A new scheme will offer bank financing for rooftop solar installations in an effort to accelerate Cayman’s renewable energy drive.
GreenTech Energy has partnered with Cayman National Bank for the ‘Solar For All’ initiative, which it says will democratise access to solar energy.
Customers can get a $0 down-payment, 100% loan to fund up to a 10 kilowatt home solar system, which costs around $25,000.
GreenTech CEO James Whittaker said such systems typically save consumers around $300 a-month on energy bills.
Even with the monthly loan repayments, he said those who invest would be in profit on a monthly basis.
Whittaker, who has been pushing for such a partnership for some time, sees the initiative as key to spreading rooftop solar throughout the Cayman Islands.
Currently, only 7MW of electricity is powered by solar panels on residential properties – equivalent to around 700 of the 31,000 homes in Grand Cayman.
The National Energy Policy has set a target of increasing that by a factor of 10 to put 70MW of rooftop solar on the grid. That’s one element of a wider strategy, also involving substantial investment in solar farms, to increase the proportion of Cayman’s total energy requirements derived from renewable sources to 70% by 2037.
The only way that is going to happen, says Whittaker, is if banks help to fund the transition.
“I have been hearing for years that solar is only for the rich. I have always said that is because financing is not available to consumers and regulation has always constrained capacity,” he said.
“I always found it frustrating that banks would allow you to borrow for a car, which is a depreciating asset, but not solar, which is an appreciating and income-producing asset.”
He said the new partnership with CNB, which offers loans over 20 years with interest rates fixed at 4.5% for the first seven years, changes that dynamic.
For the first time, a family with their own home and limited disposable income can go green.
“This is about solar for all,” he said. “The lower cost solar repayments replace your CUC bill savings, giving you a net financial benefit monthly.
“If we don’t do something like this, the majority of people adopting solar will be those at the top of the economic pyramid. Most locals simply don’t have $25,000 available up front.”
For GreenTech, the policy has the obvious beneficial side-effect of creating more potential customers.
Whittaker sees this as a win-win-win for the company, the consumers and the country, which has set ambitious renewable energy targets.
Capacity for new solar on the national grid could be a potential stumbling block. But the long impasse between regulators, CUC and the rooftop solar industry appears to be close to being resolved.
Typically, utilities regulator OfReg and CUC have released new tranches of capacity for solar in 1MW tranches – equivalent to around 100 homes – amid concerns that adding too much solar, too quickly would destabilise the grid.
But once new battery storage comes online next year, another 12MW will be available. In the interim, OfReg and CUC are working to make more capacity available to new solar customers.
Both OfReg and CUC confirmed that the new battery will mean significant new capacity for ‘distributed generation’ – the industry term for small-scale solar projects.
GreenTech Energy will be holding a financing launch event at its sales centre at A. L. Thompson’s on Saturday from 11am until 2pm to promote the new ‘solar for all’ initiative.
Those who attend the launch event will also receive the added benefit of saving $1,000 off their solar system.
James Whittaker, CEO of GreenTech, and James Whittaker, the writer of this article, are not related.
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