Shining A Light On Residential Solar

U.S. consumers spent on average $1,760 on electricity in 2023, second only to gasoline. And those residential electricity costs are expected to increase 13-18 percent by 2026. Why? Blame it on infrastructure changes needed for data centers. They supply computational power for AI and cryptocurrency and help drive up the cost as power companies pass them on to consumers. Some residents are hoping residential solar panels will save them money. 

Interview guests: Julien Dumoulin-Smith, managing director Jeffries; Andy Holzhauser, co-owner Donovan Energy; Zach McGuire, executive director Columbus Region Green Fund; Andrew Garth, executive vice president and general counsel The Port; Madeline Yozwiak, led study on the effect residential solar has on energy insecurity; Chris Heckman, Pleasant Cake, LLC; Lewis Connel, sales director Sustainergy

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Transcript

Ann Thompson:

Demand for electricity is surging. Power grid operators warn there could be shortages beginning in the next couple of years in Ohio. What's causing the concern? In part data centers which provide the essential infrastructure for AI. Ohio is in the top 10 with nearly 200. These centers are a drain on electricity. 

Julien Dumoulin-Smith:

Electricity bills are going up directly because they're competing with data centers for electricity.

Ann Thompson:

This AI revolution is driving up the cost of residential electricity because of all the infrastructure needed. Some homeowners are hoping rooftops solar will offset their higher utility bills.

Andy Holzhauser:

For many homeowners, regardless of income, their energy bills are a lot of times their second or third largest cost.

Ann Thompson:

This woman couldn't put solar on her house because of too many trees, so she put it on her horse barn and is soaking up the savings.

Catherine Estill:

I've only received one electric bill a year, mid-winter for the extra heating, so we're quite pleased.

Ann Thompson:

Another challenge, beating federal deadlines to take advantage of tax credits. 

Jeff Spies:

Effectively, the price for cash and loan purchases of solar is going to go up 30% on January 1st, 2026.

Ann Thompson:

On this episode: residential solar. Do the savings outweigh the costs? What renters get out of it and are there enough residential rooftop handles to mitigate carbon emissions? Let's get into it. This is Brick by Brick: Solutions for a Thriving Community.

Ame Clase:

Brick by Brick is made possible thanks to leading support from Greater Cincinnati Foundation, AES Foundation and George and Margaret McLane Foundation, with additional major support from Laurie    Johnston, The Robert & Adelle Schiff Family Foundation, Murray and Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation and more. Thank you

Ann Thompson:

Hello and welcome to Brick by Brick, where we're highlighting solutions for a thriving community in southwest Ohio. I'm your host, Ann Thompson. Five million US homes have rooftop solar. That's about 7%. The number of houses has tripled since 2017 and before recent changes to federal tax credits were announced, solar overall was on track to become the largest source of electricity generation in the US by 2050 analysts, Julien Dumoulin-Smith, managing director at the global investment banking firm. Jeffries covers the power utilities in clean energy sectors. He says California has been the epicenter for the residential solar conversation.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith:

I talk about California being sort of a leading indicator of trends in energy and electricity in the environment, and I think in this way its manifestation really is a leading indicator of residential solar where rates went up, consumers looked around and said, what can I do to mitigate the increases, especially as I myself might be consuming more.

Ann Thompson:

Why do we need an increasing amount of electricity for one to support data centers? You know those gigantic warehouses, housing, computer equipment to propel things like cryptocurrency and AI. Ohio is nearly 200 of them. Most are near Columbus, 20 are in Cincinnati, and a handful of them are in suburban Dayton. Northern Virginia is known as the data center alley because it has the most, more than 500. One study found data centers would drive up that state's energy usage 183% by 2040 across the country. Many people are concerned the infrastructure needed will increase their residential utility bills.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith:

And I think what we're seeing, especially in the Mid-Atlantic of late, there are bills going up in a rather acute way, driven by the factors that we're talking about that are data centers, right? First and foremost, and again, in a world in which it's not just the need to sort of drive inflation because construction materials and the sector itself is building out rapidly, but in this way, electricity bills are going up directly because they're competing with data centers for electricity.

