Recently, a neighborhood group - the Downtown San Jose Solar Project - banded together to purchase solar in bulk and find their own solar installer through a competitive bidding situation. They put their collective requirements for three solar systems out to bid by several solar companies to get the best price, equipment, warranty, and service.

As of February 20, the project included 24 San Jose homes producing 99kW of electricity. The 24 systems in San Jose will produce 3,560,000 kWh over the systems’ lifetime and will eliminate, according to today’s current fuel mix, about 5,055,861 pounds of carbon dioxide. The community group wants to see this program spread across the Bay Area and held a training for people interested in setting up their own community discount programs.

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Going solar is like purchasing your electricity upfront for the next 20 years with a one-time payment. Yeah, you may save money in the long run, but the upfront payment is no joke. Currently solar photovoltaics cost about $8 per watt (installed), so a four kilowatt system will set you back about $32,000 before state and federal incentives.

Photo credit: Pete Beverly, NREL/DOE

A new model of solar purchasing appears to be coming of age: community solar purchasing programs. Last month, two colleagues in the Local Clean Energy Alliance and I carpooled to a workshop by the Downtown San Jose Solar Project about their experiences setting up a community purchasing program.

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Florida this week boosted its supply of renewable energy when its largest solar power array went online.

The Sunshine Energy Solar Array was dedicated Monday by Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida Power & Light (FPL) officials. The facility is located on a former landfill in Sarasota County.

The Sunshine array is not only Florida’s largest, but the second largest in the entire Southeast U.S. The array of 1,200 solar panels covers more than 28,000 square feet of Rothenbach Park, and is expected to generate about 250 kilowatts of electricity.

That’s enough to power 55 homes and prevent the annual release of more than 654,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air, according to FPL.

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[social_buttons]Buying a solar system is similar to going to Cosco and buying a 30 year supply of a staple. It will have a large upfront cost, but will result in long-term savings in states with good solar energy potential. What if you could lease a solar system and have the savings outweigh the monthly cost?

SolarCity is changing the landscape of the residential solar market in California and the Phoenix metropolitan area by offering solar leases, which significantly reduces the upfront cost of going solar.

“Customers have called for alternatives to solar purchasing, and our innovations in financing will allow them to get the benefits of renewable energy quickly, easily and affordably,” said David Arfin, Vice President of Customer Financing at SolarCity.

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Solar thermal technology provides space heating and hot water and is a frequently forgotten member of the solar family. These highly effective systems are popular in many parts of the globe, from China to Greece to Zimbabwe. They displace the use of the existing hot water heater and heating equipment, typically saving either natural gas or electricity.Solar thermal is a more mature technology than solar photovoltaic systems that produce electricity. It has been used for centuries for water heating. In fact, even Leonardo Da Vinci owned one.

When considering the installation of such a system, it is important to consider the following items.

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A note from the editors: Installing solar panels is not for the inexperienced. It’s a serious and potentially dangerous process that involves both handling live power generators (how do you turn off a solar panel?) and climbing around on the roof of your house. We here at Renewzle recommend that you talk to a professional (and if you live in California, you can use our solar calculator and get matched with local installers!)

That said, for those of you who want to find cheap or free solar panels, you couldn’t find a better intro than Michelle Bennett’s below. Enjoy!

My cousin mentioned to me that her family wanted to install solar panels on their roof. She said it was a huge disappointment because it was far too expensive. It would take twenty years for them to regain the cost in energy savings, even with state solar initiatives! I decided to do some digging and came up with a handy solution to help reduce the cost:

Find used solar panels. Maybe you can get them for free. (more…)