Anyone have solar panels installed on their roof?

[Slew Foot]

Was thinking about putting solar panels up since PGE has some stupidly high rates for electricity here. We currently use about 6-800 kW a month, and around 1200 during hot months in the summer with the AC going. PGE totally rapes you when you go over 200 Kwh a month, something like 35 cents per kWH.

Any opinions on leasing vs buying? How big a system should I get? I was hoping for something that would produce about 400kwh a month so I can stay in the cheap tier of PGE. About how much would it cost?

The home itself is as energy efficient as it gets, LED lighting and energy star appliances, newish insulation and double pane windows.

 

[Doodoo]

A friend of mine is getting them soon. Its a 9kW system and will cost about 11k after all the rebates and tax credits. Total was about 40 something thousand. They did a whole sun analysis and said her house was perfect since it sits on a hill and gets sun all day. They plan on breaking even in year 6....and they decided to buy instead of lease.

 

[jagec]

Yup. How handy are you?

 

[Dirigible]

Nope. But I'm interested. I have vague memories of thinking I would not lease when I started to look into it a couple years ago.

Other projects have taken priority over solar, but I will watch this thread with interest since I will eventually get to it. If you go forward, please post what company you use, since I'm in the Bay Area too.

 

[Mixolydian]

If the costs weren't insanely astronomical, I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

[bigi]

http://www.solarcity.com

I'd talk to them if I were looking.

 

[ImpulsE69]

A friend of mine is getting them soon. Its a 9kW system and will cost about 11k after all the rebates and tax credits. Total was about 40 something thousand. They did a whole sun analysis and said her house was perfect since it sits on a hill and gets sun all day. They plan on breaking even in year 6....and they decided to buy instead of lease.

So....I'm not sure (at least haven't yet) I'd ever come close to using 40k in electric bills...

 

[Slew Foot]

A friend of mine is getting them soon. Its a 9kW system and will cost about 11k after all the rebates and tax credits. Total was about 40 something thousand. They did a whole sun analysis and said her house was perfect since it sits on a hill and gets sun all day. They plan on breaking even in year 6....and they decided to buy instead of lease.

What exactly does a 9kw system mean? Energy per day? How much can that reasonably expect to produce per month?

We'll probably use the same company my parents used, they seem happy with their system. Do you know if you get the 30% federal tax credit if you lease instead of buy?

 

[Doodoo]

I meant total cost was $40k before any rebates. I believe 9kW means it generates 9000 watts per day. Not sure if that's in perfect conditions or not though....they're covering her entire roof so her system is pretty big.

 

[blackangst1]

http://www.solarcity.com

I'd talk to them if I were looking.

This is who I use. *for me* leasing was a better option than buying. Ive been on solar for about 5 months, and my system (cant remember offhand how many kw it is) provides approx 90% of my daytime electricity needs during the summer. Mind you Im in Phoenix, so thats quite a bit. My home is approx 2350 sq ft, 2 story.

edit: just logged into my account. I produce approx 38kWh/day during summer months. I have 27 panels.

edit2: heres the graph for the month so far:

 

[TheBigEarl]

I meant total cost was $40k before any rebates. I believe 9kW means it generates 9000 watts per day. Not sure if that's in perfect conditions or not though....they're covering her entire roof so her system is pretty big.

9kw means that under peak conditions the panel can produce 9kw of power at any given moment. It's an instantaneous measure of output. Now say the panel achieves its full 9kw output for a full hour. The panel has now produced 9000 watt-hours of energy, or 9 kw-hr. This is how much "fuel" the panel has produced. Think of kw as the horsepower in your car, and kw-hr as the amount of fuel you spend on a trip.

The advantage isn't just in reducing your grid energy usage. When your panel is pumping out maximum power in the middle of the day when you aren't home, you either store that power for later in batteries, or you put it back onto the grid. If you put energy onto the grid it turns your meter backwards, and reduces your bill accordingly. So it's not just about zeroing out your usage, you can actually make money assuming you can get a favorable arrangement with the power company.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

What city do you live in? How much energy do you use on average a month?

