Home rooftop solar arrays, which can cost $15,000, will be available in Colorado with no money down now that a new law has lured California- based solar-installation companies specializing in leasing to Colorado.
Foster City, Calif.-based SolarCity announced at a statehouse news conference Tuesday that it would set up an office in Westminster, creating about 30 jobs to start.
In November, SunRun, based in San Francisco, started a program to install solar arrays for as little as $1,000 down and then sell the electricity to the homeowners.
“This makes it possible for people to participate in the New Energy Economy … even middle-income and low-income,” Gov. Bill Ritter said.
The challenge in selling residential and small commercial solar arrays has been the large upfront costs — even with tax breaks and rebates, said Lyndon Rive, SolarCity chief executive.
In April, a bill sponsored by state Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, and state Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, allowing for a lease-to-own residential solar program and commercial systems up to 500 kilowatts to be more easily built, became law.
The aim was to provide alternatives to the upfront out-of-pocket costs, Carroll said.
“Think of how many people would have a car if no monthly payments were available,” Carroll said.
In April 2008, SolarCity began selling systems in Arizona with about 20 employees. Since then, it has installed more than 300 arrays and its staff there has grown to about 80, Rive said.
“The market will determine the number of employees,” Rive said.
SolarCity offers a leasing program and one in which the homeowner buys the power from the installed array from the company.
“This is the type of thing that can move a market and make solar more widely available,” said Beth Hart, executive director of the Colorado Solar Industries Association.
SolarCity also operates in California and Oregon and has 510 employees, Rive said.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
