Solar Power on House

[Trigger Time 23]

I just got a quote from Tesla- formerly Solar City to put panels onto my house. These is a 30% tax credit for doing the panels. Do any of you have experience with this? Is it worth doing? Their pitch is that it will hedge against Excel raising energy costs. I only want to do it if it makes economical sense, but that can be hard to analyze without knowing the future cost of energy.

[hurley842002]

I think there is a whole thread here somewhere with some really good info. I don't have any personal experience, but a few here do.

ETA: here is the thread I was referring to, but there are actually a few that I saw in my search https://www.ar-15.co/threads/162952-Anyone-have-any-experience-with-solar/page2?highlight=solar

[Trigger Time 23]

I think there is a whole thread here somewhere with some really good info. I don't have any personal experience, but a few here do.

ETA: here is the thread I was referring to, but there are actually a few that I saw in my search https://www.ar-15.co/threads/162952-Anyone-have-any-experience-with-solar/page2?highlight=solar

thanks

[Great-Kazoo]

I just got a quote from Tesla- formerly Solar City to put panels onto my house. These is a 30% tax credit for doing the panels. Do any of you have experience with this? Is it worth doing? Their pitch is that it will hedge against Excel raising energy costs. I only want to do it if it makes economical sense, but that can be hard to analyze without knowing the future cost of energy.

Only if the payments you make are lower than your monthly utility bill. Until solar comes down to less than $30 month all inclusive kit, there's no way i'm spending more per month than my mortgage.
If you plan on staying in the home forever, then yes might be a good investment. Maybe

[TheGrey]

We went with solar panels, but not from Solar City. We went through Apex Solar Solutions, and our solar panels are made by the Hyundai group. After two months, our electric bill is significantly less than what it was in the past years, but it really matters how your house is situated. You've got the option to lease or to outright buy. It's important to do your due diligence on the company installing, as well as seeing what the warranties and guarantees are on the panels. Don't take the salesman's word for it, but demand everything in writing. Should you go for it, get names, numbers and contact information, and don't sign anything until you research the hell out of it. You will not be able to escape th electric company and go off grid (unless you already are) but you can sell back your excess electricity and either get a check at the end of the year or some other deal they're offering (I forget what the options were.)

[gnihcraes]

Solar City pissed me and many of my referral friends off. Customer Service is horrible when you need something from them. ie; hail damaged roofs.

Takes them days, weeks, months to respond to calls and emails about scheduling service work on the solar system. Really causes issues when you need to replace your roof and get the contractors scheduled up to do that work and you're waiting on Solar City to remove the system.

A good friend of mine, had to sue them in court before they responded to his service request. Took months. Not good.

I won't refer anyone to them ever again.

My system is smaller and I pay $20 a month to Solar City and it saves me about that much off my bill maybe a bit more. I'll notice it more when the next bill comes and the system was off the house for over a month. The meters show it's produced exactly half my energy.

The lease options have a built in Increase in the cost just like Xcel energy would charge as an increase each year. You're just placing a bet with the solar system that it's increase is less than Xcel each year. Which should be true. Xcel will increase their rate 4% and solar city rate increases at 2% or whatever is in the contract.

[RCCrawler]

There is a house down the street from us that has been for sale for at least a year on and off. Plenty of people look at it and it's a great house, but when they find out that you have to also take over payments on the $80k solar system it's a deal breaker. I'm sure those people are kicking themselves for having that installed.

[Trigger Time 23]

Thanks for all the insight.

[Great-Kazoo]

There is a house down the street from us that has been for sale for at least a year on and off. Plenty of people look at it and it's a great house, but when they find out that you have to also take over payments on the $80k solar system it's a deal breaker. I'm sure those people are kicking themselves for having that installed.

The solar on one's house is either included with sale or not. A potential buyer can opt out of the existing lease, then falls on seller to have it removed. We've looked at a few homes with solar, who were leasing. The owners insisting buyer picks up the solar lease has taken them off the list.

[Grant H.]

It largely depends on what you want the solar to do.

Simply offset Excel/Power Company bills? Sure, it'll do it. You have to pay attention to lease payments vs utility payments, otherwise you can end up costing yourself more.

Offset power and provide power during power outage? Nope. The lease/buy roof solar systems are built to require grid power to produce from the panels. No grid power, no solar power either.

[CHA-LEE]

You need to do the math on your average monthly power bill over several different years verses the cost of Buying/Leasing a Solar panel setup. If it ends up being a wash from a cost perspective then all you are doing is adding more risk to your power utilities. If its only saving you a marginal amount of money every month then its not worth the additional risk. You also need to do research on the realistic long term reliability and function of solar panels over a 5, 10, 15, and 20 year period.

Usually these solar panel options make zero financial sense without substantial Tax subsidies. The likelihood of tax subsidies going away is far greater than the local power company raising the costs of utilities out of control.

In my research for doing solar on our house it would have only saved us about $10 - $20 a month verses without. At that rate of savings it would have taken almost 30 years to pay off the panels if we purchased them and it was a total wash if we leased it. This was also assuming that the tax subsidies and power buy back rules would stay consistent over that same 30 year term.

The reality is that solar panels are currently not efficient enough or powerful enough to be a viable replacement for standard land line power provided by the utility companies. Solar panel technology is improving every year so maybe some day they will be good enough to be a viable replacement without needing to be subsidized. Until that happens it will always be a less than optimal solution for many home owners that have a bunch of city or county restrictions on how they can be deployed. The utility companies are also going to do their best to make solar a losing proposition for as long as they can. This is no different than the Oil & Gas companies doing whatever it takes to circumvent development and innovation on alternative fuel vehicles.

[Gman]

Photovoltaic cells are just not very efficient. The efficiency and volume from a natural gas powered plant makes it difficult for the homeowner to compete. With the lease model, the company installing the equipment makes money from us taxpayers via subsidies. If it's a viable solution, then it should be able to compete without government funding.

I looked into the lease model, and about the time the equipment is paid for the panels are already degrading.

On a side note, a home down the street from us was gutted in a fire. The fire was in the area of the solar panels. Coincidence?

[husky390]

The ONLY reason I have it was because we were sick of leasing a house and tired of getting our teeth kicked in the housing market. I assumed a lease through Sunrun, $66/month, still pay some $ to Xcell every month, am required to maintain an internet connection for their system, and they receive all money for extra power generated and tax credits. When their lease is up, this garbage is coming off of my roof.




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[BushMasterBoy]

The only thing that goes on my roof is me. No way in hell would I drill holes in the roof. I did cut a hole for a wood stove chimney. Best investment so far. Every time I sign a contract for anything I am usually being screwed over.

[OtterbatHellcat]

The only thing that goes on my roof is me. No way in hell would I drill holes in the roof. I did cut a hole for a wood stove chimney. Best investment so far. Every time I sign a contract for anything I am usually being screwed over.

Like

[00tec]

I wouldn't mind a solar setup, but I wouldn't put it on the roof. I would build racks and put it out on the ground.
Wind would probably serve me well out here too....

[OtterbatHellcat]

If you have some space, solar on the ground seems like a really good idea. Harnessing wind energy is also an attractive idea, and there's no doubt I need to look into the feasibility of both these type systems before I get to AZ.

[00tec]

If you have some space, solar on the ground seems like a really good idea. Harnessing wind energy is also an attractive idea, and there's no doubt I need to look into the feasibility of both these type systems before I get to AZ.

My limitation and hesitancy on wind is that Adams county limits you to 1 turbine. A few smaller turbines would fit the bill a bet better (especially vertical axis rigs), but you would need a permit exception. I have enough land to plant a solar field. Would probably pay better than farming it.