3rd Party Financing and System Ownership: It's Anything But a "Smackdown" Issue

Next week in Dallas (at Solar Power International) I will be moderating a discussion about the benefits and challenges of residential third-party financing and system ownership.  The event is a “Solar Idea Swap,” and the title of the event is “Ownership vs. 3rd Party Financing Smackdown in Residential PV. “

While the provocative title is meant to recruit participants with both knowledge and first-hand experience of both types of PV sales, there is a danger that it also recruits people frustrated with the fast growing financing providers and financing providers irritated by misconceptions about their business model.

The goal of the workshop is NOT to generate a large pile of complaints. It’s not worth our time to hear about installers who feel disadvantaged by finance providers, and finance providers who feel they are suffering undue scrutiny. The residential PV business is hard enough without quality solar providers working against each other. After all, our efforts are better spent on sub-par and short-term installers leaving iffy projects in their wake.

The interesting part of the consumer financing issue is: what is working and how can we make it work better?

Rather than foment more controversy in the marketplace, let’s use this upcoming discussion to clarify that purchasing PV power is a win-win solution, no matter who owns the equipment. For instance, here is a "straw man" list of financing-related topics in the residential market:

Unique benefits:

Common Misconceptions:

What we (likely) agree on:

These ideas and questions lead to thoughts about how to accelerate all residential PV sales. For instance: what if we could merge the unique benefits of 3^rd party financing into system ownership? What if the finance providers could provide low-interest loans for customers to own the system?  Could more pricing transparency – including the real costs to service the funders investment in a 3^rd party project – result in a healthier and more robust marketplace where consumers benefit from lower equipment prices?

I look forward to a positive and creative discussion next week. Hope to see you there.

Liz Merry owns Verve Solar Consulting, through which she teaches seminars (“Energy Careers and Business Opportunities,” for the Pacific Energy Center, and "Solar Business and Technical Sales Training” for Solar Energy International), writes solar business curriculum, and provides business and solar career consulting. Liz's latest resources and opinions can be found at  SolarToday.org/Liz and at VerveSol on Twitter.