I’ve always been tempted to use solar energy for my home. But, in the places I’ve lived, it never seemed practical.

Now that the price of entry has dropped dramatically- to the point that the incident solar energy where I live can make economic sense- there are political (read state laws) that make it ridiculously difficult to go solar.

After all, the sun shines- and given the improvements in solar panels- we can now almost fully power our homes. And, in most states, if we produce more energy than we actually use (and our house is equipped with a net meter), the electricity generated flows though our house to every other home on the grid. And, then we only pay the utility company for our “net” usage from the grid.

But I live in Virginia, which limits solar generation to 1% of the total power supply and prohibits me signing a lease on a solar system. (You have to buy one outright, not lease one where the homeowner shares the energy profits with the vendor). But, there is a 30% investment tax credit from the IRS that does make it almost attractive- if you install it on your primary or secondary residence. (Renting a home proffers no credit.)

There also is a Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC). This affords the homeowner (that’s you and me) the right to sell the power we plan to generate to brokers. Brokers are listed on SRECTrade, some of which will buy years (some five to 8) of SREC’s, which we can use to install and purchase our solar panels.

Given these credits and the IRS tax credit, the actual price for the system may only be about 40% of that quoted price.

For my house, I was going for 5 kw of solar panels- which would cost me about $ 16K. That provides a tax credit of $ 4800- and if I could sell those SREC’s, I would have received between $ 3500 and $ 5000. That would  have made my net cost under $ 8K.

But, it also doesn’t help when we see some of the bigger solar vendors choosing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It makes us all wonder if we can trust a significant cost expense for our homes to such firms.

The other issue is that Dominion Power costs me less than 11 cents per killowatt hour. That means I could save about 2.5 to 3 cents a kilowatt hour. So, for two months a year, I will save about $ 100; $ 30 for about 6 months, and not much- if anything- the rest of the year. Across the river (in Maryland and DC), where the power rates are much higher, significant cost savings exist. (Plus Maryland has state tax incentives for solar- $ 1000 tax credit state wide,and some counties offer a property tax credit.) And, for the other states in the union, you can check the state incentives here.

Are you in?

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