the tariffs were a temporary setback and that all parties involved know that we are still in the beginning stages of what will prove to become a much larger industry.

More U.S. solar cell manufacturing will prove to be a win for both American and foreign companies alike.

Solar Plus Storage Could Mitigate Effects Of Wildfires

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The effects of the catastrophic California wildfires in 2018 were numerous and far reaching. Many lost their lives and many of the survivors lost their homes as the worst fire in the state’s history ravaged the land.

It was determined that the cause of the fire was due to utility equipment. Under certain extreme weather conditions, there’s a higher likelihood of wildfires occurring due to the sparking of utility equipment.

A recent sfchronicle.com article highlights a small business owner that has chosen to invest even more into solar plus storage solutions to protect himself from power outages. According to the article a major California utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, has proposed planned power outages to prevent further fires from happening. It’s fair to assume that many others would also want to avoid planned power outages by being more energy self-sufficient.

Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association, mentioned an even greater and urgent need for solar plus storage solutions. “We have long thought that distributed solar was a critical component to preventing some of the worst impacts of climate change, but obviously, the wildfires and the grid’s role puts a whole new urgency to the deployment of distributed energy.”

The PG&E spokeman said that the company is “committed to solar power.” However, that has not seemed to be the case in practice. Del Chiaro points out that “you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the way that they are structured, in terms of profit motive, does not leave a lot of room for their customers self-generating.” This is most certainly the situation, especially in states like Nevada and Arizona where the local utilities have battled the implementation of fair net metering laws.

In defense of PG&E, they have connected more than 360,000 solar households to the grid. There’s two major points to mention here, though. One is that an extremely high percentage of these installs have yet to implement energy storage solutions along with solar, meaning that these customers still draw significant amounts of energy from grid. The second point to make is that these residential installs have allowed the utility to avoid investments in future power plants. It’s therefore easy for a utility to claim to be residential solar friendly right now. This will not be the case once homeowners start adding energy storage along with their solar panel installations in high numbers.

So in addition to significant savings over the long term, more homeowners will be going solar and adding energy storage solutions to gain more control over the availability of the energy that they need. Just one more benefit of being a power owner instead of a continual power renter.

Residential Solar Could Surpass 41 Gigawatts By 2025

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According to new analysis, the United States could witness a residential solar growth of three times its current size by 2025. This would amount to an impressive 41 gigawatts of installed solar capacity.

This new report comes by way of PV Magazine USA (via a Credit Suisse analysis).

One of the most notable items from Credit Suisse’s report is that fact that only 3 percent of the residential rooftops in America have solar panel systems. This represents an enormous untapped opportunity. The report forecasts that rooftop solar will grow to “5% by 2020 and 11% by 2025.” This is what will bring the residential sector to a total of 41 GW.

In order to get an idea of how much potential residential rooftops contain, one just needs to consider how much space is involved. According to the United States Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), structures with less than 5,000 square feet or less of rooftop space can technically accommodate 731 GW of solar capacity. This represents about 25 percent of the country’s electricity needs. Fittingly, this is the same amount of electricity consumed by the residential sector as well.

residential solar to 2025

The potential for rooftop solar is obviously much larger than just the residential sector. Of course, greater than 25 percent of the nation’s electricity needs could be met if larger buildings, carports, and other ideas are used for solar installations as well.

However, the report did not address a couple of key ideas that have been recent roadblocks to a quick adoption of solar power. These two things include major solar installers changing their sales approach and the fact that some utilities have been fighting residential solar by disapproving net metering policies.

The report is most likely based on the idea of solar power in the U.S. approaching a tipping point. The associated costs are at a point where many homeowners can realize payback periods of as little as 5 years. Also, as more homeowners go solar, their neighbors are extremely likely to as well. There are those that have not gone solar because they fear the power that their utilities have. They will go solar once affordable energy storage solutions become available. At that point, homeowners will be in control and will no longer being at the whim of net metering policies.

