Program sheds light on solar power

Compared to the Chinese - who manufacture most of the solar panels in the U.S. - the so-called “solar revolution” in the country has only just begun, according to an expert speaking at a library event.

“The Chinese are so far ahead of us right now, it’s sad,” said Dan Britton, a photovoltaic systems designer from Sunlight Solar Energy. “The U.S. government is dropping the ball on this drastically.”

More than 50 people attended a presentation Britton gave at the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library last week explaining what solar energy is, the benefits of solar technology and the government incentive program for residential and commercial solar system installation.

The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, administered by Connecticut Innovations, an organization that invests in emerging technologies, offers various incentives to install solar energy systems.

The rebates homeowners or businesses get depend on the size and performance of the system.

“The idea behind the incentives is that they will eventually go away,” Britton said. “The systems will eventually be affordable on their own without the incentives.”

Britton assured the audience that, although installation of a solar system is costly, the investment is well worth it in the long run.

“It’s like paying for your electricity, or a portion of it, for the next 20, 30, or 40 years,” Britton said.

According to Britton, major manufacturers will give you a 25-year power warranty and the system will last 35 to 40 years. Users would pay about 15 cents per kilowatt over 24 hours, he said.

“If you think about it in those terms, it’s really not that expensive,” Britton said.

Britton described two solar energy systems in his presentation: solar electric and solar thermal.

In the solar electric system, energy is measured by a process known as “net metering.”

Here, unused energy is credited credit to the homeowners as it passes through their utility meter and into the utility grid. If the system overproduces energy, the homeowners will get money back.

“That’s not typically the case because it doesn’t make sense to have a bigger system than your house requires,” Britton said.

There are a few conditions required for the roof the system will be built on.
The roof should receive little to no shade throughout the majority of the day, have a southern orientation and a 35-degree pitch. It should also be in a space with few obstructions.

Britton described the time period from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. as the “solar window.”

“This is when you want to have a shade-free period on the roof,” he said.

The optimal conditions for the roof the solar thermal system is built on are similar, with two major differences: The roof needs to have a pitch of 42 degrees and there needs to be space on the roof for a tank.

“A 42 degree pitch is optimal. You get better winter-time production if it’s a little bit steeper,” Britton said.

The rebates are the same for the two systems, although the solar electric incentives apply only to residential installations of the solar electric systems, while the incentives apply to both residential and commercial installations of the solar thermal systems.

The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund offers a 20 percent rebate and a 30 percent uncapped tax credit that is good until 2016.

In addition to the rebates offered by the government, Sunlight Solar Energy offers its own rebates to those who attend their presentations.

The company will give a $250 rebate to each attendant that installs a system and a $50 rebate for each additional installation - up to a $500 value.

The incentives offered by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund have generated a lot of interest among the community.

Many attended the library event to get more information and determine if they would install a system at their residence.

Jonathan Hand of Coventry was interested in the concept of renewable energy and attended the presentation to see if installing a solar system at his home would be feasible.

Hand plans on taking advantage of the free evaluation Sunlight Solar Energy offers.

“I’m planning to get my site checked to see if it’s a good candidate,” Hand said.

Hand said if they decide to install a system, they will probably go with the photovoltaic design.

“It seems like the rebate is good. There are no moving parts so it seems like it will be more durable,” Hand said.

Ed Ledoyt of Coventry, on the other hand, doesn’t plan on having his site evaluated because he doesn’t think it is a good candidate. He said he feels he will be wasting the company’s time.

“I don’t think I have a good site because of the orientation of the roof,” Ledoyt said. “It might have to be a ground mount system.”

Ledoyt said if they were able to install a system, they would choose the solar thermal design.

“We have a tank we could adapt solar water to,” Ledoyt said.

Britton said his company has installed about 15 to 20 solar energy systems in the area during the past year, in towns such as Coventry, Mansfield, Ashford, Willington and Willimantic.

“There’s a lot of interest in this area,” Britton said. “It’s a progressive community.”