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Welcome! Companion Website This website is
updated frequently with announcements, news, revisions and additional
information relevant to residential solar electric in |
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Dear Reader, Welcome to the book's Companion website!
We're glad you're here. The information below is organized by
chapter and is meant to show you the source of info in the book and give you
access to more details & context if you need it or are simply interested. Researching this book was fascinating. Over
and over again, I was surprised at the amount of top-quality content
available from federal and state agencies. Our government is hard at work and
doing a great job: Hope this helps you with your project.
Please let us know if you have questions or suggestions related to the
content on this site. Write to bookinfo@themarea.org . Sunny regards, P.S. Standard disclaimer always applies:
Every attempt has been made to provide information that is accurate and
complete; however, neither the author nor publishers make any claim to be
providing professional advice on any topic including taxes, financial issues,
legal issues, government regulations or programs, and solar electric system
performance. Please seek professional counsel for advice in these areas. We
are doing our best to keep the facts straight, stay tuned for any corrections
and updates!
Congratulations PA, we have now fulfilled the second tier of the PA Sunshine Rebate program—a whopping 20 MW of new residential solar! As we go from Tier 2 to Tier 3, the rebate levels drop from $1.75/Watt to $1.25/Watt. SunnyMoney (www.themarea.org) has been updated to reflect this new rate. On the other hand, when we began Tier 2, the
average cost (before rebates) of a residential solar installation was $6.93 per Watt, as reported by the
PA Sunshine Rebate program. It is now $6.25
per Watt! To learn more about all things solar, and renewable
energy and sustainable living, please join us in
Congratulations PA, we have fulfilled the first tier of the PA Sunshine Rebate program—a whopping 10 MW of new residential solar! On the other hand, the rebate levels have now dropped to $1.75/Watt. SunnyMoney (www.themarea.org) has been updated to reflect this new rate. In February 2010, the average cost (before rebates) of a residential solar installation was $6.93 per Watt and the average system size was 7.36 kW, as reported by the PA Sunshine Rebate program. If you are in an area where electricity price caps have been lifted, you are probably considering your options for selecting who generates your electricity. If you have a solar electric system or are considering one, please note that the Public Utility Commission’s net metering rules apply to “investor-owned utilities.” If you are choosing a generator other than your utility, be sure to understand clearly how you will be credited for electricity you generate and how it will appear on your billing. For more info on net metering, see www.dsire.org. For more info on electricity choice, see your utility company’s web site or www.puc.state.pa.us/utilitychoice. If you’re looking for an easier way to find your property’s orientation, try Google Earth. This is a free on-line application (http://earth.google.com/) you download to your computer. Enter your address and find your property, and zoom in if needed. Print the page and fold in half (top to bottom). The crease will be a north-south axis. The bottom of the page will be facing South. Tada! Along those same lines, another website I’ve found handy is this one from Roof Ray for estimating solar production (www.roofray.com/calculator). I’m not endorsing the company, its services or products (don’t know them!), but do find this website helpful in certain situations. Are you considering an installation with micro-inverters? More and more people are. They are a new approach for addressing the shading challenge. In these applications, a micro-inverter is installed on each panel so that the panels operate independently of one another. If one panel is shaded it does not affect the performance of the others. If shading is an issue at your site, this may be an option for consideration. Be sure to work with your installer so that you clearly understand additional costs related to monitoring equipment and service contracts (how you’ll know if a microinverter fails) and warranty terms (micro-inverters, monitoring equipment, labor). And be sure you’re given a map that shows each micro-inverter serial number according to its position in the array. In other words, if you monitoring indicates there is a problem with one of the micro-inverters, you’ll need to know where that micro-inverter is located. To learn more about all things solar, and renewable
energy and sustainable living, please join us in
On November 4, 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection held a meeting to review the PA Sunshine Program, “Progress Assessment and Proposed Changes.” I attended the meeting, along with 100 or so others in PA’s growing solar industry and representatives from PA state agencies, including the PUC, Labor & Industry (L&I), and Dept of Revenue. I’m passing along info from this meeting that I think will be useful to homeowners with an interest in solar electric generation systems. If you have questions, please let me know. The info below is based on my notes from the meeting. 4.3 MW are currently in the Sunshine Grant
