Zero-Down Financing Options for Solar

Many people who want to have a greener home hesitate to implement solutions such as solar panels because of the higher upfront costs often associated with such projects. Alberta Government solar rebates programs like RCSP provide great incentives. However, there are also a few zero-down financing options available that can help remove or lower this barrier. In many cases, qualifying for financing does not depend on your ability to make a down payment. Let’s take a closer look at what might be available to homeowners in Alberta.

Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)

Property-Assessed Clean Energy program, better known as PACE, is an innovative idea that has helped a lot of property owners upgrade their homes and businesses. This exciting program should be available to Alberta residents later this year.

Briefly, PACE financing programs allow property owners to fund 100% of the upfront costs of energy and resource improvements to their homes, which they will repay over time via their taxes. Often, PACE generates savings that are substantial enough to be greater than the annual repayment, therefore also generating an immediate benefit to the property owner’s budget.

Loans

Many companies that specialize in offering environmentally friendly home upgrades such as solar panels offer loans that come with a zero-down option. You can often get these loans from your bank as well. Either way, you can expect to pay them back in monthly installments. How much you will owe per month depends on a variety of factors, such as your lending institution, the total cost of your home upgrades and the interest rate on your loan.

Leases

Solar lease agreements are also available as a zero-down financing option. When you choose to go this route, you will pay a monthly fee to rent your solar panels from a company that owns them. Most of these arrangements do not require an upfront payment, but one potential downside is that the company that owns your system gets any tax incentives or rebates associated with installing solar panels, instead of those savings going back into your pocket. However, the monthly rent you pay is often substantially lower than the average monthly bill you receive from your electric utility provider.

Power Purchase Agreements

PPAs are based on a similar concept to solar leases, in that your PPA provider owns and maintains the system and receives any tax breaks associated with it. They are another zero-down option in which you and your provider agree on a fixed monthly rate, which is usually less than a standard electric bill. The key difference between PPAs and lease agreements is that in a PPA, you purchase your power at a set kilowatt-per-hour rate, as opposed to the fixed monthly rent payments associated with a solar lease contract. This option is usually explored by commercial entities.

Zero-Down Financing Is a Win-Win for Homeowners

When shopping for energy-efficient improvements to their homes, smart property owners would be wise to look for programs like these that allow them to update their living space with no money down, and end up with a home with a smaller carbon footprint that also commands a higher resale value.

If you are interested to find out the full cost of installing solar panels on your residential or commercial property, please send us your request, and we will get back to you within 24 hours!