February 27, 2003
Newsday, Inc.
Gary Dymski
Home Work

Letting The Sun Shine In
Solar power cuts electric bills and helps the environment.
The question is: Why don't more of us have it?

Dave Hensen is reading off some of his electric bills from the past year or so.

"We had some hefty ones," says Hensen, a Miller Place veterinarian, who has a home and horse barn on slightly less than three acres. His highest bill over a 14-month span ending in the fall of 2002 was $553.15, the lowest $137.41.

He's paying a lot less now.

His November electricity bill, for example, was $5.45. In September, Hensen actually received a credit - that means LIPA purchased electricity from him - for $8.86.

What changed?

Hensen is now getting his electricity from the sun. Hensen and his wife, Deirdre, had solar electric panels installed on the roofs of their home and horse barn last year. The photovoltaic system turns the golden rays of the sun into residential electricity.

"I've cut my monthly electric bill about 80 to 90 percent," Hensen says.

The Hensens initially laid out $72,000 for the system, but quickly recouped all but $16,000 of that investment. As part of LIPA's Solar Pioneer Program, the Hensens were eligible for cash rebates, state tax write-offs and other incentives to homeowners and businesspeople who purchase a solar electric system. It will take them about 10 years of electric bill savings to recoup the remaining $16,000, experts predict.

Reduced electric bills and gargantuan rebates are the norm for the relatively small number of Long Islanders who bask in the glow of LIPA's Solar Pioneer Program, now in its fifth year. So far, the program has paid $5.4 million in rebates to 211 Long Island homeowners, says LIPA spokesman Michael Lowndes. LIPA's goal is to have 10,000 solar roofs by 2010. At the present installation rate, it will fall about 9,000 roofs short.

Aside from the rebates and reduced electric bills, those who purchase solar electric systems also benefit from reducing the nation's dependency on fossil-fuel- burning power plants, which emit toxic waste.

For LIPA, the program is good public relations. It also reduces daily peak demand for power. That demand can tax the power company's resources; if a reasonable number of its customers reduce peak demand for energy by going solar, the utility will save money because it won't have to build another power plant.

"The benefit is that you are doing something good for the environment, as well as producing electricity for your own needs," says Gordian Raacke, executive director of the Citizen Advisory Panel, a nonprofit Long Island energy watchdog.

So with all the benefits and Long Islanders paying some of the highest utility rates in the United States, why aren't more of us lining up to buy solar?

"Frankly, I find it amazing more people don't do it," says George McGough, a proponent of solar- and wind-generated energy since building his new Orient Point home in 1998 and then adding a photovoltaic system.

More people don't follow the lead of Hensen and McGough because of up-front cost and lack of knowledge, says Gary Minnick, owner of Go Solar, a Riverhead installation and design company. Minnick says most potential PV customers cringe when they hear their system is going to cost between $40,000 and $50,000 - before rebates and tax incentives. "It's not easy for the average person to just get that kind of financing," Minnick says. "And a lot of people don't know about the solar program. You just don't hear a lot about it."

LIPA's Solar Pioneer Program is a result of the Solar Choice Act, signed in the fall of 1998 by Gov. George Pataki. The bill requires investor-owned utilities in New York State to allow residential customers to connect solar photovoltaic systems to the company's distribution system (also called the grid).

The technology of photovoltaics allows rooftop solar panels to turn sunlight into electricity. The panels operate at peak efficiency - nearly 90 percent - during the day, when the sun shines its brightest. During daylight hours, some systems are large enough to furnish an average home with all of its electrical needs. At night, when the sun goes down, these grid-connected systems, most of which do not store solar electricity in batteries, automatically switch power sources, so customers use electricity supplied by LIPA. During summer months, when days are longer and the sun shines brighter, solar electric panels offer homeowners their highest savings, proponents say.

By connecting their PV systems to the grid, these customers also are "net-metered," which means that in addition to generating their own electricity, any excess electricity produced is sold back to the utility. In these cases - such as the $8.86 credit the Hensens received - the customer's utility meter actually spins backward.

"When a PV customer sees the meter spin backward, they really get a kick out of that," Minnick says.

Many PV customers - Hensen and McGough, for example - say LIPA's solar program should be an easier buy. Because no state or federal financing is available, most customers use home-equity loans to finance their systems. Although rebates are issued quickly - about a month after LIPA approves the operation of the system - customers say applying for and having a system installed can be a long process. "People are interested, really gung-ho," Minnick says, "then they hear the initial cost and they just back off."

That's understandable, Lowndes says. But the utility is doing everything it can to make solar more affordable and to publicize the program, he says. LIPA's rebate on systems - up to a maximum size of 10,000 watts - is $5 a watt, among the highest in the country. Monthly mailings of residential bills include brochures on the Solar Pioneer Program. LIPA also purchases newspaper advertising and sponsors seminars and workshops for homeowners, contractors and manufacturers.

