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Rebate can help harness sun’s power
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| H&N photo by Lee Juillerat Rod Kucera examines the passive solar heating system at his brewery that helps heat 120 gallons of water used to brew beer. His system will be included as part of a Solar Tour Saturday. |
Tax credits offered for solar energy systems
By LEE JUILLERAT
H&N Regional Editor
For people wanting to reduce their energy bills, the sky’s the limit.
Bob Rogers, of Oregon Institute of Technology’s Renewable Energy Center, says new legislation means Oregon residents and businesses can install solar and other renewable energy systems that can be paid off in two to five years.
Rebates are offered through federal and Oregon tax credits and through Pacific Power’s Energy Trust program.
“The incentive is to move these programs forward,” Rogers said. “The state is bending over backwards.”
Earlier this year, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill that provides increased tax incentives to business and homeowners who install renewable energy systems. The changes increase state credits from 35 to 50 percent for businesses and provide higher tax credits and other benefits for
homeowners.
Based on models, Rogers said the actual cost to homeowners installing an $8,500 one-kilowatt solar electricity or $6,500 solar hot water system will be $1,300 to $1,500. When reduced energy bills are calculated, those costs can be paid off in two to four years, or often sooner.
“If you’re going to live in a house for five years and you can get the costs back in a couple of years, it would be silly not to,” Rogers said.
Although Klamath and Lake are among Oregon counties best suited for solar energy and ground source heat pumps, most people taking advantage of the programs are from the Willamette Valley, possibly because they are better informed, Rogers said.
The benefits are especially helpful to people in the Klamath Falls area because of Energy Trust incentives available through Pacific Power. A percentage of each Pacific Power bill helps fund the Energy Trust rebates.
“We have paid this money,” Rogers said, emphasizing the benefits are not a “government give-away.”
Most of Lake County gets power from Surprise Valley Electrification and Midstate Electric, which are not part of the Energy Trust program, but are eligible for Oregon state and federal incentives.
Rogers said the increased state tax credits and the increased reliability of renewable energy systems makes the use of non-traditional energy more economically feasible than in the past. Along with homeowners, the programs also benefit businesses and should help ranchers and farmers, he said, especially those in the Klamath Basin facing steeply increasing power costs for irrigation systems.
A Malin farmer is planning a solar electrical, or photovoltaic, irrigation system. Harold Hartman, who received a $30,000 Blue Sky block grant through Pacific Power, hopes the system will be active late this year. Pacific Power will buy the project’s business energy tax credits.
In addition, a permanent renewable energy exhibit will be created at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeview. Various energy systems — solar photovoltaic, solar hot water heating, ground source heat pumps, wind, biodiesel from canola, ethanol from corn, and geothermal — will be set up with monitoring systems “so people schools and community groups can come out and see how they work.” The project is being funded from a $25,000 Blue Sky block grant from Pacific Power.
Rogers said the exhibit will benefit the fairgrounds main exhibition hall building by cutting energy costs to a third of the present power charges.
“Up until a few months ago this may not have made a lot of sense,” Rogers said. “But it does now.”
Bob Rogers, of Oregon Institute of Technology’s Renewable Energy Center, says new legislation means Oregon residents and businesses can install solar and other renewable energy systems that can be paid off in two to five years.
Rebates are offered through federal and Oregon tax credits and through Pacific Power’s Energy Trust program.
“The incentive is to move these programs forward,” Rogers said. “The state is bending over backwards.”
Earlier this year, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill that provides increased tax incentives to business and homeowners who install renewable energy systems. The changes increase state credits from 35 to 50 percent for businesses and provide higher tax credits and other benefits for
homeowners.
Based on models, Rogers said the actual cost to homeowners installing an $8,500 one-kilowatt solar electricity or $6,500 solar hot water system will be $1,300 to $1,500. When reduced energy bills are calculated, those costs can be paid off in two to four years, or often sooner.
“If you’re going to live in a house for five years and you can get the costs back in a couple of years, it would be silly not to,” Rogers said.
Although Klamath and Lake are among Oregon counties best suited for solar energy and ground source heat pumps, most people taking advantage of the programs are from the Willamette Valley, possibly because they are better informed, Rogers said.
The benefits are especially helpful to people in the Klamath Falls area because of Energy Trust incentives available through Pacific Power. A percentage of each Pacific Power bill helps fund the Energy Trust rebates.
“We have paid this money,” Rogers said, emphasizing the benefits are not a “government give-away.”
Most of Lake County gets power from Surprise Valley Electrification and Midstate Electric, which are not part of the Energy Trust program, but are eligible for Oregon state and federal incentives.
Rogers said the increased state tax credits and the increased reliability of renewable energy systems makes the use of non-traditional energy more economically feasible than in the past. Along with homeowners, the programs also benefit businesses and should help ranchers and farmers, he said, especially those in the Klamath Basin facing steeply increasing power costs for irrigation systems.
A Malin farmer is planning a solar electrical, or photovoltaic, irrigation system. Harold Hartman, who received a $30,000 Blue Sky block grant through Pacific Power, hopes the system will be active late this year. Pacific Power will buy the project’s business energy tax credits.
In addition, a permanent renewable energy exhibit will be created at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeview. Various energy systems — solar photovoltaic, solar hot water heating, ground source heat pumps, wind, biodiesel from canola, ethanol from corn, and geothermal — will be set up with monitoring systems “so people schools and community groups can come out and see how they work.” The project is being funded from a $25,000 Blue Sky block grant from Pacific Power.
Rogers said the exhibit will benefit the fairgrounds main exhibition hall building by cutting energy costs to a third of the present power charges.
“Up until a few months ago this may not have made a lot of sense,” Rogers said. “But it does now.”
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