Ever thought you'd like to have solar panels on your house but been put off by sticker shock? Well, that may be about to change. A California company that specializes in leasing pricey solar energy systems to homeowners and businesses is expanding to Maryland.
SolarCity, which claims to be the largest solar service provider in the country, announced Monday it has acquired the solar installation unit of Clean Currents, the Rockville-based independent energy company that has been marketing wind and solar power across the mid-Atlantic region. It has a Baltimore-area office in Catonsville.
SolarCity sells and installs photovoltaic systems on homes and businesses, just as about 100 other contractors do in Maryland. But the San Mateo-based company also peddles a zero-down 20-year lease, where the homeowner pays nothing up front, and instead pays rent for the use of the system. SolarCity says the savings customers realize from the electricity generated by its panels more than offsets the lease payments. Homeowners typically realize a 10 percent savings per kilowatt-hour consumed, company officials say.
"Given a choice, homeowners will buy clean power as long as it doesn't cost them an arm and a leg," says SolarCity's CEO, Lyndon Rive.
The company plans to start offering its zero-down, 20-year leases sometime in February. It now operates in more than 1,500 communities in five states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Texas. Maryland and the District of Columbia would be its first East Coast venture. The firm has about 1,000 employees and expects to add 30 in Maryland in the first year, according to Rive.
SolarCity also is investing in Clean Currents, which says it has more than 6,000 residential and 500 commercial customers in Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
If the lease idea catches on, it could significantly boost the spread of solar energy among homes. The high upfront cost of purchasing and installing photovoltaic panels - $30,000 or more for a typical home system - is a major hurdle to broader adoption of the technology.
Homeowners can get grants from the state to help with the cost - $500 per kilowatt, up to $10,000 - and Maryland Energy Administration officials say the agency has given out more than 1,200 such grants in the past year and a half. Homeowners leasing solar panels can still take advantage of the state grants, at least indirectly, according to MEA's Kevin Lucas. The company installing them has to apply and would get the grant, but can factor that into the rental payment.
(Solar panels covering roof of Fells Point house, 2003 Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)