US20090157545A1

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Publication number: US20090157545A1
Application number: US12/274,217
Authority: US
Inventors: Martin D. Mobley
Original assignee: Morgan Stanley
Current assignee: Morgan Stanley
Priority date: 2007-11-19
Filing date: 2008-11-19
Publication date: 2009-06-18
Also published as: US20130036042A1; US8504471B2; US20140046873A1

Abstract

Methods of facilitating a party's purchase of an electricity-generating solar power system are disclosed. The methods may comprise entering into, by the lender, an agreement with the party whereby, in exchange for a payment amount paid by the lender to a seller of the solar power system, the lender owns and is to sell up to 100% of the electricity generated by the party's solar power system after installation for a contract time period defined by the agreement. The methods may also comprise paying, by the lender, the payment amount to the seller for the solar power system. The contract time period may extend, for example, until sales of the electricity by the lender after installation generate an aggregate payment amount that meets or exceeds a specified level. The contract time period or unit quantity might also be fixed. The lender may also receive renewable energy certificates and any other environmental attributes from the party.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/988,978 filed on Nov. 19, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/038,916 filed on Mar. 24, 2008, which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Many people have an interest in installing electricity-producing solar panels on their property because of the cost savings, governmental incentives, and environmental impact that solar power can provide. For almost as many people, however, the cost of purchasing and installing such solar panels is prohibitively expensive. For a typical two-story, 2,000-square-foot home, the cost to install solar panels and the related equipment for generating electrical power can range between $20,000 and $50,000. Many states provide cash rebates to homeowners and various other entities who install solar panels, but the rebate is usually only a small portion of the total installed costs. The remaining costs the homeowner or other entity (e.g., business owner, nonprofit organization or governmental entity) (“Property Owner or party”) must pay are too great in many cases, which may be contributing to the delay of widespread adoption of residential solar power.

Recently, there have been several proposals to improve the economics of purchasing rooftop solar panels. One proposed business model is for a company (commonly referred to as a “solar integrator”) that sells and installs solar panels and related equipment (“solar power system”) to install the solar panels and related equipment at the Property Owner's property. However, the solar integrator retains ownership (and in this context is commonly referred to as a “PPA Provider”) of the solar power system, and the Property Owner, instead of paying for the solar power system, merely pays for the electricity produced by the solar power system, which may be governed by the terms of a power purchase agreement (“PPA”) or lease agreement or some combination of each. In some models, the electricity rate charged by the solar integrator is fixed below what the local utility is expected to charge over time. At the end of the lease or PPA term, which typically ranges from five to 25 years, the Property Owner usually has the right to purchase the equipment outright. In this type of arrangement, however, the Property Owner typically will not be entitled to federal tax credits or state rebates during the PPA term because the Property Owner is not the owner of the solar power system during this time period. Also, in this type of arrangement the solar integrator is exposed to the risks associated with billing the Property Owner for electricity for solar electricity used. For example, the solar integrator is forced to expend the administrative expense necessary to implement customer billing. Also, the solar integrator is exposed to the credit risk of each individual customer.

SUMMARY

In one general aspect, the present invention is directed to methods of facilitating a party's purchase and/or ownership of an electricity-generating solar power system (e.g., through the tracking and transfer of the electricity produced by the system). The party purchasing the solar power system may be a homeowner seeking to install the system at his/her home or other type of property owner. The financing (e.g., the funds to purchase and/or install the solar power system) may be provided by a lender. The method may comprise the step of entering into, by the lender, an agreement with the party (“Property Owner,” e.g., homeowner), whereby, in exchange for a payment amount paid by the lender for the solar power system and its installation, the lender owns and is to sell (such as to the local electric utility) up to 100% of the electricity generated by the Property Owner's solar power system after installation for a contract time period defined by the agreement. In addition, the method may comprise the step of entering into, by the lender, a supply agreement with a third party, such as the local electric utility, to supply electricity generated by the Property Owner's solar power system for the contract time period. In such an arrangement, the Property Owner (e.g., the homeowner) owns the solar power system after installation.

The payment amount paid by the lender may be paid to a seller, or solar integrator, who sells and installs the system. Alternatively, the payment amount could be paid to the Property Owner, who pays the solar integrator. The contract time period, as described further below, may extend until, through sales of the electricity by the lender after installation, the aggregate payment amount received by the lender meets or exceeds a specified level. A computer device may be used to track the electricity sold (e.g., via communications with a meter) and determine the end of the contract time period. At that point, the lender would no longer own the electricity nor have the right to sell it. Rather, the Property Owner could use it to power their home (or other building). Alternatively, the contract time period could be fixed, based on estimates at the time of installation.

In addition, the Property Owner may assign to the lender, in connection with such a arrangement, all or a portion of any environmental attributes, such as renewable energy certificates (collectively, “RECs”), associated with the electricity generated by the solar power system. The lender may then sell the RECs in the secondary market or use the RECs to meet its own renewable portfolio standards requirements or similar regulatory mandates (“RPS”). The lender could also aggregate for sale a number of RECs from a number of Property Owners for whom the lender facilitated the purchase of solar power systems.

In various implementations, the payment amount may be paid by the lender to the seller (e.g., a solar integrator), and the payment amount may be a discounted price off the full retail price for the solar power system and its installation, less any incentive payments received by the seller (and/or down payment made by the Property Owner). The specified aggregate payment level (at which point the lender no longer receives the electricity generated by the solar power system) may be the full retail price of system and its installation less any incentive payment received by the seller (and/or down payment made by the Property Owner). Thus, the lender may earn an amount less than the retail price, although the lender's earning will be earned over the contract time period, which may span several years depending on the rate at which the lender sells, or estimates it can sell, the electricity. Preferably, the rate received by the lender from the utility is the utility's prevailing market rate or one substantially close thereto. During the contract time period, the electric utility may also deliver electric power to the Property Owner at the prevailing market rate. Preferably, the lender has market-based rate authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

In another arrangement, the lender could sell the solar power system to the Property Owner. In such an arrangement, the lender could contract out the installation of the system. The lender would recoup the price of the system and its installation as before, through the receipt and sale of the electricity from the system. In yet another arrangement, the lender may lend proceeds to the Property Owner to purchase the solar power system. The Property Owner may repay the loan amount with electricity from the solar power system, which the lender may sell to the local utility per the supply agreement. In this way, the solar-generated electricity becomes a type of currency that the Property Owner uses to repay the lender. In each arrangement, ownership of the electricity will transfer from the lender to the local electric utility when it reaches a solar system meter that measures the quantity of electricity produced by the solar power system and tracks sales to the utility.

