Solar program pays off

Xcel hands out first rebate check for use of alternative energy

Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 25, 2006 at midnight

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Eric Doub spent $55,000 to install solar panels on the roof of his Boulder home, allowing him to use electricity generated from sunlight to run his household appliances.

On Wednesday, Xcel paid him back almost $31,000.

Doub, 42, is the first customer in Colorado to receive a rebate check under Xcel's Solar Rewards Program. The program was launched March 1 to encourage more customers to install solar panels on homes and businesses.

Xcel must generate 18 to 20 megawatts of electricity from solar panels by the end of 2010 to comply with a renewable energy standard approved by voters in November 2004. Half of that power, or 9 to 10 megawatts, must be generated by individual customers.

"The Solar Rewards Program is off to a fast start," said Pat Vincent, president and CEO of Public Service Co., the local utility owned by Minneapolis-based Xcel. "Most people who are interested in this program want to do the right thing. They are not in it for the money savings."

Xcel plans to mail $100,000 in rebates to solar customers and has a budget of $20 million a year for the program.

A portion of the money will be used to build an 8-megawatt solar energy farm in the San Luis valley. Xcel is seeking bids on the project from private contractors.

One megawatt serves the electricity needs of roughly 1,000 households.

The remaining money will be used for rebates to solar customers. A typical customer would need to use solar power for 10 to 12 years to recover the initial investment through savings on their monthly bill.

Xcel will pay a rebate of $2 for every watt of solar panel installed, for a maximum of 10,000 watts, or 10 kilowatts per customer. A typical home uses 2 to 3 kilowatts of power to run electrical appliances.

The utility also will purchase "renewable energy credits" from customers, including those living outside its service territory.

Customers with solar panels who generate more electricity than they use could put the excess power back into the grid. Xcel counts the outgoing power as a credit and pays $2.50 for every watt that flows back to the grid.

In all, a solar customer could receive a maximum of $45,000 in rebates and credits from Xcel.

For a typical customer, the rebates and credits, totaling $4.50 per watt, would cover nearly half the cost of installation. Doub, who has 6.8 kilowatts of installation, got back nearly $31,000.

In handing the check to Doub, Vincent said the solar program explained on Xcel's Web site is seeing 3,000 hits, on average, each month.

"This is incredible," said Rick Gilliam of Western Resource Advocates, a group that supported the renewable energy standard in Amendment 37. "As energy costs continue to rise, it will become a necessity to choose alternative energy sources."

Doub first installed solar panels at his parents' home in Boulder in the early 1980s. That piqued his curiosity enough for him to get a degree in sustainable U.S. resource and security policies from Stanford in 1988.

Doub's three-level home in Boulder doesn't have an air-conditioner, a furnace or a boiler fueled by natural gas.

The house mostly depends on solar energy and energy-efficient designs for safety and comfort, although Doub uses conventional power from Xcel at night and on cloudy days.

For instance, the house is naturally lit during daytime and uses compact fluorescent bulbs when the sun goes down. All his appliances, including a dishwasher, refrigerator and washer and dryer, have Energy- Star ratings.

Doub is eligible for $2,000 in federal tax credits on top of the rebates and credits from Xcel. Yet the system is far from perfect.

Even when Doub uses no electricity from Xcel, his bill is $6 a month, reflecting taxes and billing fees. Recently, a meter reader read his meter backward. The mistake was corrected.

"I know the system is not entirely fair or accurate, but I am OK being a guinea pig," Doub said. "Xcel should be paying more for the electricity we are selling back to them. The system needs to improve in the future to make the marketplace more level and fair."

Solar rebate

$4.50 Amount Xcel will pay in its Solar Rebate Offer for every watt of solar panel installed, for installations up to 10,000 watts.

• The SRO has two components: The rebate and the Renewable Energy Credit. The rebate is $2 per watt. The REC is $2.50 per watt but may be adjusted depending on a system's performance.

• Program details, application are available at www.xcelenergy.com. Search for "Solar Rebate Offer."

chakrabartyg@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2976

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