A Lease On Solar Panels? Some States Pitch In

For decades, high installation costs put solar energy out of most homeowners' reach. Now a California company is offering a way to make solar panels affordable by leasing them. But there's a catch: Consumers won't get to take advantage of the offer unless their home state provides incentives for clean energy.

SolarCity, a four-year-old company, leases solar panels to its customers, so they don't have to shell out a lot of money up front to buy them. Customers often pay less for the leases and their electric bills than they used to pay for their electric bills alone.

The company is quickly spreading to more states, but only ones that are subsidizing renewable energy.

"A key thing for us when we move into a market is can we save a business or homeowner money, and if there's no local incentive you can't do it," says SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive.

That explains why Maryland, which offers incentives, is among the 10 states served by SolarCity, but neighboring Virginia is not.

Creating Economies Of Scale

Companies like SolarCity hope that offering affordable leases now that are subsidized by the state and federal government will help them create the economies of scale necessary for solar to stand on its own feet when those subsidies expire.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/22/133870498/a-lease-on-solar-panels-some-states-pitch-in?ft=1&f=1007

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