In yet another arrangement, the lender may maintain a full or partial property interest in the solar power system. The lender may be entitled to sell solar electricity generated by the solar power system and may sell said solar electricity to a utility, in which case ownership of the electricity would transfer from the lender to the utility when it reaches a solar system meter that measures the quantity of electricity produced by the solar power system and tracks sales to the utility. The utility may, in turn, sell the solar electricity to the Property Owner or other utility customer. The lender's ownership interest in the solar power system may be a full ownership interest or an interest that expires at some point in time (e.g., at the option of the lender or the Property Owner). For example, at the conclusion of a contract time period, ownership of the solar power system may transfer from the lender to the Property Owner.

The arrangements described above provide numerous benefits. In embodiments where the Property Owner (e.g., the homeowner) owns the system, the Property Owner may be entitled to federal tax credits. This is in contrast to many solar system financing structures where the Property Owner does not take immediate ownership of the system (if at all) and, as a result, is not eligible for federal tax credits. Also, the electric utility may have two sources of electricity to call upon in serving the Property Owner, one of which is a renewable energy source (the electricity from the Property Owner's solar system), which may help the utility meet its RPS requirements during the contract time period. Further, the lender could aggregate RECs or other types of renewable energy environmental attributes from a number of Property Owners and sell the aggregated RECs (or other types of environmental attributes) in, for example, commercially attractive lot sizes. Solar system meters associated with individual solar power systems may track the creation of REC's. In addition, the lender has no direct credit exposure to the Property Owner and does not collect electricity payments from the Property Owner. This is in contrast to many conventional financing arrangements where the solar integrator owns the installed solar power system and sells the electricity generated by the system (or leases the solar power system) to the Property Owner. These and other benefits of the invention will be apparent from the description to follow.

FIGURES

Various embodiments of the present invention are described herein by way of example in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a solar power system;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams illustrating a financing structure for solar power systems according to various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a computer system according to various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a financing structure according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a financing structure according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems for facilitating the purchase of a solar-powered electricity generating system (sometimes referred to herein as a “solar power system” or “solar system”). The techniques described herein can be used, for example, by residential homeowners to facilitate the purchase and installation of a solar power system for their home. The techniques could also be used to facilitate solar power system purchases for essentially any property owner, including, but not limited to, commercial property owners, industrial property owners, nonprofit organizations, governmental entities, farmers, and schools. Before describing the techniques, a description of a typical solar power system may be useful. The description below describes a typical installation in a home, although it should be recognized that the invention covers nonresidential installations as well. Further, the description to follow describes one type of solar power system. Of course, the techniques described herein could be used for other types of systems.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a house (or building)7 having asolar power system10. As shown inFIG. 1, thesolar power system10 may comprise anarray1 of solar panels (sometimes referred to as “photovoltaic modules”) which may be (but are not required to be) located on the rooftop of the house7. The solar panels may comprise, for example, a number of photovoltaic cells that are used to convert sunlight to electrical power. The number of panels may be appropriately determined so that a desired voltage level can be achieved. A collector box2 may collect the output from the solar panels of thearray1 and forward it to a power conditioner3. The power conditioner3 may convert the DC power from thearray1 into AC power for use by the house7 or for sale back to the electric utility servicing the house7. Asolar system meter5 may measure the power generated by thesolar power system10.

The house7 may further comprise, as shown inFIG. 1, a switchboard6 that distributes electrical power throughout the house7, such as from outlets4. The switchboard6 may receive power from thesolar power system10 as well as from theutility grid12 servicing the house7. Abuying power meter14 may measure the electrical power sold to the house7 from theutility power grid12, and a sellingpower meter16 may measure the electrical power sold from the house7 (and generated by the solar power system10) to the utility. In other embodiments, rather than having separate power buying and selling meters, there may be a single meter that measures the net electrical power delivered by the utility to the house7. In such an embodiment, if the amount of electricity sold from the house7 was greater than the amount sold to the house over a given time period, the net power delivered to the house7 would be negative over that time period.

As mentioned above, such solar power systems can be relatively expensive. For example, the present cost of a system for a 2,000-square-foot single family home can range from $20,000 to $50,000. At such a high cost, many homeowners often believe that it will take too long to recoup the costs of the investment through lower energy bills, or they simply cannot afford the investment. Therefore, many homeowners forego investing in solar power systems.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams illustrating in simplified form a transaction structure for facilitating the purchase of a solar power system by aProperty Owner20 from aseller22 according to various embodiments.FIG. 2 shows the agreements and initial expenditures at the inception of the transaction.FIG. 3 shows the ongoing payments and electricity flows. As shown inFIG. 2, theProperty Owner20 and theseller22 may enter into a sales agreement23 stipulating the terms of the sale. TheProperty Owner20, as mentioned above, may be a homeowner wishing to install the system in his/her home, or the owner of nonresidential property, for example. Theseller22 may be, for example, a manufacturer and/or an installer of thesolar power system10, such as a solar integrator. Although only one seller/solar integrator22 is shown inFIG. 2 for the sake of convenience, there could be more than one seller/solar integrator in various embodiments. The purchase money is provided by alender24, which is described in more detail below.

