Cheaper Solar Installation Costs? How Collective Buying Can Help
A group called One Block Off the Grid is offering collective bargaining to homeowners looking to go solar. By creating a group price, 1BOG lowers the effective installation cost for both the homeowner and the installer. In a cited example in San Diego, 1BOG customers will pay only $5.29/watt, including the inverter cost, which is well below the current standard of $8/watt statewide.
This represents a big step for everyone thinking solar. Even though 1BOG was just founded in the summer of 2008, they’ve already brokered 500 deals. 1BOG works with other homeowners in your area by creating a sign-up list. Once there are enough sign-ups, 1BOG steps in and makes a deal with a local solar installer for all the installations. Helio Power CEO Scott Gordon said that by working with 1BOG on a recent installation, the leads he receives close 25 percent more often. Solar installers save a lot through the system, in both drive time and wasted effort. And it also means huge savings for homeowners, because collectively, they are a more powerful buying force.
Two things add to the cost of installing a home solar system. One is the hardware (installed solar panels), currently around $4.34/watt, according to the SolarBuzz, and the other is referred to within the industry as the “balance of system,” which is the rest of the stuff to make it work, like an inverter. This is where group sales lower the price for 1BOG clients; Since the price is $2.71/watt cheaper collectively than going it alone, that’s a total of $1,355 saved for every 500 watts. Hard to argue with money in the bank.
Currently, 1BOG is more or less confined to urban areas like Phoenix, San Diego, SF Bay Area, Chicago, Boston, Brooklyn, DC, Miami, Portland and Seattle. There are more than that, but because they are internet-based, they are wherever you are…once your friends and neighbors sign up, too. 1BOG will ask you to find your roof with a satellite imagery program and from there, you’ll be able to get an estimate, provided there are already people signed up in your area. This adds some convenience because it eliminates the need for an in-home preliminary review by a solar installer, which certainly saves you time. It’s the only estimate like this available today.
Solar costs will keep coming down in the future as the solar industry continues to grapple with the sometimes misleading price comparisons between solar and traditional power generation. I wonder what all the power lines cost in this country? But that’s for another time. Browse the CalFinder Solar blog and you’ll be sure to find something to whet your appetite on that topic. The big news is that collective bargaining has arrived and that was a rather unforeseen event in cost projections for solar prices. Good for the industry, good for the homeowner. We’ll see how it pans out, but it sure looks pretty now.
(Source: Wired.com and 1BOG.org)
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Posted on November 24th in Solar Funding by Craig.
January 8th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
1 Bog may get you a discount but their price is definately not the lowest nor is the performance of the products that their dealers offer necessarily the highest. By simply shopping around on the Internet it is simple to find well established, reputable dealers that offer higher performance solar products at lower pricing in single system quantities compared to their multiple system quantities. Plus you get to make your own choices about what products are best for your needs as apposed to letting some group make that decision for you.
January 12th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Thanks Ron, always good to have a solid point of view. I’ve not used 1BOG, but I do like the idea of the service they provide. Good points though and it goes to show that there is no one solution for everyone.