Act Now – LIPA Rebate Funds are Running Out!

If you are at all considering going solar, you don’t want to miss out on the fleeting opportunity to have up to 35% of your solar electric system paid for by LIPA.

The current rebate is $2.00/watt (up to 10KW) for a residential solar electric system.  That means LIPA will potentially pay up to $20,000 of the system cost!  However, it is possible that the LIPA Rebate will run out in the next two weeks and there are no guarantees that rebates will be available in the future.

The chart below was taken from the LIPA webpage:

This graph shows that as of August 6, 2010 the Solar Pioneer Rebate (which is the Residential program) is almost gone.  There are only 200 KW left for the year – that’s only 20 residential systems for all LIPA customers!  Just to give you some more insight, in the last three weeks the block went from 500KW to 800KW.  Within the next couple of weeks, the Solar Electric Rebate will likely disappear for the rest of the year.

If you would like to proceed with a solar electric system, there’s no time to waste if you want to secure these rebates.  Please call our Sales Manager, Joe Cordes, at your earliest convenience at 516-286-1477 and we can get you started.  We will have to submit your Rebate Application before they close the program for new applicants!

Invest with confidence. Act now.

PACE Financing Threatened by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac

Today, the New York Times reported on a looming risk to the future of PACE financing – America’s largest mortgage guarantors, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  PACE, or Property Assessed Clean Energy liens, are a creative financing mechanism designed to make weatherization and renewable energy improvements affordable for more homeowners.  First developed in Berkeley, California in 2008, PACE allows homeowners to pay for energy improvements through a municipal property tax lien.  They are assessed a property tax increase – instead of needing to secure a bank loan – and if the property is sold, the energy lien passes on to the new owner.

Although only a small number of communities have PACE programs in place, PACE has been heralded as one of the most promising ways to encourage investment in home weatherization and solar energy systems.  The process of acquiring a PACE lien is less strenuous than securing a loan AND since the benefits of the improvements are tied to the home, it makes it easier to sell the home (and the energy project) to a new owner who will continue to pay off the investment.  Moreover, PACE is based on existing property lien models which use the same method to pay for things such as sidewalks, making their structure familiar to municipalities.  PACE has been so well received that the Obama administration allocated $150 million to help communities establish PACE programs.

But, all of that may come to halt after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sent out a letter May 5 warning mortgage lenders that energy liens are “not senior to any mortgage delivered to Freddie Mac.”  They claim that if a homeowner defaults on a mortgage, taxpayers will unfairly bear the burden of covering the cost of the energy lien.  It is unclear why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are singling out PACE for this special treatment, when they accept other property liens without concern.

Already, many homeowners (most in California) have been told they will need to pay off the PACE lien in its entirety before they can acquire a new loan or refinance their mortgage.  Many PACE programs have been suspended and energy projects in the pipeline have been canceled.

PACE is an excellent method of encouraging investment and deploying renewables such as solar.  The Federal Housing Finance Agency should clarify its position on the issue and make it so that improving a home’s energy efficiency or installing a renewable energy system will not make it harder to secure a mortgage.

NYSES Solar Financing

Last Wednesday, the New York Solar Energy Society (NYSES) hosted an educational solar financing event.  The speakers included Stanley Fishbein (tax attorney and President of CapQuest Group), Rémy Trotabas (President of The Real Thing), and Richard Schoen (FTL Solar) each presenting on a different topic: equipment leasing, power purchase agreements, and feed-in tariffs, respectively.  Each presenter did a great job on hitting the key issues related to their topic.  The best part of the event may have been the duel (of words, unfortunately) between Fishbein and Trotabas, vehemently arguing over which is superior: equipment leasing or PPAs.  Both had some good jabs, but I think it’s safe to say it was a tie.

Here’s a breakdown of the issues (click the chart for a larger image):

More good news from Fishbein: he says the 50% bonus depreciation for solar equipment should be back soon!

And a special thanks to Ameriprise Financial for kindly hosting the event.