anybody got solar?

[chris142]

Had a salesman here today. He makes it sound great and all but there has to be a catch. Free install, they only charge $.15 cents per kW.

Dude was very pushy which irked us a little. Kinda like a car salesman.

The idea sounds great though. Cutting my $250/month bill in half.

Does anybody have any input?

 

[HOTFR8]

Plenty of topic on Solar here in the Electrical section.

I have a massive system that runs the property even if the grid fails. I also have a small UPS system that runs my office.

 

[kd3pc]

tax incentive/rebates/etc have allowed CA to offer these types of plans...your best bet is to ask for a detailed quote and a copy of the contract they will want you to sign.

Here in TN, as well as VA there are few, if any , gov't help for these systems. But we have TVA here, and our electricity is $.12 per....

best of luck, and be aware there are scams and car salesmen out there pitching with a "large" downpayment...

 

[Falcon67]

No rebate here. Paying 13.5 per kWh now so solar payback = never. The only hope here of even trying to break even would be to source the pieces cheap and DIY. China is mostly coal power - if this new emissions deal with them is real and they decide that solar will help achieve the goals, IMHO look for the bottom to fall out of prices.

 

[McFarmer]

Repair service is hard to get around here.

 

[JonnyMac]

Ive got it and I was an accredited designer some years back.
Theres a few factors to consider obviously the rules/incentives vary across the globe but the strategies will be similar.
I locked in a 60c/kwh for 15 years but they arent doing that here any longer but because of the way its charged I.e. 30min blocks our strategy is to not use any power during the day thus earning fron the generation and use power at night by drawing from the grid at a much lower rate 23ish cents.
However the payback figure now f you install today is less than the drawing out figure so the strategy is to use power during the day and not at night.. obviously this changes depending on how the usage is charged.
The price of panels is now massively cheaper than years ago so even if you dont get a favorable tarrif its still a method of reducing your annual bills at the expense of an upfront layout.
Just get the biggest inverter available 5kw is good this allows for extra panels.
Get them oriented appropriately im guessing south pointing ia best for your location ( you'd be amazed at how some less professional companies put them just anywhere there is a flatish surface). Also the angle is important, it will change with your location.
I would get several quotes too, its a huge market and just coz the guy knocked o the door doesnt mean they are any good.
Also maje sure they aren't just an electrician, there is certain connection techniques which need to be adhered to for example, here wjere we have 240v the 24v panels are best installed in 10 string layouts so depending on the panel capacity, say 250 watts per panel, 2.5 or 5kw system is most efficient. Installing a 4kw system is still worth it but its relative efficiency would probably be less..

 

[chris142]

The company that came by today was called solar city. We have been thinking we want ground mount. They can't access some parts of my attic and that restricts the size I can have.

But I have 10 acres of unused desert to put them. Solar city don't do ground mounts.

 

[JonnyMac]

Ground mount is excellent for maintenance etc. However the roof installation can all be done from the outside depending on where the cable needs running.
only issue with ground mount is radiated heat, the panels lose efficiency with heat so having them elevated from the ground can help.

 

[James-W]

There are a few homes around here with solar panels, but not very many. I am not so sure you would live long enough to save enough money in order to pay for the solar panels in this area. In certain parts of the country I could see where solar panels would be a very good thing to have, but locally here I have some serious doubts.

 

[Larry_AZ]

We have Solar City...it is a lease.....free equipment, you pay them a monthly lease payment (that goes up yearly) for 20 years, ..and they get the incentives, but they install, and maintain the equipment.

We like it...we chose to pay the lease in one lump sum, and it cut our summer nbill by almost 1/2 ($300.00 to $180.00, gotta love Arizona summers. ..), and our winter bills are under $80.00 a month.

When they did the install, their crew was courteous, professional, and worked clean.
We had a few issues with the system, and they came out within 24 hours and corrected the problems.

Hope that helps.
Larry

 

[willf650]

I looked into solar. I was going to straight up buy the system. I was looking at about a 15 year payback. It didn't seem worth it to me. I could take the money the system cost and invest it and pay for my electric and GAS off the earning.


I looked at solar city and sungevity. Solar city was like a used car salesman and every one of their options I was quoted was substantially more then sungevity. They all try to push you into a lease.

The 15 year payback was with me getting all the rebates and tax credits.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[mechanix311]

Sunpower 13 kw system here and I love it. 92 dollars a month/never increases for 20 years and I usually receive 300 dollars back per year from my utility company which covers the billing costs and meter read fee. They are making it harder and harder for it to become a cost saving measure. When the 20 yr lease is up option to buy will be negligible but I prob wont even be in house.
My system is completely USA made and not chinese garbage like solar city uses

 

[JonnyMac]

Wow.. 13kw! Thats awesome... crazy that you only get $300 per year though. Ive got 2.5kw and earn about the same!! Mine cost around $7000 but with about thd same again in rebate from the government scheme at the time. Cost much less than that these days, probably 1/3 of the cost when I last checked.
Main reason I have it is so theres no bills, I had a few grand spare at the time, the payback time isnt important really, as long as its reasonably close..

 

[jeffws]

4kw system bought outright $18,000 - went live in Feb 2014. SDG&E rebate was just under $800. Federal rebate is 30% and the company I used gave me a $100 giftcard plus an Ipad. Ill be in it for about $10,600 when all said and done.

About a 74 month ROI

 

[mechanix311]

I used to get more but my utility company decided that because they are buying natural gas for next to nothing right now wholesale kilowatts from solar customers should follow suit. Im just happy they dont get to cash my check anymore with how they have done Arizona on power charges.

 

[JonnyMac]

Hey, anytime you can screw the utilities for even 1c it's worth doing in my book.

 

[JonnyMac]

Still sounds like US panels are pretty expensive though. Down under a 200w 24v panel is around $350 from memory...

 

[Krishl]

We have a 2.9kw Sunpower system. We bought it for about $10k. Haven't paid an electric bill since (2.5 years). We are building a new house and it will have a 3.2kw system, with additional since we will be all electric there and we have gas heat / dryer / range here.