Rooftop solar panel installations will be big in 2010

Like many solutions to reducing carbon footprints and saving energy, its the little things that make a big difference.  That’s why so many people are thinking big with small solar!

Instead of waiting for your utility company or a private investor to build a mega solar farm, and then transmit solar electricity along a grid to your home, why not install solar panels on your house this month?  You could start saving money and energy right away.

There are many benefits of small solar over utility-scale alternatives:

• Installation is practically immediate (1-5 days typically)
• No need for power lines or a smart grid
• No extensive land use permitting process (though some homeowners associations may make you jump through hoops)
• You are in control – not your utility!  Guard against rising electricity costs and improve the value of your home simply by going solar

Sometimes referred to as “distributed generation,” the idea of generating renewable energy right where it will be used is catching on.  Rooftop solar panel installations, as opposed to sprawling solar fields, can literally help us unplug from coal-based electricity over the course of a weekend.

Yet, more and more utility companies are considering utility scale solar – particularly with the rise of governmental requirements that a percentage of the electricity they provide to customers is not from greenhouse gas emitting sources (for example, in California, 20 percent of the electricity the utilities sell must come from renewable sources by the end of 2010).

Home- or Desert-based solar panels?

Experts predict that the tension between small solar, and large solar farms, will increase – particularly in hot solar markets like California.

On one side of the debate, people react negatively to the massive amount of land required for photovoltaic solar plants.  They push for a more “common sense” approach of generating electricity in the urban core, where it is required, rather than miles away in the desert.

Others, however, believe that small scale solar will not be effective, due to growing solar demand and inefficiencies of rooftop solar panels.  They claim that, Watt for watt, property-based solar panels are more expensive than solar thermal plants.

Small-scale solar needs bigger buy-in from consumers for it to really take hold.  Fortunately, with government tax credits and rebates, plus a 40% recent cost reduction in solar panel prices, property owners have been installing solar panels at a greater pace.  Greater demand will push up production, with a corresponding drop in price.

Add in the fact that expensive, time-consuming land use permits are not required to install panels on a rooftop, and that could just be the tipping point for many people… and corporations!  Even small solar can be implemented on a large scale:

Small solar definitely adds up in a big way.  Since 2007, the number of solar panels installed on rooftops in California generate more than 277 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity.  Let’s put that into perspective by considering the fact that a single MW powers about 750 homes!

Its definitely time to think big with small solar!