The Energy Trust of Oregon, a nonprofit public purpose organization dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy development, is partnering with the City of Portland and local neighborhood coalitions to offer residents of Portland a unique group purchasing mechanism for installing solar electric systems in their communities. Solarize Portland is an innovative program that helps residents overcome the financial and logistical hurdles of going solar. The project featured a single installer selected through a competitive process; a low, set price for participants; community-led marketing and outreach; educational workshops and a limited enrollment period. The effort was an unprecedented success, resulting in 120 new, home photovoltaic systems in five months, more than three times the number of systems installed in the city of Portland in 2008.

Energy Trust has been working for years to address the financial and policy barriers homeowners encounter when they start down the path to solar. The organization has developed several successful marketing strategies to make it easier for home and business owners to go solar in Oregon. However, Solarize Portlandwas a unique opportunity to roll community building and education, smart marketing, green job creation, and economies of scale into a single package. “It was a true triple bottom line success. You don’t get those very often,” says Lizzie Rubado, senior solar project manager, Energy Trust. Solarize Portland tackled the primary market barriers for homeowners looking to go solar: upfront cost, discomfort with contractors and the sales process, unfamiliarity with solar technology, financial complexity, and inertia. Above all, it was designed to be simple to engage and enroll in, featuring:

• Grassroots outreach and promotion by neighborhood volunteers
• Competitively selected contractor with set pricing tiers
• Educational workshops
• Free site assessments for all enrollees to determine suitability
• Incentives of $2.25/watt, plus state and federal tax credits
• Limited-time enrollment period

Though known up-front, pricing for Solarize Portland depended on the volume of participation from the community. It ranged from $7.20/watt for very little participation, down to $6.80/watt for more than 150 kilowatts of cumulatively installed capacity. However, enrollment in Solarize Portland was so fast that it became apparent early on that the price for all participants would be $6.80/watt—29 percent less than the average price in Portland at the time.

Critical to the success of Solarize Portland was the collaboration of Energy Trust, a statewide nonprofit organization with deep solar expertise and market familiarity, with Southeast Uplift  Neighborhood Coalition (SE Uplift), a local nonprofit experienced in engaging citizens and implementing community projects. The project design made the most of each organization’s strengths and credibility with homeowners. Outreach was led by SE Uplift and a corps of dedicated volunteers from five of its neighborhoods. In addition, a project website was created at www.solarizeportland.org. This website, which was written and maintained by a neighborhood volunteer, became the central resource for information about the project as it progressed.

Workshops
To make it easy for homeowners to get up to speed, Solarize Portland delivered a series of educational workshops. All interested neighbors were strongly encouraged to attend one of five introductory, one-hour seminars, held in each of the neighborhoods that were actively recruiting participants. These seminars were a Solarize Portland crash course, explaining how the project worked, the benefits of buying in bulk, how to participate and a brief introduction to solar. After attending an introductory workshop, those who wanted  additional, in-depth information were also invited to attend Q&A sessions held after business hours, three weeks in a row. These informal, open-format sessions covered different topic areas, including incentives, tax credits and financing; technical nuts and bolts; and net metering.

Results
The original goal was to enroll 50 homeowners and achieve 25 installations through the effort. Solarize Portland and its unique and successful melding of community activism, education and bulk purchasing, enrolled more than 300 homes in six weeks. In the end, 120 residential solar electric systems were installed in six months—more than triple the 38 installations completed on homes citywide in 2008. The 120 installations added 350 kilowatts of new PV capacity to Portland, and will produce an estimated 359,000 kWh of electricity per year. The project also helped provide 18 professional wage jobs for site assessors, engineers, project managers, journeyman electricians, and roofers.

The concept has grown into a winning model that is spreading quickly to other neighborhoods in Portland and beyond. The City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is helping other neighborhood organizations to take Solarize Portland citywide. Thanks to their support, Solarizeprojects are gearing up now in both Northeast and Southwest Portland, with goals forecasting another 500+ installations in 2010. Meanwhile, Pendleton, a rural city in northeastern Oregon, will launch its community bulk-purchasing project in late March of 2010.

