Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt: Myth Busting

There are lots of questions that utilities have when it comes to providing solar energy:

Solar uses a lot of space

This is overcome by using your customer, your biggest asset, and giving them an opportunity to lease a solar system, that is installed on their rooftop. It helps increase grid resiliency plus provides them backup power for their property when the main grid is interrupted, and the system enters an islanding mode. When speaking of rooftop solar, it would be well-maintained buildings, preferably flat roofed, made of steel and concrete for building construction.

Shrinking rate base

Be part of the team offering solutions that your customers want. No one leaves and chooses another option when through inertia, it’s easier to leave things be. Your customers don’t want to disconnect, they just want simplicity. Providing them with this option to have reliable, affordable power that they can lease through their utility is a win-win.

Weather dependent

On the surface, it’s true, solar is weather dependent, but with a little bit of foresight, this too is a problem that is easily overcome. Predictive analytics tools for forecasting the weather means your leasing partner can tell the system operator when to expect a reduction in PV generation. Smart inverters and some battery storage can help with ramp control of bringing PV generation online, keeping your voltage and frequency within control parameters, as well as smoothing out the spikes and valleys of the minute by minute PV generation.

Solar is expensive

Solar is expensive as a new asset, but this is where the use of an Energy Service Contract helps with keeping the balance sheet in check. An ESCO can provide a service to the Utility for a utility scale PV project, but it is also applicable at the distributed generation level as well. If a utility, or the leasing providing company were to enter into an ESCO agreement, with the end customer, the lessor would receive savings that they would be used to pay for the solar project, through the leasing agreement. By the end of the lease term, the customer will have already paid off the solar leasing contract and will still be thriving off significant savings.