Electric Company offers Solar Panel to rent on their Farm - Hoping for valuable input

[alarmguy]

Ok,
Conversation sakes, PLEASE Im am hoping some in here that are intimately familiar with @JeffKeryk solar and others like @OVERKILL plus many others to when time take a look at this. I NEVER have seen this discussed in here and all the facts and figures are presented by my electric co-op.

Keep in mind my electric is stupid dirt cheap at 10 cents a kWh but my electric company offers solar panels on their solar farm to its customers for rent. Meaning anyone can have solar without installing solar.
Rental cost is $3.50 a panel per month or $537 for the term which expires in 2035
You get paid full retail price for the electric each panel produces deducted from your monthly bill.

Each panel estimated 40 kWh per month, translates to $46 in credit per year. So if you are producing 40 kWh per month per panel and paying $3.50 per month per panel rent and that panel is paying you back at $4 a month your looking at a 50 cents per panel profit, at 15 panels that is a credit of $7.50 a month?

Has anyone ever heard of this set up before? Seems strange but in an area with high electric costs maybe MUCH better.
or do you go and rent lets say 45 panels for the fun of seeing a reduction? ... anyway, just discussing. Maybe my math is wrong, I am kind of rushing .... I know assuming my math is right we are talking pennies, just curious if I am missing something and if not, why are these not in high electric cost areas, or are they?

Community Solar - Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation

BEMC’s Community Solar program provides an option to those who wish to go green without the hassle of installing & maintaining their solar panels.

www.bemc.org

 

[JeffKeryk]

I've never heard of such a thing. But you are on the right path, doing the math. Look at your bills for the past 2 years, and understand what your real costs are. Personally, @ 10 cents per kWh, anything else seems like a tough sell. A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Do you expect your electricity use to go up? kWh cost?
If the numbers are minimal, I wouldn't make the investment. My case was far different than yours, @alarmguy. I will be watching this thread. Good luck.

By the way, the numbers I have posted, primarily $9 per month, are not quite accurate. With @OVERKILL help, and to continue to read and understand the NEM2 program I am on, I have learned a lot. But my deal is dirt cheap, especially for my location.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

AEP had offered something similar. Sounds fishy… if they only have 100 panels, say, and 1000 people sign up for it, do you think they’re going to be paying that royalty to everyone? They’ll simply Jack up the electric rate because they’re not going to lose money on the deal.

Plus, it’s a proven fact that as solar saturation increases in a given grid, costs rise very rapidly because it’s much harder to deal with an uncontrollable intermittent source. @OVERKILL has posted some hard data; I think the average “sunk” cost per kW for solar is like $4 or more… meaning after maintenance and all the necessary stuff.

Does it sound like a great idea to willingly increase the cost of your personal and your neighbor’s electric?

Instead of all this grid-tie crap, we should have pursued talking people into large enough standalone systems to run their household during the day and use grid power at night or during times where they draw more than their panels could supply. It’s quite a complex topic, but IMO it’s an overall net loss for the customers.

 

[MNgopher]

In Minnesota, you will not pay a per panel rental fee or the like. You are credited for the cost of the electricity purchased by the utility minus either a fixed percentage or a fixed amount per kwH that is paid to the solar garden developer. That percentage or fixed amount is the portion that the solar developer keeps to build, operate, maintain, and earn a profit on the solar garden. As a consumer you are allowed to subscribe to credits woth 120% of your annual average electricity use.

Solar gardens are not allowed to over subscribe as alluded to by the previous poster. (again, in MN)

 

[CKN]

There are many electrical utilities companies across the country that are starting to offer this solution. Just because it's something you are not familiar with-or haven't researched doesn't make it a SCAM.

 

[bunnspecial]

When I was still in Kentucky, LG&E sent me a few offers about it. Bear in mind that this was 3-4 years ago, but I couldn't work the numbers any way that they made financial sense. They offered yearly rental or outright purchase. The touted advantage of purchase was that you kept the panels if you moved, although I don't know how it would have worked for me now several hundred miles outside LG&E's service area. Of course too it was less expensive per panel than residential installation since you were getting the benefit of economies of scale of them doing a single large installation.

Even though Louisville rates were some of the highest in the state, Kentucky still has cheap electricity on the whole. To me, for it to make financial sense you were basically betting on the cost of electricity increasing a lot.

