ASH

A lot of people would be willing to embrace solar power or conservation if they only could wade their way through the intricacies of the various programs.

Is the above statement true? Katie Bray is gambling that it is. Early results suggest she is correct.

Bray has formed the Clean Energy for Us campaign and Sawtooth Inc. The latter links nonprofits and community organizers working to boost solar power use with companies able to install solar panels, and helps homeowners with other cost-saving projects.

Mike Fleenor of North Asheville is one beneficiary. Clean Energy for Us motivated him and Sawtooth helped find installers who could put solar panels on his home. "Had I gone this alone, I would have had to have been pretty motivated to get through the red tape and may have thrown in the towel in frustration in the end," Fleenor said.

It's not that there is a shortage of governmental resources to encourage solar energy. The Federal Housing Administration has three different programs for energy improvements, and there is a 30 percent federal tax credit. North Carolina offers a 35 percent tax credit, a program that has been under attack in the General Assembly.

And there are plenty of installers in North Carolina. In Buncombe County alone there are FLS Energy, Thermacraft Energy Services, Renewable Logistics Inc., Asheville Solar Company, Sundance Power Systems, Ecosavvy Solar and Sun Stuff Energy.

Appalachian Energy Services is located in Brasstown, Blue Ridge Energy Works in Boone, KC Byrd in Marion, Blue Skies Energy and Bersco in Morganton and Atomic Solar in Burnsville.

The trick is to get consumers linked up with various agencies and programs and decide which plan is best for them. And that's where Bray's efforts come in. Some 1,200 residents have signed up for consultations and audits, and more than 100 have signed contracts with solar installers and energy efficiency specialists.

Those new solar panels have added a megawatt of electricity, enough to power 200 homes annually.

Bray's model saves homeowners an average of 15 percent on solar installations, an important consideration when residential systems can cost as much as $15,000 with seven years to recoup that investment, even with the federal and state tax credits.

Bray's goal is to get even more North Carolina homeowners to go solar. "Growth in residential solar power in North Carolina or the Southeast had been flat in recent years," she said. "This is pretty huge. Now there's a real movement among homeowners, nonprofits and small businesses toward solar power."

North Carolina ranked behind only California and Arizona in solar-power installations last year, with an added 261 megawatts, a 114 percent increase over 2012, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. But most of that was accounted for by massive solar farms generating electricity for Duke Energy's grid.

The critics claim solar power never will be competitive, but in fact it is becoming more competitive every day. "It's an extraordinary success story that there's an industry that hardly existed several years ago," Michael Shore, CEO of FLS Energy, said last year. "We will get to a place where solar will be, without any incentive, a cost-effective part of any utility's portfolio."

It's hardly surprising that Asheville is one of the state's three leaders in solar-power installers; the others are Charlotte and the Raleigh area. "I thought Asheville was the perfect place for this, and Katie just ran with it," said Charlie Coggeshall, who advised Bray in getting her program started.

That she did. Thanks to her efforts, a lot of people are helping the planet and themselves at the same time.