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Solar?

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Worth it? Seeing more and more houses with it. It’s iffy for my house, with very large trees in back, but I think it could work. House is oriented north-south, with roofs facing east and west. Seeing Generac battery storage for solar now too. Anyone with any info to share?
 

temery

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Depends on your house and how much direct sunlight.

I pd $30k after incentives. With mini-splits for heat/AC, and an electric water heater/dehumidifier thanks to mass save, I've had no electric bills since the solar went online. Also no oil bills.

The money I had been paying for electricity, heat/ac, and hot water more than pays for the loan used to pay for solar. Loan will be pd off in seven years.

If anything, I pd for too large of a solar system. After three months I have a running credit of $526.

Battery back up is a waste of money at this point, from what I'm told. Way over priced.

78950CC7-B87A-4187-A497-F6498CE9C0E5.jpeg
 
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temery

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time mag 'best inventions of 2021' award winner.
genius. yup.
Buy EcoFlow DELTA Pro Portable Power Station - EcoFlow US
putting morons in charge who turned our 13 million barrels a day into 9 million barrels per day, screwing the people - notsomuch.
expect brownouts.

You would have been perfect for this scene in "Ocean's 12"

When I was four years old, I watched my mother kill a spider... with a teacosy. Years later, I realised it was not a spider - it was my Uncle Harold.
 

CL82

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You would have been perfect for this scene in "Ocean's 12"

When I was four years old, I watched my mother kill a spider... with a teacosy. Years later, I realised it was not a spider - it was my Uncle Harold.
Tom, so what happens to that credit? If you are checking that out monthly it’ll get to be a fairly sizable number in a fairly short order. Can it ever be cashed out or transfered?

My house is perfectly situated with a broad experience of roof and oriented south. I recently rerooed, and am not thrilled about putting holes in my roof. Also, I’m a little concerned about the excess heat from the solar cells, particularly in summer.
 

temery

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Tom, so what happens to that credit? If you are checking that out monthly it’ll get to be a fairly sizable number in a fairly short order. Can it ever be cashed out or transfered?

My house is perfectly situated with a broad experience of roof and oriented south. I recently rerooed, and am not thrilled about putting holes in my roof. Also, I’m a little concerned about the excess heat from the solar cells, particularly in summer.

The credits roll over until used. At the rate I'm going I'll likely have more than $1,500/yr credit. I over built. But I'm told it'll transfer if I move.

There's a second credit program that is pd quarterly. I think it'll be around $300/quarter.
 

ClifSpliffy

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Tom, so what happens to that credit? If you are checking that out monthly it’ll get to be a fairly sizable number in a fairly short order. Can it ever be cashed out or transfered?

My house is perfectly situated with a broad experience of roof and oriented south. I recently rerooed, and am not thrilled about putting holes in my roof. Also, I’m a little concerned about the excess heat from the solar cells, particularly in summer.
apparently, ur thinkin is a bit blurry. let's review what that poster said
'I've had no electric bills since the solar when online. Also no oil bills.'
 

CL82

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The credits roll over until used. At the rate I'm going I'll likely have more than $1,500/yr credit. I over built. But I'm told it'll transfer if I move.

There's a second credit program that is pd quarterly. I think it'll be around $300/quarter.
Good info. How about the heat thing? Even current solar cells are extraordinarily inefficient and much of the solar energy they receive is just converted to heat. I’m a little hesitant about baking my roof in that way, but people do it so it must just be manageable.
 
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Depends on your house and how much direct sunlight.

I pd $30k after incentives. With mini-splits for heat/AC, and an electric water heater/dehumidifier thanks to mass save, I've had no electric bills since the solar went online. Also no oil bills.

The money I had been paying for electricity, heat/ac, and hot water more than pays for the loan used to pay for solar. Loan will be pd off in seven years.

If anything, I pd for too large of a solar system. After three months I have a running credit of $526.

Battery back up is a waste of money at this point, from what I'm told. Way over priced.

View attachment 76732
So, you actually DO HAVE an electrical bill! If you financed the original $30K: it is the monthly payment on the loan. Rather than paying the power company, you are paying the bank. The payment amount depends on the term and interest rate you chose when you took the loan. Assuming a 10-year loan at say 5%, the monthly payment would be about $320 per month. If you paid cash, then you had a huge, one-time electric bill. Note that I am not including any tax deductions that you may have acquired from either federal or state incentives. The net monthly payment is in effect your electric bill for the length of the Loan. Over that term the "credits" you earn will never equal the full sum of $30K.

You could possibly recoup the $30K when you sell your house, but that would depend on how old the solar system is when you sell, simply because the panels lose their efficiency over time. Panels generally have a 20-year life span, and the added value of the solar system to the house value will also diminish over time. If you do not sell the house, the panels will eventually fail, and you will need to replace them for at least $30K, AND pay to properly dispose of the failed panels. Because the solar system is electrical other system elements may also fail over the lifespan of the system, specifically the "inverter" that converts the system's DC output to AC.

To read about one such nightmare failure story about a solar panel system that was installed in 2013, go to and scroll down and click on “......... – Blogs” and then scroll down and click on the blog titled “It’s Not Working”. I suggest reading the Comments after the Blog wherein other readers tell their Solar Panel stories of woe. Disregard the other Blogs if you are only interested in learning about the Solar Panel Failure story.

Being an engineer, I am entirely confused with the infatuation with paying $30K or more just to stop paying monthly electrical service and usage fees to the power company when the returns on investment over the long haul can be questionable at best.
 
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temery

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So, you actually DO HAVE an electrical bill! If you financed the original $30K: it is the monthly payment on the loan. Rather than paying the power company, you are paying the bank. The payment amount depends on the term and interest rate you chose when you took the loan. Assuming a 10-year loan at say 5%, the monthly payment would be about $320 per month. If you paid cash, then you had a huge, one-time electric bill. Note that I am not including any tax deductions that you may have acquired from either federal or state incentives. The net monthly payment is in effect your electric bill for the length of the Loan. Over that term the "credits" you earn will never equal the full sum of $30K.

You could possibly recoup the $30K when you sell your house, but that would depend on how old the solar system is when you sell, simply because the panels lose their efficiency over time. Panels generally have a 20-year life span, and the added value of the solar system to the house value will also diminish over time. If you do not sell the house, the panels will eventually fail, and you will need to replace them for at least $30K, AND pay to properly dispose of the failed panels. Because the solar system is electrical other system elements may also fail over the lifespan of the system, specifically the "inverter" that converts the system's DC output to AC.

To read about one such nightmare failure story about a solar panel system that was installed in 2013, go to and scroll down and click on “......... – Blogs” and then scroll down and click on the blog titled “It’s Not Working”. I suggest reading the Comments after the Blog wherein other readers tell their Solar Panel stories of woe. Disregard the other Blogs if you are only interested in learning about the Solar Panel Failure story.

Being an engineer, I am entirely confused with the infatuation with paying $30K or more just to stop paying monthly electrical service and usage fees to the power company when the returns on investment over the long haul can be questionable at best.

No, I don't have an electric bill, in fact I've run a credit every month but Jan.


What I'm paying down on the home equity is less than I was paying for electricity, heat/AC, etc. Pay off is seven years.

Ive been averaging a ~$260 credit/month, and saving ~$140/month compared to what I had been paying for all of the above.

Resale value? On average solar increases a home's value by 4.1%, and the increased value cannot be added to property taxes.

My panels have a warrantee of 25 years. The technology has become more efficient and more cost effective over time. There's no reason to believe this will not continue.

No regrets.

The link you provided has been deleted. It is to a political website.
 
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