[NH.Solar]

First a few points of clarification;
1. When the NH PUC changed the rules on net metering four years ago the credits issued for excess solar production exported back into the grid went from dollar for dollar to ~75 cents on the dollar on the credit side. The individual utilities, not the State, were allowed to retain the 25% net metering discount. At the same time the PUC decreed that the utilities in turn would have to change their crediting from kWh to a monetary basis. Overall this seems to me a very equitable plan, the utilites get to keep 25% on the power exported into their grid, and the consumer can now use the credits to offset the fixed net metering costs that formerly would have always produced a billing. This was especially beneficial to the NHEC customers because the credits can now be used against their stiff $31 meter (membership) fee. I have a modest 8.2 kW roof mounted solar array, but from April until usually January don't see a billing at all ...very satisfying.

2. Leasing solar is only good for the solar installer! Generally the programs only reward you with a fixed low monthly utility rate in exchange for mounting an array on your property. If the general utility rates should ever go down you may find yourself locked into a contract rate that is higher than the public utility rate and upside down. This is fairly unlikely, but rates do occasionally decline. The Co-op will sometimes do this when they hike their fixed memebership fee and present it as a marketing advantage when in fact for most clients the higher meter fee offsets any temporary decline in the kWh rate. By the way don't take this as a criticism of the Co-op, they are only doing what's neccesary to accomodate their ever increasing costs while presenting it to their clients as favorably as possible.
Second, if you have a leased solar array on your roof that asset is not yours, and it is in fact a huge deteriment to your property. If you ever want to sell, the contract has to be assumed by the new buyer, or you need to pay the cost to have the array removed and the roof made weatherproof again.
3. The solar installer gets to keep the 26% ITC ....nuff said.

As far as affordability for the general public goes, it shouldn't be a problem at all as long as you have maintained your credit scores. We generally refer our clients to Mascoma Bank for financing their renewable energy projects. Their program is excellent, they are local, and the service top notch. The end result for the potential solar buyer is that their monthly outlay to finance their solar array is the same or maybe even less that their current monthly utility bill ...but at the end of their financing contract they own the solar array producing their power and from that point forward that portion of their electricity is coming to them for free. In addition, should they wish to sell their home in the near future the asset value of the array is part of the value of the home they are selling. Sure there will still be some buyers that shy away from a solar array, but not that many.

The cost of EV's... I bought a pristine loaded Chevy Volt coming in off of a lease two years ago and it has been a wonderful experience! The car had 23K miles on it when I took possession and Colonial Chevy in Mass delivered it to my New Hampton home for just $23k, with an extended warranty covering it to 50k miles! I have nearly that on it already and will be trading it soon for another newer lease end low mileage Volt. The car is a delight to drive, has all of the goodies I want, and easily saves me $250 a month in fuel alone over the cost of driving my Duramax. Whenever possible I try to charge it midday so that my excess solar goes into the Volt at 100% of value, rather than at night when that same solar energy would have been subjected to the 25% net metering discount. I can leave my New Hampton home and rive up to Cannon and back and it only costs me a 1/4 gallon of gas (the Volt has a backup onboard generator), and if I wantedto go to the Cape, I'll be somewhere across the Mass border before the generator even starts purring in the background. Best part is, even when I'm running on the generator the car still is getting 40+ mpg and has the scoot of an EV.
I do have money down on both the new Ford Lightning and a Chevy Silverado EV and will take whichever I can first get my hands on. I'd prefer the Ford because it is bedirectional and can actually feed power back into my home when the grid is down, but would prefer the Chevy because they say it will be offered as a 2500 and then I could lose my trusty but expensive to run Duramax.

Finally, dams and windmills. I am part owner of a dam on a 53 acre pond and if there were a power line close enough to hook 3 phase into it would be a perfect sistuation ...but there isn't. This means that myself and my neighbor are fully responsible for the maintenance and liabilty of this dam. It is worth it because ofthe pristine and very private nature of our shared pond, but I wouldn't recommend it for most. We have to get it inspected by the DES every four years and should they ever find a deficiency we are on the hook for it.
I can also see the Rumney windmills from my hilltop home site and while I like what I see right now, I really don't want to see any more.

It is my opinion that the best solution in everyway for our need for energy, both locally and on the grand scale, is efficiency improvements and localized solar with energy storage. The batteries are the key and the progress since Elon Musk came alone and said to the world, "yes we can", has been astonishing. I do takethe time to contact out public reps every now and again and plead the case for moving the State and Federal incentives off solar generation and into energy storage, but so far it has been a case of shouting into the wind. Maybe someday...