It’s quite possible that the numbers will end up being very close to the ones forecasted by Credit Suisse. Word is quickly spreading about how very affordable solar power now is. It won’t be long before it will seem out of place for a home to not have solar. Now that’s a future that we can all look forward to.

Solar Panels Now Required On New Homes In California

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The California Building Standards Commission has just approved a mandate that states that all new residential construction starting January 1, 2020 must include solar panels.

While many news outlets covered this story, EcoWatch.com was the primary source used for this post.

Originally proposed back in May by the commission’s Green Buildings Standards Code, the mandate has just passed with a unanimous vote. The rule will apply to all new condos, apartment buildings, and houses. Exceptions will be buildings that are higher than three stories and ones that are often shaded or where space is limited.

California solar mandate
(Photo by Will Lester- The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Kent Sasaki, one of the commissioners interviewed stated, “These provisions really are historic and will be a beacon of light for the rest of the country. It’s the beginning of substantial improvement in how we produce energy and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.”

It is estimated that solar panel installations will cost an average of $10,000 per build.  However, this investment will be more than offset by savings from long term solar power generation, which will be approximately $19,000 on average. These figures were obtained from Drew Bohan, the executive director of the energy commission. Mr. Bohan also mentioned – “With extreme weather events becoming more frequent, there is even greater need for homes that are efficient, reliable, and resilient.”

For those future California homeowners concerned about a lack of options or decision making control, that has been considered. Options to purchase the panels outright, lease them, or enter into a power purchase agreement will be made available. In some cases, homeowners will be able to pool resources together instead of installing solar on every single home. This is basically the “community solar” idea that has already been implemented in cities across the country. Those potentially concerned about costs should know that many industry groups are also supportive of this new solar mandate.

This mandate will not be surprising to many, as California continues to be a leader in clean energy adoption. In fact, this proposal will go along way in helping the state meet its goal of being completely renewable energy powered by 2045.

Savvy homebuyers will choose to purchase their solar panels. Many should be able to add the costs into their mortgage. The financials should be about the same if a separate loan is needed. Either way, the solar savings are quite a few thousand more compared to leasing or power purchase agreements.


Stanford Will Be 100 Percent Solar Powered By 2021

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In a recent news post from news.stanford.edu, Stanford University has announced plans to go 100 percent solar by 2021.

The university signed a contract with Recurrent Energy for an 88 megawatt solar pv plant to be completed and delivering electricity by 2021. This 88 MW will be on top of an already 72 MW of solar already being utilitized by Stanford. This date set puts the university well ahead of California’s state wide goal of being fully renewable energy powered by 2045.
solar stanford
Two major solar installations and 5 MW of on-campus rooftop comprise Stanford’s 100 percent solar presence. Stanford Solar Generating Station #1 and the one to be completed by 2021, the Stanford Solar Generating Station #2, are located nearby in Rosamond and Lemoore, respectively.

Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Stanford’s president, stated – “As a university, we are pursuing an ambitious plan to further reduce our carbon footprint, and our second solar plant is a critical new component of that plan.” Mr. Tessier-Lavigne also stated that sustainability has been an ongoing goal for the university. The institution is not only doing its part to meet the state’s overall goal, but also sustainability practices have been incorporated into the university’s programs for student to learn from.

Major steps for university to become more sustainable began in 2008. New buildings had to meet new high-efficiency standards and new thermal management systems were incorporated. The first major solar pv plant was completed and online by 2016. This plant, along with efficiency improvements, enabled Stanford to bring their total greenhouse gas emissions from a peak of 240,000 metric tons per year to less than 100,000 metric tons per year. Of course, in three short years that number will drop to zero.

While the campus is not directly connected to their large solar pv installations, the university’s carbon footprint will be offset because the amount of electricity generated by the plants will be the same as what it draws from the grid.

Quite a few colleges and universities are pursuing their own solar projects to be community sustainability leaders as well. Those that haven’t yet will soon surely follow the lead set by Stanford and other universities.