Many states have cash incentive programs for residential and nonresidentialsolar power systems10. These incentive payments are often related to the expected or actual energy producing capabilities of the system; higher energy producing systems (which generally cost more) are typically eligible for a greater incentive. Accordingly, the governmental entity (e.g., state)27 in which theProperty Owner20 resides may pay the Property Owner20 a rebate to pay partially for thesystem10. Typically, as shown inFIG. 2, the state's payment may be paid directly to thesolar integrator22 or to another third party at the direction of theProperty Owner20, but it may also be paid directly to theProperty Owner20. Thesolar integrator22 is preferably a state-eligible installer of such solar power systems.

In a preferred embodiment, neither thesolar integrator22 nor thelender24 retains an ownership interest in the Property Owner's solar power system upon installation. Rather, once installed and/or once thesolar integrator22 is paid, theProperty Owner20 takes title to and owns the solar power system. Because theProperty Owner20 owns thesystem10, the Property Owner may be eligible for tax credits fromgovernmental entity21, such as the federal government. Under current federal tax provisions, a Property Owner could claim a federal credit to cover 30% of the system's cost.

In the illustrated embodiment, the terms of the financing between thelender24 and theProperty Owner20 are set forth in a form ofcommodity sales agreement28, which, for reasons that will be apparent from the description to follow, is sometimes referred to herein as a “prepaid forward contract.” Under the terms of theprepaid forward contract28, thelender24 pays theProperty Owner20 up-front for enough of the electricity generated by a proposed solar power system such that the Property Owner is able to purchase said system. However, the lender may pay the money directly to thesolar integrator22 on the Property Owner's behalf, as shown inFIG. 2. The price paid by thelender24 may be some discounted amount off the retail price for the system (e.g., 85% of the retail price, including installation costs) less the amount of the state's incentive payment (if any) and/or Property Owner down payment (if any) to thesolar integrator22. In mathematical terms, suppose the full, non-discounted retail cost of the system is X, the state's incentive payment is Y, and the discount off the retail price thelender24 receives is z (e.g., a 0.15 or 15% discount). Thus, the lender's payment to thesolar integrator22, referred to hereinafter as the “Lender Payment Amount,” would be:

Lender Payment Amount=(1−z)X−Y

assuming no down payment by theProperty Owner20.

In exchange for the payment to theseller22, under the terms of theprepaid forward contract28, thelender24 owns a physical commodity, i.e., the electricity generated by the Property Owner'ssolar power system10 during the term (or period) of the prepaid forward contract (referred to as the “Prepaid Forward Contract Period”), which time period is further described below. Further, thelender24 enters into asupply agreement31 with theutility26 to supply up to 100% of the electricity from the Property Owner's solar power system to theutility26 during the Prepaid Forward Contract Period. Ownership of the electricity will transfer from the lender to the local electric utility when it reaches a solar system meter that measures the quantity of electricity produced by the solar power system and tracks sales to the utility. Theagreement31 may specify that the rate paid to the lender by theutility26 is the prevailing rate for electricity charged by theutility26 or substantially close to the prevailing rate (such as within a few percentage points of the prevailing rate). Theprepaid forward contract28 between thelender24 and theProperty Owner20 may reference the supply agreement between thelender24 and theutility26, and may obligate thelender24 to sell up to 100% of the electricity to the utility26 (for resale to the Property Owner20) and may obligate the utility, in turn, to sell that electricity to the Property Owner during the Prepaid Forward Contract Period.

As shown inFIG. 3, during the Prepaid Forward Contract Period, thelender24 sells the electricity generated by the Property Owner's solar system to theutility26. Theutility26, in turn, sells electricity to theProperty Owner20 for consumption by the Property Owner for powering the Property Owner's house or other building, theProperty Owner20 paying the prevailing rate to theutility26. Theutility26 could sell the electricity from thelender24 back to theProperty Owner20 and/or sell electricity from itsgrid32 to the Property Owner. Thus, theutility26 has two sources for delivering electricity to theProperty Owner20. As a convenient result of this arrangement, theProperty Owner20 would only get one electricity bill (from the utility26) and would not have to make any ongoing payments for thesolar system10. Also, the lender may not be exposed to the risk and expense of billing the Property Owner directly. In addition, the Property Owner's total effective electricity rate would remain unchanged (or could even decrease to the extent the Property Owner retained some percentage of the electricity during the Prepaid Forward Contract Period) from before the installation to after during the Prepaid Forward Contract Period. Also, purchases by theutility26 from the lender of the electricity produced by a solar power system should help theutility26 meet its renewable portfolio standards (RPS) obligations.

According to various embodiments, the Prepaid Forward Contract Period ends when thelender24 has sold enough electricity to the utility26 (or another party) to recoup an amount of money equal to the full, non-discounted retail cost of the solar power system less the amount of the state's incentive payment (if any) and/or Property Owner down payment (if any). In mathematical terms, suppose the full, non-discounted retail cost of the system is X, the state's incentive payment is Y1, and the Property Owner down payment is Y2. Thus, the Prepaid Forward Contract Period ends when the lender recoups an amount of money from the utility26 (or another party) equal to X−Y1−Y2, referred to hereinafter as the “Lender Return Amount.” Thus, the Lender Return Amount may be expressed as follows:

Lender Return Amount=X−Y1−Y2

Lender Quantity=Lender Return Amount/Z

That is, in one embodiment, the Prepaid Forward Contract Period lasts until thelender24 recovers the Lender Return Amount from theutility26 through the sale of the electricity received from the Property Owner's solar system.

Alternatively, the Prepaid Forward Contract Period could be a fixed time period, such as a number of months or years, or the Lender Quantity could be fixed, such as a number of units of electricity. The duration of the fixed contract time period or the fixed Lender Quantity preferably would be based on estimates at the time of installation regarding the amount of time required to achieve the Lender Return Amount. In such an embodiment, thelender24 may own and sell up to 100% of the electricity from the Property Owner's solar system for the fixed period of time or until the Lender Quantity is achieved. The fixed time period or Lender Quantity may be chosen based on forecasts regarding electricity prices and solar power system efficiency so that thelender24 is likely to be adequately compensated.