queue—reserved, complete or apps under review. This means we’re
almost halfway through the first tier of the rebates ($2.25/W). Since the program
opened, over 1MW of new solar capacity has been installed (residential &
small business). Before the program opened, For applications to the Sunshine Program, the average installer quote has been $7.62/W (residential). The first rebate checks went out in late October with more to follow. The logjam related to the inspection process has been cleared. For each installer, each of the first three installations must be inspected before each rebate check can be sent. The Sunshine Program has not been cashing checks submitted with rebate applications (for administrative reasons that I missed), but expects to start cashing them soon. They’ve had concerned calls from homeowners that checks had not cleared. Some in the audience expressed frustrations with electricity providers—especially Met-Ed and PECO, regarding slow response to putting in new meters, lost paperwork, checks, etc. The representative from the PUC noted the complaints and expressed his intentions to meet with Met-Ed & PECO to review and improve their handling of interconnections. If you have related problems with your utility, please notify the PUC. PP&L was also discussed, but there were no complaints (good going, PP&L). There is still no answer about whether or not the Sunshine Rebates will be subject to PA state tax. There were a few reports of homeowners’ property insurance being dropped or flipped to commercial rates after the installation of solar electric. This is not supposed to happen and the PUC is taking on these cases. Please notify the PUC if you experience any irregularities along these lines. Alternative
Energy Production Tax Credit As a result of the state budget
process, Solar
Alternative Energy Credits (same as Renewable Energy Credits, RECs) Clean Power Markets, the program administrator for
The Pennsylvania Renewable
Energy and Sustainable Living Festival was held in What
is the Alternative Energy Production Tax Credit and does it apply to me?—no longer funded, see above The
Pennsylvania Alternative Energy Production Tax Credit Program started in July
2008. And yes, it applies to residential solar electric installations in The
program has a cap on the total maximum credit that will be approved. Through
2012, the maximum is $5 million in total tax credits per year. (The cap
changes in subsequent years, through 2016.) Applications for the tax credit
are due by Sept 15 of the year after the expenses occurred. So, to
receive a tax credit on a system that is installed in 2009 you’ll need
to file an application by Sept 15, 2010. Within 90 days of receiving
your application, the state will let you know if you were approved for the
credit. BUT, you won’t know the amount. Once the state knows all the
applications that have been approved for that year, it will determine the
actual amount of credit each taxpayer will receive. A formula will be used to
prorate the individual credits as necessary so that the total amount
doesn’t go over the maximum cap for the year. (The formula is available
in the program documentation guidelines, see link.) The state Department of
Revenue will issue a certificate for the approval amount of the tax credit by
Dec 31 in the year you are approved. http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/energindependent/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=547676
(Be sure to see links at bottom of page.) http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=PA39F&re=1&ee=1
Is this Alternative Energy Tax Credit included in
SunnyMoney? No, because we
cannot determine the actual amount of the credit, only the possible 15%
maximum. Due to the time lag (tax credits for expenditures in 2009
won’t be known until Dec 2010) and uncertainty in the amount, including
the credit in SunnyMoney could be misleading. You
said that when there’s a power outage my solar electricity also shuts
off. Is there a way around that? Can it be hooked up differently with a
switch or something? When
there’s a power outage, the inverter automatically shuts off so that
the electrical panel receives no electricity from the solar array. This is
built into the inverter and there’s no getting around it. It is there
to protect line workers and is part of the UL listing required by utilities. However,
if you have battery backup, the electricity from your solar array does
continue to charge your batteries as needed, even during an outage. The
batteries provide electricity for key uses such as refrigeration, heating,
water and septic systems. If power outages are a significant concern
where you are, then you may want to consider battery back up. If I
have time-of-use (TOU) pricing, do I get peak credit for excess electricity I
send back to the grid during peak hours? Great question! I had to
send this one off to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC).
Here’s their reply, During peak periods, on peak rates apply to both usage and
customer generation. With TOU rates, the meter records the net kWh used (usage
greater than generation) or the net kWh generated (usage less than
generation) in each on peak and off peak period. Each month there are
two possible carryovers, an on peak carryover and an off peak carryover, each
carryover occurs at the full retail rate applicable (on peak and off peak).
