The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/MtCO4F) that residents in the Harmony Neighborhood Development are putting solar panels on their homes.
The development, being built by a nonprofit, is being constructed using federal funding to convert vacant and blighted properties into the new affordable housing.
Entergy New Orleans has approximately 760 customers who are connected to its grid who use solar panels, according to Entergy spokesperson Jolene Stein.
Denise Patton, a new homeowner in the Harmony development, said she was looking forward to getting her first utility bill in the mail.
Falling prices of solar panels have made the equipment attractive to consumers in recent years.
But Harmony and other nonprofit developers have been able to afford solar panels, once considered too expensive and out of the reach of search projects, through to initiative from Make It Right, Which established a separate, for-profit entity to leverage the available tax credits and lower the upfront costs for others.
Under the deal, Make It Right Solar buys the equipment and pays for its installation, covering up to 80 percent of the cost of the panels with federal and state tax credits.
In Central City, where eight homes have been equipped with the panels built by Harmony, residents have taken notice.
Cutno said that while the solar arrays would cost between $ 15,000 and Typically $ 24,000 each, the arrangement has enabled the costs to drop to around $ 3.400 to $ 6,000, Depending on the size of the system
Overall, Make It Right has done about 45 solar installations outside of the Lower 9th Ward, where the Brad Pitt-led push to rebuild the storm-ravaged neighborhood with affordable, energy-efficient housing start got it.
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