Connecticut To Surpass 500 MW Of Solar Capacity

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The state of Connecticut is about to reach a significant solar milestone. The state will soon have at least 500 megawatts of installed solar capacity. It’s enough electrical capacity for 70,000 homes. This will also bring the state into the top 20 solar states nationwide.

In a recent article from ctpost.com, newly arriving Governor Ned Lamont is proposing considerable renewable energy legislation. He wants the state to drop current emissions by a third within twelve years and go carbon neutral in three decades time.
solar plus storage
Lamont is also encouraging businesses and homeowners to go solar now to take advantage of the federal tax credit that is set to expire in 2021. He said he would also make sure that the Connecticut Green Bank is funded to further ensure that monies are available in the future.

For example, PACE (property assessed clean energy), is a popular way to finance renewable energy projects in quite a few states across the country. Through this program, business owners and homeowners can gain access to solar financing and pay the money back over time through higher property taxes.

Connecticut’s aggressive solar outlook is certainly impressive considering the relative size of the state. Of course, many states in the north east are more densely populated than some parts of the country. Also, the north east is progressive, for the most part, when it comes to promoting renewable energy.

It’s great to see more solar growth in this and other New England states. This should just be the beginning for solar expansion here and in other parts of the country. Word has yet to really spread about the truly affordable nature of solar power.

Utility Scale Solar Plus Storage Is Cost Effective

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Much has been written on Solar Power Now about the promise of affordable solar plus storage solutions at the residential level. This is NOT one of those posts.

This one, on the other hand, is about how cost effective, battery-backed up solar is already becoming a reality at the utility scale.
solar plus storage
While fracking has made natural gas super abundant, and the eventual cost leader in recent years, this is beginning to change. These two energy sources are on opposite cost trajectories; natural gas is eventually going up, while solar plus energy storage is falling in price.

2018 has seen a few projects being green-lit. The following are just a few examples:

  • FPL, a subsidiary of NextEra, is already selling electricity from their 74.5 megawatt Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center in Florida. The system is backed up with 10 megawatts of battery storage.
  • First Solar will build a 65 megawatt solar power plant that will be backed-up by a 50 megawatt energy storage system in Arizona.
  • AES Distributed Energy will construct a 28 megawatt solar farm with a 20 megawatt battery system on Kauai, Hawaii. This system will produce electricity that only costs $0.11 per kilowatt-hour.
  • EnSync Energy Systems is building a 750 kilowatt system with 500 kilowatts of energy storage in Oahu, Hawaii.
  • Cypress Creek Renewables plans to construct 12 separate solar plus storage projects that will have a combined 12 megawatt-hour capacity in North Carolina.

These are only a few of the solar projects that are currently planned or finished that have energy storage systems.

The rationale is simple, there are quite a few locations in the United States where solar plus storage proposals are coming in at lower costs compared to natural gas or any other energy source and ultimately proving to be the winning bid.

One of the determining factors in favor of solar power systems coupled with energy storage is that it is easier for utilities to know exactly what their costs are going to be. This is not the case with natural gas. Prices may be cheap now, but they fluctuate. This volatility makes it an unwise investment over the long term. The sun, on the other hand, rises everyday like clockwork.

It will not be long before utilities across the country begin to invest heavily in major solar plus storage projects.

Why The Cost Of Solar Has Declined For Decades

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It is a commonly known fact by those in the renewable energy industry that the cost of solar has decreased dramatically over the years. In fact, its price reduced about 99 percent over the past 40 years.

However, the reasons for this decline are just now being revealed. In a recent article from MIT News, the exact reasons for this precipitous pricing drop are explained.

It turns out that government policy and investments helped spur the industry along at just about every stage. The article discussed two major categories concerning the the development of this industry; “low-level” factors and “high-level” factors.

