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Most of us interested in solar power for our homes are not able to afford the initial cost of the solar installation.  PACE is the Property Assessed Clean Energy program recently approved by New York state.  They passed a bill authorizing municipalities to establish programs that will finance the installation of solar and other renewable systems which allows property owners to pay for the improvements over 15 to 20 years through an increase in their annual property taxes.  Right now 15 states have passed such a law.  The key feature is the spreading the initial cost of the system over many years for energy retrofit loans and structuring the loan repayments as annual property tax surcharges which are Federal Tax deductable.  It benefits both the homeowner and the lender.  For the property owner it improves the value of the home and to the bond holder it provides virtually no risk on the investment (PACE lien is senior in the right to mortgage debt).

Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industry Association, says “the decision of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, removes a great cloud of uncertainty about the role of third-party solar system owners and paves the way for greater, more cost-effective solar deployments.”  In other words, solar companies doe not have to be under the same regulatory system as utilities.  The effect of the order is to remove the flood of paperwork needed to certify for wholesale or retail operation of solar installations.