Get a Free Solar Power Estimate from a local vendor by clicking the advertisement above.

2012 – 2013 continues the very popular residential Solar Federal Tax Credit first enacted in 2009.  The previous solar tax credit program was capped at $2,000.  With the new one one, you can claim up to 30% of solar power costs for a new solar electric system. Existing homes & new construction qualify. Both principal residences and second homes qualify. Rentals do not qualify. Expires: December 31, 2016

The Solar Federal Tax Credit 2012 – 2013 works especially well when coupled with a state rebate program. (CA, CT, NJ, NY) Also look for city solar incentive programs, that can also save you money on your solar panels.

On the tax credit, existing homes & new construction qualify. Both principal residences and second homes qualify. Rentals do not qualify.

This 2013 Solar Federal Tax Credit reduces the amount of tax you owe. The credit is a reduction of total income tax at the bottom of your tax return. This tax credit is a non-refundable tax credit. Consult your tax adviser for details about solar power. Use it or lose it!

California Solar Power Rebates

In the Spring of 2013, most of California ran out of money for their solar rebates. Southern California Edison still had some rebate funds available.

Rebates make solar power worthwhile in California as well as several other states. Without hefty rebates, few systems would be sold. California Solar Initiative Rebates vary according to system size, customer class, and performance and installation factors. The subsidies automatically decline in “steps” based on the volume of solar megawatts confirmed within each utility service territory.

Be sure to check this website tracker page to see where rebate amounts are currently at. The rebates are clearly approaching a lower level in the near future. If you are interested in the solar system and reside within the service area, it is time to start moving your project forward.

Example Solar Electric System cost with Rebates

A 5kW solar electric system costing $24K would get $6K in a California Utility rebate and $7.2k Federal Solar Tax Credit. First year system net cost $10.8k. System pricing is always changing, usually downwards.

The estimated annual electricity cost before you installed a solar system would be approximately $1700, the price with your solar electric system installed would drop to $400.

System payback time would be roughly 11 years.  Rebates vary depending on location of course. Rebates make solar power Very attractive! The estimated life span of most solar electric systems is from 20 – 30 years, so after your system payback time, your system has already paid for itself.

The payback time in New York, with its state and local tax credits is even shorter. The payback time in Minnesota and Oregon is slightly longer than California.

San Francisco Solar Rebates

The city of San Francisco recently started GreenFinanceSF, a financing program that helps to pay for water savings, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects that you might not have been able to afford.  The repayment obligation is attached to the property, rather than the individual, and is paid back through property taxes over the life of the financing. The maximum payback is 20 years. this program applies to residential and commercial property owners.

Eligible projects include home energy audits, upgrading heating systems, upgrading water heaters, installing solar hot water, installing solar electric panels, and conserving hot water. The city wants people to get home energy audits before doing any work, so you see all the options. The program has an online application and application processing fee of $300. FAQ 800-803-6930 is their phone number.

If you sell the property before everything is paid back, whoever buys the property will make the rest of payments over time through their property tax bill.

This program was funded in part Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The City and County of San Francisco received direct funding through the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program that was used to establish the framework of GreenFinanceSF.

This Solar Federal Tax Credit is not affected by the AMT or Alternative Minimum Tax.

San Francisco Solar Panel Discount

This program may have its funding slashed by 40% shortly, so get in now if you have been thinking about it. Go solarSF helps San Francisco residents acquire discounts on Solar panel installation in San Francisco. There is a GoSolarSF rebate of $2000-6000 and a firm that helps people collectively buy panels at lower prices. A 2Kw system for $6000 after rebates instead of $18,000. Pretty sweet.

Make sure you factor in any city permit or contractor installation fees. Also consider fixing any roof problems before you add solar panel.

San Jose Solar Discount

Let’s face it, solar panels are great but very expensive. The nonprofit Bay Area Climate Collaborative has set up a new program called SunShares that allows employees of participating companies and credit unions to buy solar panels at the significantly discounted price. San Jose city workers have a group by program of their own, that allows them to buy top rated SunPower solar panels at more than 40% off. Financing is available from the San Jose Credit Union.

They are looking for other municipalities and businesses to participate, so be sure to contact them.

Solar Panel Group Buy

1bog.org (One block off the grid) is working to aggregate solar purchases to save money. They are active in San Francisco Bay Area, LA, San Diego, and New Orleans. They are a community based, national organization helping to negotiate group discounts between consumers and solar installers.