Lessons learned and recommendations for other organizations

• Plan for success: People love a good deal. Expect high levels of interest.
• Collaborate with a trusted, local organization: Let them take center stage as much as possible. They know how to talk to their constituents. You’ll also be laying the groundwork for an organization filled with solar-savvy advocates.
• Consider multiple installers: If you are targeting a community with the potential to secure more than 50 installations, select more than one contractor. Creating a queue of enthusiastic neighbors that then have to wait to be served can kill the buzz. Serving them immediately will increase the likelihood that they will install.
• Keep it focused: Define your participation area to limit the scope of your effort and keep it cost effective for your installer.
• Start early and give yourself time: Select your contractor(s) before beginning your outreach so you have answers to all your questions ahead of time. This also gives the contractor time to wrap up projects with previous clients.
• Keep it simple: Avoid creating options for people. Each decision increases the chance that you’ll lose them along the way.
• Don’t get disheartened with dissenters: This isn’t for everyone. Some people will object to the lack of choices. Connect them to the standard offer.
• Don’t be afraid to talk money: Consumers are hungry for comparative cost statistics. Being transparent speeds decision-making.
• Beg, borrow or steal a dedicated project manager: There will be lots of responsibilities to juggle and you need a single point of contact for fielding inquiries.
• Use an online sign-up: Preferably one connected to a database. You will save yourself a lot of work.

“This project has truly brought our community together, all moving toward one goal,” said Tim O’Neal, sustainability coordinator, SE Uplift. “From attending workshops to watching as neighbors went solar street by street — it’s been great to see what we’ve been able to accomplish as a group.”

Special thanks to Lizzie Rubado of the Energy Trust of Oregon for her assistance in preparing this Solar Spotlight.

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File Type: PDF
File Source: Clean Energy States Alliance

This CESA report provides an overview and specific examples of three creative finance tools that any state can use to support PV in the context of an existing RPS: solar set-asides, feed-in tariffs, and reverse auction mechanisms. These tools are primarily targeted at commercial- and utility-scale projects, and use of any of them can reduce the need for states to provide direct rebates and incentives to PV projects. These tools, if smartly designed, can allow states to build sustainable solar markets with programs that are economically efficient, reward PV system performance, allow for program continuity, advance market transformation and avoid rebate dependency.

The authors contend that providing special treatment to PV projects in the context of an RPS is important if states are to build and maintain public support for their RPS programs, particularly in cases where solar is the most widely accessible in-state renewable energy resource.

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File Format: PDF
Source: Clean Energy States Alliance

The New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP) is part of a comprehensive statewide solar program known as the California Solar Initiative (CSI).The NSHP implements the Energy Commission’s portion of the CSI and provides financial incentives to encourage the installation of eligible, solar energy systems on new residential construction. The Energy Commission will work with builders and developers to incorporate high levels of energy efficiency and high-performing solar systems to help create a self-sustaining solar market.

 The NSHP seeks to achieve 400 megawatts of installed solar electric capacity in California by the end of 2016.

Download the Report (link)
File Type: PDF
Source: California Energy Commission

March 30, 2010
1 pm – 2 pm EDT
Renewable Energy Finance and Policy Toolkit

Clean Energy Group and Council of State Governments Webcast

State clean energy funds and programs have a variety of financing tools at their disposal to support distributed renewable energy deployment.  Historically, states have relied heavily on rebates and other forms of direct project assistance.  However, states are increasingly looking for ways to leverage available dollars.  This webinar will review the Renewable Energy Finance Toolkit recently published by Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA).  The toolkit provides an overview of established and emerging financing tools–including their strengths, weaknesses and best practices– which states can use to advance clean energy.

Charlie Kubert, CESA Project Director and key author of the report, will cover findings from the report and explain how these finance and policy tools can be used as a portfolio of approaches to create the most robust and effective clean energy programs.

