How to finance solar panels in Texas

The solar industry is climbing as high as the peaking sun it harnesses to help homeowners and businesses save money on electricity bills, as well as help implement renewable energy. Yet, speculators want to know how to finance solar panels in Texas.

In 2013, Dividend Finance sought out an opportunity in the solar industry, which was to provide ownership options to homeowners. Since its inception in 2013, Dividend Finance has grown to be the top lender in the nation for residential solar and storage projects.

Senior Marketing Manager at Dividend Finance, Alex George said, “We provide a financing technology that allows our solar installation partners to give their customers a simple, fast financing solution at the same time they are presenting that customer with a proposal – streamlining the financing process.”

Dividend Finance is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Their operations center is located in San Diego, along with remote team offices in Austin, TX, Baltimore, MD, and Las Vegas, NV. Today the firm employs about 130 employees nationwide.

While there are resources online in regards to financing solar, customers are learning about the financing aspect through Dividend’s solar installation partners in Texas. Solar panel system ownership through a financing company, such as Dividend, has been a trend over the last five years.  

As customers are learning how to finance solar panels in Texas through different options; direct customer ownership continues to grow its share over third-party owned systems like PPAs or Leases.

George said, “[Dividend] takes up just a piece of the pie.” Ultimately, Dividend offers residential solar loans, which are being backed by the warehouse funds that the company has earned through partnerships with national banks, or by originating loans directly on behalf of credit unions or other regional banks.

Another option for customers that are not interested in owning their system outright, is a third-party owned system, also known as PPA’s and Leases. Some customers also consider a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or take out a loan with a local bank.

   “The ownership segment of the industry has grown and overtaken third-party owned options, and make up about 68% of the projects installed today. Of all owned, nearly 52% of all projects that are being installed for homeowners today are being done through a loan option like the Empoer Loan, offered by Dividend,” explained George.

And behind those neighborhood fences are businesses, which Dividend also has a commercial financing option for, called Commercial PACE financing. “Big businesses will pay cash, take out a loan from a bank, or work with a company like Dividend that offers PACE,” said George. “One of the cool things about PACE assessments is they are paid back through your property taxes, so in many cases, the interest on the loan can be included as a write-off.”

While many customers are interested in switching to solar energy, they are also interested in how to finance solar panels in Texas and storage batteries. In 2015, Dividend launched the solar plus storage loan, which means if solar is being installed, the battery can be included in the package as well.

What if you already have solar installed and now want to add a storage battery? “People who want to add a battery to a solar system they already have can do that. It is an option through EmpowerHome, our home improvement loan,” mentioned George.

In 2019, Dividend launched EmpowerHome, a home improvement product, where they are able to finance all sorts of home improvements. “Anything from roofing, windows, kitchen/bath, insulation and HVAC type of projects,” said George.

In fact, customers who seek a roof repair can receive financial support individually or as a bundle. George explained within the solar loan Dividend can allocate some of the funds to do roof repairs or battery backup, as long as they are not “big ticket items.” A good example is, “[Dividend] couldn’t replace an entire roof, so that’s why we have the home improvement loan, where they can bundle those two together for a complete roof repair and solar panel system installation,” said George.

Customers who know how to finance solar panels in Texas and are interested in the Tesla Powerwall are working with Dividend’s solar partners, like South Texas Solar Systems Inc. South Texas Solar Systems is a Tesla Powerwall certified installer. George added, “Our partners at Dividend offer finance for the Powerwall, which makes it cost effective to add the battery on your system, and take advantage of storing your own power, then using it at the time that makes sense for you.”

Dividend’s solar loans are structured as 12 and 20-year loans. Both loans have no prepayment penalty, so they can model it to pay off and Dividend can show customers how to model it to pay off whatever term they want. “The most important thing is for any homeowner to take a look at their personal finances and speak with a tax professional about their ability to use the incentives available to them,” said George.

Texas has incentives to switch to solar. This makes it a great option for Texans because the state does have a cheaper cost of electricity compared to other states. Plus, the term of a solar loans time of payback can be 12 to 14 years.

George explained, “After 14 years the systems are fully paying for itself at that point. The cost of the electricity that you are producing outweighs the cost of what you paid into the system. If a customer was to pay cash that pay-back period comes down to about 9 years.”

Financing solar panels in Texas is a positive, but the negative outcomes that can occur are as a third party system, where you do not own the system and can not take advantage of the federal or state tax incentives.

