Reported by Staff

There is a new bully on the block when it comes to residential PV system installations in Colorado and elsewhere. Oh, sure, SunRun already has a limited presence along the Front Range almost nine months removed from their launch last fall.

Now, however, they’re getting serious about expanding their no-money down leasing program to more homeowners, as the company announced today that an investment unit of electric utility PG&E Corp. will pony up $100 million to jettison SunRun’s installation of rooftop systems for 3,500 new homes nationwide. PG&E is the utility giant that dominates Northern California.

The cash infusion has got to be a little unsettling for competitors of the California-based company, especially in solar-friendly states like Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey and a few more battle fronts.  Already, Colorado’s home solar market is experiencing a shake-out of sorts. Simple Solar, for example, filed for Chapter 11 and other small integrators are having trouble making ends meet. 

 The deal works like this: Capital II LLC will fund solar financier SunRun Inc.’s installations and take a cut of the revenue action, with SunRun managing the project.

The  rooftop PV systems will be installed over the next two years in Colorado,Arizona, California,  Massachusetts, New Jersey and possibly elsewhere, according to SunRun. As we’ve reported previously at Colorado Energy News, the program lets homeowners pay off solar systems through monthly installments, instead of fronting the costs. SunRun will maintain, monitor, repair and insure the systems on what is essentially a lease program. 

Maybe the leasing approach is the way to go for the masses, given the deficits of most state budgets. In New Jersey, for example, homeowners who decided to go solar are an unhappy bunch. To encourage the use of residential solar energy system that can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $48,000 to install, the state approved $58 million for solar rebates in 2010 that would help offset the cost.

But New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie suddenly changed the solar energy game plan. To help with the state’s budget gap Christie severely slashed the amount of money proposed for the solar energy rebates.  The $58 million originally intended for 2010’s solar rebates was cut by more than half — leaving only $20.5 million for homeowners already in the process of updating their home’s energy system. Eco Home magazine reports that in a single day more than 1,100 homeowners applied for $6 million in rebates, forcing the state’s Board of Public Utilities to cut off the application process. Some even camped outside of the BPU offices to ensure that their application would get submitted.

The energy isn’t always “greener” on the other side.