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
File Source: Clean Energy States Alliance If you would like to register for this March 30th webcast, please send an email to maria@cleanegroup.org with “PV Toolkit” in the subject line and include your contact information; the call in information will be provided at that time.

Over the past decade, states have played an increasingly important role in providing financial support to renewable energy projects, with funding often derived from state-established public benefit funds. The financial support tools for renewable energy projects have ranged from rebates to competitive grants to loans. Complementing these tools has been a set of public policies— tax incentives, net metering and interconnection rules, renewable portfolio standards—passed by state legislatures and regulators. Recently, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also provided significant funding to states to support clean energy investments.

The purpose of this report is to describe the many financing options available to state energy offices, municipal governments, and other energy agencies for utilizing public funds for clean energy project support. The report analyzes their strengths and weaknesses and identifies best practices. One key finding is that, while each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, the use of these tools as a portfolio of approaches creates the most robust, effective programs.

Download the Report
File Format: PDF
File Souce: Clean Energy States Alliance

This report provides a comprehensive summary of installed cost trends for grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States from 1998 through 2008, updating an earlier report that contained data through 2007.  The updated report is based on project-level data from more than 52,000 residential and non-residential PV systems, totaling 566 MW of capacity and representing 71% of all grid-connected PV capacity installed in the U.S. through 2008.  These data were provided by 27 PV incentive programs spanning 16 states.

The report finds that average installed costs have declined over time, from $10.8/W in 1998 to $7.5/W in 2008 (in real 2008 dollars per installed watt DC).  Importantly, average costs declined by approximately $0.3/W from 2007 to 2008, following several preceding years (2005-2007) when they remained essentially flat.  The cost reductions from 2007 to 2008 were associated with a decline in module costs, in contrast to earlier years when cost reductions were associated primarily with a decline in non-module costs.

Costs are generally lower in states with larger PV deployment programs (though exceptions exist), and international experience suggests that greater near-term cost reductions are possible, with Germany and Japan exhibiting significantly lower average installed costs for residential PV systems than the U.S.  The report finds evidence of sizable economies of scale among the PV systems in our sample, significant variation in average installed cost among states, and cost advantages for PV installed in residential new construction relative to the retrofit market.  The report also describes trends in financial incentive levels over time, by customer type and among states, and the associated impact of these trends on the net installed cost of PV for residential and commercial PV system owners after receipt of incentives.

The report can be downloaded from: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/re-pubs.htmlA
PowerPoint presentation that summarizes key findings can be found at: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/emp-ppt.html

Funding support for this report was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Program, and the Clean Energy States Alliance.

Connecticut Solar Lease Program

The groundbreaking introduction of a state-sponsored solar leasing program has drawn national attention and an onslaught of additional leasing programs and financing options have developed as a result. The Connecticut Solar Lease Program is a Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) initiative that was begun in 2008 and designed to eliminate the high upfront capital cost associated with solar photovoltaic (PV) system installations.  One of the  first of its kind in the nation, CT Solar Lease Program uses a combination of rebates and tax credits to help moderate and low income residents in the state gain access to clean, renewable solar energy.

The Connecticut Solar Lease Program addresses affordability issues for homeowners interested in installing residential solar energy systems. Eligible Connecticut homeowners—those residents whose household income is 200% or less of their area’s median income and meet the credit qualifications of the program—have the opportunity to install a cutting-edge solar system on their home with no down payment required and a low fixed monthly payment.  

While electricity prices are projected to continue to rise, the monthly CT Solar Lease payment will remain constant. In addition, homeowners enrolled in the program will benefit from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) Solar Rebate Program. Because CT Solar Leasing owns the solar PV system, it can take advantage of business tax incentives, further reducing the cost of the system on the homeowner. To procure a system, homeowners work with an eligible solar installer of their choice; over twenty installers have been pre-approved by the CCEF and CT Solar Leasing. Lessees also receive Solar Dividends, allowing them to share in the sale of the panel’s generation of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) where 1 REC is earned for every megawatt (MW) of electricity generated by the system. The money from the earned RECs goes into an account that lessees can use towards paying for a new inverter or towards the cost of system removal. Homeowners receive full use of the system for fifteen years at a fixed cost, with the option to buy. At the end of the fifteen year lessees have the option to buy the system from CT Solar Leasing at its current value, extend the lease for an additional five years at a reduced monthly rate, or have the system removed at their own expense with no future obligation. For more information on The Connecticut Solar Lease Program click here. 

