Saturday, May 23, 2009

State OKs $1,000 incentive for solar water heaters

Progress Energy's residential customers may soon be able to receive $1,000 to install a solar water heater in their homes. The Raleigh electric utility in North Carolina will offer the incentives to 150 people throughout its service area in the state as part of a pilot project. Progress will run the pilot program for two years to measure its effectiveness in achieving energy savings. The company will also assess the effectiveness of the amount of the incentive in attracting participants.

Details on customer eligibility will be posted on the company's web site later this year when the pilot program is introduced to the public. If the pilot program is deemed successful, Progress could offer the benefit to all its customers in the state.

"The point is to create a representative cross-section across the state," said Progress spokesman Jeff Brooks. "This is a program to help us establish a benchmark for how we would proceed in the future with additional solar water heating programs."

A typical solar water heater can cost about $7,000, compared to a conventional water heater that costs $1,000 or less. Solar water heaters rely primarily on free sunshine as an energy source, and use electricity or natural gas as a backup source of power, and with incentive programs can pay for themselves in five to seven years.

The utility incentive, along with a tax credits from the state and federal governments, can cut the cost of a solar water heater by more than half.

Progress, with 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida, is developing conservation programs to comply with a 2007 North Carolina law requiring greater reliance on conservation and renewable energy resources.

Progress has a similar program in Florida that pays homeowners up to $450. More than 1,300 customers have signed up for the program since it was launched Feb. 26, 2007.

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