A new solar plus battery storage installation at the Salem home of Lisa Talbott-Wafer and her husband, Virgil Wafer, marks the 30,000th solar project supported by Energy Trust of Oregon. More importantly for Lisa and Virgil’s family, it marks the point when they traded high energy bills and outage worries for energy independence and peace of mind.
Over the past 22 years, Energy Trust has been a leading force in growing Oregon’s solar industry, bringing the benefits of clean renewable power to Oregon families and businesses through individual, community solar and utility scale projects that, together, created more than 256.5 megawatts of clean energy. This work includes supporting community resilience by promoting distributed generation and encouraging the adoption of solar + storage systems. We do this through cash incentives that lower costs, consumer guidance for solar decisions and access to licensed, qualified installers via our Trade Ally Network.
A trustworthy Energy Trust trade ally contractor and cash incentives are exactly what helped the project come together for Lisa and Virgil.
“We got a few bids that were quite expensive and the only rebates or tax credits they mentioned were federal,” said Lisa, who then took a friend’s recommendation and contacted Pure Energy Group, an Energy Trust solar trade ally.
Pure Energy Group explained that based on household income they were eligible for increased incentives from Energy Trust totaling $20,200 for the solar and battery storage, which significantly reduced installation costs. (The family also installed a new gas furnace with help from Energy Trust incentives.)
The news of increased incentives was a welcome relief for Lisa. She was searching for a way to control growing energy bills for the 2,300-square-foot home where they have lived for 30 years and raised their children, Keegan and Kelsie. Now the family’s solar panels, installed on an outbuilding behind their house, are projected to generate more than 17,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. That dropped the most recent electric bill for their 2,300-square-foot home to less than $16 — just the basic utility service fee.
After dealing with ice storms over the past several years, the family also wanted battery storage to supply backup power from their solar panels. They already had a portable generator, but with limited capacity. The new battery storage makes the most of their solar power so now they are better prepared for extended outages.
Overall, Lisa describes adding solar + storage as a big win: “I like that we’re not leaving such a huge carbon footprint and that we’re putting energy back into the grid. Our bill is a lot less and, with the incentives, the cost isn’t prohibitive. This was definitely the right choice for us. And the surprise of being Energy Trust’s 30,000th customer to benefit from going solar was a cherry on the top.”
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