Despite big new tax breaks that cover two-thirds of the cost, getting your own solar energy panel is still a big investment with a slow return. The city of Ashland wants to change that, possibly finding a way to "put up a big system and sell chunks of it," said city energy director Dick Wandersheid.

The city power system is now fed by 60 kilowatts — less than one-tenth of one percent of the city’s power — from photovoltaic panels on five homes and four businesses or city buildings. City energy planners are looking for ways to increase this amount, said Wandersheid, and will present strategies to the City Council this fall.

"We could potentially put up a big system and sell chunks of it, pooling customer’s money, utility money and tax credits in a nonprofit co-op," said Wandersheid.

The city is presently working with state and federal agencies to see if tax credits to individuals could be applied to a larger solar array, so the city can "leverage its buying power (for panels), with shorter payback time," he added.

This approach would also solve the problem of solar access, as 80 percent of homes inspected for photovoltaic solar panels — which get a sizable tax rebate from the city — are too shaded by trees and other structures to qualify, said Larry Giardina, city conservation analyst.

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The typical home-sized photo-voltaic system is 20 by 30 feet, generates 3,000 watts and costs about $22,500 installed, he said.

Doing the math, Giardina said the state will triple its tax credit, effective Jan. 1, offering $3 per watt up to $6,000. The new federal Energy Bill offers a tax credit of 30 percent of the cost after all other tax breaks and rebates. The city offers a cash rebate of $2.25 per watt or about $6,750. The total of these breaks cut the cost of a system to $7,750.

The system feeds excess energy back to the city, which pays the going rate for it. How does the system perform financially? It generates on average 4,095 kilowatt hours a year, which makes you $287 a year. At that rate it would pay itself off in 27 years.

"Once people discover its (electric) production and cost, less than half of people (with good solar access) want to go ahead," said Giardina. "It’s a big investment. The real advantage is it generates no pollution, doesn’t break down over time and we don’t have to go somewhere else in the world to get energy."

On a lesser scale, the city is researching a program that allows residents, if they have poor solar access (or even those who just don’t want the thing on their roofs), to buy and install a PV panel on any city building, receiving the city cash rebate and deducting from their utility bill any electricity produced, said Wandersheid.

The city also is researching the possibility of making tax breaks and rebates available if residents buy and install them on rooftops of private businesses, many of which have big roofs with lots of sunlight, said Giardina. To this end, the city is trying to work with state and federal energy officials to allow solar business tax credits, which have no upward dollar limit, to go to homeowners, even though their arrays may be on city buildings — or on private businesses they don’t own. "There’s a lot of interesting options out there and we don’t know how to achieve them yet," said Giardina. In full swing with an 8.4 kilowatt PV solar system and accompanying tax breaks is Ron Sutphin, CEO of United Bicycle Institute in Ashland. "I just opened my electric bill and have a big smile on my face," said Sutphin, noting it’s 70 to 80 percent below last summer. "It takes care of 60 percent of our power over the year and we’ve got up to eight people using electricity to weld bike frames at the same time. We get excited going out and watching our electric meter run backwards. That’s when it’s paying us." Sutphin paid $50,000 for the system, got an upfront $11,000 rebate from the city, 35 percent tax credit from the state and 30 percent from the feds. "We’ve got such an awesome site here off Hersey Street, but we’re only using a third of the roof space," said Sutphin. "It would be nice to fill up the rest of the roof to supply those people up the hill who don’t have such great access. It only makes sense." Joe Schwartz, editor of Home Power Magazine in nearby Phoenix, said the federal government, for the first time since the Carter administration is funding solar, even though it made up only 7 percent of the recently passed Energy Bill. "The feds are showing up because the renewable energy lobby, the SEIA (Solar Energy Industry Association) is finally having an effect in Washington," Schwartz said. "It’s a pleasant surprise and it’s good news for Oregon, whose economy has always been based on resource extraction. We’re looking for this trend to help jobs and the economy here."

John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.