The answer to Q1 is "yes" because regardless of credit access and payment mechanisms, there will always be an opportunity cost in locking up assets in capital expenditure. This is why banks can make money loaning money. There's a nasty gap between individual affordability and system adoption that needs to be plugged in order to launch solar as a truly mainstream technology. Letting companies like SolarCity offer leases to sell back electricity was a great way to do it. However, I can see why a state such as Nevada would wish to incentivize companies like FirstSolar and discourage companies like SolarCity. Put a panel on a million houses and you decrease the load on the system. Put a million panels out in the middle of the desert and you get to sell power to every surrounding state with less sunlight.