The Commish
Footballguy
Anyone done this? I am talking about enough to fully support your house. Thinking about it but want to know what I should be thinking about that I haven't thought of yet 
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Going Solar.... (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter The Commish
- Start date
Ditkaless Wonders
Footballguy
Does your electric company have reverse metering?
The Commish
Footballguy
It does. And two of the companies I have talked to have said that if we move before the system is paid off we can either transfer the loan to the new owner (if they want to do that) or we can take the panels with us.
culdeus
Footballguy
The value equation here is having some storage bank rather than flipping it back to the electric company. This extends your payoff 7 more years, but puts you nearly off grid if you have enough capacity. Exceptions here are if flipping back to the electric company pays well.
The Commish
Footballguy
Can you give me a numbers example or are you simply saying having a way to store the electricity you'd ordinarily sell back to the electric company?
culdeus
Footballguy
Basically yes. Your solar provider should give you an idea on payback of storage vs. sellback. The math on this will vary across the country so it's difficult to be specific.
The Commish
Footballguy
why not? I like the different perspectives.
I have to assume that once the panels go up, you've pretty much voided your roof warranty correct? The good part for me is, I just got the roof a few months ago.
Chemical X
Footballguy
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
dot
The Commish
Footballguy
You mean the panels that look like shingles? I've seen those, but they are WAY more expensive than the larger panels. There's a lot of connections that have to be made in those systems even though they look pretty cool.
TheFanatic
Footballguy
This
I would love that set up, but no way I can afford it.
I looked into a conventional panel roof. I think the bid came back something like, "You will save close to $150/month in the summer months." The time it was going to take to pay that sucker off was decades.
Bought my house over 2 years ago with panels that were already paid for with a 50 year warranty. I get a credit back every year on my electric bill because we are producing more than we need. For example, my bill I just got this morning for the last month was $6.18, that's on a 2700 sq ft house with vaulted ceilings. Basically they charged me local taxes and fees for just having service.
The guy who has the solar franchise business that installed them lives two doors down which has been great for any time I have had a need for service or have questions.
The guy who has the solar franchise business that installed them lives two doors down which has been great for any time I have had a need for service or have questions.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
culdeus
Footballguy
joffer
Footballguy
It depends on what you're trying to do. If you want to go off-grid, its a huge investment, including storage. I'm probably not the best guy to comment on that. Someone else might be.
Assuming that's not what you want to do, 70% is generally the sweet spot that the installers target in my area because it maximizes your savings and minimizes your payoff period. If you go more than that, you're likely not getting good value for the extra that your producing when you don't need it. To completely cover your needs in peak months, you'd have to put up so many panels that the payoff period would grow quite a bit (think 20 years in stead of <12).
With my power company, the "netting out" of what i draw vs what i put back on the grid happens on a monthly basis. In a winter month, i'll produce more than i draw (net positive), and i get a credit of around $.05 per kw-hr of what i put back (vs. $.12 per kw-hr for cost of electricity). If your utility gives you full credit even if you go net positive for the month, then more panels make sense, but i don't know of many that do that. Maybe California?
The Commish
Footballguy
I'm in Florida. I've had two different installers come out. Both have recommended essentially the same thing for the same price. One had slightly better interest rates on the loan. We hook into Duke and they give full credit back here in Florida. I suspect that's because there are so many different power companies in the area? Not sure. Both recommended enough panels to be self sufficient. They did tell me there is a state law that says that when the power company is down, we can only use X% of what we produce though. Both guys told me that. Which I think is absolute crap. If I produce 400 kilowatts of energy I should be able to use it regardless of what is going on at the power company.
Talking to both guys, I am not sure the "storage" aspect is there yet. I agree with you there. I'm not even sure I'd be allowed that sort of structure on my property with the HOA and all that stuff. How many panels do you have and how big is your house?
joffer
Footballguy
if you get full credit, that's awesome. Then it really comes down to the size of the investment you want to make. I would still think to be totally self sufficient without storage, that's a lot of panels to handle the AC in summer months, but who knows.
The Commish
Footballguy
It's 70 panels....we have 4200 square feet....approx $75K.
It'd be about $350 a month and our average bill is $475-500 right now.
joffer
Footballguy
still about 300W per panel? so maybe 21KW? That's 4x the size of my array, but again with full credit back, that's not bad. Then 30% federal tax credit right? So maybe $2.50 per Watt after the credit? I was hoping it would be a little cheaper by now. damn tariffs.
Whose panels? LG?
The Commish
Footballguy
That's about right. It's about 30k kilowatts I'd dump the rebate back to the loan. Forget the panel name. Made in Canada
Doug B
Footballguy
Same here, except it's been three years. Storing excess power was never offered to us ... never heard of it until reading this thread. But we do reverse metering, and we've had plenty of monthly bills below $20, and I think three negative months. Even during our brutal Louisiana summers, with the A/C running all the time, we're paying a good 30% less on our home electricity after going solar -- and that includes the monthly payment to the solar company. Per month:
[Solar company payment]
+ [Electricity bill]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
= [roughly 70% of the electricity bill alone before going solar]
The Commish
Footballguy
I feel like I need to pull the trigger on this. That seems to be what you guys are telling me. Yes. it's a long term investment, but I can transfer to a new owner if I have to move for some reason. What did they say to you guys regarding warranties etc? This one is 25 year and the installation company give a warranty for 10 on the roof itself. What I am not sure of is how "in depth" the warranty on the panels is.
joffer
Footballguy
do you remember what the warrantee on the panels said? Did it guarantee 90% performance after one year and 80% for the length of the warrantee? Or something like that. I did a bunch of research on panels when I did mine if you can remember the name.