The few people I knew who did get into the program did it out of want of supporting "clean" energy. Note that in my stating this I'm not making any commentary on the environmental impact of any such solar project, positive or negative, but that the people I knew who did it viewed it as a moral choice. Agian, IMO, in the Ohio Valley between the weather and the cost of other sources of electricity(hydro is plentiful in Kentucky thanks to the TVA outside the obvious coal) and solar in the short term would likely be a losing proposition. At the time I was in graduate school and someone in my research group was actively working on dye sensitized solar cells, so I saw a lot of really solid numbers on area solar viability on a regular basis...

Of course the economy can shift in other regions, but there's a part of me that wants to think that if were actually financially viable the power company would just build the farm and sell the power without letting people buy the cells.

 

[Pew]

Subbed for interesting info.

A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

And stealing this.

 

[Al]

You take the risk. The Panel Installers make the money. Its not rocket science in most cases folks.

 

[alarmguy]

AEP had offered something similar. Sounds fishy… if they only have 100 panels, say, and 1000 people sign up for it, do you think they’re going to be paying that royalty to everyone? They’ll simply Jack up the electric rate because they’re not going to lose money on the deal.

...

Clearly you did not read the website, you cant rent a panel or panels if there are none available to rent. Anymore than you cant rent an apartment that is not for rent. *LOL* Come on man, Im reading some of these comments and wondering where this stuff comes from.

 

[alarmguy]

You take the risk. The Panel Installers make the money. Its not rocket science in most cases folks.

You maybe having a problem understanding the website, let me explain, your right, its not rocket science but you got it all wrong*LOL*
You take no risk, you rent available panels on the Electric co-ops solar farm for $5.50 a month per panel, there is no risk

 

[alarmguy]

There are many electrical utilities companies across the country that are starting to offer this solution. Just because it's something you are not familiar with-or haven't researched doesn't make it a SCAM.

Yeah, gosh, I was looking forward to a normal thread, I even posted the website link. Im really impressed by this possibility, its a no brainer IF there are available panels to rent, right now our area they are maxed out ...
Very cool solution and the best part is, you dont even have to own a home to have solar. Yes, granted, electric is cheap where I live but if some come available I might even get put on a wait list, for fun.

I love everything electronic, in fact wasted my entire freaking day re-searching smart thermostats for our new home, even though I have one, I might allow my electric utility to put one in my house and adjust up to 48 times a year 4 hours at a time.
My current one is Zwave but I need wifi. Fun stuff for me, savings doesnt matter much, they will provide the cost to send a tech to the house and pretty much give you free or low cost the thermostat depending on which one you choose. Other than that they reduce your already stupid low bill another $4 a month. Every since moving south I have been in non profit co-ops, wow what a different from Long Island, NY

Thanks, I didnt know this was starting all over the country, its pretty cool, zero cost to me, zero commitment to me, unless I pay the flat rate which covers you to 2035... by why even bother? I would choose $5.50 a month per panel for fun.
It really is a cool solution and all in one farm I am sure costs are reduced by several magnitude vs individual homes.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Clearly you did not read the website, you cant rent a panel or panels if there are none available to rent. Anymore than you cant rent an apartment that is not for rent. *LOL* Come on man, Im reading some of these comments and wondering where this stuff come from.

And who’s keeping track? The electric company?

Do you get a little plaque on each panel to say it’s yours? Sure, this is a little ludicrous… but as someone else mentioned, if solar was really a money-maker on its own, the electric company wouldn’t be soliciting renters, would they.

 

[bunnspecial]

My sincerest apologies for offering what I considered a well researched and informed opinion saying I didn't consider a good idea when it was offered to me

If one wants to buy in with your local power company because you want a piece of the pie of solar without a physical panel install on your property, have at it.

If one is looking at this as an investment, take a good hard look at your actual numbers-and I mean numbers specific to your area about what you can reasonably expect the panel to output-and see if it makes sense for you.

I'll still stand by what is probably a pessimistic outlook that if the project was viable on its own, the power company would likely build it outright and sell the power. Power companies are a business after all.

 

[MNgopher]

And who’s keeping track? The electric company?

Do you get a little plaque on each panel to say it’s yours? Sure, this is a little ludicrous… but as someone else mentioned, if solar was really a money-maker on its own, the electric company wouldn’t be soliciting renters, would they.

