Solar Projects May Be Slowing in New Hampshire Despite New State Rebate

Mike Speltz lives in Londonderry and he’s a candidate for a state rebate.

He and his family moved into a brand new house earlier this year that has solar generated electricity and solar heating.

Speltz was standing on his lawn last Friday showing me which solar panels generate power.

The smaller panels that you see arrayed across the ridge top, there’s 21 of those, Those are photovoltaic panels so they’re there to produce electricity. So that is a sort of maximum input of about 4.4 kilowatts on a perfect sunny day when the sun is coming straight down at ‘em….

Speltz’s solar array cost nearly 40,000 dollars.

To help pay for it, he’s taking advantage of federal credits, a utility subsidy, and he’s also hoping to get the maximum rebate from the state.

I’ve already applied. They started accepting applications I think July 14 and I was more than eager to get mine over there because I’ve been carrying the cost of this for all this time so I dropped it off I think on the 15th.

The New Hampshire’s legislature set up the rebate program to help people like Speltz defray the steep upfront cost of installing renewable energy systems.

Madeline McElaney of New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association was among those who fought for credit at the state house.

And she hopes there are many more like Mike Speltz.

But she adds under the circumstances it’s hard to know.

The economy is scary right now for a lot of people and it is a little daunting to spend a chunk of money where you know you’re not going to have that payback in two or three years it’s going to be more like 10, 15, 20 years.

Some who sell solar electric systems agree that tough times are making the decision to go solar more difficult.

Yes there have been a few of those calls where people who we thought would move forward with a project would wait until they felt more financially secure.

Sam Pillsbury co owns Helios Solar Sales and Installation in Brentwood.

But other installers say demand is still high.
Jack Bingham owns Seacoast Energy Alternatives in Dover.

He says most everybody he sees who considers solar believes oil, propane and electricity prices will become unaffordable.

But Bingham adds many of those who go through with installations tend to be in a particular stage of life.

A huge percent of them are empty nesters. And they’re looking for ways to secure their spending levels in retirement. And they’re viewing these energy solutions as a viable choice because you know they’ve essentially fixed their energy costs for the next 20 or 30 years.

Though systems are costly and the economy is tight.

The man who runs the state’s Residential Rebate Program says there are indications the program is catching on.

Jack Ruderman is with the Public Utilities Commission.

We were expecting about 60 or so applications in sort of an initial wave and that’s pretty much where we find ourselves two weeks after we open the program up.

The rebate program is taking applications from renewable projects that were installed after July 1st, 2008.

They’ll keep taking applications from completed projects through the end of the year.

But projects beginning after the end of September will need state approval before they can qualify for a state rebate.