Table 1 – CT Solar Leasing – Estimated Costs Table (click here for source)

The uniqueness of the CT Solar Lease Program encompasses several factors. To start, it is the first time that a ratepayer funded organization such as CCEF has partnered with financial institutions to leverage federal business tax credits in order to make renewable energy more affordable.  Secondly, the CT Solar Lease Program’s financial model is especially innovative because it was designed to allow valuable benefits to the customer such as low fixed payments and zero down payments.  Thirdly, the financial model also allows funding to come back to the program leveraging CCEF’s investments and benefitting Connecticut ratepayers.

(The PV Peer Network featured the CT Solar Lease Program as the focus of one of its webinars on Sept. 19, 2008. The webinar materials and audio file from the event are located on the PV Peer Network page of this website at http://www.statesadvancingsolar.org/state-activities/pv-peer-network.)

Electric utility companies have recognized the increasing importance homeowners and businesses are placing on clean, accessible, and affordable renewable energy.  Since the introduction of Connecticut’s program, many private companies have unveiled leasing programs for both residential and commercial markets.

SolarCity Lease provides affordable solar leasing options for businesses and homeowners in California, Arizona, and Oregon. Similar to CT Solar Lease, SolarCity offers leasing options for no money down and low monthly payments. The flagship company partnered with U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation to ensure the financing of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for a wide range of potential lessees. The company supplies financing, design, installation, monitoring, and maintenance for all of its solar leasing clients. Utilizing cutting edge proprietary software, SolarCity is capable of analyzing potential solar production, financials and environmental impacts for each client, managing thousands of concurrent projects, and automating key processes to further cut costs. The company is able to finance small commercial spaces as small as 20 kilowatts, to systems that generate upwards of 1,000 kilowatts or more. As of July, 2009 SolarCity had struck leasing agreements with over 3,500 homeowners, businesses, and schools.

SunRun PPA has a similar model to that of SolarCity and operates within California, Massachusetts, and Arizona. SunRun is the first company to strike an agreement with a local utility company, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), which has resulted in even lower cost leasing options for SunRun customers within the Los Angeles area.

FreEner-g, a newcomer to the scene, is a Minnesota leasing company starting a program out of the Twin Cities area. FreEner-g has marketed itself as an eco-venture with a triple-p approach: people, planet, and profit. The pilot project is being partially funded through customers of Xcel Energy through a $1.5M grant from the Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund. The Solar Assessment phase of the project began in August of 2008; currently, frEner-g is in the midst of the Solar Installation phase. By installing approximately fifty solar systems on homes and small businesses, freEner-g plans to deliver 280 kilowatts of installed solar capacity throughout the Twin Cities.  

Urban Electric Company recently announced their plans to create a Solar Equipment Lease program in the Philadelphia area. Like all companies whose state law requires net metering, Urban Electric Company solar system meters track the net difference between energy flowing in and out of the home and utility companies compensate for excess power fed back into the system.

While the above sampling of companies providing solar leasing programs vary in specific financing options and lease lengths, all the providers have been attracting customers with projected savings on monthly energy bills, solar system maintenance agreements, and guaranteeing high system performance. As more and more individuals and companies realize the financial and environmental advantages of solar leasing programs, expect to see more options available to consumers countrywide.

 http://www.ctsolarlease.com/documents/NRELSolarLeasePaperMarch2009.pdf 

 http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/44853.pdf

This program summary and other State Solar Spotlight Program case studies can be found on this website under State Activities.