Ann Thompson:

AES Ohio has filed for a 14% increase, which if approved would force customers in Dayton and other parts of the state to pay $261 more a year. The other supplier, Duke Energy, started increasing electricity rates this summer for Cincinnati residents. The 25% hike translates into an average $10 extra a month. Both companies say they need to cover the cost of infrastructure improvements. AES Ohio Foundation is a supporter of Brick by Brick. This leaves homeowners looking for solutions. Rooftop solar is one way to lower electricity bills. Most households use 811 kilowatt hours per month, and the average 18 solar panels generates more than that, but it's gotten harder to finance residential solar panels given upcoming changes to the federal tax code under the budget reconciliation bill homeowners have until December 31st to install solar panels and lock in the 30% tax credit in the following years. Leasing companies will essentially take over the market and indirectly pass savings onto the consumer.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith:

It's not as if, oh, the clock strikes midnight and if you haven't installed it and interconnected it to your utility, you don't qualify. It's not quite that simple, right? Actually, they're third party leasing companies. Think about this as like your consumer car lease, if you will, right? Think about the analog here, right? Where you have these residential solar companies that can offer you a lease and because they're commercial entity leasing, their tax credit doesn't actually expire yet, and so you'll see the industry extend well beyond the end of 2025 and the tactical expiration of the consumer credit under the guise of these leasing arrangements, right?

Ann Thompson:

There's a lot of fine print and you can find that on our websites, thinktv.org and cetconnect.org. As you might expect, interested, homeowners are flooding the market to install rooftop solar before the end of the year to get the tax credits. Both Cincinnati and Dayton sustainability offices are getting lots of questions on the new rule changes and ramifications Brick by Brick’s. Hernz Laguerre Jr. checked in with a couple of homeowners who already have it and one who's adding more

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

As the sun rises in the West End neighborhood, the energy bills fall in Chris Heckman's 1870s home.

Chris Heckman:

Our interaction with the grid, it's less energy. If you were the power company, if you were Duke looking at our house, you would assume that it's a much smaller house because of the amount of energy that we're using.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Chris's home is fully electric and his dependence on the electrical grid is less because of the energy his solar panels bring into his net zero home.

Chris Heckman:

Net zero means that you are generating most of the energy that your house is also consuming.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Chris has a battery in the basement of his home that stores electricity generated by the solar panel. There is even an app to track the amount of energy being used throughout the house,

Chris Heckman:

So right now you can see that the energy is coming down from the roof and going to the battery to power up the battery and going to the house represented by the windows and right now the grid, I'm not using any grid power. It's at zero

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

At 3,600 square feet. Chris pays about $160 a month in electric bills in a house where his wife and their two kids stay depending on the season. Hughes uses about 25 to 60 kilowatts a day, and his solar panels generate a little bit less than that. Chris doesn't only want to sustain his energy

Chris Heckman:

Usage as small as our row home is. We're able to generate about half of the electricity that our home uses throughout the year. Chris also wants to sustain the environment other than collecting free energy from the sun. It also doesn't emit any of the gases that cause climate change or cause the atmosphere to trap some of the heat that comes from the sun. It's part of what we call clean energy for that reason, and I hope that everybody will consider looking into solar for their homes. For that reason,

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Chrisman believe in this clean energy model so much he installed solar arrays on his new residential property called Pleasant Flats. I'm standing on top of this five unit residential building created by his development company called Pleasant Cake, LLC. The solar energy will be converted into electricity to meet the specific needs of the residents. Any access energy goes back into the grid in a process called net metering. Will the solar array provide immediate cost savings for the residents

Chris Heckman:

That move in the costs associated with the business running the business? That'll be lower because of the solar panels, so the residents will, I guess by extension get a little bit of a a cut there, but Chris tells me there's other ways to save Solar's really great, but insulation works 24 7 and that is the biggest thing that as far as our residents are concerned, is going to save them the most money.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Also looking to save the most money Catherine and Eric Estill in the Village of Mainville in Warren County, they put their solar panels on the roof of their horse barn because they have trees that shave the roof of their house for the ES stills. Solar panels have been

Catherine Estill:

Very successful. I've only received one electric bill a year, mid-winter for the extra heating, so we're quite pleased with the results,

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

But there's one thing that propelled them to go solar in the first place.

Catherine Estill:

We had considered it earlier, like about 10 years ago. At that time, the payback wasn't sufficient, but with a 30% federal rebate that was attractive. We got that money back right away. Well, almost right away

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

By the end of the year, that rebate is going away due to the reconciliation bill. With all the changes soon to be affecting the solar industry, I reach out to Louis Connell, the director of sales for the Solar and Insulation company, sustain energy. They're the same company being used on pleasant flats using solar for electricity. Is that the future?

Lewis Connel

Yeah. 

Hernz Laguerre Jr.

