RE: New spin on solar: Hot water and electricity in one system
What's more interesting is the sales approach--they don't sell systems. They sell heat and power.
* Design: optimized for customer?s facility and operations needs.
* Construction: eliminating the need to make capital investments or manage permitting and contractors.
* Operations & Maintenance: providing all necessary maintenance, upgrades, repairs and insurance.
* Incentives and Tax Credit Management: as system owner, Cogenra manages all filings for solar tax credits and government incentives.
* Metering and Billing: Cogenra meters solar output and bills monthly for the energy produced.
* REC Management: Cogenra manages the distribution of Renewable Energy Credits as agreed upon with customer.
All of this makes a great deal of sense to business under current conditions. Maintenance of these systems is not something most maintenance people know anything about at this time, and facilities maintenance is often hired work for tax reasons.
It also puts them in competition directly with the local utilities (in Wisconsin the power company has to buy power from consumers at retail, you can sell any excess power under those conditions.
Power & heat costs I write off as expenses, but a system has to be amortized and the actual lifetime cost is unknowable.
Be nice to see this model in the consumer market, as system maintenance is a worry.
