When New Jersey residents pay their monthly electricity and gas bills, they also have to shell out money for two alternative energy programs, one of which has been tapped to cover $42.5 million in electric bills at state facilities.

Critics say New Jersey consumers are getting short-changed: first by bankrolling the purchase and installation of solar panels that are a costly, inefficient source of energy; and second, by paying into a clean energy fund that Governor Chris Christie, with approval from the state legislature, has dipped into to keep the lights turned on at the statehouse and other government buildings. If the Governor gets his way, he will repeat the maneuver this year by hitting up the same fund for another $42.5 million.

On average, utility rate-payers in the Garden State hand over a $5 monthly “Societal Benefits Charge” to finance energy-related programs, including one that helps low-income residents pay their utility bills, as well as other clean-energy programs such as decommissioning nuclear power plants.

In past 18 months, New Jersey homeowners and businesses have been paying an additional 29 cents a month for the Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G) “Solar 4 All” program to install thousands of solar panels on public utility poles, rooftops, and unused industrial sites.

Read More: New Jersey Residents Take Double Hit for Green Power

Home to natural gas, oil and some of our nation’s best solar rebates, Colorado plays an important role in the United States’ energy industry. Colorado was the first state to create a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), through a 2004 ballot initiative. Originally, the RPS mandated that all utilities with more than 40,000 customers provide at least 10% of their electricity from a renewable energy source. Through additional improvements, it is now mandated that by 2020 investor-owned utilities must provide 30% and cooperatives and municipal utilities with over 40,000 must provide 10% of their retail load from renewable energy sources. Investor-owned utilities also have a distributed generation requirement, which is good news for solar owners. By 2020, 3% of the retail load must come from customer solar electric systems, rather than huge solar farms. This means that investor-owned utilities will continue to offer fantastic solar incentives to consumers to increase the number of residential and commercial solar systems!

Source: Solar Colorado

Colorado’s solar electric capacity grew by 91% in 2010 and now exceeds 103 MW and interest in solar thermal technologies is increasing as COSEIA has been ramping up efforts to promote thermal use. Here are some of the highlights from COSEIA’s accomplishments this past year to help make Colorado the solar capital of America.

As the Colorado chapter of the national Solar Energy Industries Association, CoSEIA represents more than 200 member organizations including manufacturers, distributors, dealers, installers, integrators, financiers, utilities, entrepreneurs, educators and others.

Solar Colorado

Mistake # 1: Missing out on limited time rebates and incentives.

Nothing’s worse than making the right step towards solar power for your house and then realizing that you missed out on a large incentive or rebate. These programs are great for homeowners, but they can have very strict requirements and most expire after a set period. Make sure you know what solar financial incentives and rebates are available from the federal, state, and municipal government and your local electrical utility. More importantly, make sure your home solar power system meets every requirement necessary to qualify for the programs and that these programs don’t expire before you’ve completed your installation. Professional solar installers are intimately familiar with the programs and can make sure that you are able to take advantage of all applicable solar rebates and financial incentives.

Mistake # 2: Not using an experienced solar professional to install your system.

The best solar installers undergo extensive training and are able to rely on years of solar installation experience. These professionals know the incentives and rebates in your area and will ensure that your home solar power system meets the requirements. They also will optimize your system’s position in relation to the sun, which will guarantee peak performance resulting in the lowest possible electrical bill for you. What’s more, professional solar installers are unlikely to make the installation mistakes that are common in ‘do-it-yourself’ jobs. Whether it is a leak in your roof or an electrical connection that doesn’t meet county code, there are many ways that a solar installation can go wrong. Finally, professional solar installers can help you through the mountain of paperwork and permits necessary to install your system and get it online. To top it all off, professional solar installers can also help you secure financing for your system. For more information on qualified professionals, you can check out this report on California solar companies written by the research analysts at Clean Energy Experts.

Also, click here if you are ready to learn more about solar power and need estimates from solar companies.

Mistake # 3: Forgetting to look at financing and leasing options.

The average home solar power system costs between $10,000 and $30,000 after rebates and incentives. For most of us, this represents a major investment, comparable in cost to a new car. Financing a home solar power system can reduce your initial out-of-pocket expenses and make the entire process easier. Most solar installers will work with you to find the purchase option that makes the most sense and help you get the financing you need. Leasing is another attractive option if you don’t want to pay for the solar equipment or installation up-front. Instead, you simply pay for the electricity that the solar system generates each month. Both financing and leasing are great ways to reduce your out-of-pocket expenses and still experience the benefits of going solar. To learn more, visit our financing information page.

Mistake # 4: Not making your home energy-efficient first.

A good first step toward solar is to check your home’s energy efficiency. You can do a simple home energy audit on your own or hire a contractor to help you. Most homeowners discover that they can lower their electric bill simply by making their home more efficient. In fact, the average home energy audit finds potential electricity savings of up to 30%. Common energy efficiency problems include leaky air ducts, inefficient appliances and incandescent light bulbs. Solving these problems increases the likelihood that your home solar system will be able to completely eliminate your electric bill and that you may even get a check from the local electric utility every month.

Mistake # 5: Miscalculating your solar savings.

Figuring out exactly how much you can save with your solar panels is a complex process. It involves a careful evaluation of the installation site, the available sunlight and amount of shading on your home, and the characteristics of the solar panels. Most solar websites (including ours) have simple calculators that provide estimates of how much you can save, but these are only approximations. Having a professional solar installer visit your home to provide a consultation is the best way to get a more precise estimate. With these estimates of costs and savings, you can be sure that solar power is an investment that makes sense for you.

Now that you know “what not to do”, you are better prepared in your solar undertakings! Be sure to check our solar consultation page if you would like to receive a consultation from some of our local solar professionals.

