New Hampshire Home Owners Gaining Energy Independence
Thursday, December 22nd 2011 2:33 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
New Hampshire is well known across the country for its strong independent spirit. With a state motto like "Live free or die" it would be difficult to be any other way. Now, however, the state is looking increasingly toward a different kind of independence: energy independence.
The Nashua Telegraph reports that New Hampshire has seen growing interest among homeowners for residential solar installations as a means of lowering their electricity bills as well as a way of reducing their reliance on utilities.
Located in the often chilly northeast, New Hampshire does not present itself as the ideal locale for solar power. But the National Renewable Energy Laboratory illustrates that the difference between New Hampshire and New Jersey, the nation's second largest solar market, is actually relatively small.
While New Jersey has offered extensive solar incentives, with substantial rebates and renewable portfolio standards for utilities, New Hampshire has been slow to adopt similar policies. Since 2008, however, the state has offered a rebate program paid for by electricity providers. Though the size of the rebates has fallen somewhat, homeowners can still receive as much as $4,500 for a residential solar installation up to 3.6 kilowatts in capacity, according to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.
With the growing popularity of the program, New Hampshire had already managed to support the installation of 433 solar panel systems with another 103 in later stages of approval, as of August 2011. Together these projects will eventually account for more than 1.7 megawatts of solar capacity. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, that amounts to less than 0.1 percent of the state's net summer capacity from 2009, but it represents a dramatic climb from the negligible solar capacity in recent years.
More importantly, its effects are far from negligible for those who have invested in solar installations.
"There’s not much else you can put your money in that pays you back continuously," Karen Cramton, the owner of New Hampshire solar installer Nashua Energy Options, told the Telegraph.
Don, a resident of Nashua, New Hampshire, was one of the many people to benefit from the growing solar market in New Hampshire. Calling Connecticut solar installer Alteris Renewables in early 2009, Don's house presents an interesting challenge for solar panels, with a multi-angled roof that made a single straight array impossible. Don displayed his rooftop solar installation proudly, however, with Alteris wrapping the 24 solar panels around the front roof of the house.
All together, the panels combine for a capacity of 5.4 kilowatts and, with little to block their view of the sun, they produce more than 6,300 kilowatt-hours each year. According to the EIA, that would cover more than 83 percent of the average New Hampshire household's electricity usage. With a larger house and higher energy needs, it amounts to only around 33 percent of Don's power. Nonetheless, with an average residential retail electricity price of 16.32 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2010, that still amounts to annual savings of more than $1,000 per year. And New Hampshire, like most states offers net metering guarantees as well, ensuring that electricity generated beyond what is needed on the house will still be credited by the utility company. Between the state rebate and the popular federal tax rebate, annual savings of that size should allow Don to cover the cost of his solar system relatively quickly and begin to make a profit.
In the meantime, Don knows exactly how much he will be paying for roughly one-third of all his electricity, regardless of what the oil and gas markets might have to say about it.
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New Hampshire is well known across the country for its strong independent spirit. With a state motto like "Live free or die" it would be difficult to be any other way. Now, however, the state is looking increasingly toward a different kind of independence: energy independence.
