The advantages of solar power and photovoltaic (PV) systems are that they are quiet and produce clean energy with no emissions.  Installing one kilowatt of solar power is the equivalent of planting 50 trees.  For each one kilowatt-hour of installed solar generation compared to fossil fuel generation, our environment will see 1,911 fewer pounds per year of carbon dioxide and six fewer pounds of nitrogen.

• There are many reasons for you to consider investing in solar energy.  Photovoltaics helps:
  • Reduce pollution
  • Stabilize your electricity costs
  • Lessen our dependence on fossil fuels both foreign and domestic
  • Increase self-reliance and sustainability
  • Preserve our Earth's natural resources, and
  • Strengthen our energy security

Yes.  Click DSIREUSA.org for available Federal and State government financial incentives.  Please click Xcel Energy's Solar*Rewards program or check with your utility provider for currently available financial rebates and incentives.

No.  In August of 2008 a new law will go into effect in Colorado that will prevent homeowner associations from blocking improvements that save energy.  Colorado House Bill 1270 was enacted because the Colorado legislature found that some homeowners associations were unreasonably restricting things like solar panels and evaporative coolers. 

 Specifically, House Bill 1270 reads "A covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of, or any interest in, real property that effectively prohibits or restricts the installation or use of a renewable energy generation device is void and unenforceable."

Click Colorado House Bill 1270 to read the bill in it's entirety.

For additional information on House Bill 1270 go to the Community Associations Institute Rocky Mountain Chapter website www.hoa-colorado.com or the Southern Chapter website at www.caisoco.org

As of May 1st, 2008 only the City of Littleton has waived all city building permit fees for installing a photovoltaic (PV) system on your existing residential buildings. 

The city council amended the city code to encourage Littleton residents to install energy saving systems in their homes.

For more information contact your local city government, call Cheif Building Official Jim Thelen at 303-795-3784, or click the Colorado Governer's Energy Office Residential Solar Program

Solar Energy is energy directly from the sun.  This energy drives the climate and weather adn supports all life on Earth.  Heat and light from the sun, along with solar-based resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available flow of energy.  Solar energy technologies harness the sun's energy for practical ends.  These technologies date from the time of the early Greeks, Native Americans, and Chinese, who warmed their buildings by orienting, or positioning them toward the sun.  Modern solar technologies provide heating, lighting, electricity, and even flight.

Solar power is used synonymously with solar energy or more specifically to refer to the conversion of sunlight into electricity.  This can be done either using the photovoltaic effect or by heating a transfer fluid to produce steam to run a generator. 

There are many technologies for harnessing solar energy.  Applications span through the residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and transportation sectors.  Solar energy can be used to produce food, heat, light, and electricity.  The flexibility of solar energy is manifest in a wide variety of technologies such as cars, calculators, etc.  

Photovoltaics, or PV for short, is a solar power technology that uses solar cells or solar photovoltaic arrays to convert light from the sun directly into electricity.  Photovoltaics is best known as a method for generating solar power by using cells packaged in photovoltaic modules, often electrically connected in multiples as solar photovoltaic arrays to convert energy from the sun into electricity.  To explain the photovoltaic effect more simply, photons from sunlight knowck electrons into a higher state of energy, creating electricity.  Photovoltaics can refer to the field of study relating to this technology, and the term photovoltaic denotes the unbiased operating mode of a photodiode in which current through the device is entirely due to transduced light energy.  Virtually all photovoltaic devices are some type of photodiode.  

Solar cells produce direct current electricity from light, which can be used to power equipment or recharg a battery.  The first practical application of photovoltaics was to power orbiting satellitesand other spacecraft as well as pocket calculators, but today the majority of photovoltaic modules are used for grid connected power generation.  

In this case an inverter is required to convert the DC to AC.  There is a smaller market for off grid power for remote dwellings, roadside emergency telephones, and remote sensing.

For more information on how Photovoltaic systems work go to the National Renewable Energy Labratory (NREL) "Solar energy basics".

A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts light energy into electrical energy by the photovoltaic effect.

