Zero Energy: Opportunities +
Challenges with Solar
Betsy Scott, IBACOS
Steve Pisklak, Dow Solar
• Market overview with a focus on PV
– U.S. growth and hot markets
– Getting paid – payback, leasing vs. selling
– Opportunities and challenges
• Building Integrated vs. Building Applied PV
– Trends and challenges
– Technical differences
Your ideas, experiences + concerns
Growth
• 94% came online
2010 – 2014
• 2014 biggest year
ever for installs –
more than 1/3 of all
operating capacity
• Residential 50%+
growth each year
2012-2014
• ½ gigawatt+ of
residential came
online without state
incentives
Sources: SEIA 2014 Solar Market Insight™ Report
• Forecast 31% growth in 2015 –
most rapid growth in residential
• Nearly 500 MW of community solar
installations by end of 2016
Source: SEIA 2014 Solar Market Insight™ Report
Source: McGraw Hill / NAHB 2014
More than half of U.S. homebuilders expected to offer
solar PV as an option in single-family homes by 2016.
Source: SEIA – U.S. Solar Market Insight™ Report, Q4 2014
Faster growth rates
than California!
Dollars + Sense
Source: “Going Solar in America”, NC Clean Energy Technology Center for DOE
30% Federal Investment Tax Credit through 2016
Au
dit o
f co
nte
nt o
n d
sire
usa
.org
Price per watt for
modules fell – $1.81 in
2010 to less than $.70
by end of 2013
• Lower barrier to
entry when PV can
be $20K+ for 5 kWh
• Little to no
money down
• Operations +
maintenance
included
• Rate paid to 3rd
party is lower than
utility’s
Resale can get
complicated
• Appraisal issues –
whose property?
• Get seller to buy
out lease
• Buyer assumes
lease – requires
specific FICO score
• Secondary
mortgage
guidelines don’t
address leases
Source: SEIA – U.S. Solar Market Insight™ Report, Q4 2014
Homebuyers Will Pay More
• Buyers willing to pay more for homes
with host-owned PV systems —
about $4 per watt of PV installed
• Premium of about $15,000 for a
typical PV system
• 22,000 sales of homes, almost 4,000 of
which contained PV systems in eight states
from 1999 to 2013
62% of Californians surveyed would
rather own than lease.
Sources: http://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/selling-into-the-sun-jan12.pdf
Challenges + Opportunities
• Advantages of
Building Integrated
PV (BIPV) vs.
BAPV
• Growth of rail less
systems
Source: “Will Railed Solar Racking Systems Soon Be Obsolete?”,
Green Builder Media, April 2015
Potential decrease to
the Federal Investment
Tax Credit from 30% to
10% if it’s not extended
beyond December 31
of 2016
• IBS meeting
• Solar action plan
• LFASE (Loans for Affordable Solar Energy)
– 3 year program launched in the last 3 weeks
– Part of effort to reduce “soft”, non-hardware costs
– “Affordable for every homebuyer/owner”
– “Goal is to identify solutions which will reduce the barriers and
lower the cost of Solar PV installations by using affordable
loan financing solutions” – Kerry Langley
Not on DOE’s site yet, but try this link soon -
http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/reducing-non-hardware-costs
• Relatively low cost – $5K lease / $7K buy for 10 kW
• Includes install, maintenance, inverter and control systems
• Electric cars more sustainable
• Enables solar community sharing
• Can only charge 10 kWh system 50 times per year
• SolarCity won’t offer smaller, daily charge system –
not enough power to last through the night
• Peak shaving (stock piling power during day) not economically
feasible in most of U.S.
• Backup power only