The U.S. Department of Energy developed this comprehensive resource to assist local governments and stakeholders in building sustainable local solar markets. The guide introduces a range of policy and program options that have been successfully field tested in cities around the country. The guide describes each policy or program, followed by more information on:

• Benefits: Identifies benefits from implementing the policy or program.
• Implementation Tips and Options: Outlines various tips and options for designing and implementing the policy or program.
• Examples: Highlights experiences from communities that have successfully implemented the policy or program.
• Additional References and Resources: Lists additional reports, references, and tools that offer more information on the topic, where applicable.

The most recent version of the Solar Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments can be found at the US DOE Solar Cities Website (link).

“Through the Single-Family Low-Income Incentive Program…our goal is to provide low-income homeowners access to solar photovoltaic systems, to decrease electricity usage and reduce bills without increasing monthly expenses…By enabling low-income households to purchase photovoltaic systems, this program will help ensure that all Californians have an opportunity to avail themselves of the benefits provided by the clean energy technologies this Commission so ardently supports, including solar.”

CA PUC President Michael R. Peevey
November 16, 2007

With Decision 07-11-045 on November 16, 2007, California Public Utilities Commission adopted an innovative $108.34 million dollar program to provide incentives to low-income, single-family, owner-occupied homes in investor-owned utility territories. The goal of the Single-Family Low-Income Incentive Program is to provide low-income homeowners in California access to solar photovoltaic systems and to decrease electricity usage and reduce bills without increasing monthly expenses. The name of this program has been recently changed to the Single-Family Affordable Housing (SASH) Program. This program does not provide incentives for solar water heating systems.

The CSI SASH Program provides fully-subsidized 1 kW PV systems to very low-income households, and highly-subsidized systems to other low-income households.  The Commission expects approximately 1,800 households to qualify for fully-subsidized 1 kW systems. These systems are targeted towards households that cannot afford to take out loans to cover even part of the cost of a solar PV system. An additional 5,000 households are expected to be eligible for highly subsidized systems, whose owners also can take advantage of incentives, tax credits and other financing mechanisms.

All SASH applicants must meet the legal definition of “low-income residential housing” in Public Utilities Code 2852 to qualify for the program. Eligibility is limited to households who financed their homes with low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds, general obligation bonds, or local, state or federal loans or grants. In this program, the system owner must be the homeowner.

To qualify for a fully-subsidized 1 kW PV system, homeowners must first meet the eligibility requirements per Public Utilities Code 2852 and have household incomes at or below 50 percent of the area median income. The subsidy is capped at a maximum of $10,000 per qualifying household, and a maximum of 20% of program funds will be used for full subsidies.

This program will also service those homeowners who qualify under Public Utilities Code 2852, but whose household income is over 50 percent of the area median income. These families will receive partial subsidies for the installation of their PV system; the size of the subsidy will depend upon their federal tax liability. The CSI program has agreed to subsidize between 50% and 75% of the PV systems installed on these houses and to facilitate low-interest loans for the remainder of the cost.

The electricity generated by homeowners will be re-directed into the electrical grid they are on, and at the end of the year, any electricity generated will be subtracted from the cost of their total consumption. However, homeowners will not be paid for any excess energy generated during the year—Go Solar California urges people to contact their state legislator if they would like to change California’s Net Metering Law that does not obligate Utilities to pay their clients for excess energy generated and re-entered into the grid from personal solar PV systems.

Residential systems generating PV electricity will be credited between $4.75 and $7.00 per watt for the electricity they produce based on a sliding scale that reflects the homeowner’s federal income tax liability. In order to support the lowest economic echelon, this program has been designed in such a fashion that “the incentive rates are intended to provide a homeowner who has no federal tax liability with a positive cash flow in the first year of the installation.” The CPUC has decided that it prefers “to keep incentives at a constant level to avoid customer confusion” as this particular population sector will be hard to reach and market solar energy to in the first place, but it may consider adjusting the incentives later in the program based on market changes in solar energy costs. Lump-sum incentives will be provided at the following per-watt rates:

Incentive Rates for Highly Subsidized Systems (shown in $ per watt):

Federal Income Tax Liability	Qualifying Low-Income CARE-Eligible Homeowners	Qualifying Low-Income Homeowners not eligible for CARE
$0	$7.00	$5.75
$1 to $1000	$6.50	$5.25
$1001 to $2000	$6.00	$4.75

Funding for this program is being collected from distribution rates of the three primary utilities in California, PG&E, SCE and SDG&E, who are all paying a percentage of the budget based on the same percentages as the total CSI budget.

