WCAX: Heating with solar

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by Alex Apple, WCAX

VERMONT –Solar panels can be expensive to install, but with the increase in the sale of electrical heat pumps, some homeowners are now heating their homes by connecting their pumps to solar panels. Single mom Heather Angolano says she needs to save every penny she can.

She was paying around $100 per month on her electrical bill when she decided to find out if solar energy could lead to savings. “I’ve always thought the solar panels look pretty cool when you drive by the big fields of solar panels,” said Angolano who lives in Shelburne. Heather worked with the solar company SunCommon to finance the installation of 15 solar panels on her roof. 

Customers who work with the company pay nothing up front; SunCommon gives them a loan that is paid back over 12 years. Jessica Edgerly of SunCommon explained, “We have both state and federal incentives that help bring the cost down as well.”

Sun Common has a new partnership with a company called Vermont Energy. Together, they set up a system for customers that allows them to run their heat pumps with solar power.

Solar energy is an alternative to natural gas. UVM professor and energy expert Mads Almassalkhi says research shows heating a home with natural gas will soon be much more expensive.

“Natural gas prices have already been at an historic low and there’s projections saying that it will be quite a bit higher in the coming years,” Almassalkhi said.

Jessica Edgerly opined, “It’s the matching of this heat pump technology with the solar which is the least expensive way for Vermonters to heat their home in the winter.”

However, solar panels are expensive to install. Almassalkhi says the incentives that Vermont provides to encourage ‘going solar’ are some of the best of any state.

“Over a 20 year horizon, you can definitely save money with solar,” Almassalkhi said. “Whether you have the capital down payment to do it is a different matter.”

Before subsidies, Almassalkhi says it costs around $25,000 to put solar panels on an average home. He also says the key for solar’s long-term viability is storing power which is monitored by a process called net-metering.

For example, Heather Angolano’s solar panels take in more energy than she uses in the summer. As a result, Green Mountain Power gives her a credit  she can tap into their energy supply in the winter when the sun isn’t out as long.

“When you talk about net metering policy, it’s really about financial storage. I am generating energy, I won’t see any money from it until later,” Almassalkhi noted.

In Vermont, the homeowner is reimbursed with discounts on future electric bills. Almassalkhi called the process confusing, and he believes that is why some shy away from solar.

To read the full story on heating with solar, visit WCAX here.