Regardless of whether thecommodity sales agreement28 has a fixed or a nonfixed term or quantity, theagreement28 between theProperty Owner20 and thelender24 may require theProperty Owner20 to assign or otherwise transfer to thelender24 all or a portion of any RECs earned by theProperty Owner20 due to electricity generated by the solar power system over the term of the contract. Thelender24 may then sell the RECs in the secondary market or use the RECs to meet its own RPS requirements. Thesolar system meter5 may directly or indirectly track the creation of REC's. For example, thesolar system meter5 may sense units of electricity generated by thesolar system10 and convert them to REC's. In some embodiments, thesolar system meter5 may report the units of electricity generated by thesolar system10, which may then be converted to REC's by another device.

According to various embodiments, the Lender Return Amount may be the nondiscounted retail cost of the Property Owner'ssolar power system10 less the state's incentive payment (if any) less the Property Owner's down payment (if any). In most such arrangements, it may take five to ten years for thelender24 to recover the Lender Return Amount. After that, the Property Owner will own all electricity generated by thesolar power system10 and will no longer have to deliver the electricity to the lender24 (or, in other words, thelender24 no longer owns the electricity generated by the system). TheProperty Owner20 instead can use the electricity generated by thesystem10 to power the Property Owner's house or other building, thereby reducing its reliance on power from theutility26. Typically, solar panels are guaranteed to perform at or above a certain level for 20 to 30 thirty years, so if it took eight years for thelender24 to recover the Lender Return Amount, theProperty Owner20 could probably use the system for its own benefit for another twelve to twenty-two years.

In such an arrangement, thelender24 is providing theProperty Owner20 with the funds to pay for thesolar power system10 and its installation, which payment constitutes the up-front payment obligation of the lender24 (paid to the seller22) under theprepaid forward contract28. In the illustrated arrangement, thelender24 earns the difference between the discounted amount it paid to thesolar integrator24 for thesolar power system10 and the nondiscounted retail amount it recovers from the sale of the electricity generated by thesystem10 to the utility during the term of the supply contract28 (or zX), although thelender24 earns this difference over the number of years it takes to sell enough electricity to recover the nondiscounted retail cost. As mentioned before, this may take five to ten years, for example, although it should be noted that since the ongoing sales of electricity to theutility28 are at or close to the then-prevailing rates, if the price of electricity rises the Property Owner's obligation to thelender24 under theprepaid forward contract28 will be paid off sooner under certain embodiments.

Consider the following numerical example. Assume a homeowner is installing a 3 kW solar system that has a retail cost of $24,000. The state's incentive payment for such a system may be as much as $15,000. If the discount off the full retail price paid by thelender24 is 15%, the Lender Payment Amount would be $5,400 (calculated as (1−0.15) times $24,000, less $15,000). The Lender Return Amount in this example, which is the quantity of money thelender24 receives over the term of the supply contract through the sale of the electricity from the homeowner's solar power system to theutility26, would be $9,000 (calculated as $24,000 minus $15,000).

In the illustrated embodiment, thelender24 pays for the equipment and installation costs on the Property Owner's behalf directly to thesolar integrator22, although in other embodiments, thelender24 may pay the funds to theProperty Owner20, who in turns pays thesolar integrator22.

Because thelender24 sells the electricity generated by the Property Owner'ssolar power system10 during the term of theprepaid forward contract28, thelender24 preferably has market-based rate authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

As mentioned above, pursuant to theprepaid forward contract28, theProperty Owner20 may transfer or assign to thelender24 RECs. In states that have a REC program, a green energy provider typically is credited with one REC for every 1,000 kWh of electricity it produces. An average residential customer consumes about 800 kWh in a month. Thus, thelender24 could earn about ten or so RECs per year for each such deal with a residential homeowner. Thelender24 could then sell the RECs in the secondary market or use the RECs to meet its own RPS requirements. Further, where thelender24 facilitates the purchase of solar power systems for a number of Property Owners, thelender24 could aggregate the RECs from the various Property Owners and package them in unit sizes that are more attractive for sale in the commercial market, e.g., one hundred RECs, or the lender could use the RECs to meet its own RPS requirements.

Variations of the above-described transaction structure could also be used and are within the scope of the present invention. For example, the Property Owner could be a homeowner seeking to install the system at his/her house, although it should be recognized that aspects of the invention are also applicable to other types of buildings and/or to nonresidential property owners. In addition, instead of a discounted price, thelender24 may pay thesolar integrator22 the full retail price (less any state incentives). In such an embodiment, the Lender Quantity may be full retail price plus a premium (less any state incentives).

In another embodiment, thelender24 may own the solar power system before installation. In such embodiments, thelender24 may hire and pay an installer to install the solar power system. In this arrangement, theProperty Owner20 may own the system upon installation as before, with thelender24 owning and selling up to 100% of the electricity received from the Property Owner pursuant to the prepaid forward contract. The Lender Return Amount in such an embodiment may be the price of the solar panel system charged by the lender, plus installation costs, plus a premium, less any incentive payments and/or down payments by theProperty Owner20. Such an embodiment could be beneficial because, due to economies of scale, the price of the solar panel system charged by thelender24 plus the installation costs may be less than the discounted retail price thelender24 pays the seller in the embodiments described above. Similarly, in this embodiment, the agreement between thelender24 and theProperty Owner20 may require theProperty Owner20 to transfer and assign all or a portion of the RECs or other environmental attributes earned by theProperty Owner20 to thelender24, who may resell them in the secondary market or use the RECs to meet its own RPS requirements.

