Solar Leasing Offers Opportunity for Massachusetts Family
Monday, October 3rd 2011 5:50 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
Massachusetts plays a crucial role in the solar energy industry. With premier research institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University the state has contributed some important breakthroughs in solar panels.
Still, the state has had an up-and-down experience encouraging residents to adopt solar installations in an area traditionally dominated by more conventional fuel sources like petroleum and natural gas. The Solar Energy Industries Association reports that in 2009 Massachusetts added the eighth-most new solar installation, with 10 megawatts of new solar panels bringing the state's total capacity to 18 megawatts, good for 10th-best in the country.
By 2010, however, the SEIA reports that other states had surpassed Massachusetts, pushing it out of the top 10, though the state still saw growth in utility, non-residential and residential solar installations.
There is reason to hope that the state could see the industry improve its growth in coming years, however. Massachusetts currently suffers from the 11th-highest electricity rates in the country at 14.83 cents per kilowatt-hour through June of this year, only slightly behind California, and these exorbitant costs ultimately fuel the drive toward solar. While states like California and New Jersey benefit from added motivation such as plentiful sunlight and generous solar incentives, this positive environment also helped create a strong market for solar financing.
One of the effects of this strong market was the emergence of solar leasing companies like SunRun, which offer to install solar panels at little or no up-front cost and sell the electricity they produce at a fixed rate. One SEIA report suggests that fully one-third of the residential solar installations in California and Colorado came from solar leasing, according to USA Today, and the model could spur growth in the industry in more states as these companies expand.
RenewableEnergyWorld.com reports that SunRun first came to Massachusetts in mid-2009, partnering with one of the largest Massachusetts solar installers, Alteris Renewables. Many Massachusetts residents were quick to jump on the opportunity for renewable electricity at a low up-front cost. One such opportunist, Mark Buzzell of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, did not add his solar panels until May of 2011, but he has since become a huge advocate for SunRun and solar power since then.
"We are really excited to have the ability to reduce our environmental impact and save on our utility costs with solar," Buzzell told Alteris. "From my perspective there is only an upside to installing solar and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't jump at the opportunity."
The Buzzells added a 20-panel rooftop solar installation that boasts a maximum capacity of 5 kilowatts. It might not reach that all the time, but the family anticipates the system should offset as much as 85 percent of their electricity bills.
In the first full month of operation the solar installation produced 488 kilowatt-hours and were able to sell 94 kilowatt-hours back to the utility through Massachusetts' net metering laws. At 14.83 cents per kilowatt-hours, that amounts to a savings of more than $70 in just one month. With a monthly bill from SunRun of $67, the solar panels have already proven profitable.
The Buzzells expect to benefit from the new installation assuming that electricity prices will remain the same in years to come. In all likelihood they will only continue to rise. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that residential electricity prices peaked in Massachusetts in 2008 at 17.68 cents per kilowatt-hour, up more than 75 percent from the 1999 price of 10.09 cents per kilowatt-hour. Even now, prices remain nearly 47 percent above that rate. As oil and gas prices rise, the Buzzells at least can relax knowing they are saving even more.
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Massachusetts plays a crucial role in the solar energy industry. With premier research institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University the state has contributed some important breakthroughs in solar panels.