Again, speaking in terms of what I know here specifically:

-The solar developer is responsible for maintaining the records. (Most sites are developed by private developers - not the utility itself).
-Projects here are regulated by the Public Utilities Commission and regulated by the Department of Commerce. Dept of commerce gets the records.

Typically utilities aren't looking to make money on projects - private developers are. In many cases, the utility may be driven by other factors - like attempting to move their makeup of power to more defined renewable sources, like solar. This may be to comply with regulation, to comply with demands of its investors, or demands of customers for options.

Note that the OP isn't buying power via an investor owned utility - its a local Electric Co-op. Same scenario for my power - and they have built 4 solar facilities in order to (in their words): hedge against future wholesale power costs, move their generation portfolio to more green sources (currently heavy towards coal), provide opportunities for those who want greener power to get it, etc...

 

[Nick1994]

Do you get a little plaque on each panel to say it’s yours?

That would be hilarious. And then an annual thank you postcard with a picture of your solar panel and it's progress

 

[alarmguy]

And who’s keeping track? The electric company?

Do you get a little plaque on each panel to say it’s yours? Sure, this is a little ludicrous… but as someone else mentioned, if solar was really a money-maker on its own, the electric company wouldn’t be soliciting renters, would they.

Clearly, we are not on the same page and you don’t understand the system here, so it’s pointless to comment, your way to skeptical of something that does not exist
The electric co-ops are owned by the rate payers, it’s non profit, in fact unused money paid in rates gets returned to me from my last electric co-op in another state.
They will send me annual checks until the remaining balance of the money I paid over the last 16 years that was never needed to be used is return to me and I don’t even live there anymore and I’m no longer a rate payer there.
They even remind you to send your forwarding address in which I got my first check two months ago in the new state and will continue for up to 10 more years until $824 remaining in my account is paid back to me that they never needed to use.
Meaning utility companies for profit the money would go to the shareholders in this case it’s the rate payers who get their money returned.
The repairs elects the board that runs the co-op
Can’t believe I’m explaining this but your skepticism sometimes without knowing the facts is a bit much.

 

[Skippy722]

My utility offers us the “opportunity” to allow them to purchase “renewable energy certificates” on our behalf. It costs an extra ~$0.0031/kWh on top of the standard rate (~$0.12/kWh)+any and all applicable riders and tariffs (fuel, distribution, because we can, etc etc).

Your program sounds like you’re basically bank rolling the utility company so they can go buy solar panels, in exchange they actually let you “sell” the power with absolutely no effort on your part. Not a great deal, but far better than what my dumb utility company does.

That would be hilarious. And then an annual thank you postcard with a picture of your solar panel and it's progress

Y’know, I’d actually sign up for a program like this if they did that

 

[andrew_j]

Clearly you did not read the website, you cant rent a panel or panels if there are none available to rent. Anymore than you cant rent an apartment that is not for rent. *LOL* Come on man, Im reading some of these comments and wondering where this stuff comes from.

No smoking guns or fake news in the website title….so no reading

 

[alarmguy]

My utility offers us the “opportunity” to allow them to purchase “renewable energy certificates” on our behalf. It costs an extra ~$0.0031/kWh on top of the standard rate (~$0.12/kWh)+any and all applicable riders and tariffs (fuel, distribution, because we can, etc etc).

Your program sounds like you’re basically bank rolling the utility company so they can go buy solar panels, in exchange they actually let you “sell” the power with absolutely no effort on your part. Not a great deal, but far better than what my dumb utility company does.

Y’know, I’d actually sign up for a program like this if they did that

Yes, you’re pretty much correct but actually they install the solar panels on their farm and they rent them out, the rent in turn pays for the panels. Since this is a nonprofit, they don’t need to make a profit on the panels..

Since the panels generate more money than the rent, you come out with a small profit per panel. About a 15% profit on each panel or may be better said 10% plus in rough numbers as I’m just laying on my sofa right now talking to my phone

 

[Al]

You maybe having a problem understanding the website, let me explain, your right, its not rocket science but you got it all wrong*LOL*
You take no risk, you rent available panels on the Electric co-ops solar farm for $5.50 a month per panel, there is no risk

So you are "locked into) paying $538 for an $80 panel. What if you want to get out after a year. Do you get a refund? Let me guess.
Need to see the ENTIRE agreement.