In another embodiment, as shown inFIG. 5, thelender24 may lend theProperty Owner20 the funds to purchase the solar power system and its installation pursuant to aloan agreement40. In such an embodiment, theProperty Owner20 may repay the loan amount to the lender with electricity from thesystem10, which thelender24 may sell to theutility26 until it has been fully reimbursed with applicable interest, if any. As part of the lending arrangement, theProperty Owner20 may also be required to transfer and or assign all or some of the RECs acquired by theProperty Owner20 to thelender24.

In yet another embodiment, shown inFIG. 6, thelender24 may retain a property interest in thesolar power system10 after its installation. The various contractual relationships set forth inFIG. 6 may be established by one or more agreements or contracts between thelender24, theutility26 and/or theProperty Owner20. For example, the obligations of thelender24 and theProperty Owner20 relative to one another may be set forth in aloan agreement40, acommodity sales agreement28 or other suitable instrument. The obligations of thelender24 and theutility26 relative to one another may be set forth in asupply agreement31 or other suitable document.

In the transaction shown, thelender24 may facilitate the purchase of thesolar power system10, for example, by making a payment directly to a seller and/orsolar integrator22, or by making a payment to theProperty Owner20, who may, in turn, pay theseller22. During a contract time period (e.g., the Prepaid Forward Contract Period described above or another time period agreed to by the parties) thelender24 may take or retain a property interest in thesolar power system10. The lender's property interest in thesolar power system10 may be a complete or partial interest. For example, thelender24 may become the outright owner, having full ownership of thesolar power system10 throughout its useful lifetime, or some shorter period of time. Ownership of the electricity generated by thesolar power system10 may reside with thelender24 indefinitely. According to various embodiments, however, electricity generated by thesolar power system10 after the expiration of the contract time period may be owned by the Property Owner. Renewable energy environmental attributes generated as a result of thesolar power system10 may be assigned to, or retained by, thelender24 even after the expiration of the contract time period.

Also, for example, thelender24 may take an expiring interest in the solar power system10 (e.g., an interest expiring at the conclusion of the contract time period, at the option of the lender and/or the Property Owner, etc.). The lender's property interest in thesolar power system10 may be any suitable property interest available under the applicable law including, for example, an easement or similar property interest against the property owner's property (e.g., the property where thesolar power system10 is to be installed). According to various embodiments, thelender24 may also take an additional property interest in the property where thesystem10 is installed. For example, thelender24 may take an easement, granting thelender24 access to the property owner's property. This may allow thelender24 to reach and perform maintenance on thesystem10 after installation. In embodiments where thelender24 has less than all of the ownership interest in thesolar power system10, the property owner may retain a property interest in thesystem10 even during the contract time period. The property owner's interest may be any suitable property interest available under the applicable law including, for example, a future interest.

The length of the contract time period, may be determined as described above. For example, the contract time period may expire after the passage of a predetermined amount of time. Also, according to various embodiments, it may expire after thelender24 has received some combination ofelectricity116 and/or environmental attributes92 (e.g., REC's) reaching a Lender Quantity. The Lender Quantity may be found in any suitable way including, for example, those described herein above.

During the contract time period, some or all of thesolar electricity116 generated by the solar power system10 (e.g., up to 100%) may be owned by thelender24. Physically, however,electricity116 may be provided to theutility26, which may, in turn, reimburse thelender24 with payment98. Also, as described above, theutility26 may sell all or a portion of theelectricity116 to theProperty Owner20.

As shown inFIG. 6,solar electricity116 is routed to a utility-gradesolar system meter88, which may measure the total amount of solar electricity generated (e.g., in KWh or another suitable unit), track sales to the local utility, track REC creation, etc. At thesolar system meter88, customersolar electricity114 may be provided to theProperty Owner20. According to embodiments where theProperty Owner20 is a landlord, customersolar electricity114 may be provided to a tenant of theProperty Owner20. If the totalsolar electricity116 generated by thesolar power system10, which may be owned by the lender, exceeds the customer solar electricity114 (e.g., the electricity used by the Property Owner20), thenexcess electricity112 may be provided to the grid, for example, via autility grid meter90. If the total amount of electricity used by theProperty Owner20 exceeds the totalsolar electricity116, thennon-solar electricity110 may be provided to theProperty Owner20 from the utility26 (e.g., via utility grid meter90). TheProperty Owner20, or tenant, may remitpayment108 for the customersolar electricity114 andnon-solar customer electricity110, if any, to theutility26. In this way, the billing expenses and risk may be assumed by theutility26. It will be appreciated thatutility26 is already exposed to the risks and expenses of individual customer billing.

It will be appreciated that any suitable meter/connection configuration may be utilized in addition to or instead of the set-up shown inFIG. 6 including, for example, the configuration illustrated inFIG. 1 and including switchboard6 and

meters

5,14 and16. Likewise, the meter/connection configuration illustrated inFIG. 6 may be utilized with any other embodiments.

According to the transaction shown inFIG. 6, thelender24 may also receive various rebates, tax incentives and environmental attributes resulting from thesolar power system10. For example,environmental attributes92 such as renewable energy credits (REC's), carbon or carbon-related credits, etc., may accrue to either theProperty Owner20 and/or thelender24. If all or a portion of theenvironmental attributes92 accrue to theProperty Owner20, then theProperty Owner20 may be obligated to transfer theenvironmental attributes92 to thelender24, as shown. Thelender24 may, in turn, either sell theattributes92, or use them to meet its own RPS requirements. In addition to environmental attributes, thelender24 may also receive governmental incentives, such asrebates102 and/ortax credits104. For example, thelender24 may receive one ormore rebates102 from one or more government entities27 (e.g., a state government). If therebates102 would otherwise accrue to theProperty Owner20, then they may be assigned to thelender24 under the agreement. Also, thelender24 may be entitled to receive atax credit104 from one or more government entities (e.g., the federal government) based on its investment in thesolar power system10. According to various embodiments, the

governmental entities

21 and27 may be the same governmental entity or agency.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of acomputer system50 that may be used (i) to calculate the amount of payments owed by theutility26 to thelender24 during the Prepaid Forward Contract Period pursuant to thesupply agreement31 and (ii) to aggregate those payments to determine when the Lender Quantity is reached. As shown inFIG. 4, thecomputer system50 may comprise acomputer device52, such as a personal computer, a service, a laptop, a mainframe, a workstation, or any other suitable computer device. Although only onecomputer device52 is shown inFIG. 4, thesystem50 may comprise one or a number ofnetworked computer devices52.

