A Westminister company is out to make solar power more affordable for residents and less intrusive in home design.
A bricklayer by trade, Tom Williams, president of Freedom Energy Solutions, set out to find affordable and alternative electrical power when he first heard that Baltimore Gas & Electric planned to raise residential utility rates.
“I started looking at how I could save our money,” Williams said.
He discovered that today?s solar power industry has technology that has cut in half the cost to install solar panels and substantially reduced the space needed for the panels.
The typical 6,000-watt system will produce 850 kilowatts to 1,050 kilowatts of electricity each month, Williams said.
For simplicity, say a power generator has the capability to produce up to 6,000 watts of electricity. That generator could produce between 850 to 1050 kilowatts per month. A total of 1,000 watts equals 1 kilowatt.
A typical home uses between 850 to 1,050 kilowatts per month.
Five years ago, a homeowner likely would have paid about $50,000 for that 6,000-watt solar system. Today, 6,000-watt system costs about $25,000.
The solar panels, which can go on the home?s roof, are about 62 inches long by 40 inches wide and about 2 inches thick.
Only two of those panels are needed with today?s solar technology compared to 36 such panels five years ago, according to Mitsubishi, the manufacturer of the new solar panels.
The new panels use a technology similar to a magnifying glass that basically uses more of the sun?s light wave spectrum to create more electricity.
According to the Maryland Energy Administration, home buyers can get a federal tax credit of $2,000 and a $2,000 state tax credit as well as a $3,000 rebate from the state for installing the system.
