Learn the “Power” of a Power Purchase Agreement.
It’s Like Rent Control for Your Electric Bill!
Being part of a non-profit organization can offer truly rewarding positives, as well as some cash-constrained negatives. On the one hand, you get to “save the world,” to make a difference in your chosen passion and get paid to do it!
The downside of being a non-profit, though, is that funds are tight, and ever
y penny counts. You want to put what money you have to use fighting for your cause and supporting your mission. But you also need to keep the organization up and running, and that costs money, too.
One way that non-profits are making a long-term investment in their business and their cause is by lowering operating expenses through the pursuit of energy improvements that decrease electricity costs and benefit the environment. What better time to reassess these expenses than Energy Awareness Month? Traditional energy sources such as coal and petroleum may fluctuate in price, but over time their cost trends go continuously upward. In fact, a recent report from Wiser Capital shows that utility rates continue to escalate year after year. If you could lock in the price you pay for electricity today, in other words, in 10 (or even 5) years you would be paying far less on average than you will otherwise.
When you invest in solar through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), you can reap the benefits of that difference by locking in a significantly discounted current price of electricity. PPAs allow your organization to obtain emission-free energy by funneling the cost of the solar panels into so-called “electricity payments” at a discount that is as high as 15-30%. In Sunvestment Energy Group’s Community Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA), there are even opportunities to have local or regional investors help to fund the CPPA. Your organization saves money through this method of solar financing, and your investors earn an attractive return on their investment.
These agreements also generally run between 20 and 25 years, so you’ll know long-term what you‘ll be paying for your power; it’s like rent control for your electric bill!
Mid-sized installations on small commercial buildings range from 50kW to 1 MW and offer their owners the potential to save hundreds of thousands of dollars during the lifetime of their solar system. In fact, most systems save about $4,000 per kW installed over the life of the system.
Just think for a minute–what could your organization do if it had several thousand extra dollars each year? Could you hire another person? Engage with more donors? Build a better website?
Sticking with traditional utilities puts you at the whim of a corporation that is starting to feel the increasing demand of a rising population mingled with diminishing supply. When demand is high and supply is low, there is only one direction price can go, and that’s up.
A visit to sunvestmentgroup.com could be all it takes to reset the cost curve. Our online platform standardizes and streamlines the collection of project documents, and our solar advisors can help determine if going solar with a PPA or CPPA is the right plan for you. Take a few moments to learn more, and it will be easier than ever to put your non-profit on the road to measurable energy savings.