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Talent homeowner sells tax credit to fund solar installation Ray Sanchez-Pescador sold his state solar tax credit to get upfront money to pay for solar panels on his Talent house. [Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta] Wednesday May 24, 2017 at 12:01 AM Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune TALENT — Ray Sanchez-Pescador didn’t have all the money he needed to pay for installation of electricity-generating solar panels on his Rapp Lane house, so he sold the Oregon tax credit available for the setup to help with the costs. Sanchez-Pescador’s experience will be duplicated in a program to be offered by Rogue Climate that is patterned after a successful one in Corvallis that uses several methods to help people purchase sources of alternative energy. Sanchez is the Generation Team leader for Rogue Climate. “A lot of people don’t have the up-front cash to pay for solar. This is trying to help people overcome those initial financial barriers to solar,” said Hannah Sohl, Rogue Climate director. Sanchez-Pescador’s installation is rated at 8.6 kilowatts, double a typical setup. That’s because his home uses electrically powered radiant floor heat, which requires more energy. The house was built in 2008 with energy-saving features, but his January bill ran $700. Sanchez-Pescador will also benefit from a 30 percent federal tax credit for solar when his 2017 taxes are due next year. Unlike the Oregon tax credit, federal credits can’t be sold. “I’d rather pay around $9,000 to someone who is doing clean energy than give it to the federal government,” said Sanchez. “That’s the bottom line. That’s about voting with your wallet.” Besides the credits, Energy Trust of Oregon provided a discount of 50 cents per watt up to $4,000. The installation, done by Truth South Solar of Ashland, went live March 13. Despite what Sanchez-Pescador calls "a cold, cloudy, rainy and miserable” time, it has generated 60 percent of the family’s power use so far. On recent sunny days, an app showed the solar array was generating three to four times his electrical need. Pacific Power credits that excess power to his account, and it will be drawn against next winter. Next March, Pacific Power will determine how much power the installation has generated. If it’s more than 100 percent of use, the extra generation will be given to low-income energy users as a credit because sale of the excess isn’t allowed, said Sanchez-Pescador. Corvallis’ Seeds for the Sol program has another program that will be duplicated by Rogue Climate. Those doing installations would get a no-interest loan against the federal tax credit. The loan would be due after April 15 of the following year. Rogue Climate had asked the city of Talent for a $40,000 loan in fiscal year 2017-18 to fund the option but has since dropped the request, Mayor Darby Stricker said. Money for solar energy projects might come from the town’s urban renewal agency for work in that district, said Councilor Emily Berlant. The agency has yet to begin its budget process. The city did receive a grant to install solar on the Community Center and is seeking grants to equip three more buildings, Berlant added. “In Corvallis, a lot of people come to the program realizing the cost of solar has come down so much in the last couple years and the tax credits are really good. They realized they could afford it,” said Sohl. She encouraged those wanting to use the Oregon solar credit to do so this year, because its future is uncertain. “The program is set up to serve the whole Rogue Valley. The committee members pushing it are in Talent,” said Sohl. The Talent City Council recently adopted the 2017-18 goals from a proposed clean energy action plan to have the city use 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Adoption of the one-year goals is a way for the city and Rogue Climate to get their feet wet, do research and involve people, because the city doesn’t have the money necessary for a multimillion-dollar investment, Sanchez-Pescador said Rogue Climate plans to set up a program page on its website www.rogueclimate.org. — Tony Boom is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected]