New Energy for Life matches roofs with PV installers

New Energy for Life matches homeowners with installers to lease roofs for PVWhile most people focus on finding the best deals to put solar on their home, Maryland-based New Energy for Life is taking a slightly different approach. The company has created an international database of homeowners that want to ‘rent’ their roofs to PV installers, allowing both the homeowners and the installers to get the benefits from installing a system.

Homeowners can register their rooftop with the service for $50, which lets solar installers know they’re interested in having PV on their roofs via a third-party-ownership-type model. Under the options, homeowners can get solar for no upfront costs, and the solar installers can accrue the incentive or share them with the homeowners. The homeowners will either pay a flat monthly fee for the power generated or allow the solar contractor to be paid by the utility for the power the system produces in excess of the homeowner’s electric usage.

“We have several thousand registered homeowners ready to rent their rooftops in exchange for solar energy,” said New Energy for Life CEO Nick Kalargyros. “To date we’ve matched up about 300.”

That’s not bad considering that the company only started up about six months ago.

While the residential third-party-ownership model has really taken a foothold in the U.S., most of New Energy’s sales have been international, according to Kalargyros.

“They’re scattered throughout the world. We have a few here and have a few on the West coast. But most of our solar installations are in Europe,” he said. Most of those installations have been in Northern Italy and parts of France and Spain.

The company also is working to expand its presence in the U.S. and is talking with some of the major companies that offer solar leases and power-purchase agreements. But the company also is working with independent installers and working on developing financing models to make it easier for homeowners and installers to arrange such deals.

“A solar company will try to find an option that will work for just about anyone,” Kalargyros said.

The company also is offering free, online training resources for potential solar installers. The resources are intended to help get construction workers and others back to work, according to Kalargyros.