Taking startup costs out of home solar

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/06/23/story3.html

Friday, June 20, 2008

Taking startup costs out of home solar

East Bay Business Times - by Mavis Scanlon

Berkeley startup Helio Micro Utility Inc. wants to make it easier for homeowners who use a lot of electricity to move to solar energy by eliminating upfront cash outlays.

The company on June 16 introduced the Helio Green Energy Plan, which allows homeowners to buy solar power on a kilowatt-hour basis from solar panels installed on their own roofs without actually buying the pricey panels. Helio has crafted a solar-power purchase agreement (or PPA) - already commonplace for larger businesses that want to use solar power - for homeowners.

With credit tight and home equity lines of credit being cancelled or withdrawn, homeowners who want to add solar energy systems have fewer options for financing them. Companies that lease or finance solar systems and sell the power back to a homeowner are stepping in the fill the void.

Helio is the latest entrant in a growing market that is responding to the outsize cost of solar power with options to suit different-sized pocketbooks.

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