To begin, California came in first with 47% installed solar power capacity which amounts to 971 megawatts (MW). This isn’t particularly surprising as California still maintains the largest state solar rebate program in the U.S. While California still accounts for the largest share of the U.S. solar market, California’s solar market share has dropped dramatically over the years. As recently as 2004, California accounted for approximately 80% of the U.S. market but currently is around 30%.

In second place was New Jersey with 14% and 293MW. Outside of California, New Jersey has one of the strongest and most unique state solar rebate programs that can really make solar in New Jersey affordable. New Jersey offers Solar Energy Renewable Credits (SREC) which represents 1 megawatt-hour of electricity generated from an eligible renewable system. Think of it like a stock certificate where its value is based on the amount of electricity your solar system produces. And just like stocks, SRECs are sold on an open market at varying prices correlated to demand. A homeowner with a solar power system expect to see one SREC every 2 months over a 15 year period. These SREC’s can be sold for cash between $300 and $700 depending on the market and current regulations and can really offset the upfront cost of solar.

Colorado (5%, 108MW), Arizona (5%, 101MW) and Nevada (5%, 97MW) represented the west coast in the three, four and five spots. Florida, where sunshine apparently grows more than oranges, came in sixth at 4% and 73MW. Representing the end of the list was mostly the eastern part of the U.S.: New York (3%, 54MW), Pennsylvania (3%, 54MW), New Mexico (2%, 45MW) and North Carolina in the tenth spot (2%, 42MW). (Please note that installed solar capacity does not necessarily reflect solar growth in these states…for example, the total grid-connected photovoltaic capacity installed in Hawaii increased by 48% from 8.6 megawatts in 2008 to 12.7 megawatts in 2009 making Hawaii the sixth fastest solar PV growth state over this period, yet Hawaii is not on this list.)

While solar power in the U.S. continues to expand, as you can see from this list, is that installed solar capacity in the U.S. is concentrated in a few number of states. For example, North Carolina is tenth on the list which 2% which is very little yet there are still forty states left in the country that rank below it. While the U.S. offers a 30% tax credit for solar purchases in the U.S., it is the states that offer their own rebate programs that see the most success. So for solar power in the U.S. to truly take off, more and more states are going to need to help promote solar adoptions through individual state rebates or incentive programs.

Cutting non-module solar PV costs with best design practices could make solar PV cost less than grid electricity for more than 25 percent of Americans.

Half of the installed cost of a solar PV array is the solar module, but the other half (the “balance of system”) involves labor, assembly, and other components.  With module prices continually falling, significant decreases in total installed cost depend on reducing balance of system costs.  The Rocky Mountain Institute held a design charette last year, and the result was a concept of how to reduce balance of system costs by 58 percent in five years.

From the report’s executive summary [pdf], this chart (right) illustrates the reduced costs.

Read More

The LBNL analyzed date from the sale of over 72,000 homes in 31 California counties from 2000 through mid-2009, approximately 2,000 of which had a solar power system at the time of sale. The research controlled for a large number of factors that could influence results, such as housing market fluctuations, neighborhood effects, the age of the home, and the size of the home and the parcel on which it was located.

According to the LBNL report, homes with solar power systems experienced an “average solar premium range from approximately $3.9 to $6.4 per installed watt (DC) among a large number of different model specifications, with most models coalescing near $5.5/watt. That value corresponds to a premium of approximately $17,000 for a relatively new 3,100 watt PV system (the average size of PV systems in the study).” Furthermore, existing homes with solar power systems commanded a larger sales price premium than new homes with similarly sized solar systems. Critically, the research also shows the premium declines as PV systems age.

The report made clear that these results made sense in light of reasonable underlying assumptions. “The basis for making the claim that an installed PV system may produce higher residential selling prices is grounded in the theory that a reduction in the carrying cost of a home will translate, ceteris paribus, into the willingness of a buyer to pay more for that home. Underlying this notion is effectively a present value calculation of a stream of savings associated with the reduced electricity bills of PV homes, which can be capitalized into the value of the home.”

Furthermore, according to co-author and Staff Scientist Ryan Wiser of Berkeley Lab. “This research might influence the decisions of homeowners considering installing a PV system and of home buyers considering buying a home with PV already installed. Even new home builders that are contemplating PV as a component of their homes can benefit from this research.”

This report is well timed and good news in light of the dramatic increase solar adoptions in the U.S. including California. In calendar year 2010, approximately 880 megawatts of grid-connected solar energy systems were installed in the U.S. (of which approximately 30% were residential), up from 435 MW installed in 2009. Of this 880 megawatts in 2010, California solar leads the nation with 259 megawatts. California is also approaching 100,000 individual PV systems installed, more than 90 percent of which are residential.

Solar California

When Needham came to Google in 2008, the company had already made early-stage clean energy investments through Google.org (the company’s philanthropic arm), but Needham spent most of his time figuring out how to make Google’s own operations more energy efficient. And then the economic crisis hit. “The financial institutions which had been involved in this market pulled back or just frankly disappeared. We thought, we have the capacity to do this, we just have to bite the bullet and learn how to do it,” he says.

Google’s clean energy investments are very different in scope from those made by Google.org. Whereas Google’s philanthropic arm often invests in early-stage companies working on technology that could one day impact the way we use renewable energy, Google Inc. invests only in projects–not companies. It’s also different from Google Energy, which buys the power for the company’s energy-sucking data centers. The projects Needham’s group is funding are simply good investments, a way to make a whole lot of money for Google in the clean power space. When these projects sell their power to, say, the local utility, part of the returns on those sales come back to the project’s part owner–Google.

Read More: The Secrets Behind Google’s Push Into Renewable Power