Apr 12 - The Berkshire Eagle



Bill Spinney spent a lot of time trying to figure out how he could get solar panels on the roof of his garage without having to spend $20,000 or more up front.

Then he heard about Alteris Renewables' offer to install an array on the roof for about $3,000. For that amount, someone else would own the solar installation and sell the power it generates monthly to the homeowner.

"It's absolutely great," Spinney said. "It's producing more than 80 percent of the power for the house, and it's a seamless integration."

When building his garage, Spinney positioned specifically for the ability to use solar panels to their maximum impact. But in seeking a solar installation, the up-front cost was a barrier.

 But Alteris Renewables showed Spinney that they could install a 5.6-kilowatt solar system on his garage, sell the hardware to California firm SunRun, which would then charge Spinney for electricity generated.

His upfront cost was about $3,000. Jim Oliva, Alteris' director of residential and small commercial sales, showed Spinney that over 25 years without solar, he would pay Western Mass Electric about $64,000. But after installation, the combined cost of solar power and WMECO would only be $38,000.

The solar panels have been up since last September. Before that, Spinney was paying about $130 monthly to WMECO. Now he is paying them only about $12 monthly. He also pays SunRun about $72 every month.

Spinney

said the 28 solar panels were installed in one day.

"I have wanted to do this since I was a little kid," Spinney said. "Now that it's done, we're seeing all of our appliances being run directly by the sun. It's just amazing."

Oliva said that since Alteris and SunRun began offering this financing for solar about a year ago, the response has been dramatic.

"Even thinking long-term, for a lot of people that $20,000 cost is prohibitive," he said. "But with SunRun, the up front investment is minimal. It's a real game-changer."

So instead of selling the solar hardware to the homeowner, Alteris sells it to SunRun, who then charges the homeowner for the power generated at a flat consistent rate over the 18-year contract. SunRun retains the right to sell the renewable energy credits and takes the tax rebates, and it also has responsibility for maintenance and repair of the system throughout the contract period.

"When we launched this last year, our sales numbers quadrupled," Oliva said. "Before, lots of people couldn't pull the trigger but when we introduced this to them, the flood gates opened."

Since then, Alteris has sold slightly more than 100 solar projects, and company officials expect those numbers to increase.

But some seeking solar for their home may not like the power purchase agreement system Alteris and others have been marketing, according to Chris Kilfoyle, president of Berkshire Photo Voltaic Systems (BPVS).

"It's not for everyone -- we've had customers who've seen that agreement and declined it," he said.

Some homeowners will prefer to make the difficult choice of the up front payment of $20,000 or more, often through a home equity or home improvement loan, and reaping the full green energy benefit, he said.

Once the installation is complete, they don't have to make monthly payments for roughly 80 percent of the power they use, and they can claim the state rebates and tax credits for themselves, Kilfoyle said.

He added that the SunRun power purchase agreement doesn't allow the homeowner to advertise or acknowledge that their home uses green energy -- that right is retained by SunRun who sells it on the open Renewable Energy Credit marketplace to entities who buy it to improve their "green energy" image.

"For many of our customers, who are serious about reducing their carbon footprint, selling those [renewable energy credits] is not an option," Kilfoyle said.

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