4 minutes if you were to ask your neighbor who installed solar five years ago about how they financed the system it s likely that they re leasing their solar panels from a large national solar provider like vivint or sunrun it was only recently that solar ownership options either buying the system with cash upfront or financing through a loan became the more popular.
Do and don ts of leasing solar panels.
Most lease providers provide the option to buy the panels at the end of the lease term at a discounted price.
Solar leasing and ppas allow homeowners to go solar without the upfront costs of installing a system which can range up to 30 000.
If you buy a solar panel system you own the system either outright if purchasing with cash or after repaying your solar loan.
If you re interested in solar energy you aren t alone.
If you lease the system or sign a power purchase agreement ppa a third party owns the solar panel system.
Be the owner.
The best part of a solar lease is that you don t have to worry about the high upfront costs of a solar panel system to get the benefits of solar energy.
At the end of the contract the lessee can renew buy the panels outright often for a discounted price or have the panels removed.
Solar leasing and ppas account for over half of this total and there are some excellent reasons why solar leasing has.
Solar leasing is a lot like a lease on a car.
Once the lease term expires all solar equipment is removed and the property is returned to the owner in either a ready to plant or a ready to develop condition.
Advantages of leasing solar panels.
The main practical distinction between buying and leasing a solar pv system is in ownership.
Let s now talk about the differences between solar panel ownership leasing and purchase power agreements ppas buying solar panels.
Buying solar panels requires an investment and more decision making than leasing but over the long term the benefits of owning your system are hard to beat.
The benefits of a solar lease.
Buying solar panels is a great option if you re looking to.
From 2015 through 2017 homeowners in the united states installed 6 909 gigawatts worth of rooftop solar panels which was double the amount added in the previous 10 years 5.
You lease the solar panels and receive all the energy they produce but do not own the panels.
But the finances and ownership of your solar energy system will change depending on whether you decide to own them outright or not.