Why Now is the Best Time to Go Solar
The time has never been better to invest in home solar power. A fortunate mix of falling prices and high incentives have created a win-win situation for a good many American homes. 
With the feds picking up 30 percent of the tab, and many states adding another 20 percent or more, there’s a good chance a family can get at least half of their home solar power system rebated.
But solar rebates and incentives have been in place for years now; even the federal government’s removal of the $2,000 cap on residential solar systems is more than a year old. What makes now such a great time to go solar? It’s the recent and rapid fall of solar equipment costs. Solar prices are expected to fall by half before the end of 2009.
What we’re seeing is a perfect storm of sorts. Prices have fallen dramatically, but the rebates put into place when prices were higher are remaining constant. Home solar power is growing more accessible to a larger swath of people. At the same time, lower prices help lenders rest easier about doling out solar financing to homeowners without the upfront cash. An already sweet deal is currently at its sweetest for all involved.
But it won’t stay that way. Inevitably, states will begin to phase down (if not out) solar incentives. Indeed, most incentive programs are now a few years old and are preparing to enter new phases that include a downward shift for incentives. Under the California Solar Initiative, the more people that buy solar systems, the more the rebates decrease. And California is home to one of the sweetest solar deals of them all (a solid reason why roughly two-thirds of United States’ solar power comes out of California).
Other states will do the same. We won’t see anything like Spain’s slashing of incentives, but we are likely to see a scaling down of incentives as solar power creeps ever closer to that electric holy land we call grid parity. The moral of this story is simply that if you do nothing else this winter, at least consider going solar. There has never been a better time.
Photo Credit: Phoenix Sun
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Posted on December 14th in Going Solar by Dan.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Actually, based on the analysis of the CSI data (as of Nov 16th), http://www.californiasolarstatistics.ca.gov/, the median price (pre-rebates) for a residential system (defined as a system of 10KW or less) in California is about $6.85 per Watt in the December 2009 quarter (and that compares to about $8.15 per Watt in the December 2008 quarter). So, yes, residential system prices have fallen about 16% year-over-year, but that’s nowhere close to the 50% drop in panel prices (ex-works, or “at the factory gate”). So, yes, it has never been a better time for the INSTALLER (as the profit margins for the installer have increased), but the customer could be better off waiting a few months more.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Eveen my husband has been asking about going solar with these prices…and he is never one to spend unless he has to. The benefits are getting to be too great and the costs are just falling to a point where I think solar is becoming something people are really considering.
December 20th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
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