Breaking into Rooftop PV Without Breaking the Bank

For those of us contemplating rooftop solar, and trying to bridge the gap between what we think it’s going to cost and what we want it to cost, there are a few more options out there these days.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), part of the U.S. Department of Energy, has summarized some of the financing options for residential PV in a recent report, Solar Photovoltaic Financing: Residential Sector Deployment.

In summary, besides the federal, state, local and utility incentives available to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency (and that can be accessed on the DSIRE database), the report describes different and original kinds of financing increasingly in use across the country for PV.  The programs vary from ownership by third parties to financing through property taxes to community-based projects;  their common feature is that they all succeed in reducing or eliminating that high upfront cost burden that plagues residential solar deployment today. (more…)