Some people say LIPA should offer the financing to customers, but Lowndes says for now, utility officials have no such plan.

For some, the average decade-long payback time is a turnoff. "The savings are kind of slow," says McGough, who has an integrated roof - PV tiles that are actually roofing tiles - on a garage at his Orient Point home. "But I felt the time to do it was now; electric rates from the utility company will only go up."

Gaynell Stone also used the equity in her Wading River home to purchase her 4.8-kilowatt system. She had to come up with slightly more than $42,000, but she reduced her monthly electric bill by about $90. Her rebate was about $28,800. Looking back at the yearlong process, which included hiring an installer and getting her rebate, she figures it was worthwhile. "Once all the paperwork was done, I guess it went smoothly," she says.

To its credit, LIPA's rebate is a big reason the program took off in December 2001, when the utility doubled its initial rebate from $3 per watt to $6 per watt. Under the $3-per-watt rebate, 16 systems were installed in about 18 months. When the rebate jumped to $6, 185 systems were installed. On Jan. 1, the rebate dropped to $5 per watt.

"This $3 rebate was not enough to get the program going," says Yelleshpur Dathatri, director of the Solar Energy Center at Farmingdale State University of New York, which promotes solar energy through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. "When LIPA went to $6, it was very good incentive."

Dathatri conducts monthly seminars at the university and says attendance can be as high as 200 people, mostly homeowners. Like many proponents of solar electricity, he feels the future is bright. He says the price of systems will come down as the demand increases. The largest expenses in a PV system are the panels, which run $550 to $600 apiece, and the inverters, which match the electricity generated from the PV panels to electricity supplied by the service panel. Inverters can run about $1,600 to $2,500, depending on the system.

Minnick says a sudden rise in electricity prices will push the demand for solar alternatives. "Right now, the whole thing is rebate driven," he says. "The price of systems has to come down. The price of energy, in general, is going up. When it gets too high, and PV systems become more affordable, then I think PV installations will take off."

How They Work

Solar-powered photovoltaic (PV) systems are gaining in popularity. A look at how the systems convert sunlight into electricity:

1) Sunlight is made up of particles of solar energy. These photons are absorbed by the photovoltaic panels, and the energy is transferred to an electron.

2) The electron then becomes part of the current in an electrical circuit. The PV system uses an inverter to adapt the electricity from the PV cells for home use by changing the direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).

3) The inverter matches the "tolerance" of the solar-generated electricity to the electricity the utility company supplies to the service panel. On sunny days, the PV system supplies the home with electricity. When electricity produced by the PV system exceeds the amount needed by the house, the utility company's meter actually runs backward. Electricity is sold to the utility company.

4) At night or when the sun does not generate enough electricity, the home is supplied with electricity by the utility company.

SUN
Solar panel
DC input
Sun Tie inverter
Utility disconnect access
AC voltage output
Main utility breaker panel
AC utility meter

SHEDDING SOME LIGHT ON SOLAR POWER

If you feel in the dark about solar-electric power, here's how to shed a ray of light on the subject.

First, visit the LIPA Web site (www.lipower.org/solar). The site explains LIPA's Solar Pioneer Program and includes a list of contractors, program incentives for homeowners and businesses and tools to help calculate energy use and determine individual system needs.

LIPA, however, does not list every Long Island solar contractor. You can visit the Web site of the Citizens Advisory Panel (www.energymatters.org/lishines), a nonprofit Long Island energy watchdog, for a list of more installers. The LI Shines site also features the booklet "New York Consumer Guide to Buying a Solar Electric System" in PDF form. The booklet guides consumers through the solar electric process, including how to calculate annual electricity bill savings once a photovoltaic system is installed.

"People should use us as a research tool," says Gordian Raacke, executive director of the Citizens Advisory Panel. "That's our role."

Raacke advises that systems be built to supply household needs and not too much more. "While LIPA will buy back excess electricity from a homeowner, it buys it back at about 3 cents per kilowatt hour," Raacke says. LIPA sells electricity for about 13 cents a kilowatt hour.

Information also is available from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (www.nyserda.org/energyresources/photo

voltaics.html) and the National Center for Photovoltaics (www.nrel.gov/ncpv/).

If you want to turn pages instead of operate a computer, try "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power for Your Home" (Alpha Books, $19.95) by Dan Ramsey. The book is thorough and includes solar water heating advice.

The Solar Energy Center at Farmingdale State University of New York is staging free solar seminars on March 12 and 26 at the school. Homeowners also can register for a three-day workshop sponsored by LIPA and the school. The workshop includes installation instruction and advice from manufacturers and designers. Fee for the workshop is $100.

For more information on seminars and workshops, visit www.info.lu.farmingdale.edu/depts/met/solar/fsec.html or
call 800-692-2626.

-Gary Dymski