Getting solar at the house

[gnihcraes]

Lifespan should be 20 years, possibly more. Non Battery system. Inverter is the piece that would go out. Panels will degrade over time.


Solar City update: After upgrading the structure in my attice, Solar City engineers still complain and won't add more panels to the older part of my house. O'well. I'm still working with them to give me the "details" of what is wrong. The lady told me over the phone, but I was driving and couldn't write it down.

Output: now that the sunny and longer days are here, I'm seeing some output! Highest yet is 14.75 kWh for the day. Today's was 13.52kWh. It's generating about half of what we use each day.

Overall I'm paying Solar City $20 month and it's saving $20 off the Xcel bill. Just wish I could get more panels and generate more than my usage each day.

[kwando]

Talked to a door to door "sales" rep today. He seemed clueless, I got more info from this thread and my buddy than he was able to give me.

[gnihcraes]

Talked to a door to door "sales" rep today. He seemed clueless, I got more info from this thread and my buddy than he was able to give me.

interesting, my parents were hit up by some door-door salesman, claims he's with Xcel energy too. I really don't know if Xcel has their own folks for Solar?




Good: I can give an update to my system: Peak so far has been 18kWhr on one day recently.

Bad: Solar City sucks if you're trying to work with them on something. Once installed, they really don't seem to have any interest in you as a customer. I'm still fighting with them about putting a larger system on the house. There seems to be an engineering issue, they say something doesn't exist on my house structure when it actually does. (load bearing wall) So I'm trying to get someone to discuss this issue and hopefully correct them.

[tmleadr03]

Sigh. XCel sucks. No really. It sucks. Bad.

When the meter spins backwards I am supposed to get a credit. Nope, no credits issued. Just no bill (except for the 8 dollar maintenance charge you cant get rid of). What my plan was, since they sell you the electricity at retail and buy it at whole sale but will give you a one for one credit on usage is to "bank" the credits and eventually by the end of the year not have any bill at all. With this system built based on someone working from home I figured it would by the end of summer be giving me enough credits to cover my gas bill as well. Especially since there isn't anyone working from home here anymore. But XCel sucks.

[Gman]

Solar City salesman came by the house yesterday and left a hanger on the door. It was cross-branded with Xcel.

SolarCity will install a solar system on your home for *free. You simply pay for your clean solar power by the month - just like your utility bill - only lower. You save money month after month for years to come!

*No Cost solar system available to qualified Xcel Energy customers only.

The back of the hanger says;

SolarCity - The #1 provider of residential solar power in the U.S.A. will custom design and install a 'state of the art' solar power system at absolutely ZERO cost to homeowners.
$0 - equipment cost $0 - installation $0 - maintenance cost
You do not purchase or lease any equipment!
The solar power from your own roof can replace most of the electricity you now receive from Xcel, and dramatically lower your utility bill.
If your home qualifies, I can set up a free, no obligation site survey to determine how the system would be installed on your home, and exactly how much you will save on utilities. I am your local representative. Contact me anytime.

[gnihcraes]

Just 20 years based on your average energy use, and a 2.9% markup each year. Not really "free".

You'll still be paying the $70 per month rate to solar city if you use Zero energy for that month, like a long vacation.



I'm still in a fight with them about putting on the larger system to my house. They finally responded with the "comments" of my 2nd engineering review of the house:

" You do not have a load bearing wall. "

Huh? I think someone missed something here during the inspections. There is a load bearing wall, steel I beams, posts. I'm still waiting to hear back from them.


Update: I have produced 20.27 kWhr on a single day. My high so far. Looks like the average is 10-15 kWhr on the sunny days.

[PugnacAutMortem]

So we are buying a house that currently has Solarcity panels installed and we are taking over the lease. Since I didn't have the benefit of speaking to them during the installation nor being there during the installation...is there anything that I should look for when we do the inspection?

Also, the ability to store the power and use it later intrigues me greatly. Is that something that you can do without a masters in electrical engineering nor without voiding warranties?

[gnihcraes]

Solar city doesn't have a battery storage solution that I know of. You'd have to contact them to find out.

As for an inspection, I would think you could have solar city come out and give you a report on the system. Maybe not? Call their 800 number and find out. Maybe the current owner can have them come out?

Regular inspection should give you the best information - does the system look ok, is it still attached properly to the house, any signs of water leaking or damage. The inverter on the house should show a xxx wattage output during the day, see what it's output is. Good sunny day it should be producing 1500-6000 watts depending on size/panels.

[fitz19d]

Too many pages to recheck.

What are peoples experiences with HOA's and these? I know my new house is in a fairly aggressive HOA neighborhood. Lots of rules for visible structures in back yard etc.

[Dave_L]

I don't think an HOA can restrict you on solar panels. However, that's just off hearsay.