Solar Power During Power Outages

Many people believe that their solar electric system will provide them with power when the power is off. Recently Super Storm Sandy reminded solar panel owners that this is not the case. A standard known as UL 1741 allows solar electric systems to be connected to an electric utilities system. The utility becomes an electrical backup, for times when the sun isn’t shining. The electric company becomes part of a centralized grid for distributing and buying power. If they are offline, the whole system shuts off.

You can go completely “off the power grid” by having your own battery backup. This option is extremely expensive and requires more maintenance and complexity. Most people that opt for this type of system live far away from electric wires.

With the recent solar rebates, it is a great time to get off the grid.

Be sure to read our article: Are solar panels for me?

Interested in Solar Energy? Read our articles on solar power:

• Are Solar Panels for Me?
• Solar Panel Installation - Planning
• No money down Solar Panels
• Solar panel cleaning

Spring is a time to start thinking about solar power. The sun is finally shining, and the rainy season has passed. Solar Panels produce green clean energy from an abundant energy source that shines on us everyday. Solar Electric Systems also called photovoltaics or PV convert the sun’s radiant energy into electricity.  Unlimited renewable energy that is guilt free and at no cost once our panels are paid for. Enjoy energy independence.

Solar City has free quotes for solar electric systems. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose.

Solar Power Helps the Earth

Play a direct part in combating greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, coastal off shore drilling, and help reduce our dependence on foreign dirty fossil fuel. Help your community by supporting local solar businesses. Your energy source is acquired at a specific cost, while rates on power can and usually do rise every year.

California has over 1 Gigawatt of energy generated from solar panels, a milestone hit in November 2011. Only Germany, Spain, Japan, Italy, and the Czech Republic has more solar installations. The number of solar panel installations grew significantly in California because of the Million Solar Roof Initiative. This initiative helped reduce the cost of solar panel installations. The California Solar Initiative was created by this program. It provides rebates to home and businesses who install solar panels. The amount of the rebate has faded over time and is now just $0.25 per watt in many PG&E areas.

Slow Solar Panel Price Decrease

Prices on raw individual solar panels have fallen approximately 42% from 2007 to 2011, according to SolarBuzz.com.  The actual price of a complete solar system has only fallen 17% during the same time frame. Why the disparity?

• Time lag from buying panels one month to installing them several months later
• Solar panel modules account for less than half the cost of a complete solar system
• Labor and the cost of securing a permit typically haven’t fallen in price
• Materials such as copper and aluminum are not getting cheaper every year
• $2500 is spent on average to secure government permits for solar installations
• The entire solar installation ecosystem is very inefficient and varies from market to market
• Nationally the average cost of residential solar power installations has fallen to $5.46 per watt when you factor in hardware, labor, and permits
• Commercial installations have fallen to $3.45 per watt
• German solar panel system installations have fallen to $2.24 per watt. So there is room for American prices to fall further

Solar Electricity Components

Solar Panels are installed on your roof and collect the sun’s energy and convert it to direct-current or DC power.

DC power is run from the solar panels into a power inverter mounted on the side of your house, that converts DC to AC, or power that you can use. The power inverter has an LCD display that shows how much power is being generated. The inverters are connected to a power shut off switch. Some newer solar panels use micro inverters to convert DC to AC at each panel. With these panels, there is no need to have a big power inverter.

The power from your solar electric system is fed through a special electric power meter that your utility provides. This meter can spin backwards when you are generating more electricity than you use. Extra electricity is sent out the utility grid for others to use.

In 2008 the average residential Solar Electric System cost an expensive $5.40 per watt of capacity, while commercial ones cost $4.20.  These figures translates to 25 to 46 cents per kilowatt hour of residential power or 17 to 29 cents for concentrating commercial solar plant.  Compare the above numbers to roughly 5 to 10 cents for coal, nuclear, and natural gas and you can see a disconnect. The average US electricity price in 2009 was 11.5 cents, compared to 8.4 in 1995.

