Debate switching to solar power

Cadillac

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I’ve been toying around the idea of going solar power for acouple years now and would love to hear from someone that already has or has good informed knowledge of the process.
I average between 400-500 kWh per month in a 1700sq ft ranch house. To my eye my roof should have adequate room for panels mostly full sun all day. My one concern would be I wouldn’t want to put panels on street side so they wouldn’t be seen from street. Wondering what surface area to power needed is to see how much roof I would need?
Are their better systems out there and ones to stay away from ?
Long term I plan on staying here for maybe 10yrs. Need to move for better schooling choices once boy is of age. Main reason for wanting to do this is to not be reliant on the power company paying all the fees and bla bla bla. My normal consumption is cheaper than the delivery rates then add all the taxes and fees for programs it’s just ridiculous. I want them to start paying me:p I would also think it would help a lot with resale of the house which I have completely renovated to make very efficient consisting of insulation, windows all appliances, tankless water heater and 96% furnace,LED’s everywhere.
I’d really like to learn as much as possible about going solar so if you have any knowledge of it please inform me and thanks for reading let me have it.
 
I’ve been toying around the idea of going solar power for acouple years now and would love to hear from someone that already has or has good informed knowledge of the process.
I average between 400-500 kWh per month in a 1700sq ft ranch house. To my eye my roof should have adequate room for panels mostly full sun all day. My one concern would be I wouldn’t want to put panels on street side so they wouldn’t be seen from street. Wondering what surface area to power needed is to see how much roof I would need?
Are their better systems out there and ones to stay away from ?
Long term I plan on staying here for maybe 10yrs. Need to move for better schooling choices once boy is of age. Main reason for wanting to do this is to not be reliant on the power company paying all the fees and bla bla bla. My normal consumption is cheaper than the delivery rates then add all the taxes and fees for programs it’s just ridiculous. I want them to start paying me:p I would also think it would help a lot with resale of the house which I have completely renovated to make very efficient consisting of insulation, windows all appliances, tankless water heater and 96% furnace,LED’s everywhere.
I’d really like to learn as much as possible about going solar so if you have any knowledge of it please inform me and thanks for reading let me have it.
One site is Simply Solar. "simplysolar@yahoo groups.com". They are a group of solar enthusiasts that have a wealth of information. Join the group and ask questions.
 
Are you going to stay on grid or are you thinking of going totally off grid? I believe the on-grid option is cheaper, the off- grid system requires a sizeable investment in batteries+ charge controllers and inverters plus more pv panels
Mark
ps my brother in Phoenix is contemplating an off grid system- the irony is that even though he's got plenty of sun the high outdoor temperatures require lots of air conditioning which eats up a lot of the system capacity
 
for that amount of usage you're not going to break even before you move unless your state has a generous feed in tariff. I've looked into it some and it just doesn't make sense for us financially, even in Central Texas with a large south facing roof. I've also heard conflicting stories from realtors and buyers, so I wouldn't bank on it increasing the resale value. It might even make it harder to sell.

If you don't mind the high pressure sales tactics, get 2 or 3 installers out for quotes. They'll know how much you'll need, how much you can fit and what the various federal and state programs are. Don't forget that those programs can (and will) be withdrawn at some point, so base your calculations on the most pessimistic forecast you can. A friend back in south eastern WA (lots of sun in the summer) spent alot of money on an install only for the state government to reduce the feed in tariff a couple of years later, increasing the break even point from 7 years to something like 15. Still worth it for them, but less so than they thought.
 
I've had solar water heating and power on my roof for around 20 years now.
I jumped in a bit too quick just before they dropped the price of panels so only managed a 1.75KW system.
My feed in tariff was 44c/KW, if I want to increase the size of my system I loose the 44c down to 7c (or around there)
If I had the spare cash I would load the roof with as much as it could bear and go off grid because prices are escalating here and the new panels are more efficient and produce more power per panel that mine.
Be aware they do not produce as much as they are advertised to do and what the sellers say they will.
I get rebates on every bill but not as much as when we were both working and every drop went back to the grid.
Most of my power is used during the day now.
 
This is an enormous topic. I really recommend some serious research before jumping in, because there are many dimensions to this. I highly recommend https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum because they're both end users and some are engineers who've shined light on what's really going on behind the sales pitches.
 
I was involved in a project to convert the off grid (LPG generator) fire station I worked at to solar. A few years out of date since that project started 5 years ago and only went into service last fall, a year after I retired.

What I found out during that process.

Panels are cheap, and getting cheaper, some are less than $1 / watt. Installation is now a more significant cost than the actual panels.

Batteries and inverter are not cheap, so full off grid costs a lot more than a grid tie in system that sells the power back to the power company and deducts the power sold from your bill.

Grid tie in agreements vary by location, some power companies basically just roll your meter back, so if you use 3000 watts, and your panels produce 1000 watts, you only pay for 2000 watts. Some areas sell the power to the power company, at a set rate which is deducted from you bill. If you are selling power, some areas may tax the power you generate. It is important to know how your area handles this, the roll back method seems to be the better deal, and just easier to deal with.

Avoiding shadows on the panels is more important than, the actual quality of the sunlight. Panels work on a differential method, sunlight on one side, shade on the other (bottom side). A tree branch casting a shadow over a relatively small area of a panel has far more of a negative effect, than a cloudy day with evenly distributed sunlight.

Dirty panels are less efficient, so you need to clean them periodically.

