SunPower Offers Easy, Affordable Financing for Residential Solar Power Systems

San Jose, Calif., U.S. – SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB), a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, today announced a solar loan program that makes solar power systems more affordable for homeowners in the U.S. The five-year loans, available through Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union of Palo Alto, Calif., may allow homeowners to take advantage of the 30 percent federal tax credit now available for installing solar power systems, as well as additional incentives offered by many states and municipalities. Homeowners do not need equity in their homes to qualify for these loans, and can easily transfer the SunPower systems to new owners on the sale of the house.

This new program joins an existing service that SunPower offers to help homeowners secure long term home equity loans to finance the purchase of their solar power systems. Interest on home equity loans may be tax deductible, and loan recipients also qualify for the significant state and federal tax incentives available today. Individuals should consult with their own professional tax advisors concerning specific tax circumstances.

"Compared to leasing programs available from other companies, SunPower's loan programs offer significant tax advantages and the opportunity to easily transfer the solar power system - and its value - when you sell your home," said SunPower Chief Marketing Officer Jan Soderstrom. "Why spend years paying to essentially rent a system, when you can enjoy the benefits of ownership today?"

"Federal and state tax credits reduced the cost of my SunPower system by more than 30 percent, so owning the system outright made sense to me," said homeowner Tom Bechly of San Jose, Calif. "Addison Avenue offered an easy loan application process with competitive rates. It's gratifying to watch my meter run backward, receive smaller electricity bills from the utility company each month, and know that I am doing my part for the environment."

"With the increased interest in the use of alternative energy sources as a means to combat global warming, we are pleased to be one of the first credit unions to offer a specific solar loan product," said Scott Pellegrini, product manager at Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union. "SunPower offers the most efficient solar power systems available on the market today, so homeowners who install SunPower solar systems will maximize the benefit to the environment while minimizing their electric bills. The switch to solar has never been more attractive."

Through the partnership with SunPower, Addison Avenue is offering solar loans of up to $50,000 on the purchase of a residential SunPower system. Existing members of Addison Avenue will also receive a rebate of $0.30 per watt (up to $1,500) from SunPower on the purchase of a SunPower system. There is no application fee or pre-payment penalty, and applicants will be offered affordable monthly payments and flexible extended terms. Current rates are as low as 5.25 percent APR for qualified borrowers.

For more information, visit http://www.sunpowercorp.com/ or www.addisonavenue.com/loans/solar/.

US Solar Market Hit 17% Growth in 2008 Despite Economic Crisis

Washington, U.S. -- The GreenMonster checks out solar energy installations in the United States and finds out that it reached a total capacity growth by 1,265 megawatts (MW) in 2008, up from 1,159 MW installed in 2007. This brings the total installed capacity up by 17 percent to 8,775 MW. This includes 1,547 MW of electric capacity from Photovoltaics (PV) and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and 7,636 MW of thermal capacity (water heating, pool heating, and space heating) -- according to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association in the U.S. Well, this is good news!

The U.S. added 342 MW of PV in 2008, including 292 MW of grid-tied capacity. For grid-tied PV, this represents a 81 percent growth rate over the 161 MW of grid-tied installations in 2007 and brings total installed grid-tied PV capacity in the U.S. to over 1 gigawatt.

Installations grew especially fast in 6 states, including California, Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania, where on-grid capacity additions more than doubled over 2007 figures.

At the same time, solar was not spared from the global economic meltdown that has hit all sectors of the economy. As a result of the continuing housing crisis, solar pool heater shipments remained below record levels set in 2006.