Getting solar at the house

[gnihcraes]

you just need the transfer switch

I have got that already... cool.

[meatman]

Personally I'm looking for something with a big up front cost but that makes you basically self sufficient unless you go over production. Probably doesn't exist.

We actually had 3 options when we went with Solar City. We could do the $0.071/kwh + 2.9% increase per year with no money out of pocket which would result in a $62/mo bill to Solar City. The second option was to put down $2k and pay a fixed $0.079/kwh over the 20 years of the contract, $58/mo payable to SC. The third, which we did, was to pay $9500 down and we don't pay electricity for the 20 years of the contract. It should average about $0.042/kwh. Unless we go over our allotted average usage at the end of the year, we don't pay anything. If we produce more than what we use, we'll get credit back from Xcel. I'm not sure if the second and third options are still available. We signed our contract in December. We should reap the benefits in 10 years (come out even).

[Gman]

That's when my neighbor across the street expects to become net positive on his outlay, 10 years. He bought his equipment when the incentives were most beneficial.

I'm pretty sure I won't be in this house that long.

[gnihcraes]

We actually had 3 options when we went with Solar City. We could do the $0.071/kwh + 2.9% increase per year with no money out of pocket which would result in a $62/mo bill to Solar City. The second option was to put down $2k and pay a fixed $0.079/kwh over the 20 years of the contract, $58/mo payable to SC. The third, which we did, was to pay $9500 down and we don't pay electricity for the 20 years of the contract. It should average about $0.042/kwh. Unless we go over our allotted average usage at the end of the year, we don't pay anything. If we produce more than what we use, we'll get credit back from Xcel. I'm not sure if the second and third options are still available. We signed our contract in December. We should reap the benefits in 10 years (come out even).

How do you like everything otherwise? Good? Bad? Any roof or house issues with it installed? Rain hitting gutters correctly? Snow sliding off in slabs when the sun warms it up?

[Gman]

You're essentially leasing the solar company space on your roof and getting a bit of an advantage to not paying the utility company as much by paying less per kWH. The system is owned by the solar company.

Are you able to claim an income tax credit for the installation of solar, or does that only happen when you buy the equipment up front?

[meatman]

How do you like everything otherwise? Good? Bad? Any roof or house issues with it installed? Rain hitting gutters correctly? Snow sliding off in slabs when the sun warms it up?

The installation on the system was good. They had some wiring issues in the inverters when they first installed the meters, but that was quickly resolved. We had the panels installed on my barn-style garage because the roof on our old house will probably need replacing in <10 yrs. The garage was built in November. The second pitch on the barn style roof is pretty steep, so there isn't very much snow accumulation on that side. The panels actually seem to catch the snow and just melts instead of coming down in slabs. Rain hits the gutters properly AFAIK. They put squirrel resistant mesh between the panels and the roof to prevent critters from getting behind the panels to chew them up.

I don't have a current picture, but this is one my wife took during the install in April:


For reference, the picture is facing east. There is a set of panels on the top east pitch that cannot be seen from this angle.

[meatman]

You're essentially leasing the solar company space on your roof and getting a bit of an advantage to not paying the utility company as much by paying less per kWH. The system is owned by the solar company.

Are you able to claim an income tax credit for the installation of solar, or does that only happen when you buy the equipment up front?

That's correct. I don't think we can claim a tax credit because we don't own the panels.

[rockhound]

how does the lease transfer if the home is sold?

also looking at your numbers your system is not nearly big enough for my usage.

[meatman]

how does the lease transfer if the home is sold?

If you decide to sell you house, you have 3 options. 1) Transfer the panels/lease to your new location (I think you have to pay for that). 2) Buy the panels and sell them with the house. 3) Transfer the lease to the new owners at no charge.

I think #2 is probably the best way to go.

also looking at your numbers your system is not nearly big enough for my usage.

They will size the system based on your usage and usable roof area.

[HoneyBadger]

Personally I'm looking for something with a big up front cost but that makes you basically self sufficient unless you go over production. Probably doesn't exist.

The problem with buying your own system vs a 20 year contract on something like this is the rate that technology is changing. In 20 years, we could (and probably will) see tremendous changes in the efficiency of solar panels. Right now, you're pretty lucky if you can get 22% efficiency out of your solar panels, but some new technologies have produced as high as 47% efficiency in a lab environment.

Just my speculation based on what I know, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see commercially available panels available for the same price you'd pay now with 30%+ efficiency in 10 years or less. The real upside to that is that the best stuff now will be dirt cheap in 10 years.