Renewables Gaining Ground Through State WAP, Tribal Pilot Programs

Compiled by the LIHEAP Clearinghouse,
excerpted from the March 1999 LIHEAP Networker

In the late 1970s, installation of renewable technologies in low-income homes was funded and supported by federal and state government. In the late 1990s, government is once again supporting renewables. It was federal and state tax credits and federal funding that helped propel renewables research and development in the 1970s. In the 1990s, it is government support through public-private partnerships such as the Department of Energy Million Solar Roofs Initiative, as well as a new impetus: restructuring of the electric utility industry.

Of the states that have passed restructuring legislation or approved it through the regulatory process, at least ten have made some provision for funding of renewables research and development. These funds are financed by one of the following mechanisms: a non-bypassable charge on electricity distribution systems, by a flat charge per kWh per customer, or by a monthly meter charge. The funds support low-income rate assistance and conservation programs, as well as renewables research and development.

At least two versions of proposed federal restructuring legislation would create a national electric public benefit fund that will provide matching grants to states for renewables research and development. At the same time, costs of renewables, especially solar generated electricity (photovoltaics or PV), are dropping and system efficiencies are increasing.

Low-income weatherization agencies in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are examining the feasibility of installing solar technologies in low-income homes. Florida has already done so. Last year it completed one of the most comprehensive pilots involving renewables in low-income homes. Indian tribes in Oklahoma and Arizona are also conducting projects.

Following is a summary of low-income renewables projects in the above-mentioned states.

FLORIDA

The most thoroughly documented recent use of renewables in low-income homes has been in Florida. In cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC)conducted the four-year Solar Weatherization Assistance Program (SWAP), wherein 801 solar water heating systems were installed in low-income homes in Florida at an average cost of $1,550, including installation.

SWAP was a collaborative effort between the above-mentioned agencies, participating local Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) agencies, utility companies and the Florida solar industry. The final report from the project was released in August 1998 and is available from FSEC.

Nine local agencies, mostly community action agencies who administer Florida's WAP, conducted the installations and audits for the program, in cooperation with FSEC. The report noted that these agencies' "ability to identify clients and sites that would benefit from the solar systems was, in the end, an important element in the success of this program." Both rural and urban communities were chosen in the north, central and southern climatic zones of Florida. Specific systems were chosen for each climatic zone.

In households that had detailed instrument monitoring, residents reduced their water heating energy consumption and costs by over half, and there was an average annual energy savings of $140 per system.

John Harrison, FSEC Senior Research Analyst, said he hopes the success of the project will lead DOE to designate solar water heaters as a viable weatherization (energy savings) measure.

He acknowledged that the $1,550 per unit is steep by weatherization standards, and he noted that some in the weatherization network believe the money could be better spent on other weatherization measures. He also pointed out that the normal cost of the units was $2,500, but the SWAP got a discount due to volume and guaranteed sales.

Because of lack of funding, the Florida WAP currently has no plans to continue the program, said Lena Price, state WAP director. However, the Metro Dade County Community Action Agency in Miami plans to install 40 to 50 solar water heaters using DOE funding, said Odis Olivera of that agency. Metro Dade was one of the most active agencies in the SWAP, having installed over 300 of the systems.

For more information, contact John Harrison at FSEC, (407) 638-1506, harrison@fsec.ucf.edu.

PENNSYLVANIA

Pennsylvania is one of several states that have created universal service funds, also known as public benefits funds or universal systems benefit funds, through restructuring legislation. However, Pennsylvania's is the only law that has included renewables in its definition of universal service, as follows: "Universal service and energy conservation. Policies, protections and services that help low-income customers to maintain electric service. The term includes customer assistance programs... application of renewable resources and consumer education."

Restructuring agreements negotiated with five electric utilities stipulate that some $3.2 million in utility universal service funds, available as of January 1, 1999, must support specific renewables applications in low-income homes, mostly photovoltaic panels and solar hot water heaters.

In four of the five restructuring settlements, the Pennsylvania Department of Energy's (the state Weatherization Assistance Program grantee) Leveraging Project negotiated commitments to have the programs operated by either community-based organizations with relevant technical experience and a history of working with the utilities, or by Pennsylvania Weatherization Task Force member agencies, who currently administer weatherization. The other agreement allows for community-based
organizations to become involved through an RFP process. A recent utility commission order directs utilities and other parties to the settlements, including the Task Force, to take steps to design and implement the settlement agreements.

One Pennsylvania agency has positioned itself for low-income renewables by installing renewables on its own facility and by conducting a pilot study using LIHEAP REACH funds.

The Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA) is a Philadelphia nonprofit that coordinates the operation of low-income conservation, homelessness prevention, energy assistance, and utility payment programs and energy education services through a network of Neighborhood Energy Centers.

In 1997 ECA received a $1.1 million Residential Energy Assistance Challenge (REACH) grant. REACH, a competitive grant component of LIHEAP, funds a small number of states and tribes each year for projects that: "minimize the health and safety risks that result from high energy burdens on low income Americans, prevent homelessness as a result of inability to pay energy bills, increase the efficiency of energy usage by low income families, and target energy assistance to individuals who are most in need."

ECA is conducting a three-year project that will provide a comprehensive solution to each of the participating household's energy problems by bringing together all existing energy services and adding new program elements supported by REACH funding. One new program element is installation of solar water heaters on low-income homes. As of December 1998, ECA was in the process of selecting about a dozen households for these installations.

