ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 134
Column EmErging tEchnologiEs
provides maintenance and online-enabled system monitoring. Most leasing companies also guarantee system
output on an annual basis, thereby taking on the risk of
an underperforming system. Since they own large portfolios of solar installations and have ready access to performance data, leasing companies are well-positioned
to manage this risk. From the perspective of a customer
with a tight cash flow situation, the arguments for TPO
solar are compelling: low-hassle installation and operation, combined with a payback period that is shortened
or non-existent.3
Solar leasing is not without its critics. Absent strong
competition among leasing companies, a leasing company can set relatively high fees. The customer may still
save a modest amount on monthly electricity expenses,
but in the long run a purchased system could yield a
better return on investment. Homeowners, of course,
can decide on an individual basis whether the ease and
low upfront cost of PV leasing outweigh the long-term
cost savings of a purchased system. Planned duration
of homeownership may also factor into their decision:
if the house is sold before the end of the lease, the
seller must either prepay the remainder of the lease
or pass the lease on to the subsequent owners (if their
credit rating allows). A 2012 report by DOE NREL gives
a thorough review of the various applicable financing
options.4
An objection of broader concern is that leased PV
systems can sometimes cost governments (and thus
taxpayers) more in subsidies than equivalent purchased systems would. The reason is related to one
of the strongest government incentives for PV, the
federal investment tax credit (ITC). In the PV leasing
model, the 30% ITC goes not to the homeowner but
to the leasing company and its investors, since they
own the system. Because of the accounting methods
involved, the dollar amount on which the ITC is based
is more closely related to the price of the lease than
the cost of the equipment. So where limited competition leads to higher lease prices, the government pays
more (in the form of lost tax revenue) to incentivize
a leased PV system than for an equivalent purchased
system.
As the TPO solar market has matured, competition has
increased and the problem of high lease prices has lessened. A recent analysis by the Climate Policy Initiative
(CPI) found that in the state of California the prices for
134
ASHRAE JouRnAl
ashrae.org
D ecem ber 2013
Figure 1 Annual deployment of residential scale (<10kW) PV in California, by
ownership type.5
10 MW
8 MW
6 MW
4 MW
Purchased
2 MW
Leased
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
purchased and leased PV systems had converged as of
2011 and remain comparable today.5
Energy Savings
According to CPI, in the absence of a TPO option, it
is "highly unlikely" that all PV lease customers would
have purchased their systems.5 Consequently, the
energy saved by deployment of a leased PV system
is about equal to the energy generated by that PV
system.
TPO-leased solar now accounts for more than 50% of
new residential PV deployment in Arizona, Colorado,
Massachusetts, and California6 (Figure 1). Installed residential deployment of leased PV in 2012 in California, for
example, was more than 10 MW, compared to just under
5 MW for purchased PV systems. Using a yearly average
of five sun-hours available per day, California's 10 MW
of leased PV systems generate and save 18,250 MWh per
year.
Market Potential
Realizing the potential of TPO solar leasing is highly
dependent on favorable regulatory, economic, and
financial factors. For example, state regulators must
recognize and allow TPO solar. Historically, the electric power sector has been regulated with large-scale,
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - December 2013
Contents
Commentary
Industry News
Letters
Meetings and Shows
Feature Articles
Ventilation Control in Terminal Units With Variable Speed Fan Control
Cooling Load Calculations for Radiant Systems
Botanical Research Laboratory
Strategies for Sustainability
Technical vs. Process Commissioning: Preparing a Cx Plan
Standing Columns
Engineer's Notebook
Building Sciences
The Performance Gap
Refrigeration Applications
New Product Preview
Energy Modeling
Emerging Technologies
HVAC Applications
Data Centers
Products
2013 Indices
Classified Advertising
Advertisers Index
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Intro
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Cover1
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Cover2
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 1
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 2
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Contents
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Commentary
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 5
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Industry News
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 7
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Letters
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 9
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Meetings and Shows
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 11
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Ventilation Control in Terminal Units With Variable Speed Fan Control
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 13
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 14
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 15
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 16
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 17
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 18
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 19
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Cooling Load Calculations for Radiant Systems
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 21
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 22
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 23
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 24
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 25
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 26
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 27
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Botanical Research Laboratory
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 29
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 30
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 31
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 32
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 33
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Strategies for Sustainability
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 35
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 36
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 37
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 38
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 39
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Technical vs. Process Commissioning: Preparing a Cx Plan
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 41
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 42
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 43
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 44
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 45
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 46
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 47
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Engineer's Notebook
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 49
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 50
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 51
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Building Sciences
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 53
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 54
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 55
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 56
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 57
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 58
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 59
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - The Performance Gap
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 61
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 62
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 63
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Refrigeration Applications
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - New Product Preview
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 66
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 67
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 68
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 69
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 70
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 71
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 72
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 73
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 74
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 76
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 77
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 78
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 79
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 80
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 81
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 82
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 83
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 84
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 85
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 86
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 88
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 89
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 90
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 91
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 94
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 96
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 97
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 98
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 99
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 100
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 101
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 103
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 104
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 105
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 106
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 107
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 109
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 110
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 111
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 112
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 113
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 114
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 115
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 116
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 117
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 118
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 119
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 120
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 123
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ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 125
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 126
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 127
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 128
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 129
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 130
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Energy Modeling
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Emerging Technologies
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 133
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 134
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 135
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 136
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 137
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - HVAC Applications
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 139
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 140
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 141
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Data Centers
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 143
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 144
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Products
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 146
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 147
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 2013 Indices
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 149
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - 150
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Classified Advertising
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Advertisers Index
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Cover3
ASHRAE Journal - December 2013 - Cover4
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