So the wife and I just bought a house a couple months ago, moved into a new construction development in NW Arvada. The development doesn't *require* solar, per se, but does kind of push for it. They put us in touch with Solar City (who I found is owned by Tesla, Inc.). The guy came out today and gave us the initial consult, and it all sounds great, but I wanted to dig into this further. According to the guy, who is paid to talk up their tech, they set up the panels to 100% (or close to it) offset our electrical draw from Xcel (so basically, once the panels are paid for, we pay nothing for electricity). All sounds fantastic and perfect, but really?

Prior to the guy coming over, my wife met a neighbor who works at the National Renewable Energy Lab who told her that the technology isn't yet there, and the panels would wear out in 10 years. He said he wouldn't get panels on his house yet. My wife is kind of in the boat that when this guy gets solar panels, then we get solar panels. But it's still an ongoing discussion. Anyone here have any experience with solar?