Lets talk solar power...whats the best choice?

I have the same question!! I'm in NorCal!! Thanks,Cosmo!! Hope we score!!!

I bought my small system, 1.8 kw. I did the installation myself, just studied the codes. The panels are ecoworthy from Amazon. It is grid tie. The system will run when I am on the back up generator.
In the summer the system will make almost 1.9 kw, right now about 1.2 is a good day. I have very open southern exposure over the lake. My purpose was the credit and slight reduction in utilities.

I'm thinking it was like $3,600-3,800 range. This is the 5th year in service. That is not including frames, I built those out of aluminium. Fused disconnect and breakers not included either.

How much are you saving on your bill and have you hit your payback . Is it giving you a return on investment now after 5 years .

Tampa, Florida here. I have 57 295 watt panels. Southern exposure. My normal bill was around 275-350 a month. Now it's anywhere from 17.00 (minimum charge) to as much as 109. They like cool sunny days for best production. Hazy, cloudy days not so good. Rain is out. It was right at 35k and Uncle Sam paid 30%. Had them for about 9 months now and I am glad I did it. I understand there are now shingles available that act as solar panels. That would be really cool I think!

Do not lease - just do a google search and you'll find plenty of reasons not to lease. The first of which is the trouble if you ever have to sell your home for any reason. The second is that most leases now are tied into annual increases for what the solar company charges you for electricity - and by the end of the lease, you could be paying a higher rate than the electric company's rate.

On average they save $25 a month. I think about one more year to the break even point.

Never lease anything, cars, solar, did I mention cars....Always a bad investment.

$25 x 12 months = $300 annual savings. Not including your labor and other parts, your system would take over 12 years just to break even assuming you don't need to replace them after 12 years.

Do that math and take into account how the output of solar panels decreases with age. I did the math once with the state subsidies we had and was leery with the payoff period being between 7-12 years. I guess do it if you want to be green, though the manufacture process for the panel isn't exactly environmentally friendly. If you are doing it for money reasons, you would probably be better off and taking less risk if you took that large chunk of money you would have used to pay for your panels and just invested it into the market.

Jbp8653 payoff would be 350-17 = 333. (35000*70%)/333 = 5.83 or about 6 years at minimum. 275-109 = 166. (35000*70%)/166 = 12.2 years. This is all not including loss in efficiencies as the panels age but you are look at something that will be greater than 6 years and up to something like 12.

dupe post

OK,good advice,however,if you don't want to be hooked up to any utility,do you install a windmill also??Or a metal bldg. full of batteries??

Yup, but you missed the fact that Uncle paid about 11k of it so for me use 24K instead. Plus I am on a on the grid system. When I produce more than I am using I sell it to the utility company and at the end of the year they write me a check. The system was kicking butt until we had some crappy weather here for several months and I lost all my credits. Now so far this year I am ahead. Won't know till next December though.

35k*70% = 24.5k. I put that 30% discount due to the government in the calculation.

The math is rough which won't be bad if the panels lasted a lot longer and didn't degrade but I am afraid that the panels won't be that efficient once being paid off. To me it is more of an idealogic choice than a financial one unless you live in an area that has very high electrical rates. Renewables are more competitive in places that have high electrical rates, Hawaii, west coast, and northeast. Europe has very high electrical rates and parity for renewables already exist.

Thats ok for you jpb,but here they won't let you sell back>Thats called being a electric co.! And your not a licensed provider!!

Warranty is 10 years product and workmanship. Then 25 year power output of at least 80% of original amount. If they go bad after 10 years I will have to pay for labor. My break even is around 61/2-7 years. I paid for it at the start so that 24k is gone.LOL.Now I am just enjoying a cheap light bill! After 7 or so years I will then have practically a free light bill.

Beautiful, clean coal!

If you are going solar it is probably a good idea to replace your roof first if it is an older one.

That way you won't have to pay all that extra money to remove those solar panels when you do get a new one. Something to consider.

Yes it would have taken 12 years without the government kicking in and the assistance program offer by the electric utility. Without the tax rebate and utility program it would have been a no go from my point of view.