If the upfront cost of solar panels is hindering your journey toward energy independence, the startup Palmetto has just what you need — and you can start saving cash with no money down.
The scoop
Palmetto is offering customers solar and battery storage leases with no money down. Made possible thanks to $1.2 billion in funding from corporate partners and financial institutions, the startup can assume the risk of installation costs while you begin saving money on electric bills.
To get started, you first need to determine whether you are eligible for the program. To do this, you just enter your address and energy bill details into Palmetto's website, and the startup will confirm whether your home is a good candidate for solar.
If it is, Palmetto will put together a customized plan detailing your estimated energy savings. You can choose whether you want one of the team's advisers to contact you directly or whether you prefer to peruse your personalized proposal via email.
After that, the ball is still in your court. You can decide whether you want to buy or lease the panels and have them installed by one of the startup's 600-plus local trusted contractors.
How it's helping
All in all, solar panels save homeowners as much as $1,500 annually on energy bills. Established 15 years ago, Palmetto is removing several key barriers limiting Americans from reaping the perks of solar energy: affordability and simplicity. For one, you'll have financial peace of mind during installation. If your panels don't perform, the cost falls on Palmetto.
"If something doesn't work and the panels don't produce solar, then you don't pay us," Palmetto vice president Nathan Healy told The Cool Down.
The company estimates it saved its customers around $6.4 million during its first full year of providing solar leases and power-purchase agreements.
Following installation, you can continue to benefit financially and emotionally through the no-buy LightReach energy plan — which promises you will "pay less to power your home" after you lock in your "predictable monthly payments." Each plan also comes with 25-year maintenance and protection, and you'll have the flexibility to transfer your contract.
Beyond these perks, solar panels and battery storage can help ensure your family has power during grid outages — boosting household climate resilience at a time when supercharged extreme weather is disrupting communities around the globe.
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The cost 💰 What everyone's saying
Palmetto CEO Chris Kemper told TCD that his company's mission is like "the Apollo project of our generation," in reference to the game-changing program that put the U.S. enviably at the forefront of lunar exploration and the first humans on the moon in 1969.
He invited us to dream of a tomorrow where "our main energy sources are decentralized, renewable, sourced from the sun and wind right here in the USA … where individual citizens own their own energy production, protecting their homes and their families from blackout."
Regardless of how you choose to get involved in a more independent energy future, it is clear people are excited about the future of non-polluting, low-cost power.
"By switching to solar, we now have just one monthly payment and offset our costs by sending energy back to the grid," one solar owner shared with TCD. "Solar covers our energy use for most of the year, including cooling, electronics, yard equipment, and more."
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