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Solar Photo Voltaic Panels: Photo provided by CT Clean Energy FundWith global warming looming, there’s a lot of talk about renewable energy. Yet in Connecticut there aren’t many good locations to generate electricity from wind and most of the best hydro power sites are tapped out. But solar power has few downsides, except for one thing: the cost. The combination of soaring electric prices and state subsidies are giving solar a new jump.

In the wake of the last energy crisis of the 1970s solar energy looked like the next big thing. So big that Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House. But Dan Kammen, an energy expert at the University of California in Berkeley, says the panels weren’t up very long.

“Ronald Reagon came in, the price of oil fell and he promptly ripped them off.

And then he eliminated a federal tax credit on solar. The fledgling solar industry went into deep hibernation. Kammen says today only a small percentage of the country’s electricity is generated from solar

“About .1%. So it’s tiny. Off the map. Insignificant”

But that could change.

It’s usually tranquil at Linda and Bill Braun’s home in Burlington.
But today workers from the company Solarwrights are preparing to put photo voltaic panels on the roof. Photo voltaics use sunlight to generate electricity on a home, just like a mini power plant. Bill Braun says the soaring cost of electricity is one of the reasons he’s making the investment. And there are others.

“The state incentives and federal incentives cut the cost of the installation in half. And it comes down to there’s less than a ten year payback on a piece of hardware that has at least a 30 year lifespan so it makes a lot of sense.”

Along with the Braun family a growing number of people and businesses are installing now. There’s been a 20% growth in solar in the U-S for the last few years. In Connecticut Lise Dondy, President of the Clean Energy Fund, says the number of households which installed photo voltaics or “P.V.” in the state grew from 124 to 400 just last year.

“The growth actually has been enormous. Although we’re starting from very, very small numbers...If I look back a couple of years ago we were looking for anyone to put solar PV on and now people are calling us all the time both companies and individuals in looking to do this.”

But even with incentives the costs are still high. An average installation costs about $43,000. Connecticut’s rebate cuts that in half. And eliminates the sales tax. Municipalities don’t charge property tax on the systems. And until the end of the year there’s a federal tax credit of up to $2000. A system can generate between 70 to more than 100 % of the electricity in a well-insulated home. Most systems pay for themselves after about a decade. But Lise Dondy says government incentives are critically important.

“This technology is not cost competitive and without these incentives we’d go back to nothing because they are still too costly .”

David Barclay of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association says incentives do work, but only if they’re consistent.

“They vary by state and perhaps more importantly they are not entirely predictable. States fluctuate in terms of the amount of money that they have..... But without that predictability its very difficult for an industry that depends on those kinds of incentives to know where it’s going and to be able to continue to do what needs to be done.”

Connecticut’s three-year $36 million rebate program is paid for by ratepayers. Lise Dondy says rebate programs like this need reliable funding.

“Some states they’ve launched a program with great fanfare, put out a lot of money and had to halt it because they ran out of money. So our program is smaller. We don’t have as much money by any means as a state like California or New Jersey, but so far we have been able to be consistent and to keep the growing installer community busy.”

Michael Soares of Solarwrights installs solar panels on house in Burlington, CT: Photo by Nancy Cohen Solar installers are busy here. Solarwrights, a solar installer which serves five northeastern states, had revenues that increased two and half times just last year. The owner, Bob Chew, lived through solar’s infancy and then demise under Reagan. He says this time’s different.

“Our company’s seen explosive growth and we see very significant growth ahead. The solar industry in general, in states where there are favorable incentives ... is also going through explosive growth.”

Incentives are an important part of that growth, but energy consultant Joel Gordes of Environmental Energy Solutions says incentives won’t last forever.

”We have to get solar industry on a more self-sustaining basis….In order to do that we have to reduce subsidies and have financing kick in nothing was commercialized by giving it away...It’s the same as the automobile industry. We need low interest easy financing so the average Joe can pay the remainder of the cost.”

Gordes says even with low-interest financing low income people will have trouble affording solar. Lise Dondy says the Clean Energy Fund is designing a new program that would make solar available to low and moderate-income people. Households would install a solar system leased from a third party. Dondy says the household would pay for it with the money saved on electric bills.

“I think that can propel a lot of adoption .... We’re hoping on average it won’t cost them anything because they would be realizing it from the savings on their electric bill.”

Other places are also trying to make solar affordable. Dan Kammen from UC Berkeley says the city of Berkeley has designed a program that will front the costs and recover the money over time.

“What’s happening in Berkeley, CA I think is one of those real revolutions in solar...What Berkeley has done is say we will loan residents the money. You go buy the solar panels and then you pay us back on your property taxes. “

Programs like this could make solar more affordable. But there’s a reason to go solar besides lowering your electric bill: climate change. Dan Kammen says buying solar now is like buying the next 20 years of your power upfront. And he says it’s a hedge against a future tax on carbon emissions.

“As we go to where even the most conservative know we’re going and that is to pricing carbon there will eventually will be either a cap and trade system or a tax ... And when you have a tax people who are installing solar or who already have it are going to get to sell back the credits for the power from the grid they didn’t consume. And that’s going to be a new revenue stream. And the way to lock in is to install now and get that combination of savings.”

Most agree installing now is dependent on government subsidies. But they probably won’t last forever. The federal tax credit on photo voltaics runs out at the end of this year. Many in the solar industry are pushing lawmakers to extend it.