Thursday, February 21, 2008

Solar Subsidies in Tennessee

Solar power seems to be charged, in part, by subsidies at the state level. California and New Jersey (interestingly enough) are leading in this aspect.

A quick check for Tennessee shows absolutely no subsidy at the state level. TVA has a program, the "Green Power Switch" program which offers a $500 rebate and a guarantee of $0.15 per kWhr for any EXCESS power produced and put onto the grid. This price is a little more than double the average price for power in the Tennessee Valley currently and is set for at least 10 years. One thing to note is that the homeowner forfeits the rights to the carbon credits to TVA. Wonder what they are using that for.....

In addition, there was information on the TVA site which indicated that the $2000 tax credit ran through 2008, but I thought this had been eliminated as part of the latest energy bill in Congress. More research to follow.

2 comments:

DBR Systems, Inc. said...

interesting article...is it possible to generate EXCESS on an average residential installation?

Ken Baker said...

It obviously depends on the specific system and the power usage of the home, but the short answer is yes. Note that it is only a few hours per day and you have to exceed the power drawn by the A/C, but should be in excess. I have a very crude model for this.