In the San Francisco Bay Area most PG&E customers have tiered energy pricing (E1 Residential Pricing plan) that starts at 12 cents, but jumps to 14, 29.4 cents, 40.4 cents and 40.4 cents as you use more power. An average home in PG&E’s territory ends up paying 29-40.4 cents/KWHr for more than half of their electricity usage. This type of pricing encourages energy conservation. Baseline quantities are set within a range specified by state law and approved by California Public Utilities Commission. This figure can vary by geographic location.  Over the last 25 years, PG&E rates have increased by 4% a year. This makes solar much more justifiable. PG&E has a minimum $5.40 a month charge for distribution among other fees, so no zero dollar bills.

Enough of the feel good rhetoric, how much $$ can one save? Everyone wants a zero power bill. A sample system run through a large local Solar firm’s website, Solar City’s Solar Calculator:

Assumptions: $300/month electric bill in San Francisco. 8% – A little shading, 22 degree roof pitch, South facing roof.

Save $2904 a year or $242 a month. New electric bill $60 month. 8.6 years to pay off system, then power after that is free! Most solar panels are warranted for 20 years, and some systems have been online or more than 30 years. The value of a solar electric system appreciates over time as power prices escalate.

Initial System Cost:	+	$	38,976
Federal Tax Credit:	–	$	10,787
State Rebate:	–	$	3,020
Final System Cost:*	=	$	25,169

Be sure to check with your state to verify any rebates. Also check with your accountant to ensure that you qualify.

Per Solar City: This is a post-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR), which calculates all the money you will save over the next 30 years because you will be generating free electricity from the sun instead of paying the utility company. IRR also takes into account your initial investment, government rebates and credits, and the time value of money.

Actual Solar Panel System Quote

Spring and sunshine are back. March is when we start seeing real energy being produced by our solar panels. With the large rebates available, there is a lot of interest in solar panels.

We have an example of an real life solar panel quotation that was purchased. This large 5.4kW system is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and uses very high efficiency Sunpower solar panels and inverter and costs $22,725 after rebates and incentives. You can download the pictures below and view them in their full size.

The owner currently pays $1269 a year for power, and will save 70% in annual energy costs or save $885 a year.

The solar electric system will pay for itself in about 13 years. They also calculated the home would increase in value by over $19,000 because of the solar panels.

The solar company also has an analysis if the system is paid for with a 15 year loan, which is the only way many people can afford the system. $188 is paid a month for the solar panel system or around $145 after tax deductions. You would have positive annual cash flow after 10 years. At year 16, your cumulative cash flow would be positive.

This solar panel system is a very large and state of the art efficient one. Most people would purchase smaller or less costly systems.

Here is a solar electric system quote for the same location but from Solar Dealer REC Solar.

Costco Solar Electric System Special Event

Costco.com now shows several solar power kits from Grape Solar starting from $3599.99 for a 880 W expandable grid tie solar kit. There is a 5 kW kit for $17,999.99. Professional installation is a must unless you are really gifted. Grape Solar has a network of over 5,000 installers who will be available to provide local customer support. This kit is eligible for the 30% Federal solar tax credit and possibly state and local utility rebates, making it a pretty good deal.

Costco had a limited time special discount on Solar electric systems for Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, and Oregon for Costco members back in 2009, that may be available in your area.

A typical system priced 1/10/2009 for Colorado:

$ 9,697.22 Solar Equipment – 3Kw system
$13,162.97 Installation
————-
$22,860.19
- $10,780 Colorado rebate
————-
$12,080.19 Costco Member purchase price

Possible additional savings:
- $92.40 1% rebate from Amex TrueEarnings Card
-$184.80 2% Costco Executive member reward
-$3624 Federal Tax credit
————-
$8178.99

Pretty sweet deal! Check with your local Costco and tax adviser for your current special deal.

By switching to solar you’ll save the equivalent of…

• CO2 emitted by driving a car 174,070 miles
• CO2 absorbed by 76 trees
• 49,789 gallons of water used in electricity generation

Owning solar panels is similar to renting vs buying a home, but instead of a home, the asset is electric power. If you could not afford $25k but still want to take advantage of solar, select their Lease plan and $0 initial payment where you lease the panels.

Save $960 per year on power. Solar Lease monthly payment $162 plus new electric bill of $58 = $221 per month compared to $301 a month on your old bill.  Save $29,601 over 15 years as utility rates increase.

We have owned a solar system for many years and have been advocates to our friends and family just as long.  Solar power is not for everyone. In this article we cover important factors you need to consider when deciding whether a new solar energy system worth the plunge.

