Buy into the Sun

by Susan Piperato, March 11, 2009

 

Solar energy has long been recognized as an environmentally safer and less expensive alternative to the conventional means of heating and running a home or business (namely, foreign crude oil and nuclear power-produced electricity). However, until recently, only the most financially well-to-do environmentalists seemed to be able to afford to put their pro-solar energy beliefs into practice.

At an average price of $26,000 to install a photovoltaic (pv) system on the roof of a 3,000-square-foot building, the cost was simply too exorbitant for the average homeowner or businessperson to afford. But thanks to the New York Energy Smart pv Incentive Program, administered by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (nyserda), going solar has become affordable for everyone.
Hudson Valley Clean Energy, a pv installation company based in Rhinebeck, is one local company that has been busily installing nyserda rebate-funded PV systems throughout the Hudson Valley. The company was founded two years ago by John Wright and Jeff Irish, both nyserda-certified pv installers. Irish, a retired electrical engineer from General Electric who had long wanted to work in the pv field, is responsible for all of hvce’s pv system designs and installations, while Wright, the former director of sales and marketing for aol, handles the company’s administration.

“The pv system always seemed to me to be a good idea that never made any financial sense—nobody could afford them,” says Wright. “People who installed PV systems in the past did it for environmental reasons, but economically, it took ten years for the system to pay itself off and become worthwhile. Now, with the rebates, installing a pv system finally makes sense economically as well as environmentally. Because of this program, we’re basically covering the whole Hudson Valley, installing pv systems from Albany to Westchester.”

According to Wright, pv systems are now more affordable because their manufacturers—Sharp Electronics, Shell Oil, and British Petroleum—have begun manufacturing them in the us; formerly, pv systems were only made in Japan.

According to nyserda’s Web site, the rebate program funds up to 70 percent of each pv installation’s total cost based on rates of $4 per watt for pv systems that can be net-metered or are residential systems of 10 kW or smaller; $4.50 per watt for pv systems installed on a New York Energy Smart labeled home; and $5 per watt for non-net-metered pv systems, including systems larger than 10kW.