FEATURED ARTICLE: The New Solar Economy: A Hazy Path Toward Harnessing the Power of the Sun
Project Sunroof can estimate the electrical generation for individual residential addresses. In addition, the system can show solar po- tential by zip code. For example, Google reports that 85 percent of the rooftops in my warm and sunny Florida zip code are suitable for solar financing. That’s a total of 10,700 homes that – so far – in- cludes just 56 solar installations. There’s a disconnect. Cell phones quickly became popular because even though relatively expensive, their value was obvious. With solar, the concept is attractive but the financial advantage is simply not as clear. If you save $35 monthly in utility bills but have an additional $60 per month in financing cost, then solar really doesn’t make financial sense. Add in a greater home value which leads to a bigger assessment, along with higher property taxes and more to insure. Suddenly not everything solar seems quite so bright. But there is an alternative, and it’s no further than the nearest outlet. Public utilities have been around for generations, their distribution systems are in place, and they have the potential to greatly change the current conversation. Perhaps most importantly, they have the benefit of scale. The cost to put up a rooftop solar array and the cost for the same energy generated from an industrial solar farm are vastly different. Utilities have a lot of incentive to go renewable. You just can’t build a traditional generating station anymore and older units are being retired. Future production has to come from somewhere. Wind and sunlight are free. With improved efficiencies, it’s becoming cheap- er and cheaper to get help from nature – and it’s politically correct. Cities and states are increasingly committed to renewable energy goals; several communities have
rotary-dial phones. Solar is a way for utilities to hold onto their monopo- lies – and expand into new areas.
production to Gulf Power. Visit Saufley and you see row after row of photovoltaic panels stacked five high and at an angle. All the panels are easy to maintain or replace, an important feature if panels fail and as more efficient replacement panels become avail- able. They’re oriented to collect the maximum amount of sunlight when the system is most in need of power. There are no industrial odors, rail yards, or pipelines; the
PACE liens may have such clauses, with penalties of perhaps 5 percent of the outstanding loan balance. For details, check with the PACE lender. If there is a penalty, ask if it can be waived. So, what if you’re selling a home, don’t have the cash available to pay off your PACE financing, and don’t want the PACE lien to become a transaction issue? One option is to use funds from an existing HELOC to pay the debt. Another approach is to apply for a bridge loan, short- term financing generally used to buy a replacement property. Speak with lenders for details and costs and be sure to explain the loan’s purpose. The real issue with solar instal- lations in a sale situation is how they should be valued. If there are two like properties, each val- ued at $300,000, and one has a $20,000 solar array and the second does not, is the first house worth $320,000? This is very much a mat- ter of negotiation. In a seller’s mar- ket, the owner will do better than in a buyer’s market, and vice versa. Premiums for “green homes” ranging from 2 percent to 8 percent have been noted by the Appraisal Institute. However, a “green home” must have six features: good water efficiency; energy efficiency; indoor air quality; materials; and opera- tions and maintenance. Just like other home components in a home for sale, solar systems should be examined to assure their condition is satisfactory to the buy- er. A solar contractor can be hired to do this work. SOLAR IMPACT ON VALUATION
from approximately 600,000 photo- voltaic panels. That’s enough ener- gy to power some 7,400 homes. Land at Saufley has been leased from the Navy by Gulf Power, the local electric utility in the northern part of the state and – along with Florida Power & Light in south Florida - a part of NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE). In turn, the Saufley land has been subleased to Coronal Energy. Coronal Energy developed the site grid and sells the electrical
already reached 100 percent. No less important, electricity is also powering more cars and trucks. The International Energy Agency expects to see 125 million electric vehicles on the road worldwide by 2030. A lot of them will be in the US. The local electric company in the fu- ture could increasingly be your filling station, either through your home or with stand-alone commercial char- gers. Local gas stations as we now know them will slowly go the way of
GOING SOLAR IN FLORIDA A massive effort is now underway to harness renewable energy in Flori- da, long known as the Sunshine State. Saufley Field, a Navy facility just west of the Gulf Coast city of Pen- sacola, is home to a 366-acre solar farm that churns out 50-megawatts
Saufley Field Photo: Peter G. Miller
THE UTILITYALTERNATIVE The market for residential solar installations is enormous. Google’s
16 think realty housing news report
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