Low level factors include everything to do with the beginning stages of making a solar cell, manufacturing processes, and the size of solar factories. For example, solar cell efficiency levels have increased quite a bit since the early years of cell production. High level factors are research and development, “learning-by-doing”, and economies of scale. Limiting defective cell production and gaining price advantages from larger factories (economies of scale) are two examples of high level factors.
solar cost reduction
Early on in the industry, cost savings were found in research and development and a declining cost of silicon and non-silicon materials. In 2001-2012, economies of scale became the main cost influencer. For the years that this study considered, 1980-2012, private R&D, learning-by-doing, and economies of scale combined accounted for about 60 percent of the total cost reduction. Research and development funded by the governments of nations around the world account for the other 40 percent.
solar cost reduction
The MIT study also mentions that solar photovoltaic research is ongoing and that further cost reductions are possible. Materials other than silicon are being studied as a possibly cheaper alternative. It should be noted that pricing indicators for utility scale solar and residential solar are often different.

Let’s now discuss the obvious “elephant in the room.” The idea that there are quite a few people who are against the use of renewable forms of energy like wind and solar power because they are subsidized by the government. They believe that these energy sources will fail without these subsidies. What they don’t realize or won’t admit, is the fact that the fossil fuel industries were subsidized in the same ways, in fact even more so.

There must be quite a few examples of consumer technology that gets used everyday that would not exist in the marketplace without early assistance from the government. Considering the fact that solar power is now not only an economic boon, but something that can have a major impact on improving our environment, its only detractors must simply be those that are currently employed by the fossil fuel industry.

The really good news is that solar power is now such a cheap form of energy. Therefore, fortunately, it does not have to be as reliant on potential future governmental assistance such as the highly discussed carbon tax. We can expect to see continued massive solar power implementation due to current price comparisons with alternatives alone.

To find out what the current cost of solar is at the residential scale, go to the cost of solar page.

Arizona Utilities Continue Major Solar Investments

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Two of Arizona’s largest electric utilities, Arizona Public Service (APS) and Salt River Project (SRP), are continuing to make considerable investments in their total solar capacity.

This news comes by way of azcentral.com. Multiple recent articles from this news site have detailed what these two utilities have on their solar horizons.

APS currently has the most installed solar capacity in Arizona at about 1.4 gigawatts. The most notable installations include; The Solana Generating Station, the Red Rock Solar Plant, and 9 AZ Sun large-scale solar plants. In addition to increased solar expansion, APS is planning on incorporating a great deal of energy storage as well. In fact, one of their battery projects may just be the largest in the country. APS also claims that 50 percent of the electricity that they provide to their customers comes from renewable sources.
arizona solar
The utility that is making great strides to catch up to APS is Salt River Project. Like APS, the SRP serves approximately 1 million people. SRP currently only has about 200 megawatts of solar power capacity. However, the utility is planning on adding 1,000 megawatts by 2025. This is enough power for about 250,000 homes.

The efforts by these two utilities and the others in Arizona definitely help explain how the state has the third most installed solar capacity in the country.

Although the main emphasis of this article is about utility-scale solar, it would not be right to leave out what has been happening with the state’s residential solar market. While more solar at any scale is, in general a good thing, Arizona’s story so far has not been too consumer friendly. Arizona is one of the only states to offer net metering and then essentially take it away. Homeowners are currently not fairly compensated for their excess electricity. The good news is that this is a temporary setback. The economics of solar plus storage is looking more and more attractive.

It’s simple. Residential solar represents a real threat to their business model. This strategy will be short lived as more homeowners not only go solar, but begin to purchase energy storage systems as well. At that point, solar consumers will no longer be at the whim of any utility’s net metering rules.

We absolutely need to install as much solar as we can, as soon as possible. This includes all scales – utility, commercial, and residential. So it’s great to see that Arizona is one of the states that is leading the way. It would just be a shame if more homeowners continue to miss out on one of, if not the greatest economic opportunity to arise in a very long time.