Tax Credits [RE-wrenches]

Joel Davidson joeldavidson at earthlink.net
Wed Oct 30 21:19:39 PST 2002


Chris is right. $/W incentives have not driven down the price of PV
systems.
The California Energy Commission is trying to figure out how to
implement a
production based rebate program. I say put a simple, non-programable,
tamper-proof analog 1-way kWh meter on the output of every PV system
that
gets a rebate. Have you got a better idea?

Christopher Freitas - OutBack Power wrote:

> There is a big difference between how we in the California and German
> encourages the growth of a PV market.
>
> In California we "Buydown" the equipment cost for the customer.  In
> Germany they pay a special high rate for the power produced by the PV
> system.  Doesn't sound that different, maybe, but it has a big impact on
> the attitude of the consumer.
>
> When you "buydown" the system price,  the customer pays less up front.
> It is easy to imagine numerous ways for corruption to occur.  The
> customer looks for the "best" deal (cheapest) price for the most PV on
> his roof to maximize the credit.  The amount paid does not get adjusted
> for lousy tilt angle, tree shading or poor installation methods.  The
> customer is also inclined to buy the lowest quality components as the
> credit is somewhat fixed (slightly affected by inverter efficiency
> though).
>
> When you instead pay a high price for the actual power produced,  the
> customer reacts in a different manner.  He looks for a system that will
> produce the most POWER possible.  He might even be willing to pay more
> for a better installation or more efficient components with the
> understanding that, in the long run, it will produce more power.
>
> The German model builds a more competitive marketplace and encourages
> development of high performance, reliable products.  The California
> model makes a market full of cheap products and installations, and
> results in poor customer satisfaction and fraud.
>
> Christopher Freitas
> OutBack Power Systems, Inc.
> cfreitas at outbackpower.com  www.outbackpower.com
> Tel 360 435 6030  Arlington WA USA

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