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+--- Thread: Honda free solar PV installation promo (/showthread.php?tid=11495)
Honda free solar PV installation promo - pahoated - 02-22-2013
Honda is starting a promo, which includes Hawaii, for customers to get free solar PV installation in partnership with Solarcity. Honda just covers the actual installation labor costs, not the solar panel system. Solarcity is a startup of Elon Musk, founder of Tesla electric car and SpaceX. Solarcity is a strictly grid-tie solar PV installer. They provide the option to pay for the system up front or pay the grid tie difference over 20 years, when the installation is turned over to the owner. Solarcity also specializes in providing all the permitting, structural and electrical engineering. They keep the tax credit up front. With the monthly plan, the home owner pays the utility electric bill for the usage off-solar.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/02/honda-offers-free-home-solar-systems/
Honda Offers Free Home Solar Systems
http://www.hondasolarcity.com/
One thing about Solarcity, they are very grid tied. They will provide a small lithium battery backup pack, but if there is a utility power outage, their solar PV system switches off. Solarcity provided the Kona airport panel installation, so they have some presence on the BI. They recently made a deal with a New Mexico utility to provide electricity at 6 cents per kilowatt-hour (compared to our HELCO 42 cents per kilowatt-hour). They also appear to be rolling out large amorphous panels without individual solar cells.
With solar, it always ends up with the batteries, the only workable storage for the time being. Then there is the problem of extended outages. This is where a Toyota Prius comes in. The rumor is the 2014 model will be plug-in ready and designed to allow for what some people have already hacked it to do, act as a backup power generator for the house.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/11/12/heres-how-a-new-jersey-man-used-the-gas-in-his-prius-to-power-his-house-for-a-week/
HERE’S HOW A NEW JERSEY MAN USED THE GAS IN HIS PRIUS TO POWER HIS HOUSE FOR A WEEK
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