As panels age they lose effectiveness, so if you go off grid you need to start with more power than you need to compensate for the loss of power as they age. Life expectancy of a solar panel is 10-20 years depending on quality.

On the plus side, if you go with a grid tie in system, you can start small, say 1000 watts which is probably around 4x8 feet give or take based on panel quality, sun light quality / length of exposure and the installation type (fixed or sun tracking). Since it doesn't have to power the whole house you can start small and see if it justifies expanding. I've thought about putting 1000-2000w of panels on my house with the idea it would offset the AC bills during the summer.
 
Our neighbor has a solar array which ties into the grid and I believe that she has achieved payback already after around ten years. Wisconsin has a mandate that power companies must generate a certain percentage of their power from renewable resources so the the power company pays her more per kwh than they charge. Also there were significant incentives for installation which reduced the capital outlay. She happens to live on a hilltop and has an array which tracks the sun so overall efficiency is around double that of a fixed array.

I have looked at going solar but decided that, due to my location, I would not achieve payback in my lifetime (I'm 74). Sun rises about an hour after actual sunrise and sets behind the trees to the west around 5PM.

Since that determination, capital costs have decreased and solar panels have become more efficient. One thought that I had was to use passive reflective panels to increase the solar flux, thereby reducing the number of panels required.

One consideration in determining the size of the system is the amount of cloud cover. There is a very big difference between Illinois and the desert southwest. Madison, Wisconsin has around 55% sunny or partially sunny days. December has less than four hours/day of sunlight while July has over ten.
 
A little over a year ago I installed a grid tied system. Max output is just under 15kW/H. We contracted the entire installation and we sized it to provide 80-85% of our usage. The undersizing was intentional because our Electric provider will only pay us about 1/2 as much as they charge so we wanted to minimize the times that we produce more than we use in a given month. Every electrical provider and state have different rules and rates so you need to do your research. Where I live we have what is known as Net Metering. This means that we reconcile the Over/Under only at the end of each month. So we overproduce during the day and of course do not produce at all at night. At just over 14 months, we have produced 83.8% of all of our electrical needs via solar. 3 months we had less than $20 bills and 1 month they paid me but the remaining months we still had a bill although much much smaller than before. The installation and panels (we used SunPower). You need to do some financial calculation to know when your break even point will be but expect 10+ years. Our panels are guaranteed for 25 years and I expect they will last longer than that. The calculation can be a bit involved. All Solar panels degrade a certain % each year so you will need to take that into account. Also if you have to borrow money to purchase the panels, then the cost of the loan needs to be calculated in. Also in the US there is a substantial Federal Income Tax Credit. I think it was 30% of the cost of the panels and installation for the 2018 tax year. I believe it is scheduled to reduce this year but not sure. states and local governments and electric provides sometimes offer rebates that stack. Also remember that even if you don't live in the house for 10 + years, you can add to the asking price when you sell. Who wouldn't want to buy a house with next to no electric bill.

Anyway, tons of stuff to look into. And all the above does not take into account the value to our planet by using the sun instead of coal or gas.
 
I’ve been toying around the idea of going solar power for acouple years now and would love to hear from someone that already has or has good informed knowledge of the process.
I average between 400-500 kWh per month in a 1700sq ft ranch house. To my eye my roof should have adequate room for panels mostly full sun all day. My one concern would be I wouldn’t want to put panels on street side so they wouldn’t be seen from street. Wondering what surface area to power needed is to see how much roof I would need?
Are their better systems out there and ones to stay away from ?
Long term I plan on staying here for maybe 10yrs. Need to move for better schooling choices once boy is of age. Main reason for wanting to do this is to not be reliant on the power company paying all the fees and bla bla bla. My normal consumption is cheaper than the delivery rates then add all the taxes and fees for programs it’s just ridiculous. I want them to start paying me:p I would also think it would help a lot with resale of the house which I have completely renovated to make very efficient consisting of insulation, windows all appliances, tankless water heater and 96% furnace,LED’s everywhere.
I’d really like to learn as much as possible about going solar so if you have any knowledge of it please inform me and thanks for reading let me have it.

The things you need to consider (assuming you are going to be grid tied) are:
1) Cost of electricity. It varies greatly and if too cheap it will take a long time to break even.
2) Net metering. If your utility company pays you 1 KWh for each KWh you supply to them then you are OK. If they are cheapskates and pay you a lower rate then once again it takes longer to recoup your costs.
3) Roof direction. Conventional wisdom is that south facing is best, but depending upon your situation regarding sun-hours, shade, and your tariff then SouthWest or even West may be better.
4) Roof area. You need enough to make the installation overheads worthwhile.
5) Roof slope.
6) Temperature. It isn't just the amount of sun that matters it is also how hot it gets. The hotter it is the less efficient the panels are.

There are many other things but a good contractor will spell out all of your choices, like what kind of inverter or inverters you should have, panel size, quantity, etc.

I contacted 5 companies that were highly rated and told them all that I was going to pay cash. Four gave me sensible quotes, one gave me an excellent quote and another matched it and offered to pay my electricity bills until the install was done - and they did.

It was the best investment I ever made, much better than any 401K or stock investment. It dropped my annual bill from $3600 to $600. It was fully paid off in five years, two years ago. Remember the 30% federal tax credit drops at the end of this year. My Electricity Company even paid us some cash for doing it.

Good luck.
 
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