signed by all parties. Lastly, ensure that you to go solar with little to no up-front the new home owner passes a credit investment. You get the benefits of the check. Both options are very simple. SREC’s value, without any of the risk. 3. PPAs are the perfect solution for everyone looking to go solar. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Because the PPA provider is depending on the home owners to pay for the energy they use (albeit at a discounted rate), they must have good credit to qualify for a PPA.
For Ruth Gemperlein of Greenfield, MA, a PPA helped make solar a reality.
themselves in the first month. Purchased systems usually pay for themselves in five to eight years.
Five misconceptions, explained
Amy Bowman is Real Goods Solar’s East Coast residential marketing director. During her more than 10 years in the marketing and communications field, she has managed marketing and communications 4. If you have a PPA, you don’t get the efforts covering a wide range of environbenefit of net metering. Actually, net mental topics, from promoting energy metering works the same as it does if efficiency to helping cities invest in clean you own the system. You have an elec- water technology to making renewable tricity “bank account,” and any electric- energy accessible to home owners. ity your system produces that you don’t use goes back to the grid (a “deposit” into your account), and your meter rolls backward. 5. PPAs only make sense in states that don’t have SRECs. Oliva says PPAs actually make more sense in markets that have SRECs. The PPA company builds the potential value of the SREC into the net cost of the PPA, allowing
Jim Oliva, New England sales manager for Real Goods Solar, has heard a lot of misconceptions about PPAs. He shared some insights from the field.
Simply Supporting Solar.
1. A PPA is the same as a solar lease. Not exactly, says Oliva. A solar PPA is an agreement to buy power from a utility company at a fixed rate, regardless of the amount of power you consume each month. A solar lease, on the other hand, offers a fixed monthly payment for having solar panels on your roof, regardless of the amount of power they generate each month. 2. A 20-year PPA locks you into your home. Many people sell their homes with solar. In fact, says Oliva, it tends to help your home sell faster. Depending on your agreement, you can either buy out the system when you move and roll the cost into your selling price, or follow this three-step procedure: First, have a notice of sale sent to the solar company in advance. Then get a onepage document explaining the transfer
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