The system that ECA will likely use for these homes is one it installed on its own office building in August of 1998. According to ECA executive director Liz Robinson, the system is safe, reliable, simple, low tech and no maintenance is required by the resident. The system costs $2,000 installed. ECA also plans to seek restructuring funds to expand its low-income renewables work.

For more information, contact: Liz Robinson or Scott Hunter, Energy Coordinating Agency, (215) 988-0929.

WISCONSIN

Simple Solar is a program that began in 1994 when the Wisconsin Weatherization Assistance Program sought to answer this question: Is renewable energy practical for the low and moderate income house?

A current three-year project is designed to show that passive solar works on ordinary homes in a northern latitude by installing solar warm air collectors and one sunspace to be used as supplemental heat sources. As of mid December 1998, 15 warm air collectors have been installed on 8 sites. Four sites have a single collector installed, three sites have two collectors and one site, a four unit transitional housing building, has five collectors installed. One sunspace/greenhouse has also been installed.

With six community action agencies participating, the first installation took place in June 1997 and installations are continuing through at least June 1999. The solar collectors cost $1,000 to $1,500 installed, according to Tony Link of Wisconsin's WAP. They are 4 foot by 8 foot panels that go on the roof or the wall. The energy performance of the collectors is being monitored and the program hopes to have evaluation results by June 1999.

Project funding comes from grants from the Wisconsin Energy Bureau and the Energy Center of Wisconsin, matched by the weatherization program and housing funds. Link said that feedback from participating customers has been very positive overall.

While evaluation results will be the final determinant of the future of low-cost solar in Wisconsin, Link believes that one should not only consider simple payback based on dollars saved per kilowatt hour, but also should take into account total economic and environmental costs associated with power generation, distribution, resource depletion, environmental degradation in
making a case for solar.

For more information, contact Link at Wisconsin Division of Housing, (608) 261-8149; tony.link@doa.state.wi.us.

OKLAHOMA

In 1997, the Cherokee Tribe of Oklahoma received a LIHEAP REACH grant.

The tribe's one-year demonstration project targets selected low-income households to help them decrease their energy costs by providing weatherization assistance, energy efficiency education, and installation of solar energy panels. During 1998, the tribe installed ten solar air collectors from the same company used in the Wisconsin weatherization program at a cost of $1,500 each installed.

The selected participants included those deemed most in need of energy assistance in increasing their comfort, safety and health levels, and in decreasing their energy costs. Structurally sound dwellings were also a criterion.

The tribe will follow up with the participating households to document changes in their energy consumption, comfort level, health and safety, and general satisfaction with the weatherization, energy education and solar panels. The tribe expects to have evaluation results after the 1998-99 winter heating season.

For more information, contact: Jerry Snell or Andy Quetone, (918) 456-0671

ARIZONA

NativeSUN, a project of the Hopi Foundation in Kykotsmovi, Arizona, has been installing solar electric (photovoltaic or PV) systems since 1987.

"The purpose of the project is to increase the awareness of Hopi and other indigenous peoples about renewable technologies and demonstrate a community's ability to sustain an ecologically healthy environment for the future and current generations," said Debby Tewa, program director.

NativeSUN has installed more than 200 photovoltaic systems on the Hopi and Navajo Reservations. It has extended its services to non-Indians and has placed photovoltaic systems near the communities of Flagstaff and Winslow, Arizona. Most customers use their PV systems for lighting, television, kitchen appliances and small power tools.

"We educate people as well as install and sell solar electric systems and other environmentally safe products. NativeSUN does not only empower customers to become their own utility company, but to also live in a way that does not exploit the earth's valuable resources," Tewa added. She said an estimated 10,000 families living on isolated American Indian reservations have no electricity.

The project has begun to introduce other products that meet the needs of its rural clientele. Those products include composting toilets, solar water heaters and solar water pumping systems.

The program has about $250,000 available to loan to potential customers. The average loan is $6,000 at 12 percent interest over four years. The program offers senior citizens 62 years and older a discounted interest rate of 8 percent.

NativeSUN also emphasizes education. It operates an Energy Demonstration/Training Center on the main highway of the Hopi Reservation. The Center displays available technology, holds hands-on demonstrations on the environment and ecology, and works with the schools to educate the next generation. The organization sent its experts to Ecuador to train in the installation of solar box cookers, then brought Ecuadorian natives to the Hopi Reservation to be trained in photovoltaic system installation.

For more information, contact Tewa at P.O. Box 660, Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039; (520) 734-2553; email: hopisolar@aol.com

OTHER PROJECTS

Other examples of renewables installation in low-income homes involve building projects by Habitat for Humanity.

Two affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International Inc. have recently installed solar hot water heating systems. Lynchburg Habitat in Lynchburg, Virginia, developed a program, "Saving with Solar," in which at least 36 solar water heating systems have been installed thus far in new Habitat homes. Conservative estimates suggest 50 percent reduction in hot water heating costs, for monthly savings of 210 kWh, which translates to $150 per year for the Habitat homeowners.

Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver in Denver, Colorado, partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Exemplary Buildings team in designing a low-energy home. The house integrates low energy building strategies and techniques into low-income housing. Energy efficient features include a solar water heating system. The installed cost for the system, which was donated by Dynamic Energy Group of Denver, would have been approximately $3,000. The yearly savings versus natural gas water heating at $.55 per therm is $152. Yearly savings versus electric water heating at $.08 per kWh is $384.

Page Last Updated: December 7, 2005