Thecomputer device52 may comprise one ormore processors54 and one or more memory units56 (although only one of each is shown inFIG. 4). Theprocessor54 may be single or multiple core. Thememory56 may be any suitable type of computer-readable medium, such as, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium, such as a hard drive or floppy disk, or an optical medium, such as a CD-ROM. As shown inFIG. 4, thememory56 may comprise a paymentcalculation software module58. The paymentcalculation software module58 may be implemented as software code to be executed by the processor(s)54 using any suitable computer language. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands in thememory56.

When theprocessor54 executes the code of the paymentcalculation software module58, the processor may be caused to calculate the amount of the payments owned by theutility26 to thelender24 for the electricity sold by thelender24 to theutility26. Theprocessor54 may calculate the payments based on meter data stored in a database60. For each Property Owner account, the database60 may store readings from the appropriate meter or meters (e.g., the power-sellingmeter16 ofFIG. 1, theUtility Solar Meter88 and/orUtility Grid Meter90 ofFIG. 6, etc.) The meter readings may be collected, for example, manually or by using automatic or remote metering, including web-based monitoring of the meters. The meter data may be transmitted electronically over communication links, such as RS-232 or RS-485 wired links, and/or Power Radio, GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth, or IrDA wireless links. The meter readings may be transmitted electronically to the database60, for billing and reporting purposes, as described below.

Based on the readings at the prevailing rate for electricity (which thesystem50 may receive through a data feed and/or which may be stored in the database60), theprocessor54 may calculate the payment amount. Theprocessor54 may also aggregate the payments for each Property Owner account to determine when they reach the Lender Quantity. As mentioned before, according to various embodiments, when the Lender Quantity is reached, the prepaid forward contract expires and thelender24 no longer owns and sells the electricity from the Property Owner's solar system to theutility26. Instead, theProperty Owner24 may use the electricity to power his/her house.

The payment amounts calculated by thesystem50 could be stored in the database60 or another store associated with thecomputer system50. In addition, they could be transmitted electronically to a computerizedbill generation system64 to generate bills (either electronic and/or paper) for the utility. In addition, the aggregated payment values computed by thesystem50 could be stored in the database60 or another store associated with thecomputer system50. They could also be transmitted electronically to acomputerized reporting system68, which may generate a report (either electronic and/or paper) for theProperty Owner20. Thebilling system64 and thereporting system68 may be implemented with a number of servers or mainframes, for example, in communication with thecomputer system50 via acommunication network70, such as a LAN, MAN, WAN, or other suitable network.

The examples presented herein are intended to illustrate potential and specific implementations of the embodiments. It can be appreciated that the examples are intended primarily for purposes of illustration for those skilled in the art. No particular aspect or aspects of the examples is/are intended to limit the scope of the described embodiments.

It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the embodiments have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the embodiments while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, other elements. Because such elements are well known in the art and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the embodiments, a discussion of such elements is not provided herein.

In general, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that at least some of the embodiments described herein may be implemented in many different embodiments of software, firmware and/or hardware. The software and firmware code may be executed by a processor or any other similar computing device. The software code or specialized control hardware that may be used to implement embodiments is not limiting. For example, embodiments described herein may be implemented in computer software using any suitable computer software language type, such as, for example, C or C++ using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. Such software may be stored on any type of suitable computer-readable medium or media, such as, for example, a magnetic or optical storage medium. The operation and behavior of the embodiments may be described without specific reference to specific software code or specialized hardware components. The absence of such specific references is feasible, because it is clearly understood that artisans of ordinary skill would be able to design software and control hardware to implement the embodiments based on the present description with no more than reasonable effort and without undue experimentation.

The processes associated with the present embodiments may be executed by programmable equipment, such as computers or computer systems and/or processors. Software that may cause programmable equipment to execute processes may be stored in any storage device, such as, for example, a computer system (nonvolatile) memory, an optical disk, magnetic tape, or magnetic disk. Furthermore, at least some of the processes may be programmed when the computer system is manufactured or stored on various types of computer-readable media.

Certain process aspects described herein may be performed using instructions stored on a computer-readable medium or media that direct a computer system to perform the process steps. A computer-readable medium may include, for example, memory devices such as diskettes, compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), optical disk drives, or hard disk drives. A computer-readable medium may also include memory storage that is physical, virtual, permanent, temporary, semipermanent and/or semitemporary. A computer-readable medium may further include one or more data signals transmitted on one or more carrier waves.

A “computer,” “computer system,” “host,” or “processor” may be, for example and without limitation, a processor, microcomputer, minicomputer, server, mainframe, laptop, personal data assistant (PDA), wireless e-mail device, cellular phone, pager, processor, fax machine, scanner, or any other programmable device configured to transmit and/or receive data over a network. Computer systems and computer-based devices disclosed herein may include memory for storing certain software applications used in obtaining, processing, and communicating information. It can be appreciated that such memory may be internal or external with respect to the operation of the disclosed embodiments. The memory may also include any means for storing software, including a hard disk, an optical disk, floppy disk, ROM (read only memory), RAM (random access memory), PROM (programmable ROM), EEPROM (electrically erasable PROM) and/or other computer-readable media.