Assemblies of cells are used to make solar modules, which may in turn be linked in photovoltaic arrays.

Solar cells have many applications. Individual cells are used for powering small devices such as electronic calculators.

Photovoltaic arrays generate a form of renewable electricity, particularly useful in situations where electrical power from the grid is unavailable such as in remote area power systems, Earth-orbiting satellites and space probes, remote radiotelephones and water pumping applications. Photovoltaic electricity is also increasingly deployed in grid-tied electrical systems.

1. Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting materials, such as silicon.
2. Electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose from their atoms, allowing them to flow through the material to produce electricity. The complementary positive charges that are also created (like bubbles) are called holes and flow in the direction opposite of the electrons in a silicon solar panel.
3. An array of solar panels converts solar energy into a usable amount of direct current (DC) electricity.

• Optionally:

1. The DC current enters an inverter.
2. The inverter turns DC electricity into 120 or 240-volt AC (alternating current) electricity needed for home appliances.
3. The AC power enters the utility panel in the house.
4. The electricity is then distributed to appliances or lights in the house.
5. The electricity that is not used will be re-routed and used in other facilities.

Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) are increasingly incorporated into new domestic and industrial buildings and retrofitted into existing structures as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power, and are one of the fastest growing sectors of the photovoltaic industry.  Typically, an array is incorporated into the roof or walls of a building.  Altenatively, an array can be located seperately from a building but connected via cable to supply power for the building. 

Architects and speculators have long asserted that BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics) would come in to it's own only after Return of Investment could be achieved in fewer than 10 years.  In 2006, following five years of research and development supported by a Federal Grant and it's own corporate investment, a US company, CENTRIA Services Group (CSG), in partnership with United Solar Ovonics announced the development of standards for standing seam roof s with integrated thin-film PV laminate. 

In 2004 Colorado voters approved Amendment 37 which sets standards for the amount of electricity to be produced from renewable energy resources in Colorado.  The amendment requires large Colorado utilities to generate a portion of their electricity from sun, wind, or biomass (animal waste, plants, and methane).  The goal for renewable energy is referred to as the renewable energy standard. 

The Renewable Energy Standard establishes the goal for renewable energy use to be three percent by 2007, six percent by 2011, and 10 percent by  2015.  Four percent of the 10 percent must come from solar.  To meet these requirements, Xcel Energy alone must add 20-25MW (2-2.5 million watts) of solar power generation by 2011, and half of that generation must be on customer's property.

For those customers who install 10 kilowatt or smaller (minimum of 500 watts) photovoltaic systems, the Solar Rebate Offer will provide $4.50 per watt.  This offer is comprised of $2.00 per watt rebate and $2.50 Renewable Energy Credit (REC) payment.  Thus, if you install a two-kilowatt (2,000 watts) you would receive $9,000.  The Solar Rebate Offer will cover approximately half of the initial customer investment. 

Initial customer investment in a one to three kilowatt system (average system size for Colorado homes is 2-3 kilowatts) could be in the range of $8,000 to $30,000. 

To determine if you are a candidate for Xcel Energy's Solar*Rewards program, please go to Xcel Energy Solar*Rewards Candidate Checklist

Net metering measures excess energy produced by your PV system that flows back into the grid.  Net meters move forward when electricity flows from the grid into your home or business and backward when power flows from your PV system onto the grid.  Xcel Energy provides one meter that will register both functions. 

By connecting your PV system to the electrical grid, you can automatically use electricity from both your PV system and the grid so you have electricity at night and on cloudy days when your PV system will not be generating electricity. 

For Example, if your system generates 300 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month and you use only 250 kilowatt-hours, those extra hours wil be credited to you rnext months bill.  At the en of the year, if you have a balance of electricity produced by your PV system and not used in your home, net of any additional energy you used when your system was not generating electricity (such as at night or on cloudy days), you will get reinbursed from you utility comapny!

Grid Parity is the point at which photovoltaic electricity is equal to or cheaper than grid power.  It is first achieved in areas with abundant sun and high costs for electriciy such as California and Japan.