• Rent or Own Home – If you rent or plan to sell your home within the next couple years, Solar panels are not for you.  A solar system’s payback time is typically on the order of ten years.  They will increase the value of your property when you want to sell. A recent study found on average that a solar system added about $5.50 per watt to a home’s resale value.
• Physical Location – If your home does not receive enough solar radiation because of tree shading, weather, or its geographic location, you are not a good candidate for solar panels. Different areas received differing amounts of solar radiation. Solar insolation in the San Francisco Bay Area averages 5.4 peak sun hours a day. National Renewable Energy Lab has a solar map of the US.
• Roof – Most solar panels rest on roofs.  Your roof must be large enough and angled such that a Southern – Southwest sky exposure allows ample sunlight. The solar panels should be angled similar to your location’s latitude.  The roof must also be in good shape and not leak.  Fix the roof before considering solar panels.  The structure of the roof must be able to hold the weight of solar panels and fastening system. Some communities like Palo Alto have requirement specifying spacing around solar panels for fire suppression  purposes.
• Roof Shading -  How much of the roof is shaded by trees, equipment, or other obstacles? Clearly, you want to maximize solar panel direct sunlight access.  We had to trim trees to maximize sun exposure for the afternoon. Partially shaded areas work better with certain brands of solar panels.
• Financial – Solar Panels are not cheap.  If cannot afford a solar system costing tens of thousands of dollars or do not have good enough credit to qualify for a solar lease, consider solar energy when your finances have improved.
• Permits – Many municipalities require building permits before a solar system can be installed.  Make sure you can satisfy any requirements, which may include neighbor or association approval. Paperwork and permit costs can add almost $2500 to a residential system. Permits are usually needed to qualify for rebates.
• Rebates – In order for solar power to be cost efficient, your system needs to qualify for Federal, State, and or local solar rebates.  Incentives can cover up to 40% of a solar electric system depending on the state. Verify this before proceeding. Rebates are reserved on a first come first served basis. DSIRE has a national incentive database. California Solar Initiative tracks California rebates. You solar installer will help with the rebate paperwork. The best solar incentives are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.  Texas and Florida are coming online.
• Energy usage – Your energy consumption needs to be high enough to justify solar panels.  If your bill is too low, you would never achieve solar panel payback. Use about $75 a month as a ballpark guide. Your local utility can give you annual usage information.
• Utility Company – Do they buy back excess power?  Where does the excess power go? Do they support Net metering? How much they charge per kW? Are there special monthly charges for solar panel owners or net metering?
• Power Outages – Most Solar Electric Systems are Grid-Tied or connected to the power grid.  The solar system inverters automatically turn off if a power outage occurs. Inverters generally restart 5 minutes after power is restored. Solar panels will not keep your power flowing unless you setup and expensive battery backup system.

Many local solar installers can walk you through these questions and help you answer them.  They will be skewed on the side of selling you a system of course. If you satisfy all the above criteria and are not scared off by the pricing, read our article on Solar Panel Installation - Planning.

Solar Panels will need occasional solar panel cleaning.  Home Power Magazine covers the solar scene.

Power Bill True Up

In our area, PG&E sends us a small $5 monthly bill every month for electricity. At the end of the year, they calculate how much power we have actually used from PG&E when our needs are not being met by our solar panels. PG&E then subtracts the amount of power we sent them. The final bill is known as the True Up bill.

If your True Up bill is greater than $1000, it may be time to invest in another string of solar panels.

$0 Solar Panel Promotion

Solar Power for less. Several solar power companies have $0 down solar panel installation promotions. Basically, you are given the solar panels and pay for the lease of them every month. The solar panels generate more energy than your monthly lease payment, letting you save on your energy cost.

Free home estimate. Special savings end soon.

• Guaranteed performance
• Free monitoring and maintenance
• Free panel cleaning
• Full solar system insurance

Alternative-Energy Future is way off

Wall Street Journal had a good article quickly examining various promising technology and realistically looking at when they could make an impact.

Nuclear, Carbon capture, Solar, Wind, Algae biofuels, Fusion and electric cars where examined. It is pretty clear that nothing major is going to hit in the near term. We really need to conserve energy, put solar panels on our roofs, drive more efficient cars, and push hard on clean technology.