Why?

Lewis Connel:

The Grid burden is only growing, but the supply is not. Renewables are inevitable because renewables are scalable, they're cheaper, and they're a lot more sustainable, so they're better for the pocket of everybody and they're a lot more better for the earth.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Between the removal of the solar credits by the federal government and the supply and demand of the solar panels, the solar energy industry will be facing different challenges in the near future. One of those challenges is folks trying to get their solar credits for companies like Sustainer Energy Lewis tells me that people should place their orders in early fall to get their solar panels on time. Ann?

Ann Thompson:

Thanks Hernz. We'll talk to you later in the episode. As you heard in Hernz's story, paying for rooftop solar is not easy. On average, a system costs 20 to $30,000. Solar panels in Ohio are more an average of 33,000. Federal tax credits expiring at the end of the year would pay 10,000 of that without tax credits, it would take 17 years for homeowners to earn back their solar investments. There are federal, state, and local grants and rebates through utility companies you might be able to get. How do you cover what's left? Andy Holzhauser is and co-owner of Donovan Energy in Cincinnati. He says a traditional bank isn't usually an option despite a green mindset,

Andy Holzhauser:

A home or a building that is more efficient….there's a lot of data in the marketplace that says it's a more stable building financially. You're reducing operating costs in that Homer building and thus the Homer building owner has greater ability to repay a loan. That said, it's hard to just go to a bank and get an off the shelf financing product.

Ann Thompson:

Green banks offer savings. The nonprofit Columbus Region Green Fund is one. Later this year it will offer a loan that's not determined by your credit score. It's underwritten on your ability to pay, like sending in your utility bill on time. That's important if you don't have a good credit score and executive director, Zach McGuire is also encouraging apartment building owners to get solar and pass the savings onto their renters. The organization does this by having contracts with both of them.

Zach McGuire:

That can be done in a couple of different ways. That can be done through direct utility bill management. So if it's a sub-metered facility, meaning every unit has a meter, the owners of those facilities can actually track the impact on the meter. So each resident sees that utility cost savings or if there's a master meter, meaning there's not individual meters in each unit, you can actually pass through those same financial savings that you would otherwise get on utility bill through rent reduction

Ann Thompson:

Or some other type of benefit that is equivalent financially coming up on brick by brick. How underserved communities can benefit from rooftop solar?

Andrew Garth:

We're confident that we're going to be able to do it. The question is just what types of resources will we ban together in order to make it happen

Ann Thompson:

And what research shows about the effects it can have on the household energy burden.

Madeline Yozwiak:

Our paper is one small part of that effort to identify solutions.

Ann Thompson:

That's ahead on Brick by Brick

Ame Clase:

Brick by Brick is made possible thanks to the generous support of so many, including Diane and Dave Moccia, P & G, The Camden Foundation,  The Stephen H. Wilder Foundation, TJ and Susie Ackermann, Patti and Fred Heldman, a donation in memory of Frank and Margaret Linhardt, and more. Thank you. We couldn't do this work without you.

Mark Lammers:

A thriving community is not just a place, a stretch of sidewalk or the buildings. It's also the people that call it home, that interact with it every day. That's us, you and I. Hi, I'm Mark Lammers, executive producer for Brick By Brick. Whether it's about housing, health, the environment, or a neighborhood need or innovation, we want to hear your thoughts. Your input helps guide the solutions journey that we're all on together and the feedback is also important for Brick by Brick. To give us your thoughts, just click the link in the podcast show notes or explore all of our solutions stories on the webpage and click the big green button to share the latest from your neighborhood building community around solutions. It's just another service and benefit of your local public media. Thank you.

Ann Thompson:

Welcome back to Brick by Brick. How much sun does Ohio get anyway, and is it enough to make rooftop solar worthwhile? The state averages more than 170 sunny days a year, and on a government fact sheet said in 2024, Ohio had an installed solar capacity of 3,600 megawatts. That's not just residential solar. The 3,600 megawatts is enough to power about 464,000 homes. Cincinnati says it's working toward a higher department of energy designation to reduce solar energy barriers, clarify and simplify the process and improve solar market conditions. Both Cincinnati and Dayton have solar farms to generate power. We'll cover solar farms on another episode of Brick by Brick. Five Ohio communities, including Cincinnati and Dayton, we're looking forward to receiving millions of federal dollars to provide solar to low to moderate income residents. But the federal government has canceled the program called Solar for All. In Cincinnati, director of Environment and Sustainability Ollie Kroner says the money was designated for a community solar array on a former landfill designed to save 1300 low-income residents, 20% on their electric bill. Dayton planned to use the money for 900 rooftop solar installations for low-income households. Kroner and Dayton Sustainability manager, Meg Maloney are now trying to regroup. in this statement the five Ohio cities say electricity bills and broader cost of living expenses are rising and the Trump administration is cutting a program that would save participating Ohio households on average nearly $400 per year on their utility bills. They say terminating solar for all funding, including grants Emiko Moorealready awarded, is harmful. 