At the end of the year, any excess generation (on peak, off peak or both) is
compensated at the applicable price to compare. -Jennifer Kocher, Press Secretary, This
is great news for solar electric generators because solar is generally most
productive at times of peak demand. With this favorable pricing, we help
ourselves and help the grid when we offset peak loads with our solar
generated electricity. I
heard that people are still waiting for their sunshine rebate checks from the
state. Is there a problem? My
understanding is that there was an initial delay in processing the rebate
payments but it has been remedied. As it was explained to me, the delay
involved getting procedures in place to handle the inspections required by
the rebate program. As part of the checks and balances in this program, the
guidelines state that “the first three installations completed under
this program by a qualified installer will undergo an inspection. In
addition, the department will perform random inspections of at least 10
percent of installations…” I
heard the state will be issuing 1099s for the rebate money we receive. Is
that subject to federal and state income tax? Our
understanding is that it will be subject to federal income tax. The state has
not determined if the rebates will be subject to If I
can’t use my full federal tax credit in the first year, how many years
do I have to roll it over? During
one of my presentations at the festival, I said two years was the carryover
limit and this was questioned by someone in the audience. Rightfully so,
turns out! (The issue of carryover was not addressed directly in the book.) The
U.S Master Tax Guide, page 456, section 1314 “Residential Renewable
Energy Tax Credit” (title of IRS Form 5695), says specifically,
“Any unused credit amount for tax years in which these limits apply may
be carried forward indefinitely.” (The “limits” portion of
this statement refers to the amount that be claimed in a single year.) If
you’d like the full wording, drop a note to bookinfo@themarea.org.
Solar Energy Systems Ordinance
A Solar
Working Group hosted by the Governor's Special Assistant on Municipalities
and DEP, consisting of members from the solar industry, local government
officials and state agency representatives, has drafted and made available a
sample zoning ordinance for municipalities looking to address the rising
interest in solar energy systems. If your local government has not yet
addressed solar energy in its local zoning rules, and you think it should,
let your local officials know that this document is available and suggest
that it be adopted. The document is short and simple, addressing the basic
needs of communities looking to promote responsible solar energy
installations. http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/energy/cwp/view.asp?a=1370&q=539717
AC Electricity Generation By Location (page 8, Table 1) Chapter 3. Will solar
electricity work on my property? Orientation & Tilt (pages 14-15) Shading (page 16) Acme Solar Site Evaluation (ASSET) SunEye Inverter (page 26) Production Meter (page 27) Chapter 4. Energy
Conservation and the Environment Do-It-Yourself Home Energy Audits Arranging an Energy Audit (page 30) In the consumer section of this site, enter your zip code to find
BPI-certified contractors in your area. Alos, more info about BPI, de-certified
contractors (!), Energy Star and other resources/incentives. Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) Pennsylvania Keystone HELP Energy Efficiency Program Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency (page 31) Solar Hot Water Savings and Incentives (page 31) Pennsylvania Sunshine Solar Program Solar thermal (hot-water) installers approved by Pennsylvania Rebate
Program Federal Renewable Energy Tax Credit Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program for Electric Utilities, January
15, 2009 Pennsylvania Dept of Environmental Protection Fact Sheet, “Smart
Meters” Act 129 on-going implementation Chapter 5. Solar
Electric System Costs and Incentives Pennsylvania Solar Electric Estimator (Residential), developed by MAREA.
Quickly calculates estimates for system size, cost, environmental impact,
savings, S-REC income & payback. The program covers solar electric, solar hot water (thermal) for
residential and small business. Be sure the information you read applies to residential
, solar electric . This site gives access to all information,
including status of the rebate levels . FAQs Low-Income Qualifications Consumer Protection Notice Qualified Solar Electric (PV) Installers Federal Renewable Energy Tax Credit (page 39) Federal Solar Energy Initiatives FAQs Chapter 6. Savings on
Your Electric Bill Energy Choice (page 45) After Rate Caps Do Expire (page 47) Full transcript of John Hanger testimony before the House Consumer Affairs
Committee, 2008 Smart Metering and Time-of-Use Pricing (page 48) Find details and status of EE&C Plans submitted (in compliance with
Act 129) by each utility by July 1, 2009 addressing time-of-use pricing,
among other topics. Chapter 7. Renewable
Energy Credits (RECs) Selling RECs is Selling the Green (page 53) Voluntary and Compliance REC Markets (page 53) How RECs are Bought and Sold (page 57) Trading RECs REC Aggregators (page 58) REC Prices (page 59) http://paaeps.com/credit/pricing.do Chapter 8. For Love and
Money? Household Emissions Calculator Home Improvement (page 63) Chapter 9. Installation
Process Program Guidelines FAQs Low-Income Qualifications Consumer Protection Notice Qualified Solar Electric (PV) Installers |
