Thining about solar ? a few things I've learned

[brp914]

Yesterday was interesting:

1. received email from Gas Co warning that gas bills will double going forward due to rising nat gas cost.

2. received email from So Cal Edison warning that electric bills will increase ~12% for average sized house going forward due to cost of nat gas.

3. Had power outage from 9am to 2pm. My battery system kicked on and kept lights and fridge powered, but barely. There was intermittent rain so there was little solar production. The battery shuts down at 25% charge. I watched system status on-line and the battery was scraping by at 30% all day.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by brp914

Yesterday was interesting:

1. received email from Gas Co warning that gas bills will double going forward due to rising nat gas cost.

2. received email from So Cal Edison warning that electric bills will increase ~12% for average sized house going forward due to cost of nat gas.

3. Had power outage from 9am to 2pm. My battery system kicked on and kept lights and fridge powered, but barely. There was intermittent rain so there was little solar production. The battery shuts down at 25% charge. I watched system status on-line and the battery was scraping by at 30% all day.

30% is better than 20%. Sounds like it was a success.

You folks in Cali are getting royally screwed on your power on multiple levels.

California - the land of paradise and plenty. When you move here, make sure you bring plenty of lube!

[gregpark]

Originally Posted by masraum

You folks in Cali are getting royally screwed on your power on multiple levels.

Oh yeah. PG&E's faulty equipment was found to have caused numerous fires in the last several years destroying houses and killing people. They filed bankruptcy to avoid lawsuit payouts yet the PUC grants them permission to raise rates every year. Many home owners who lost their houses because of them have rebuilt and guess what? PG&E has increased their rate significantly for the new house over the rate they were paying in the house PG&E is guilty of burning down!

[Brando]

I've been reading through this and it pretty much confirms my hesitation. Pretty much unless you get a really good amount of sun, it isn't worthwhile. Unless maybe you get the batteries and panels for nearly free. And I don't mean free through a lease. There's still installation costs (all labor) and whatever negotiated rates with your power company.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Brando

I've been reading through this and it pretty much confirms my hesitation. Pretty much unless you get a really good amount of sun, it isn't worthwhile. Unless maybe you get the batteries and panels for nearly free. And I don't mean free through a lease. There's still installation costs (all labor) and whatever negotiated rates with your power company.

In addition to needing a lot of sun, it depends on how far north or south you are and then which direction your house faces. Then it depends on how much you can sell your overage back to the grid for vs. what you pay them to buy when you underproduce. If you're 80 yrs old, you ain't going to break even anywhere. And then it depends on what the gov't. and local utility subsidy deal is at the time you sign. I have a customer (I'm not in the solar biz) who was getting killed on electric bills, but she had solar. Problem was her solar panels weren't working and she'd didn't have wifi or any Internet service, so the the solar company couldn't monitor her production and their guarantee. She bled thousands of dollars before I happened upon her and got it fixed, which wasn't even part of my job. But I figured getting that problem fixed would make it easier for her to afford what I sold her. My parents really think they're making a killing with their solar panels, because they don't get an electric bill anymore. Ok, but they won't live long enough to save the $40k they wrote a check for to have that stuff installed.

[hcoles]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

In addition to needing a lot of sun, it depends on how far north or south you are and then which direction your house faces. Then it depends on how much you can sell your overage back to the grid for vs. what you pay them to buy when you underproduce. If you're 80 yrs old, you ain't going to break even anywhere. And then it depends on what the gov't. and local utility subsidy deal is at the time you sign. I have a customer (I'm not in the solar biz) who was getting killed on electric bills, but she had solar. Problem was her solar panels weren't working and she'd didn't have wifi or any Internet service, so the the solar company couldn't monitor her production and their guarantee. She bled thousands of dollars before I happened upon her and got it fixed, which wasn't even part of my job. But I figured getting that problem fixed would make it easier for her to afford what I sold her. My parents really think they're making a killing with their solar panels, because they don't get an electric bill anymore. Ok, but they won't live long enough to save the $40k they wrote a check for to have that stuff installed.

Could also add the maintenance cost. What do you do if you need to fix the roof in the area where the panels are? As mentioned above it doesn't really pencil out in many cases. The first thing you can do is review where you are using electrical power and take some steps to reduce the usage - e.g. LED lights.

I would trust this calculator - https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/