Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Solar power that pays back fast
OK, solar panels are getting cheaper, but can it be possible to get back the $1,000 you invested in home solar in 45 days?
It couldn’t happen where I live, and maybe not where you do, but the owners of a solar electric company say the arithmetic worked for one of their customers. He is a chief executive with a six-bedroom, five-and-a-half bath Spanish-style hillside home in Fremont, California. Fremont is a stone’s throw from Silicon Valley, and home to many high tech firms.
This executive was paying a monthly electric bill of $3,492 on average, according to solar electric firm SunRun. The company was started by two finance experts who came up with their business model while still students at the Stanford Business School.
SunRun charges a relatively small price to install panels, then owns and services them for the life of the contract — 18 years. SunRun said the Fremont executive paid $1,000 to have the $375,000, 55-kilowatt system installed. So far, it has cut his monthly electric bill to an average of $2,808. SunRun collects $2,163 of that for electricity generated by the sun, while utility Pacific Gas & Electric collects $645 for electricity from its grid, on average. At moments when there is surplus solar electricity, SunRun’s equipment automatically sends it to Pacific Gas & Electric for credit.
“You turn your home into a hybrid,” said Lynn Jurich, president of SunRun, and co-founder with chief executive Edward Fenster. The occasion for her interview was to announce $18 million of additional funds from two big Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Accel Partners and Foundation Capital. They say because SunRun uses independent contractors it can quickly expand its business in California, Arizona and Massachuestts.
It’s not the only game in town. SolarCity does something strikingly similar, working in California, Arizona, and Oregon. Its business model is a bit different. For example, it does all installation with its own employees. Its fee structure is also different.
The United States has lots of houses with roofs that catch rays, so it’s not clear yet if one company will drive the other out of business, or if there is room for both. U.S. Bancorp seems to be betting on both, because it has set up financing — sweetened by government tax breaks — to help each of the companies buy the solar equipment that they install.
Going closer to the sun for solar power
California utility PG&E and solar power company Solaren say they have inked a first-of-its-kind deal to produce renewable solar power from space satellites beginning in the year 2016.
PG&E, one of the largest electric utilities in the United Sates, says on its in-house blog, Next100, that it is seeking approval from state regulators for a power purchase agreement with Solaren, which it says can provide 200 megawatts of clean, renewable energy — enough to power some 140,000 California homes — over a 15 year period.
Solaren says it will generate the power using solar panels on Earth-orbiting satellites, transmit it back to Earth through a radio frequency to a recieving station in Fresno County, then convert it into electricity which would be fed into PG&E’s grid.
Though the project sounds exotic (read: expensive), PG&E says the benefit of solar energy from space is that – since the satellites are consideraby closer to the source with no clouds in the way – its 8 to 10 times greater than that on Earth and can be harnessed 24 hours a day, no matter the season back home.
Solaren CEO Gary Spirnak says on the blog that he is confident that his team, which has years of experience in the aerospace industry, can build the world’s first Space Solar Power station and deliver power to Californians from space by 2016.
What do you think? Is this something out of Star Wars, or is space the next frontier for solar power?
Sounds like a good idea. As long as they don’t harness the energy into a weapon like in James Bonds Moonraker. I wouldn’t put it past them haha.
I totally agree with the comment posted by David. I have come across such price quotes on various renovation projects I have reserached and undertaken on various residences. “You better shop around” and work directly with the manyfacturers avoiding greedy middlemen and get a contractor who charges you a decent labor cost(debatable on what you consider decent-but in my experience, I gladly paid a sincere person and it is easy to identify one with a little effort) – these have all been the lessons I learned.
I am in NJ and am interested in knowing how this can be adapted to average households in middle class neighborhoods, without ripping the end user off his hard earned savings. I know for a fact, most contractors here are greedy in getting your money but shoddy in their workmanship or business ethics.