Thinking about going solar

[dmcummins]

I’ve thought about this in the past, but it didn’t make sense to me when I was building my home in 2001 in Missouri. I just bought stock in the local electric company instead.

But now I live in SW Florida, and I have a south facing roof, also I assume prices have come down. Currently there are solar water panels to heat the pool, but I can live without them, or reduce their size.

Is it now feasible to have solar panels installed and actually pay for themselves in a reasonable amount of time. Say less than 10 years?

I currently avg $240 a month, so the budget would be say $20k-30k. On the higher end I would like some storage for time without power.

I also have a tile roof, I don’t know if that effects the install cost.

Is this doable now?

[dmcummins]

My avg monthly usage is 2003kWh. According to FPL.

[tdw28210]

Did a 10.54 kWp project (34 panels) 3 years ago for around 27k.

Only pay the connection charge ($14.50) most months. Used this tool when I was planning.

https://www.energysage.com/solar/calculator/

[red-beard]

Tile roof will make it more expensive for the installation, but not by a lot.

The issue isn't "How much do you pay per month?", it is "How much do you pay per kWh?"

Also, does your local power company do some sort of net-metering.

The normal cost for install around here is $15K for 5kW for a Grid Tied System. Our 10kW system with batteries and a whole house generator is around $45K installed. In either case, there is a 26% Tax Credit.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by tdw28210

Did a 10.54 kWp project (34 panels) 3 years ago for around 27k.

Only pay the connection charge ($14.50) most months. Used this tool when I was planning.

https://www.energysage.com/solar/calculator/

That site seems useless other than to generate marketing leads.

[tdw28210]

Originally Posted by widebody911

That site seems useless other than to generate marketing leads.

LOL, OK. Maybe it's just me, but knowing:

• my payback timeframe
• my roof orienation
• my 20 year net payback (both purchase and lease)

All by entering 2 pieces of non-personal information (address and estimated monthly power bill) doesn't seem "useless". But...You do You.

[gregpark]

Your electric by itself is $240 a month? That's close to what my bill used to be and I paid 29K to go solar. I have 29 315W panels. I figure mine will pay for itself in 6 to 7 years (cash, not financed).But this feeds the grid, if you want storage too (batteries) you can add another 20K

[dmcummins]

240/2003=.12

[dmcummins]

Originally Posted by gregpark

Your electric by itself is $240 a month? That's close to what my bill used to be and I paid 29K to go solar. I have 29 315W panels. I figure mine will pay for itself in 6 to 7 years (cash, not financed).But this feeds the grid, if you want storage too (batteries) you can add another 20K

Thanks, I can live without the storage, I just thought it would be nice. Not 20k nice though.

I’m just looking into it now. I don’t want to get involved with any local suppliers unless it makes sense to me.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by dmcummins

Is it now feasible to have solar panels installed and actually pay for themselves in a reasonable amount of time. Say less than 10 years?

No. Not pay for themselves.

Is it possible to break even by having John Q. Public pay part of the cost?
Not in 10 years IMO.
Maybe 15 years if the panels don't degrade and if the ****-heads keep making new laws to jack up electricity prices.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by gregpark

Your electric by itself is $240 a month? That's close to what my bill used to be and I paid 29K to go solar. I have 29 315W panels. I figure mine will pay for itself in 6 to 7 years (cash, not financed).But this feeds the grid, if you want storage too (batteries) you can add another 20K

Your bill was close to $240 per month, you paid $29k for solar, and you expect the system to pay for itself in 7 years.

$240 x 12 = $2880 per year.
$2880 x 7 = $20,160 (total cost of electricity for 7 years with old system)

if your electricity bill went to zero after the switch to solar, that would still leave you about $9k short of break even after 7 years.
So I assume you make more electricity than you use and sell it back to the grid and the electric company is sending you a check for $107 each month.
Is that correct?

[Sooner or later]

And, there is loss from investment/savings accounts on the $29,000 that should go into the calculation.

[Scott R]

These 29k quotes must be without storage.

[dmcummins]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

And, there is loss from investment/savings accounts on the $29,000 that should go into the calculation.

I would pull this from my fixed income accounts that are paying squat right now. I am considering this part of it. Of coarse the cost of power can also increase.

[dmcummins]

Any freebies in the infrastructure bill for solar?

[sammyg2]

Some solar companies suggest the installation will increase the value of your property by 3 to 5% and they use that in the calcumalations for break-even.

I just want to confirm that's not part of this conversation.

[gregpark]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Your bill was close to $240 per month, you paid $29k for solar, and you expect the system to pay for itself in 7 years.

$240 x 12 = $2880 per year.
$2880 x 7 = $20,160 (total cost of electricity for 7 years with old system)

if your electricity bill went to zero after the switch to solar, that would still leave you about $9k short of break even after 7 years.
So I assume you make more electricity than you use and sell it back to the grid and the electric company is sending you a check for $107 each month.
Is that correct?

I did make an abundance of power at first. The power Co doesn't pay much back at true up. So, since installing I bought a full electric EV, installed a couple of 8' electric base board heaters and an electric pre heater for the hot tub. I had 5 extra panels installed over my usage at the time in anticipation of increasing my usage. I may be about maxed now. It'll pay for itself quickly this rate

[gregpark]

And that's not figuring in the advantages of all the tax rebates

[Evans, Marv]

I've said this before on other solar panel threads. (First of all 2003 kWh means you use 2+ mWh/ month. That's a huge amount) I have 25 panels that generate between 52 and maybe 28+ kWh/day depending on summer or winter. It started service in May 2016. The system cost me $27K with a 30% tax credit - so about $19K in the end. Our 3 tiered rates are in the 30/40/50 cent + range per kWh. So really high. I figure we most likely broke even this year or very early next year. Our system generates 2.8+ mWh extra per year so far or about 10% extra over all. We also bought an EV late last year. We broke even or better this past true up (May 19th - net metering), so we'll see how next year goes. If we don't come out on top because of charging my wife's car, I may add another five or more panels. What I really want to do is keep the system matched with our overall use, since the power company charges 35 to 55 cents per kWh and pays back 2 to 4 cents per kWh at the wholesale rate (seems like it's actually been 2 cents every year so far) at true up time. When I started on building my house (2006), I got an estimate for solar, which was around $55K at that time.

[Nick Triesch]

My house is large single story. 2826 sq ft. Would cost about $24,000 or more to get solar not including batteries on wall. My neighbor had it installed and brags to me that he pays very little for electricity. But the truth is you simply trade your old energy bill for a new energy bill. And most still pay for using the grid and natural gas. In fact, Everyone who gets solar tells me how cheap their electricity is . They never tell me about the $400 a month solar bill.