 

[jagec]

What exactly does a 9kw system mean? Energy per day? How much can that reasonably expect to produce per month?

We'll probably use the same company my parents used, they seem happy with their system. Do you know if you get the 30% federal tax credit if you lease instead of buy?

Calculate performance based on location/size/orientation.

See local incentives.

Great forum for it.


My non-optimal 5 kW system produces about 6000 kWh a year (more than I use). A better optimized system of the same size in a better location (Arizona) would produce more like 8000. Conservation (better insulation, etc) certainly has a better ROI, but once you've done that solar can start to make good sense. Particularly in places with insanely high electric rates...

Incentives aren't what they used to be. You have to crunch a LOT of numbers to see what makes sense.

 

[lupi]

If you're going to do it, it may be a sooner better than later item. I've read that several utilities are trying to kill or reduce how much they have to pay for customer generated power as so many people started using when the discounts and other incentives were added that the power company doesn't like losing the revenue.

 

[Slew Foot]

Thanks for all of the help, poking aorund it seems that most people in my area are using about 3-5 kW systems ( a 9 kW system would be HUGE!) with decent results. From one of the links above it seems that a 4 kW system would on average produce about 500 kwh of energy per month in this area (San Jose, surprisingly more than Sacramento) which would be a decent amount. I might like to go slightly larger in case we get an electric car in the future. PGE totally gyps you on the return for excess energy produced so its not really worth it to get a humongous system to produce tons of energy.

I'd like to lease since the system comes with a full lifetime warranty as long as the lease is in effect, but do you know if you get the federal tax credit if you lease instead of purchase? Does anyone have a ballpark figure of what a 4kw system should cost?

 

[jaedaliu]

I'd like to lease since the system comes with a full lifetime warranty as long as the lease is in effect, but do you know if you get the federal tax credit if you lease instead of purchase? Does anyone have a ballpark figure of what a 4kw system should cost?

Pretty sure you don't get the tax credit if you lease. I think the credit drives down your monthly cost because the installer kind of uses it as a down payment.

Just make sure you go with a reputable company that's been around a long time (like Solar City) if you do lease. The lifetime warranty is useless if the company that installed it isn't around to make repairs.

 

[JoetheLion]

I don't know where you're from, but while you're at it, have you considered that there may be a grant on solar panels in your area? My relatives got solar panels installed on their roof mainly because they got the grant.

Maybe this will help a bit: http://juliekinnear.com/blogs/solar-panels-grants

 

[MegaFlop]

We put a 7.2KW system up in the middle of May.
We live in central Washington and our electricity rates are only about $0.07 per kWh. Even with the low rates we are looking at a 4 year payback because of some state and local incentives.

I am seeing about ~40kWh per day produced in the summer. So far since the system has been installed we have only used about 150 kWh off the grid (Net)

If the numbers work out for you it can be a good investment. Basically no maintenance required after the burn in period. We had to have two of our micro-inverters replaced, but those were basically out of the box failures.

 

[blackangst1]

Hmm I dont know where my graph went I posted

 

[Meractik]

This is who I use. *for me* leasing was a better option than buying. Ive been on solar for about 5 months, and my system (cant remember offhand how many kw it is) provides approx 90% of my daytime electricity needs during the summer. Mind you Im in Phoenix, so thats quite a bit. My home is approx 2350 sq ft, 2 story.

edit: just logged into my account. I produce approx 38kWh/day during summer months. I have 27 panels.

edit2: heres the graph for the month so far:

thx for posting.

 

[DnetMHZ]

http://www.solarcity.com

I'd talk to them if I were looking.

I see their trucks all over the place by me and they actually have an office/shop in the same office park as me. Seems like business is good. There are a ton of solar panels popping up on roofs lately around here (NJ).