Power-purchase agreements reduce cost of solar panels

Lynette Bunyard and Joe Pambianco wanted to add solar panels to the roof of their downtown San Jose home. But instead of shelling out $47,000 for the installation, they found a popular alternative financing method for those who want to go green but don’t want to go broke in the process.

The couple used a power-purchase agreement, or PPA in industry lingo, transacted through a San Francisco company called SunRun. The company works with a homeowner and a solar-installation company; it finances the deal; it owns and operates the solar system, and sells the homeowner the electricity being generated on the homeowner’s roof at a fixed rate (13.5 cents per kilowatt hour) for 18 years.

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