AllEath Renewables offers solar leasing in VT

AllEath Renewables offers solar lesingAllEarth Renewables is getting into a new part of the solar industry.

While the Vermont company has had tremendous success with its AllSun solar trackers and expanded outside of the state up and down the East Coast and now farther west, it’s concentrating on its home state for its next move.

AllEarth Renewables announced this week that it’s offering third-party solar leasing to Vermont residents. The financing model will allow residents to install solar with no upfront cost and lease one to four AllSun Trackers for seven years with a guaranteed 10 percent savings on their electric bill before being allowed to buy the system at a significant discount.

Third-party financing has become the most popular method of going solar nationwide, with leases making up almost 80 percent of new solar installations in California in 2012. But major solar leasing companies like SolarCity and Sunrun don’t have a presence in the Vermont, said AllEarth spokesman Andrew Savage.

“Many of the national solar leasing companies have bypassed smaller markets,” Savage said. “And while they’re smaller, we believe they also have huge potential to be profitable markets.”

AllEarth Renewables got its start in Vermont and initially engineered its systems for the Vermont landscape, which Savage said makes the product well-suited for most residents.

“As a company that offers a product that is best-suited for rural or semi-suburban areas, we think there’s tremendous opportunity for us in leasing here.”

The program mirrors one AllEarth Renewables offered Vermont communities in past years when residents, community organizations and businesses installed 1,400 AllSun Trackers.

“This is a program specifically for our home state customers in Vermont,” Savage said. “But we are looking into opportunities for national solar leasing.”