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

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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