Solar made affordable for 'regular-income' households

After renting for her entire adult life, Amanda Mather came to Homewise in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2009 to purchase her first house. Coming from a family of Santa Fe artists, it was important to her to find a home where she could express her unique style.



Over the next six years, she worked on her house, both inside and out, transforming it into a bright, fun and inviting space. Once she had everything looking just right, she decided it was time to fulfill her next goal as a homeowner and investigate going solar.

Mather came back to Homewise in spring 2015 and became one of its first clients to tap into the Homewise SOL fund. The Solar Opportunity Loan (SOL) fund offers an interest rate of 6 percent for owners wanting to install a solar-voltaic system. Through this program, Homewise makes solar affordable and accessible for low- to-moderate-income families throughout New Mexico. The organization invites investors to participate; contributions are tax-deductible and are matched by Richard Khanlian and Ann Alexander, the couple who started the fund. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, New Mexico is poised to install 1,392 megawatts of solar electric capacity—a fivefold increase—over the next five years.

Mather worked with Darle Mier and Kate Preteska from the Homewise lending team to secure her financing and soon she was ready to start harnessing the power of the sun. Using a local solar company, she found the process of switching to solar simple and straight-forward.

"Homewise helped me through the loan process step-by-step and the solar company took care of everything else," she says.

Since Amanda went solar, she hasn't received a single electric bill, and her SOL loan payment is lower than what she used to pay to the electric company each month. For Mather, the best part of going solar is "knowing that I'm doing something to support a healthier environment, and saving money at the same time!"

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average cost of solar PV panels has dropped more than 60 percent and the cost of a solar electric system has dropped by about 50 percent since 2010, making solar home modifications a reasonable investment for homeowners.

Rachel Silva, Homewise marketing manager, says, "By making solar an affordable and accessible option for regular-income households, rather than a luxury reserved for the very wealthy, we have the opportunity to make a real impact not only on people's individual lives, but our community as a whole.