The Commish
Footballguy
So I went digging a bit. They are Heliene panels. Looks like 97% after one year....80% for length of warranty.
=Smackdown=
Footballguy
Went solar about 2 years ago - no regrets. Wish I had down it sooner.
Purchase - lease is for suckers.
My monthly electric bill is significantly less for the next 15 yrs - then I'm off the grid with no bill.
And
at the people who don't like the look of solar panels on the roof. It's your roof ?!? Who cares. If it would save me money I'd put a giant neon "Eat at Joe's" sign on my roof.
Purchase - lease is for suckers.
My monthly electric bill is significantly less for the next 15 yrs - then I'm off the grid with no bill.
And
at the people who don't like the look of solar panels on the roof. It's your roof ?!? Who cares. If it would save me money I'd put a giant neon "Eat at Joe's" sign on my roof.
The Commish
Footballguy
What means this?Went solar about 2 years ago - no regrets. Wish I had down it sooner.
Purchase - lease is for suckers.
My monthly electric bill is significantly less for the next 15 yrs - then I'm off the grid with no bill.
And
=Smackdown=
Footballguy
Purchase the system/panels. Don't lease it.The Commish said:
Everyone I know who works in the industry loves selling the lease because they make more money that way.
The Commish
Footballguy
oh...gotcha. Sorry....I read it like "purchase-lease" was a thing and was for suckers
dkp993
Footballguy
Live in a hot part of so-cal. Have had panels on my house for the past 5 years (new build and panels were included in purchase price) and will never live in a house without them again. Bills average around $20 monthly (fees) then we true up at the end of the year with the power company vs what we added to the “system” and used. It’s routinely over 100 in the summer and we run our AC with reckless abandon. It’s literally on all the time, and I’m not sure my wife understands that flipping a light switch down turns off the lights. Our true up bills are between 700-800 for the year. So all in with monthly fees were under 100 a month. Have friends in the area in similar sized homes that routinely have 600-700 monthly bills in the summer. Solar is a god send in my opinion.
Ron Swanson
Footballguy
Can these be a legitimate option instead of a whole house generator for backup power after a hurricane?
culdeus
Footballguy
Ron Swanson
Footballguy
Well, I am planning on a whole house Natural Gas system so not worried about those two issues but maybe this could be an option with some other benefits.
culdeus
Footballguy
Natural gas goes out in a hurricane or no? Asking for someone 700 miles from shore.
=Smackdown=
Footballguy
Natural gas always on - my tri-fuel generator can attest to this after multiple hurricanes and loss of power.
Hope all is well culd.
=Smackdown=
Footballguy
BTW - I went purchase with no battery storage.
When I installed 2 yrs ago battery storage just wasn't a viable option - both from a cost & size standpoint. That will most likely change soon, if it hasn't already.
When I installed 2 yrs ago battery storage just wasn't a viable option - both from a cost & size standpoint. That will most likely change soon, if it hasn't already.
The Commish
Footballguy
Well, I think I am taking the plunge. I live on a golf course...house is prime landing spot off the tee on a dog leg par 5. We've been here a year and I have a 5 gallon bucket full of golf balls I collected while mowing the grass. I get maybe a ball a week that hits the house. How concerned should I be about a golf ball busting one of these panels? That's the only real concern I have left.
The Commish
Footballguy
You need to check your state laws. Some states have been convinced by the power companies that if the power company service is down you can only use a % of what you generate from your panels and have laws to that affect. That's the case here and I need to find out exactly what that % is. I suspect I would be able to run everything in my house sans the AC, but I'm not sure about that.
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msommer
Footballguy
So in the event of a catastrophic event you automatically chip in to the relief effort. That sounds nice, doesn't it?
The Commish
Footballguy
We have a site visit from a local installer scheduled for tomorrow. We were approached about a week ago and had an initial meeting earlier this week to talk about general estimates. Will received detailed estimates after the site visit. We live in northern VA and have a heat pump with electric heat, which kills us in the winter. Summer months are pretty cheap even with AC running almost all of the time. Proposal we received is for a 15.3 kw system, costing over $60,000! At that price I can't see it making any sense financially, especially since we hope to be moving out of the house in about 10 years. We'd have to count on recovering the cost of installation when we sell the house at a higher price than it would sell for without solar being installed.
Have received a couple of preliminary estimates from other installers for smaller systems that would generate around 10 kw, which would cover about half of our electricity usage. The cost per kw for those would be lower so might look into one of those.
Have received a couple of preliminary estimates from other installers for smaller systems that would generate around 10 kw, which would cover about half of our electricity usage. The cost per kw for those would be lower so might look into one of those.
Make sure to get a good warranty. Not an expert, but my roof has gone through two major hail storms with hail larger than golfball size in the last 4 years, whole roof replaced twice, only one of my panels ever needed replacement. They even came out to the house and removed and reinstalled all the panels in between the roofers work for no charge. From what my neighbor who installed them told me, they will generally survive except in the case of a perfectly perpendicular direct strike.
Also will echo what someone said about not leasing the panels, that will actually be a hinderence in selling the house if you ever need to. No one will want to take on the payments and I think many leases have a preset number of years before you can cancel.
msommer
Footballguy
If you don't, then probably the battery solution is for you.....I guess that's one way to look at it.
joffer
Footballguy
my utility doesn't allow this. i can't run off the panels if the grid is down. don't know if its a TX state law or not. of course in a Walking Dead scenario i could figure out how to do it
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
my electric bill is rarely over $100. maybe twice a year. it doesn't seem worth it to me. am i correct?
