Anyone have solar panels??

I have a 12 kw system on our house. Sounds like your asking about the local rebates which You will have to call your power co to figure out.

When we did ours I got 10k back from the feds and another 6k from the local power co.

We are saving around 2k a year in electric bills. Our payback will be 8ish years depending on how much I use the heat in the garage.

 

Some fed Rebates are gone. Some states may still exist net metering is dependent on your power company, transmission and contract. I’d look into all of this before jumping in.


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No, we just had to submit the permit with our solar array size. Then they went to look for the meter exchange paperwork to issue our check. The local rebate was 50 cents per watt that we installed.

 

My parents have solar on their house. So far it seems worth it. They havnt had to pay an electric bill since the install.

 

If I were to do this, I wouldn’t want to be grid-tied. If the grid goes down, you’re in the dark too.

 

The newer battery systems like Tesla keep the inverters running even without the grid. Once the battery is full it shifts the output out of phase and turns the inverter off and back on as needed.

 

Depending on your monthly customer charge batteries might not ever pay off if your already on the grid. You need quite a few batteries for the winters low output esp if you get snow.

for me it’s 11.50 currently a month to be connected. My average bill now is 10 bucks. If I had to invest in batteries it would be 4-5k and they would have to last 30 years to pay off. Now if you are not connected to the grid and have to pay xx to get connected then it might make sense.

 

Yes, I understand, but you have to have a battery bank to be off-grid. Both the solar cells and batteries aren’t very cost effective (yet).

 

Hope you read all the fine print.

 

Correct. At least around here since we don't have time off use charges. Most Tesla batteries sold are people who have money and just want them. Plus our tax credits include batteries now too.

 

A salesman came out awhile back and threw me a pitch. I was only renting the house I live in, but I was curious anyways so I listened to him.

He told me for the solar panels and install it was right around $19K for a 30 kW per day system.

By the time you figured in the payment for 20 years on this setup the savings was only like $20 a month off what the actual electric bill is.

They were only offering a 10 year warranty of which afterwards the homeowner is responsible for parts and labor. So they basically want you to make payments on something for 20 years but they only cover it for 10 years.

Then IF you want Tesla Power Walls it was another $14K installed for 2 batteries which will get you 7 days of continuous power in the event the grid goes down for a 30kW daily usage home. The power company did buy back unused energy but they didn’t want to give a fair price for it (I don’t recall what it was).

So after he left I crunched the numbers and decided that doing the payment system was not worth it because of only a $20 per month savings and the 10 years not being covered by the warranty and having to pay parts and labor if something broke or went wrong or failed.

Now...IF you can pony up $34K in cash up front or include it in your new home build mortgage, by all means do it. But don’t finance it with payments separately by itself.

 

I am on solar because the power company wanted 30k to bring power to my property. I don't have but a couple of grand into my system all total .

 

sounds like you got ripped off. But then again, anything worth paying people to walk neighborhoods door to door always is.

If that loan is attached to your house, have fun when you sell.

 

There all kinds of fine print, and shit people forget about when they go solar.

 

I'm not understanding what you are trying to ask about getting rebates and having to increase your monthly usage.

The state and Federal tax credit (rebate) will be claimed on your taxes this year, for 2020. You'll provide a copy of your solar contract, along with your other tax documents, to your accountant. The Federal credit is 26% of the purchase price (no limit) and the state might just be a fixed amount.

Here in AZ, the electric company limits the size of your system to 125% of your highest single time usage during the previous 12 months; which I did. I have a 13KW, 26 panel system.

I am on net metering billing. If the panels generate more energy than I use during a billing cycle, I earn credit via selling energy to the company. This credit can snowball month after month. If I use more than I generate, monies come out of my credit until it is exhausted and then I would receive a bill for the difference. If I have any credit at the end of the year, they send me a check for that amount and we start all over again.

Due to the cost of electricity, extended summer heat, and number of sunny days, my ROI is just over 8 years at current costs. The cost savings will only increase as the years go by due to the rising costs of electricity.

 

That's not how it works.

The panels are not governed by your usage. They are governed by the available energy from the sun. No sun, no production. Your potential energy production is basically limited by the size of the system and availability of sunlight. As long as there is sunlight and the system is functioning properly, it will produce something. Output will vary daily.

Do you have an app for your phone to monitor the system?