A solar loan is a personal loan that will affect your credit score. However, as you continue to make those payments on time and pay them off, you will increase your credit score.

If you were to have a “potential default” on your loan, Dividend could have the option to take the modules back, but that is the extent to their security interest.

What started as a small financing firm has now become a nationwide leader in solar and home improvement. Ironically, what started as a renewable resource is now an industry influencer. Solar energy was there then, solar energy is here now.

South Texas Solar Systems: Go solar for $0 down for 3 months

SAN ANTONIO – If you’re tired of paying hundreds on your energy bill, now is the time to invest in solar energy.

South Texas Solar Systems have been designing, installing and maintaining quality solar systems since 2007.

💰You can even eliminate up to 75-100% of your electric bill with solar energy!

South Texas Solar Systems customer review:

This man is paying little to nothing on his electric bill!

A customer who has bought solar panels from South Texas Solar Systems said, “I can’t stress how good of a deal you can have with solar.”
The first bill that this customer had from CPS Energy was only eight dollars after he went solar, the rest of his bills have been for twenty cents.

“They are the ones I trust. I would refer them to anyone,” said the customer.

The customer said, “South Texas Solar Systems is the best solar company I’ve worked with. I checked around and they are the ones who took care of me.”

Benefits of investing in solar panels

1. $0 Money Down

When you switch to solar panels at South Texas Solar Systems you pay nothing out of pocket.

2. $0.68 Per Watt Rebate

The rebates from CPS Energy are only during a certain time of the year. Make sure to ask CPS Energy when the rebate period ends.

3. 26% Federal Tax Credit

Say what?! You can even get up to 30 percent of your money back when you file your taxes for 2018.

Dan Moran, vice president of marketing/sales, South Texas Solar Systems said, “When you invest in solar you’re investing in your families future.”

To request your quote with South Texas Solar Systems, you can CLICK HERE or call (210) 796-5616

South Texas Solar Systems is located at 10203 Kotzebue, San Antonio, TX 78217.

How do solar panels work in the Texas Solar Market?

The Texas Solar Market works to help build a reliable power grid. In April 2019, San Antonio based-Mission Solar Energy held their annual fiesta event with sessions on trending topics.

The Texas Solar Power Association Executive Director, Charlie Hemmeline, spoke about the Texas Solar Market.

Texas Solar Power Association Executive Director, Charlie Hemmeline

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), is an integrated grid. Even though, solar is installed in different parts of Texas everything is connected.

The ERCOT grid operator pays attention to the total amount of resources online at any time.

The grid operator supplies the meet and demand to keep the grid on.

“As solar grows they have to be very clear about what we are going to produce, so they can know how to plan and know what they can count on at 3 o’clock on a hot summer day when the grid is maxed out,” said Hemmeline.

   Consumers wonder how do solar panels work or perform as expected? Solar is dependable because we know when the sun is going to shine.

Even though clouds do happen, they don’t happen statewide at the exact same time. In July of 2018, while Texas was experiencing a heatwave, “solar produced almost exactly as expected, in fact, a little more,” said Hemmeline.

   A look at we are at today with the context of the grid is that power is needed. ERCOT measures a planning reserve margin, which right now is at 7.4 percent.

Policy makers would like to have a planning reserve margin of 13.75 percent.

Hemmeline added, “Solar is making an actual grid wide contribution now. We are helping raise this reserve margin because solar is growing more than any other resource and we are actually boosting those reserve margins.” In order for us to attain the other half of the reserve margin, in accordance with policymakers, the bill must pass on distributed generation and consumer protection.

Both of those factors fall under the incentive programs that are available to help homeowners or businesses go solar.

But how do solar panels work for the wholesalers? With all the innovation happening with the economics of solar we are seeing more players getting involved, such as the oil and gas industries.

Hemmeline explained, “The transmission and distribution utilities, such as Oncor, Centerpoint, and AEP are now interested in using storage facilities for distribution level reliability. The Texas rules as they are right now are unclear on if whether they are allowed to do that.”

However, Hemmeline stated there is a bill moving through, “that would give [transmission and distribution utilites] the authorization to contract with a third party provider of storage to provide those storage services if they see it’s cheaper than building new poles and wires.” It caps at 40MW statewide.

The Texas Solar Market will continue to look at the 50,000MW of solar that has been used for recent development in more than 80 counties and all over the state of Texas.