By Tor "Solar Fred" Valenza
March 25, 2011

One of the take-home messages of Solar Tech’s report on why we’re not marketing solar well is that we're failing to convey that solar is now affordable.  Only 11% of the survey's respondents believed solar to be affordable, while 82% perceived solar as expensive.

Part of what makes solar affordable these days for both residents, businesses, and non-profits are solar PPAs and leases. And yet, it’s difficult to find many consumers or business people who understand what those terms mean.

There are several reasons why “PPA” should be retired for solar.

• It’s long. Anything that has to be abbreviated or that automatically makes the responder say "What?" is too complex.
• Worse, “PPA” is a long-held fossil fuel financing term. We’ve just added “solar” or changed it slightly to “solar service agreement (SSA).” Let’s distance ourselves from fossil fuel jargon.
• The words “Power Purchase Agreement” have little to do with the customers we’re trying to reach, especially residential customers. If anything, people at home buy “electricity,” rarely the vague “power.” (Man, would I love to buy some power in Congress, but that would be illegal and I digress.)

Adhering to our old technical solar jargon hinders solar marketer’s ability to communicate in clear terms, and yet we do need common terms. However, I would argue that we should retire "Solar PPA" and "Solar Power Purchase Agreement" for a more simple term. But if we do, then what universal term could we use?

I’d like to propose “Home Solar Agreement” and “Commercial Solar Agreement.”

Isn’t that more clear? The first two words are self-explanatory and “Agreement,” while general, still indicates a legal contract of some sort for home or commercial solar energy. It can also be applied to either electric or solar thermal.

Similarly, "solar lease" is a fairly straight-forward term, but we can use language that’s even more simple and relate-able. How about “Solar Rental Agreement” as a general term? It’s longer, true, but “rent” is more down-to-earth. Everyone understands renting and “agreement,” once again, suggests a contract.

I’ve thought a long time about this, and I sincerely believe the industry should adopt simpler language starting, you know… last Tuesday.

I’m not going to profit from this suggestion either. I’ve registered the web address for these and similar terms so that no single solar company can drive traffic to their web site by it becoming the standard industry terminology. If I ever transfer those domain names, they will go to some solar non-profit organization, like SEIA. However, my short term plan is to create a solar website that will briefly explain what they are, how they typically work, and their history.

If you’d like to list your solar home agreement/commercial solar agreement/solar rental agreement company on these sites, please send me a note via UnThink Solar. I'll let you know when it's up. (Give me time.)

So, to all you old and new solar PPA and solar leasing companies, use these new terms now and often. Help us all to make it easier for consumers to understand that solar is affordable today, whether financing through home equity or through these innovative financing methods.

Finally, for those of you who missed last week’s post, don’t forget that April is National Solar Quote Month…again. And as always, UnThink Solar.

Tor Valenza a.k.a. “Solar Fred” advises solar companies on marketing, communications, and public relations. Contact him through UnThink Solar or follow him on Twitter @SolarFred.

Photo: Flickr/grumble_bum