If you’re interested in acquiring solar panels, but don’t have $20,000 lying around for purchase and installation, two new programs in Orange County offer possible solutions.

SolarCity, a western U.S. company with offices in O.C., is expanding an existing program that leases solar power systems to home and business owners with no money down. The company teamed up with U.S. Bancorp’s Community Development Corp. to take advantage of tax breaks, including a solar credit, to install the systems without charging installation fees.

The customers buy the electricity generated at a cheaper rate than that charged by utility companies. SolarCity will maintain the systems for 15 years, then give customers the option to continue the lease, upgrade the systems, buy them or remove them.

Solar panels will be set up under the program in California, Oregon and Arizona. And company officials say it will allow them to add about 100 jobs, mainly in California and Arizona, including about 25-30 in Orange County.

Lower income residents in Anaheim also can take advantage of a second option: a program from Vaha Solar allowing installation of panels at 25 percent of the usual cost to homeowners — between $2,500 and $4,000, plus a possible 30 percent tax credit. The panels would be expected to save the families about $800 on utility bills in the first year and more than $43,000 over the system’s 30 to 40 year lifespan, company officials say. 

The company is working with Anaheim Public Utilities to offer the program, similar to one in March that involved Habitat for Humanity homes. The idea was to expand the program to reach homeowners who are not connected with Habitat for Humanity, and will also likely result in more local jobs for installers, said company co-founder Gaye Tomlinson.

To quality, homeowners must earn 60 percent of the state’s median income or less — from about $29,000 to just under $60,000, depending on the number of people living in the house.

(First photo: SolarCity installation in Westminster in October, by Mike Goulding, the Register. Second photo: Americorps volunteers help install panels provided by Vaha Solar on the roof of a Habitat for Humanity home in Anaheim in March, by Paul Rodriguez, the Register.)

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