Solar Incentive Programs

By Charles Slat

After battling for years to cut the energy appetite of the homes he’s constructed, longtime Bedford Township homebuilder Bill Decker Sr. is on the verge of realizing an ambitious goal. He’ll soon be selling power to his electric company instead of buying it from the utility.

Mr. Decker, who’s blazed trails in building energy-efficient homes in Monroe County for decades, had solar panels put on the roof of his new horse stable at his Temperance home this week using a combination of federal tax and utility company incentives designed to spur the growth of solar power. After the utility installs a meter Tuesday to measure the system’s output, he expects to start generating electricity — and cash — whenever the sun shines.

The installation of the 20-panel, 4-kilowatt system cost about $30,000, but the price is covered largely by incentives. "In effect, it didn’t cost me anything if you do the math," Mr. Decker said. "I put the solar system on it basically at no cost, so why would I not want to do it?" The math involves a federal government tax credit of 30 percent of the system cost. The remainder of the cost was covered with a home equity line of credit. Mr. Decker’s monthly payment of $250 on that loan should be covered by the monthly check Consumers Energy pays for the electricity it will buy, based on the average of 4.4 hours of daily direct sunlight at the stable’s location. Under the program, Consumers will pay 65 cents for every kilowatthour Mr. Decker’s solar array generates. That compares to about 10 cents a kilowatthour residential customers typically pay Consumers for electricity. The payment arrangement will continue for 12 years, and Mr. Decker figures the whole system will pay for itself in 7.5 years.

Mr. Decker believes he’s the first in Monroe County and might be among the first in Southeast Michigan flocking to take advantage of Consumers’ "Experimental Advanced Renewable Program" to outfit their homes with solar power. DTE Energy launched a slightly different program in September called "Solar Currents." It pays part of the upfront costs of solar installation and then pays a more traditional electric rate – 11 cents a kilowatthour – for the renewable energy credits that a customer’ system represents over a 20-year period. DTE customers James and Madeline Younglove of Monroe expect to have solar panels installed on their Godfroy Ave. home soon.

Mr. Younglove estimates that he’ll shave at least 40 percent off his electric bill by becoming part of the program while also getting the federal tax credit this year on the cost of the solar equipment. Dovetail Solar and Wind of Athens, Ohio are supplying both the Decker and Younglove systems.

Both DTE and Consumers programs are among the results of a state policy mandate that utilities get more of their electric generation from renewable sources such as wind and power. Mr. Decker predicted a wave of solar development will continue in the U.S. in the years ahead as the cost of solar equipment comes down and the cost of electricity and natural gas continues rising.

He’s part of a homebuilder association called Build America, which aims to construct "net-zero" homes, meaning dwellings that generate all the power they consume, usually by mating geothermal heating and cooling with solar electric generation. He figures he’ll be building such a home for an Ohio customer next year and probably construct one in Michigan in 2011. "Every home built by 2030 will be a net-zero home," he said.