Comments on: Sungevity Raises $6M to Bring More Solar to the Golden State

By: Gregory

Gregory — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:55:07 +0000

With much respect to the viewpoints you each have on solar lease programs. I beg to differ, a solar lease program is designed to make the solar conversion to clean energy a simple and affordable way for the masses to participate in a solution to help minimize the environmental destruction, and dependence on fossil fuel driven power plants. In this economy most homeowners are just trying to get by, they want to do something to change our carbon footprint, but the investment of $25,000 and even after all the rebates and write offs they may only pay about $11,000 for the system. Then factor in the maintance and repair cost of a system, the purchase option to a new solar customer may seem a bit of a stretch. A new solar customer should have the option to test drive the technology before investing and a solar lease offers just that. Technology changes so fast these days, many of the systems being purchased today may be obsolete in 10 years, remember all of those giant cable satellite dishes, or the block sized cell phones, and I can go on and on, the point is sometimes it is better to find a way to enjoy the technology during its ‘evolution stage without having to invest the farm. The main mission is to bring the clean energy of solar to the masses with a program that will work for them now, not wait until they can afford to purchase and who cares if a homeowner buys or leases? What we desire is a clean environment, and the reduction the BP oils spills and the coal mining accidents. Ohhh, by the way there is a solar lease program that you can lease with the option to buy in six years, they have two of the best leasing programs in the nation, you can get a free solar quote and compare before you decide. Read about it: http://www.2rentsolar.com
Either you are part of the problem, or part of the soultion, which are you gentlemen?

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:29:25 +0000

A solar lease is absolutely the worst way to get into solar. All of the benefits including the cash rebate, Federal tax credit, RECs (Renewable Energy Credits) go to the leasing company. You're only saving 10 to 15% in most cases and you'll be stuck with lease payments for 10 to 20 years ! Anyone can easily save up to 20 to 25% on their electric bill by taking advantage of all of the cash rebates that are available for simple energy efficiency improvements such as lighting, without being stuck with 20 years worth of lease payments. PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing programs offering 0 upfront costs and great interest rates and loan that you automatically walk away from when you sell your home are popping up all over the country. And unlike a solar lease, when you're done with your payments, you'll own the system. With a solar lease after 20 years worth of payments you won't own anything because the system belongs to the leasing company. With prices for solar coming down like they are (less than $5.00 a watt for an installed system) in a few years, a lot of people are going regret that they ever signed a lease agreement.

By: Randy

Randy — Sat, 22 May 2010 05:59:02 +0000

A solar lease is one of the biggest scams out there. All you're doing is renting your roof to these companies so that they can make a whole bunch of money. And I mean a whole bunch of cash. Even a small systems can net a home owner well over a hundred thousand dollars in net income over the life of a system, but when you lease, all of that cash goes to the leasing company. When you lease you don't get the cash rebate, or the 30% tax credit or the REC credits nor will you get over 25 years worth of income that the system will generate. And the worst part is, after making all those lease payments, you won't even own the system. You're giving all of this away to the leasing company. Unfortunately there are plenty of Solar Sheep out there that will sign a leasing contract and will lock up their roof for 10 to 20 years and give it all to the leasing company. A much better option is the new government sponsored PACE financing programs that are popping up all over the U.S. Unfortunately once you sign your roof away in a solar lease, you can no longer participate in a lease program until the lease is up.

By: A Summary of the Pending GHG Regulations | Solar Power in Connecticut

A Summary of the Pending GHG Regulations | Solar Power in Connecticut — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:36:22 +0000