Category Archives: energy retrofitting

New Solar Incentive for Homes

Posted on March 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

Mosaic, an Oakland-based solar finance start-up, is partnering with established rooftop solar installer RGS Energy to provide zero-deposit loans to homeowners who want to buy a solar energy system.

The loans will be backed by small-investor capital from Mosaic’s online crowdsourcing platform, which already funnels money to moderate sized solar arrays on farms, grocery stores, military housing and schools from coast to coast.

If successful, the “Mosaic Home Solar Loan” could help shift the tide of solar customers flocking to rooftop solar leases and power purchase agreements with no or little money down.

Those tidy arrangements take care of maintenance while allowing customers to pay a monthly or per-kilowatt fee for cheap solar energy to offset pricier utility services. But one aspect is missing.

“Unlike a lease, a loan offers ownership,” Mosaic President and co-founder Billy Parish said in an email, responding to questions from the U-T. “Homeowners build equity in their home solar system over time. A large benefit comes after the loan is paid off, when homeowners continue to get free energy for up to 25 more years, rather than renewing a lease. An immediate benefit is that the solar system increases the value of one’s home.”

The new loan offerings, available before mid-year, will set themselves apart from those at credit unions and banks in part by incorporating the federal investment tax credit into loan payments from the first installment. The credit can offset 30 percent of costs.

disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Some Solar Rebates Ending in San Diego

Posted on February 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

Solar rebates are coming to an end in San Diego for home rooftop energy systems and some solar water heating systems for single-family residences, the administrator of the programs confirmed Tuesday. An array of other solar rebates remain available.

Since their introduction in 2006, rebates for single-family households that generate their own solar energy under the California Solar Initiative have been gradually reduced as costs decline and the solar marketplace gains momentum. The initiative is paid for by the majority of California utility customers served by the state’s large investor-owned utilities, including San Diego Gas & Electric.

About $54 million in household rooftop solar rebates have been paid out in the San Diego region on more than 17,900 solar arrays, according to the California Center for Sustainable Energy, administrator of the initiative for San Diego and southern Orange counties.

Those rebates ran out once before in January 2013, and were extended by a $5 million transfer. Remaining funds of roughly $200,000 are accounted for by reservations and a waiting list, said Ben Airth, residential program manager for initiative at the energy center.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

SDG&E – Setting the Stage on Changing Peak Electricty Pricing

Posted on February 21, 2014 | Leave a comment

Proposed peak pricing would last from 2 to 9 p.m. on workdays during summer and warmer months, and from 5 to 9 p.m. in the winter.

Current peak price time: 11am to 6pm.

When exactly you use electricity will play an increasing role in how much you pay, as California utilities, including San Diego Gas & Electric, lay the groundwork to apply time-based pricing to a broad population of customers.

In a crucial early step, SDG&E wants to shift peak electricity prices to include the early evening hours, when demands for electricity are high and the sun has already set on a growing fleet of solar power plants and rooftop solar arrays.

The time shift, the first in decades, would go into effect at the start of 2015 and initially apply to industrial, commercial and public-agency customers, many already accustomed to dynamic rates.

By then, SDG&E also wants to open the option to households, which account for the majority of electricity demands in San Diego and southern Orange counties, before making it the default billing system by 2018, according to public filings by SDG&E and state utility regulators.

Rooftop solar hit

How residential rooftop customers would eventually fare is unclear.

As state utility regulators take up time-of-use issues, they also are preparing to rewrite the rules for net metering. The solar payoff has been sweetened by California’s steeply tiered rate structure for residential customers — also set for revisions that could reduce solar benefits as soon as July 1, and again next year.

SDG&E asserts that grid-connected solar customers are paying less than the appropriate share of infrastructure costs.

read more entire article at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/20/time-based-electricity-prices/