In various embodiments disclosed herein, a single component may be replaced by multiple components and multiple components may be replaced by a single component to perform a given function or functions. For example, any server described herein may be replaced by a “server farm” or other grouping of networked servers (such as server blades) that are located and configured for cooperative functions. It can be appreciated that a server farm may serve to distribute workload between/among individual components of the farm and may expedite computing processes by harnessing the collective and cooperative power of multiple servers. Such server farms may employ load-balancing software that accomplishes tasks, such as, for example, tracking demand for processing power from different machines, prioritizing and scheduling tasks based on network demand, and/or providing backup contingency in the event of a component failure or reduction in operability.

While various embodiments have been described herein, it should be apparent that various modifications, alterations, and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to persons skilled in the art with attainment of at least some of the advantages. The disclosed embodiments are therefore intended to include all such modifications, alterations, and adaptations without departing from the scope of the embodiments as set forth herein.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating, by a lender, a party's purchase of an electricity-generating solar power system, the method comprising:

lending, by the lender, funds to the party for the purchase and installation of the solar power system, wherein the party repays the funds to the lender with up to 100% of the electricity generated by the party's solar power system after installation for a contract time period defined by a loan agreement between the party and the lender, wherein the party owns the solar power system; and

selling, by the lender, the up to 100% of the electricity generated by the solar power system after installation to the third party, wherein the selling comprises determining with a computer system the cost of the electricity delivered from the solar power system based on readings from a meter connected to the solar power system that measures electricity delivered by the solar power system.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the selling further comprises tracking an amount of electricity sold to the third party with the computer system based on readings from the meter connected to the solar power system.

3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising entering into, by the lender, a supply agreement with a third party for the lender to supply electricity generated by the solar power system for the contract time period.

4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the lender is has market-based rate authority from FERC.

5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein lending the funds to the party comprises at least one action selected from the group consisting of paying the funds directly to one or more sellers of the solar power system, and paying the funds directly to the party.

6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the third party is an electric utility.

7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the supply agreement specifies that the price for the electricity sold by the lender to the third party is based on a prevailing electricity rate charged by the electric utility to the homeowner.

8. The method ofclaim 6, wherein:

the party is a homeowner; and

the solar power system is for installation in the homeowner's home.

9. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising paying, by the lender, the funds to a solar integrator that sells and installs the solar power system at the homeowner's home.

10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein during the contract time period, the electric utility sells electricity to the homeowner from at least one of the electricity purchased from the lender and an electrical power grid.

11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the contract time period extends for at least one period selected from the group consisting of a specified period of time, a period of time until the lender has sold a specified quantity of electricity, and a period of time until the lender sells enough electricity from the solar power system to reach a specified aggregate payment level.

12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the funds paid by the lender are less than the full retail price of the solar power system.

13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the funds amount paid by the lender are a discounted retail price less an incentive payment amount.

14. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the specified aggregate payment level corresponds to the full retail price of the solar power system less the incentive payment.

15. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the solar power system comprises photovoltaic modules.

16. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the party is required to transfer renewable energy environmental attributes associated with the solar electric system's electricity generation during the contract time period.

17. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the renewable energy environmental attributes comprise at least one of renewable energy certificates and carbon credits.

18. The method ofclaim 17, wherein the party is required to transfer all of the renewable energy certificates earned by the party during the contract time period to the lender.

19. The method ofclaim 16, further comprising at least one of selling, by the lender, the transferred renewable energy environmental attributes and using, by the lender, the transferred renewable energy environmental attributes.

20. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the party repays the funds to the lender with interest.

21. A system for facilitating a party's purchase of an electricity-generating solar power system, the system comprising:

a processor;

a communication device coupled to the processor and adapted to communicate via a communications network;

a storage device in communication with the processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to:

calculate a contract time period, wherein, in return for a payment amount funding all or a portion of a party's purchase and installation of the solar power system, up to 100% of the electricity generated by the solar power system during the contract time period accrues to the lender, and wherein the party owns the solar power system; and

determine the cost of electricity delivered from the solar power system and to be sold by the lender to a third party, wherein determining the cost of the electricity comprises considering readings from a meter connected to the solar power system that measures electricity delivered by the solar power system.

22. The system ofclaim 21, wherein calculating the contract time period comprises at least one action selected from the group consisting of retrieving a predetermined amount of time; monitoring whether the lender has sold a specified quantity of electricity; and monitoring whether the lender has sold enough electricity from the solar power system to reach a specified aggregate payment level.

23. A method of facilitating, by a lender, a party's purchase of an electricity-generating solar power system, the method comprising:

selling, by the lender, the solar power system to the party pursuant to an agreement, whereby, in exchange for the solar power system, the lender owns up to 100% of the electricity generated by the solar power system after installation for a contract time period defined by the agreement, wherein the party owns the solar power system upon the party's purchase; and

causing the solar power system to be installed at a property of the party.

24. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising selling, by the lender, the up to 100% of the electricity generated by the solar power system after installation to the third party, wherein the selling comprises determining with a computer system the cost of the electricity delivered from the solar power system based on readings from a meter connected to the solar power system that measures electricity delivered by the solar power system and tracking, with the computer system, electricity sales to the third party.

25. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the third party is an electric utility.

26. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising entering into, by the lender, a supply agreement with a third party for the lender to supply electricity generated by the solar power system for the contract time period.

27. The method ofclaim 26, further comprising paying, by the lender, for installation of the solar power system.

28. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising calculating the contract time period with a computer, wherein the calculating comprises at least one of retrieving a specified period of time, determining whether the lender has sold a specified quantity of electricity, and determining whether the lender has sold enough electricity from the solar power system to reach a specified aggregate payment level.

29. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the agreement between the party and the lender requires the party to transfer renewable energy environmental attributes earned by the party during the contract time period to the lender.

30. The method ofclaim 29, further comprising tracking, with a computer system, the creation of renewable energy environmental attributes based on readings received from a meter connected to the solar power system.

31. The method ofclaim 29, wherein the renewable energy environmental attributes comprise at least one of renewable energy certificates and carbon credits.