Beyond that, Ohio has a solar renewable energy certificate where every one megawatt hour of renewable energy generates a credit. You can buy or sell this certificate with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, but because there's an oversupply, this might not translate into much savings for the homeowner with increasing government cutbacks. How can low to moderate income homeowners access rooftop solar? There may be a way in Cincinnati that's scalable in other cities. It's a pilot program from the quasi-governmental agency, The Port, of eight new income restricted homes built in Walnut Hills on Concord Avenue selling for 220,000 four have solar panels. Alex Powers just bought one.

Alex Powers:

I mean, we live in a world of Duke Energy. There's really much other options out there for us to get energy from, so it's like whatever they say goes, and if there's anything I can do to bring that price down, especially in an all-electric home, I'll take it.

Ann Thompson:

The Port, as part of the Hamilton County Land Bank's Residential Solar Initiative used expiring federal tax credits and fronted the rest of the cost. It installed 13 solar panels on the south facing roof of each home. That's a $16,000 system, which the homeowner will lease at zero cost for five years. The port's executive vice president and general counsel Andrew Garth says after five years he or she owns the system and can transfer it to a new homeowner when the property is sold.

Andrew Garth:

We at the port have a focus on sustainability and environmental issues generally that challenge, especially low income and disadvantaged neighborhoods, so ranging from environmental justice issues to brownfield's cleanup, solar is an option that we started considering when we saw some of the federal funding coming through, and this generated really a dialogue among a whole host of public and private partners, the city, the county, Cincinnati Development Fund, the Cincinnati Business Committee, and others. We worked in order to make a model that could be applied more broadly.

Ann Thompson:

The Port says this is scalable even without the federal tax credits. He estimates a monthly $100 savings for the homeowner translating into $13,000 over a decade. 

Meanwhile, PhD candidate Madeline Yozwiak who studies clean energy and issues related to climate change in the electricity system wanted to find out how much of a financial boost having rooftops solar would give the low to moderate income. So she led a study to find out it was a collaboration between her Energy Justice Lab at Indiana University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Their findings showed that rooftop solar does lead to a large reduction in energy insecurity among low to moderate income households within the us

Madeline Yozwiak:

It's between a 15 to 46% reduction across the different measures that we looked at and the different types of energy and security are the indicators that we asked households about include their ability to pay their utility bill each month, their ability to keep their home at a comfortable temperature and their likelihood of needing to forego needed expenses in order to afford their utility

Ann Thompson:

Bill. The effect was even greater if the homeowner was able to save up for the entire system rather than leasing it over time.

Madeline Yozwiak:

And what that suggests to us is that because households who pay monthly now sort of trade one utility bill for a lower utility bill, but a solar payment plan of some form, whether that's a lease or a loan, their net savings month to month can be lower than sort of this absolute reduction for the households who pay upfront.

Ann Thompson:

Yozwiak says the savings from solar can be greater as electricity becomes more expensive. She wants to load to moderate income to have options. 

Madeline Yozwiak:

Our paper is one small part of that effort to identify solutions, but I think whether or not there are going to be funds to deliver that solution and whether the cost of that solution changes in the near term, it's going to be difficult to say.

Ann Thompson:

One thing we haven't talked about too much is the economics of solar and how it can benefit a community. Here's the executive director of the Columbus Region Green Fund, Zach McGuire, again.

Zach McGuire:

We had a study done by Ohio University as to what would the impact be. Theoretically, we deploy 40 megawatts worth of community based solar projects both at the residential and sort of multifamily level. And that's where we found by doing that study that just 40 megawatts of solar would create 600 jobs, 600 new jobs. It would create upwards of $120 million in economic impact. And over the term, over the life of those solar projects, it would actually create millions of dollars in actual savings to the nonprofits and their utility costs.