Utility	PG&E	SCE	SDG&E	Total
Percentage	43.7%	46%	10.3%	100%
Total Budget	$47.34	$49.8	$11.2	$108.34

Concerns have been raised regarding the geography necessary for optimal energy production. In order to qualify for the incentives presented by CSI, “an installation must meet a minimum performance requirement, which is .95 of the Design Factor used to calculate up-front incentive payments.”  While there was debate over the effect that this restriction would have on low-income homeowners in the less sunny areas of the state, the restriction has been put in place in order to help ensure that high-performing PV systems are installed on low-income homes, which is a goal of this program.

To govern this program throughout the state of California, the PUC has decided to select a single “Program Manager” to oversee the low-income homeowner incentive program. After much discussion between the parties involved, CSI has decided that the Program Manager should be a non-profit organization dedicated to helping and serving the low-income community. By having only a single Program Manager team, it will be possible to save money on administration and put more of it into PV systems and outreach programs.

Prior to being regarded as eligible for a PV solar system, applicants must enroll in the LIEE (low-income energy efficiency program) (if eligible) and complete an energy efficiency audit to determine what size system would be appropriate to create maximum efficiency in their particular house. Applicants may obtain a free energy efficiency audit through utility efficiency programs. Once the audit has been completed, it will be reviewed by the Program Manager who may require some “reasonable and cost-effective energy efficiency improvements” in order for the PV system to function at maximum output.

The Program Manager will work with the homeowner to determine whether applicants are eligible for the program, or whether they qualify for the full subsidies or incentives that partially subsidize the PV systems. Further, the Program Manager will help incentive recipients to find loans, other grants, and tax credits to cover any remaining costs of the system. Though each utility will credit incentives directly to qualifying applicants in its service territory, incentives will only be paid after the Program Manager verifies that installation is complete and the solar PV system is operable. It is expected that once systems have been installed, the payback period will be up to two years and the systems will remain under warranty for 10 years.

After a system has been installed, it will remain under the surveillance of the Program Manager and be subject to a formal biennial independent evaluation. In addition, the Program Manager will be similarly evaluated every two years by an independent evaluator to ensure that the program and PV systems are functioning efficiently and correctly.

By implementing the Single-Family Affordable Housing Program, California Solar Initiative hopes to install 1,000 PV energy systems within the territory of PG&E, SCE and SDG&E by the end of 2010, and to have established contact with every eligible homeowner in these territories. Other states have already begun to follow suit, as is demonstrated by the recently implemented State Rebate Program for Low-Income residences in Connecticut, funded by Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

For the most update information on this CSI program, please see:

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/Solar/070424_csilowincome.htm

http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/csi/low_income.html

The CPUC Decisions on the Single-Family Affordable Housing Program can be downloaded at:

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/word_pdf/FINAL_DECISION/75400.pdf

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/word_pdf/FINAL_DECISION/93687.pdf

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/word_pdf/FINAL_DECISION/99026.pdf

A special thanks to Melicia Charles, Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst, California Public Utilities Commission, for her assistance with this summary.

This report examines incentives available to reduce the cost of owning and operating a PV system and creative ways to combine them into a comprehensive financial package for residential PV systems. This report explains new financing mechanisms such as solar leases, residential power purchase agreements, property tax assessment models, renewable energy credit-based loans and community-based PV deployment models that are being offered by states and municipalities to support residential PV deployment.

Download the document (pdf)
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/44853.pdf