Solar energy cos. find niches in Northeast market
Photo/Rebecca Goldfine
Phil Coupe, co-founder of ReVision Energy, holds up a solar panel outside his growing business in Portland
Despite the recession and Maine's relative lack of solar-energy incentives compared to nearby states, a couple of solar energy companies in southern Maine are doing well and growing, mirroring nationwide industry trends.
Phil Coupe, co-founder of ReVision Energy on Presumpscot Street in Portland, likes to say his seven-year-old solar-installation company is one of the bright spots in the economy. In the last 12 months, ReVision has added 10 full-time people to its staff, which is now up to 37, and opened a third branch in Exeter, N.H. The company also has an office in Liberty.
Solar Market, a 35-year-old solar company in Arundel, anticipates its workload growing by 10 times in the next 18 months, requiring as many as 100 additional workers, according to founder Naoto Inoue. He currently employs six, he adds.
Across the United States, the solar energy industry in 2010 expanded by 67%, up from $3.6 billion in 2009 to $6 billion last year. During the same period, GDP growth was clocked at 2.8%. A 2010 jobs census by The Solar Foundation found that solar jobs in the United States roughly doubled in one year to 93,000, with 24,000 more jobs expected to materialize in 2011.
Although both ReVision and Solar Market specialize in the installation of solar-electric systems and solar hot-water systems for residences and businesses, the two companies are pursuing very different strategies. (There are 400 individuals in Maine certified to install solar hot-water heaters, and 20 certified to install solar-electric systems, according to Efficiency Maine. ReVision and Solar Market are two of the more active companies in the field.) ReVision is concentrating on the Maine and New Hampshire markets while Solar Market is focusing more on Vermont, Massachusetts and New Jersey, states that have robust incentives, rebates and market mechanisms that support solar investment, according to Inoue.
While Coupe acknowledges that "solar energy here doesn't have the powerful incentives you have in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey" with "people are flocking to solar installers," he says Maine and New Hampshire offer some opportunities.
First, it helps that they are both cold. "Maine and New Hampshire are the two most oil-dependent states in New England per capita. And they have the highest CO2 emissions," Coupe says, with 440,000 homeowners in Maine and 379,000 in New Hampshire heating their houses with oil. "We see a substantial market for renewable-energy solutions like solar hot water."
ReVision performs more than 50% of the installations of solar hot-water and electric systems in Maine, according to Efficiency Maine. The company reported revenues of $6.5 million in 2009, and Coupe said that grew 5%-10% in 2010. He says the company is hoping to grow by that amount again this year, but so far has not hit the mark. About 65% to 70% of ReVision's customers are homeowners, while the rest are businesses, and 60% of its business derives from installing hot-water systems.
Yet convincing customers to pay the high initial costs of a solar system, with a long wait for return on investment, can be a hard sell without fluttering generous rebates in front of their eyes. The cost of a solar hot-water system runs between $5,000 per installed kilowatt, with the typical house requiring 3 kilowatts (though systems can range between 2 and 20 kilowatts), according to Coupe. Electric systems with photovoltaic panels could cost anywhere between $15,000 and $25,000. A federal 30% tax credit, good until 2016, shaves off some of the cost, as well as a $1,000 Maine rebate for a solar hot-water investment and a $2,000 rebate for solar electricity.
Despite the comparative lack of government support that other states enjoy, Coupe says he can see the good side of this situation. The competition is reduced in Maine, freeing ReVision from contending with bigger companies that move in to compete with local solar companies in more lucrative markets.
A 2010 report by the Solar Energy Industries Association also points out the inconsistencies in growth across the country. "Even with spectacular growth, the U.S. market is slowed by the complexities of state-by-state differences in regulations, incentives, utilities and financing structures," it states. Monique Hanis, the trade group's spokeswoman, says the fastest-growing solar states last year -- California, New Jersey, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Colorado and New York -- all were helped by federal and state incentives.
To capture the growth of the solar industry outside of Maine, Inoue, of Solar Market, says he has turned his attention south. "Our business is not so much focused on Maine, because Maine lacks the political leadership to implement [solar rebate or incentive] programs," he says.
Dana Fischer, the residential program manager at Efficiency Maine, agrees that "there's no question that other states have been more proactive on solar. Maine has limited rebates." He says matters weren't helped by a recent decision by the Legislature's Energy and Utilities Committee to no longer fund a solar-energy rebate with a service utility charge on electric ratepayers' bills. Fischer says that that surcharge amounted to an annual average of 32 cents per household.
Nonetheless, there are enough funds to finance solar rebates for up to two years at current rates before the agency needs to find a new source of revenue. "But there is no chance of increasing rebate programs to match what other states have currently," Fischer says.
Inoue says his 36-year-old company is also building more solar fields -- arrays of multiple solar panels known as solar farms -- than single-building installations. Last year, Solar Market built 2 megawatts of solar installations, and this year and into next is on track to install 20 megawatts worth of projects, he says. A one-megawatt field can power between 500 and 600 homes and costs between $3.5 million and $4 million to build, Inoue explains. His clients tend to be businesses and municipalities. Also, Solar Market itself is building a 2.2-megawatt solar field on about seven acres in Sharon, Vt., to sell that energy into the grid, becoming not just a solar installer but a mini-utility as well, Inoue says, reflecting his belief that today's times call for such big-scale projects.
"I'm almost 60, and I've been waiting for this moment my whole entire life," Inoue says, adding that up until a few years ago he thought that putting solar energy panels on every building was an adequate environmental solution. "But in order for us to confront these challenges of climate change and CO2 emissions, we don't have time to be installing 5 kilowatts and 6 kilowatts on each home."
CORRECTION: This article was corrected to reflect the number of employees ReVision Solar has hired in the last 12 months.
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