32. The method ofclaim 29, further comprising at least one of selling, by the lender, the transferred renewable energy environmental attributes, and using, by the lender, the transferred renewable energy environmental attributes.

33. A system for facilitating a party's purchase of an electricity-generating solar power system, the system comprising:

a processor;

calculate a purchase price at which a lender will sell the solar power system to the party;

calculate a contract time period, wherein, in return for a payment amount the solar power system to the party, up to 100% of the electricity generated by the solar power system during the contract time period accrues to the lender, and wherein the party owns the solar power system upon the party's purchase; and

34. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the storage device further comprises instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to track electricity sold to the third party.

35. The system ofclaim 33, wherein calculating the contract time period comprises at least one action selected from the group consisting of retrieving a predetermined amount of time; monitoring whether the lender has sold a specified quantity of electricity; and monitoring whether the lender has sold enough electricity from the solar power system to reach a specified aggregate payment level.

36. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the purchase price is less than a full retail price of the solar power system.

37. The system ofclaim 36, wherein the purchase price is a full retail price less an incentive payment amount.

38. A method comprising:

financing, by a lender, the purchase by a plurality of parties of electricity-generating solar power systems wherein the parties own their respective solar power system, and wherein the lender owns and is to sell up to 100% of the electricity generated by the parties' solar power systems after installation for a contract time period defined by a financing agreement with each party respectively, and wherein, pursuant to the financing agreements, the parties are to transfer renewable energy environmental attributes earned by the parties to the lender;

tracking, with a computer system, the creation of energy environmental attributes earned by the parties, wherein the tracking comprises, for each of the plurality of parties, determining with a computer system the energy environmental attributes derived from the respective solar power system based on readings from a meter connected to the respective solar power system;

aggregating, by the lender, the renewable energy environmental attributes transferred by the parties; and

by the lender, at least one of selling the aggregated renewable energy environmental attributes and using the aggregated renewable energy environmental attributes

39. The method ofclaim 38, wherein the renewable energy environmental attributes comprise at least one of renewable energy certificates and carbon credits.

40. A system for facilitating a party's purchase of an electricity-generating solar power system, the system comprising:

a processor;

for each of a plurality of parties, calculate a contract time period, wherein, in return for a payment amount funding all or a portion of the party's purchase and installation of the solar power system, up to 100% of the electricity generated by the solar power system during the contract time period accrues to the lender, wherein the party owns the solar power system, and wherein the parties are obligated to transfer renewable energy environmental attributes earned by the parties to the lender; and

aggregate the renewable energy environmental attributes transferred by the parties for sale.

41. The system ofclaim 40, wherein the instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to determine with a computer system the cost of the electricity delivered from the solar power systems and to be sold to a third party based on readings from a meter connected to the respective solar power systems that measures electricity delivered by the respective solar power systems.

42. A method of facilitating, by a lender, a property owner's purchase of an electricity-generating solar power system, the method comprising:

entering into, by the lender, an agreement with the property owner, whereby in exchange for a payment amount paid by the lender for the solar power system, the lender owns and is to sell at least a portion of the electricity generated by the solar power system for a contract time period defined by the agreement, wherein the lender owns a first property interest in the solar power system; and

selling, by the lender, at least the portion of the electricity generated by the solar power system to a third party for the contract time period, wherein the selling comprises determining with a computer system the cost of the electricity delivered from the solar power system based on readings from a meter connected to the solar power system that measures electricity delivered by the solar power system.

43. The method ofclaim 42, further comprising tracking, with the computer system, sales of electricity to the third party based on readings from the meter.

44. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the first property interest is full ownership of the solar power system.

45. The method ofclaim 44, wherein at the expiration of the contract time period, the property owner owns and is to sell to the third party at least the portion of the electricity generated by the solar power system.

46. The method ofclaim 45, wherein the property owner is required to transfer to the lender renewable energy environmental attributes earned by the property owner after the expiration of the contract time period.

47. The method ofclaim 45, wherein renewable energy environmental attributes earned by the lender after the expiration of the contract time period are retained by the lender.

48. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the property owner owns a second property interest in the solar power system.

49. The method ofclaim 48, wherein the second property interest is a future interest vesting upon at least one occurrence selected from the group consisting of: an expiration of the contract time period; an election by the party; and an election by the lender.

50. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the first property right is an easement terminating at an expiration of the contract time period.

51. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the property owner is required to transfer renewable energy environmental attributes earned by the property owner to the lender during the contract time period.

52. The method ofclaim 51, further comprising selling, by the lender, the renewable energy environmental attributes.

53. The method ofclaim 51, wherein the renewable energy environmental attributes comprise at least one of renewable energy certificates and carbon credits.

54. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the property owner is required to transfer at least one governmental incentive to the lender.

55. The method ofclaim 42, wherein at least one governmental incentive accrues to the lender.

56. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the lender also owns an easement to a property of the property owner on which the solar power system is installed, wherein the easement to the property of the property owner allows the lender to access the solar power system.

57. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the payment amount paid by the lender is for the solar power system and its installation.

58. The method ofclaim 42, wherein paying the payment amount comprises directly paying the payment amount to at least one of a seller of the solar power system and/or an installer of the solar power system.

59. The method ofclaim 42, wherein selling electricity generated by the solar power system comprises determining with a computer system the cost of electricity delivered from the solar power system based on readings from a meter in communication with the solar power system that measures electricity generated by the solar power system.

60. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the third party is an electric utility.

61. The method ofclaim 42, wherein:

the property owner is a homeowner; and

the solar power system is for installation at the homeowner's home.

62. The method ofclaim 42, wherein:

the property owner is a landlord; and

the solar power system is for installation at a rental property of the landlord.

63. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the solar power system is for installation at a commercial property of the property owner.

64. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the contract time period extends for at least one period selected from the group consisting of a specified period set forth in the agreement, a period extending until the lender has sold a specified quantity of electricity, and a period extending until the lender sells enough electricity from the solar power system to reach a specified aggregate payment level.