The Shady (and Bright) Side of Solar for. The Central Mass Building Inspectors Association

Transcription

1 The Shady (and Bright) Side of Solar for The Central Mass Building Inspectors Association Mark Durrenberger, President & Founder New England Clean Energy New England Clean Energy LLC Agenda My Background What questions do you have for me? Why Homeowners and Businesses are going Solar The plight of the inspector Questions I have for you Why am I asking? Solar Basics: How they work Solar Basics: Quick Economics Ownership models What s wrong with this picture? 1

2 Mark Durrenberger (me) Founder & President of New England Clean Energy Live in Hudson, MA Engineer by education Board Member Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE) I have a solar electric system on my house New England Clean Energy Established in 2006, Hudson, MA (9 years!) 32 Employees, Licensed electrical contractor, all solar electric work done by electricians Worked in 133 towns More than 500 residential solar electric systems Positive relationships with >95% of the inspectors we work with No relationship with the other 5% Your Questions? What questions do you need me to answer? 2

3 We Get It Inspector: A challenging role Safety Protect property values Deal with shady, unethical, incompetent contractors Balance regulation and enforcement with property owner costs Keep doing what you are doing! Why Am I Asking? I am a representative of the industry (SEBANE) Bad installers: Hurt the industry reputation Gives monopoly utilities ways to beat up the industry Make it harder for me to make a living The industry hurt itself before Solar Hot Water in the late 70s and early 80s 3

4 Our Experiences With Inspectors Your processes are built around the lowest common denominator or bad players because of the lack of trust they ve earned You tend to be more flexible with good/known contractors (Thank You!) Our Frustrations Full fees on BOTH building and electrical And the electrical permit was higher than for a whole home Ultimately we pass this through to the homeowners Is this the inspector s call or someone else? Wildly different permit fees $200 vs. $1,500 for the same job in two different towns Adding unnecessary requirements stamped one lines for sub 10kw systems External disconnects when not called for by the utility National Grid does not call for them, many Munis and Eversource do All third-party owned systems have external, lockable disconnects so the system owner can lock out the customer if the customer doesn t pay the bill 4

5 The Future of Solar? Despite the best efforts of the monopoly utilities, the people want it It saves money for those who install it It saves money for those who don t! It s good for our air and the planet Solar is Here to Stay! My Questions What do you think about solar in general? What do you think about solar installers? What do you look at when doing a solar system inspection? What are your concerns about their work? What do you like or don t like? 5

6 Why go Solar? Raise your hand if you think electricity prices will stay the same (or go down) Trends in MA Electricity Prices 20 Source: US Department of Energy New England Clean Energy, LLC Cents per Kilowatt-Hour ( /kwh) Start of Utility Deregulation y = x Trend: % per Year Year The Price Volitilty this decade has tripled (301%) compared to the previous decade. 6

7 How Solar Electric Works /1 Photovoltaic (PV) Array Inverter Production Meter Optimizer under each panel Utility Meter Electricity Service Electric Panel Your Home or business How Solar Electric Works /2 PV Panel Micro Inverter Production Meter/AC Disconnect Utility Meter Electric Panel Electricity Service Your Home or business 7

8 During a Power Outage Grid-tied PV systems MUST per Utility requirements - shut down to protect line workers If you are having trouble sleeping, Read UL-1741 standard In the event of a power failure on the electric grid, it is required that any independent power-producing inverters attached to the grid turn off in a short period of time. This prevents the DC-to-AC inverters from continuing to feed power into small sections of the grid, known as islands. Powered islands present a risk to workers who may expect the area to be unpowered System Reliability No moving parts NO maintenance! Rain and snow clean the panels Self restart after power outages A well installed system will rarely have problems or create secondary problems 8

9 Code: Most Recent Change Electrical Code: Rapid Shutdown Reduce current flow to <30 Volts within 10 seconds of system shutdown Driven by concerns that wires can be live even when system is off Code is terribly written Many ways to meet the letter of the code but not the spirit (Keep firefighters safe) For example: DC Disconnect can be located in the attic! Optimizers, Microinverters, or AC Panels (inverters built-in) are the most simple and effective solutions (today) Code: Most Recent Non Change? Array set-backs National Fire Code spelled out 3-foot setbacks on all edges Working paths Massachusetts BBRS did NOT adopt this Overly restrictive Uses up lots of good roof Affects homeowners costs and benefits Smaller systems are more expensive (per unit of generation) and have slower ROI 9

