You may be looking for cheap solar panels available in order to really cash in on solar power. And sure, when you install solar on your home or business, you can save thousands on your electricity bills. But going solar isn’t automatically cheap: buying solar panels to install on your roof typically costs thousands of dollars. It’s no wonder that the cost of solar is among the most important considerations for today’s homeowners. If you’re thinking about going solar and worried about prices, you’re probably wondering: what are the best value solar panels and will solar get even cheaper?
Update: Duke Energy has run out of available funds for rebates in 2020. Solar customers can join a waitlist for the rebate.
North Carolina has long been one of the top states for solar thanks to its utility-scale solar farms, but over the past few years, homeowners in the Tar Heel State haven’t seen many financial incentives to go solar. A newly-announced solar rebate from Duke Energy will help property owners in North Carolina save thousands on their up-front solar installation costs.
In an industry that has continued to grow at an impressive rate nationwide (4.4x over the past 5 years), details on solar hot spots in the U.S. can be elusive. Though there are a few states that are known for having plentiful sunlight (California, Florida, Arizona), there are many states leading the U.S. solar revolution that are flying under the radar. In this article, we’ll break down the top five solar states to date by cumulative solar capacity as well as the states with the fastest growing solar markets in 2017.
As President Trump’s Paris decision looms large, state legislative measures tackling solar accessibility are more important than ever. Nevada’s net metering bill, North Carolina’s solar reform bill, and a large solar array plan from IKEA are the headlines from this week’s Solar News Report.
The biggest annual conference in the solar industry, Solar Power International, was this week, and with SPI’s industry buzz came a number of exciting developments in solar. A major net metering win for Nevada homeowners, a new wearable textile that can integrate solar cells and news of North Carolina dethroning Arizona as the number two state for solar are the headlines we’re talking about in this week’s Solar Energy News report.
Reading Time: 2minutesNorth Carolina is a leader in solar adoption, and the pace of this trend is only picking up! There’s good reason for that, North Carolina has some great solar incentives but there’s no way to know how long they’ll be offered. Continue reading →
Reading Time: 2minutesEnergySage and the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center at NC State University (NC CETC) announced today a partnership to help consumers and businesses make well-informed and profitable decisions about solar energy adoption. The resulting EnergySage North Carolina marketplace enables residents and business owners to quickly research and compare solar options and obtain multiple price quotes from pre-screened solar installers. The marketplace also provides the state’s solar installers access to a large pool of knowledgeable prospective clients, giving them the ability to reduce customer acquisition costs and efficiently grow their businesses. Continue reading →
As a result of solar PV cost declines, rising utility rates, and supportive public policies and incentives, residential rooftop solar PV has become an affordable option for millions of customers, especially in America’s 50 largest cities. This is especially true if customers have the ability to access low-cost financing options like longer-term loans, leases, and third-party power purchase agreements (PPAs) that eliminate the upfront cost. Thus, the availability of solar PV (and other ways to more efficiently use energy) has caused many customers to seek their own degree of personal “energy independence” by focusing on ways they can diversify their energy choices and exert greater control over their utility bills.
However, most of the customers who want a greater degree of personal energy independence (and the community leaders who wish to help them get there) often do not understand (or are simply unaware) of how solar PV technology can help them save money and reap the rewards of a largely risk-free long-term investment. Often, the lack of familiarity most customers have with solar PV has the effect of increasing the costs (often called “customer acquisition costs”) that solar PV installers must incur to educate consumers and make a sale. When one considers that selling more PV systems is how solar installers can reduce their other costs and make their businesses leaner, more competitive, and cost-effective without incentives, educating customers and community leaders about the “dollars and cents” value of solar PV truly is paramount. Continue reading →
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