With access to regional and federal tax incentives, an increasing number of businesses, governments and homeowners are investing in solar systems. The free, hour-long Web conference provided background information about the Northwest solar market and provided detailed explanations of two financing models, the "flip" model and the power purchase agreement (PPA) model.

Panelists included:

Sandra Walden, director and a managing partner for Commercial Solar Ventures and Real Energy Solutions

Shilpa Shah, Pacific Northwest business development director for MMA Renewable Ventures

Kacia Brockman, solar program manager for the Energy Trust of Oregon

If you missed the Web conference, you can listen to and watch the presentations and the question and answer session by clicking here:

To view the panelist’s presentations download the following PDFs:

Sandra Walden, The Perfect Solar Storm (PDF)

Shilpa Shah, PPA Financing Solutions for Solar PV in Oregon (PDF)

Kacia Brockman, Third party Ownership For Solar in Oregon (PDF)

The January 2008 installment of nwcurrent features a guest commentary by Russ Wright, founder and president of Portland-based Renewable NRG, a solar project developer that offers a financing solution that is a hybrid of the flip model and the PPA model.

To find presentations from nwcurrent's previous Web conferences, "Energy Efficiency and the Fifth Power Plan: A Utility Progress Report," or "How to Manage Climate Programs through Your Utility," go to www.nwcurrent.com/webconferences.