PG&E has started installing Smart meters in many locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. These industry standard gas and electric meters measure a customer’s energy use. Electric meters read power consumption hourly, while gas meters record information daily. Both types periodically transmit your energy use information over a secure wireless network back to PG&E or your local utility company. They are said to use 1/1000 of a cell phone’s RF power and transmit data for less than a minute each day.

A wireless smart meter controversy has arisen stating that the meters are not accurate and customers are being overcharged. Hackers may be able to hack into your meter and there are concerns about wireless RF radiation. PG&E counters by saying that a rate increase occurred during the smart meter rollout. Third-party labs need to test the meter to verify accuracy. At the end of May, 2010 PGE finally responded with a report.  In early May 2011, PG&E finally admitted that some meters got to hot when internal temperatures past 100°, and misread electrical usage. Customers were overcharged due to this bug.

Smart Meters for Solar and Renewable Energy Customers

In September 2012, we received notification that PG&E was upgrading our power meter to a new one with Smart Meter technology. This allows easy access to monitoring our energy usage and solar power creation. The new meter has a digital display that shows when power is being received or delivered from our power utility. We can also view a break down of net energy usage showing detail down to 15 minute increments. Armed with this data we can find and test different way of saving energy without installing a special energy monitoring system.

Our electric service is probably going to be interrupted for roughly 5 minutes, requiring us to redo some clocks. Additionally we need to check our solar power inverter for correct operation.

After they did the upgrade, we have to wait approximately one week for the new meter to be accessible to their website.

Health Effects

A small minority of people complain about headaches, insomnia, ringing in their ears, and other symptoms once SmartMeters were installed.  This is a deeply disputed area though.  PG&E has offered non-transmitting meters to these folks, but they content that the power switching device within these digital meters also causes symptoms. There will be a $75 one-time fee to switch to a non-SmartMeter plus a $10 monthly fee. The monthly fee would help pay for utility workers that manually read the meter’s numbers every month.

About 15 million customers Nationwide have these Smart meters, with more added daily.

The pluses of a Smart Meter

Utility companies could allow customers to see how much power, gas they are using.  San Diego Gas & Electric even supports Google’s now discontinued PowerMeter. Microsoft Hohm uses Smart Meter data to help you save energy.

PG&E lets SmartMeter customers check their usage power, gas online.  You can see how it varies from day to day and compare your usage with others. Seeing your energy use and cost in real time allows you to adjust your lifestyle to reduce your power bill. Some PG&E smartmeters are made by Landis+Gyr. These show how much power you are using right now. SmartMeter technology can also give customers access to new electric pricing plans like the PG&E SmartRate summer pricing plan. If you use less electricity from 2-7 pm, on no more than 15 of the hottest summer days, you will be charged less.

A SmartMeter can alert PG&E or other utility companies if there is a power outage, so the power can be restored faster than before. In the future, a Home Area Network (HAN) will allow you to automate your energy use and take advantage of special variable time pricing plans to help you save money.

Power is measured in kilowatt hours (kwH). If you leave a 100 watt light bulb on for 1 hour a day, for 30 days, you will have used 100 watts x 30 hours = 3000 watt hours = 3 kwH.

In the San Francisco Bay Area most PG&E customers have tiered energy pricing (E1 Residential Pricing plan) that starts at 12 cents, but jumps to 14, 29 cents, 40 cents and 40 cents as you use more power.  With a smart meter you know how much you are using. You can sign up for alerts via phone or email that tell you when your are entering a more expensive energy tier.

Future of Smart meters

Smart meters could automatically adjust appliance power consumption during peak times, causing a reducing in power costs. Reliant Energy in Houston has 2 price levels for power in the winter, 3 in Summer. The highest prices are from 4-6pm in the Summer. Cook dinner after 6pm, or turn off the air conditioning for 2 hours, and you will save money.

In California, days that require the most power cause the least efficient and most polluting plants to have to be put online. PG&E has Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) where you pay less in exchange for higher prices 15 days a year.

One thing is for sure, the meters add another RF radiation source to our lives.

If you want to opt out of the SmartMeter program call 877-743-4112.

Wireless Water Meters

San Francisco has been quietly rolling out wireless water meters since 2010. Only 95 people out of 81,000 has objected. This project was important because older water meters were starting to slow down and become inaccurate. The new meters use an analogue signal rather than digital. They communicate four times a day with data collection units scattered throughout San Francisco. Because the meters are out in the sidewalk instead of the side of your house, people maybe more comfortable with them.