10 Design Considerations Roof loading Dead loads: 2-3 lbs/sq. ft. Point loads: lbs/anchor point ~2 anchor points per panel Anchors spread across all rafters New homes nearly always work without modifications Older home modifications may include: Collar ties, or Sistered rafters, or Knee walls A licensed PE provides remedy with stamped letter for ALL of our systems What About the Roof? If roof has less than 10 years life, replace it now Strip to sheathing Roof to code If roof needs to be done in the future, solar company should remove and re-install We quote a fixed price in our contract to remove and reinstall 10

11 Ways of Going Solar Purchase Cash Financed (personal loans, home equity, etc ) Third Party Ownership (TPO) Lease Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Economics Behind Solar Net Metering Credit: Every kilowatt-hour the system makes, offsets purchases from the utility (~$0.18/kWh in NGrid) Some Municipal Utilities are different Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): Every kilowatt-hour a system generates, earns the owner income (~$0.20 to $0.30/kWh) 30% Federal Investment Tax Credit Reduces system owner s income taxes 5-year Depreciation (Businesses only) Reduces system owner s income taxes 11

12 Typical Return (Purchased) System: 25 High-efficiency panels (8,175 watts) 25 year warranty panel and inverter 20 year workmanship warranty (including roof leaks) Cash purchase: 8.1 years to 20 years: $32,000 Net return (after paying for the 20 years: 162% return (average annual return: 8.1%) Financed: 70% of system at 3.99% for 12 years 30% at no interest for 1 year (paid off by your tax years: $22,000 net years: 152% return (average annual return: 7.6%) System life: 25 years and beyond Typical Return (Lease or PPA) System: 8,160 watts 32 Moderate-efficiency panels 20 years: ~$13,000 of electricity savings And then you start over 12

13 Going Solar: Purchase or Finance Homeowner gets: Roof or ground mount Installer warranty Manufacturer warranties (panels, inverters, racking) 30% Tax credit, SREC, Net Metering credit After break-even or paying off the loan the customer owns the system Expected life 25 years or more Going Solar: Third Party Owned TPO Company rents homeowner s roof Installs and owns solar array Sells power from the array to homeowner at ~25% discount to current utility rates Roof-generated electricity price contracted to escalate 2 to 3% each year 20 year term At end of term customer must: re-up, have system removed, or (in some cases) purchase the system at fair market value TPO typically NOT allowed by Municipal light plants Residential TPO companies are all big companies, Wall St. or VC Funded 13

14 Going Solar: Third Party Owned (cont.) Roof Owner Gets: ~25% discount on roof produced electricity Depending on electricity inflation, and customer contract, this discount can get better or worse with time A lien on their property Third Party Owner gets: years of customer payments SREC $0.20 to $0.30 per kwh for 10 years 30% federal tax credit* 5-year depreciation tax benefit* *Tax benefits are based on the value THEY tell the IRS TPO Installation Practices Done by the selling company or sub-contracted Crews are typically paid piece work Installs typically take less than 1-day Install includes an apron to Improve Aesthetics or To hide dangling Wires? Conceal uneven panels? Trap leaves and branches? Create a home for squirrels? 14

15 Good and Quickly Seldom Meet. - English Proverb TPO Install 1 15

16 TPO Install 2 TPO Install 3 16

17 TPO Install 4 17

18 The Worst Install Ever? Customer had questions about the system, couldn t reach the original installer, found us Basement work (inverter etc.) was excellent (likely a real electrician) Roof was a disaster Long cantilever rails, Wrong roof penetration flashings, wires on sharp edges, wires on roof, missing bolts, missing panel clips, bent panel clips We removed and reinstalled the system 18

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20 Our Work (or Any Good Installer) Careful layout Aesthetics matter Hidden conduit We hate roof leaks because we warranty against them Structurally safe Snow guards now an option Slow the fall of large chunks of snow 20

21 Better Looking Installations 21

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24 Typical Roof Attachment System 24

25 SolarEdge Optimizers Pedestal & Flashing 25

26 Townsend, MA 29 Sunpower 335-Watt Modules 9715 watts 2 Power-One inverters Jefferson 24 Schüco 210-watt modules Solectria PVI 5000 inverter 26

27 Charlton, MA 72 Schüco 185-Watt Modules 3 Solectria PVI-5000 inverters Grafton 9,990 Watts 54 Schüco 185-watt modules 3 Solectria PVI-3000 Inverters 27

28 Gould s Plaza Acton, MA kw 230 panels, 185-watts 6 Solectria Inverters Completed 3/20/2012 Stow 5,865 Watts 23 Canadian Solar 255-watt Modules SolarEdge SE-5000 inverter & P300 Optimizers 28

29 Contact Information Mark Durrenberger