Ann Thompson:

As you might guess, repealing the solar tax credits could have a negative effect on the economy. According to the economic impacts of repealing technology-Neutral tax credit study, By 2032 19 states, including Ohio would see higher energy prices and fewer jobs. Its estimated Ohio would have nearly 6,000 fewer jobs, an increase of 6% in electricity prices for households and a 10% increase for businesses. We'll be watching the impact. 

We have links to a lot of the information we've been telling you about on our website. Some of it can be complicated at cetconnect.org and think tv.org. On the website, there's a big green button where you can also tell your housing story and any solutions that you think we should all get behind. That's also where you'll find web articles, videos, and links to our TV docuseries.

All right, we're all back together again to talk takeaways and we welcome to the microphone Emiko Moore.

Emiko Moore:

Hello, Anne 

Ann Thompson:

And Hernz Laguerre Jr. 

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Hello. 

Ann Thompson:

Solar panels are expensive and low to moderate income. Residents may not be able to easily access the panels and have the money to pay for them. Many people were disappointed to hear that the Solar for All program is going away. Cities who were trying to fund programs to serve low to moderate income residents, but there may be another way. The Port here in Cincinnati is pretty innovative and even with the federal tax credits going away, they are putting solar panels on affordable housing that they have built, and the way they're doing that is yes, they use the federal tax credits, but they realize that was just 3000 of the 16,000. They think they can come up with that and they are trying to get the business community to come forward and the port just fronted the rest. So that's the way they were able to put solar panels on the houses for the residents for free.

Emiko Moore:

What's interesting is their estimated monthly savings for these homeowners would be a hundred dollars a month and huge. That could be a huge impact for these low to moderate income families. Even if you are on a fixed income, that's a huge savings. That's a car payment, that's a medical bill payment or for parents getting school supplies.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

It is a great savings. I hate to be the Debbie Downer in the group, but similarly to how when we covered the port during our first episode of Brick by Brick, we discovered that a lot of people admired what they were doing, but they weren't able to replicate it in their city. So similarly to the solar program, it's great, but I wonder can people replicate it and will it have the same impact as those federal credits?

Ann Thompson:

I don't see you as the Debbie Downer. I see you as the realist. 

That is a good point. I asked that question to the Port and they are discussing with the Ohio Department of Development ways to have just a plug and place system for other communities because it is true. The Port has a lot of power and they have a lot of money. Not all communities have that, but maybe there still is a way to get the business community onboard, raise enough funds that they can serve this part of the community.

Emiko Moore:

I really like this forward thinking that the Port is doing,

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

And I do appreciate and I do look forward to seeing how they react and how this program will have an impact. But regardless, I think the solar industry will face some ebbs and flows in the next couple of years. Louis Connell from Sustainergy told me that although the solar industry will take a hit because of the solar credits going away and just because of businesses might be going bankrupt, the solar energy is here to stay, especially because of our overdependence of the grid and just our search for finding other ways to get energy. So I think there's a lot to look forward to, a lot of questions left unanswered, but yeah, we're going to stick to it

Ann Thompson:

And we can answer some of those questions in our web articles. So check it out, cetconnect.org and thinktv.org. Thanks guys.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

No problem.

Emiko Moore:

Thank you. 

Ann Thompson

Coming up on the next Brick by Brick, too many pedestrians and cyclists are getting hit by cars. How can we make our streets safer?

Mel McVay :

My goal is really to build something like the raised crosswalk that is effective but also still feels kind of smooth when you drive over it.

Ann Thompson:

Yes, there is a science to the speed hump. We take a closer look at that solution and others. That's our show. If you like what you hear, please rate and review our podcast. It makes it easier to find. We hope you learned something, and if you did, please tell your friends and family about it. For Hernz Laguerre Jr. and Emiko Moore, I'm Ann Thompson. We'll be back soon with more solutions. Take care. 

Our show is produced, hosted an edited by me, Ann Thompson with reporting and story editing from Hernz Laguerre Jr. and Emiko Moore. Our Executive producer of Mark Lammers. Audio sweetening provided by Mike Schwartz. Zach Kramer runs the lights and cameras. Derrick Smith is our production specialist and Jason Garrison is our production manager. Kellie May heads up our marketing and promotions, along with Mike Shea and Bridgett Dillenburger. Elyssa Stefenson handles the website and Josh Lusby and Steve Wright are our designers. Bill Dean and Andres Kruza are the engineers for the show and our Chief Content Officer is Colin Scianamblo. Our music is from Universal Production Music. Brick by Brick: Solutions for a Thriving Community is a production of CET and ThinkTV, Southwest Ohio PBS member stations.