[Deschodt]

There are pros on this board who are gonna scoff at this because they already know, but this is what I've learned about my solar install.. If I were to get a do over I may go a different route, or not... If I got this wrong I'm sure they will chime in - bearing in mind some of the issues I mention are specific to my install !

For info I leased a system - zero down, about $200/mo for 20+y - guaranteed production # and rate increase protection vs ever climbing utility costs - 24 panels, battery, 10 circuits covered by battery. We sized it for 130% of my needs because I'm adding an EV + moving heater/water heater from natural gas to electric....when they break (not now, too $$ to throw away a working system)

Things I learned

- You kinda need a battery with solar - well you don't "need" it but without one you are simply putting your power back on the grid and playing a credit/debit game. There is no way for your house to use that solar power "directly" from a panel. As things stand, the power I make is flowing to fill my battery (for me) and then to power the grid (where I get a credit). At night I still get my power from the grid (cheaper) and overall we settle with the utility once a year. That part is a bit of a ripoff but I'll get to that. As far as I know the battery is used for times where power is cut, I am not sure it's used to power the house in "normal" situations - need to find out. Also the battery only charges from my solar, never from the grid, so in winter it's not at 100% and would not bail me out quite as much as it might in summer. Were the power to fail in summer I'm confident based on numbers that I would have juice for days on end, refilling during the sunny day (I make 45-52kwh - consume about 20-25)

- Solar production varies, a lot: a summer august day I make 52 kwh in a day. Yesterday in january, 1 kwh ! The day before, peanuts. Cloudy days still produce something like 30% of a sunny day, +/-, but really cloudy/rainy not so much. Winter is a killer with shorter days and clouds, not doing much. Also daylight savings time removes an hour (it's a joke people!!! ;-)

-The utility companies are ass$%@#s. I can see the need to reconcile at some point if you owe them. But rather than keep a rolling tally of your credit, they insist on paying you off at a certain date. If that date is december 31st, they will pay out your solar power credit for pennies on the $, much less than what they charge you of course, but then that zeroes out the deal... since you're not generating squat in winter you now likely will owe them for some power Jan-feb-march again instead of comfortably living off your credits that you earned last summer. That is a big D-move.

Overall, for me, with a leased installation, I paid nothing out of pocket at all, and I am paying somewhat less on average than I was paying the utility company each month - but not a ton less until I get rid of gas appliances completely.. maybe 10% tops. It will get better when the furnace goes electric. The benefits are 1) a more predictable bill, 2) the free battery backup (esp in summer), and 3) I produce more so I probably will charge the car for free overall, and may see more savings when the water heater or furnace eventually go electric. Heads up: It's NOT a substantial reduction in cost, more of an insurance policy and free smugness during occasional outages ;-)

If I were to do this again (pros may agree or disagree), I would possibly buy my system, maybe a smaller one, eat the costs with some tax credits and then be out of any contracts (but also lose support and warranty eventually).
But mostly, I think I would go another route... I would BUY a Powerwall (of any brand), set it up to charge at night when the power is cheap, and give back when the power is expensive if that is doable and economical vs the cost of the powerwall and its' 10y life span - is it ???. Or at least have it as a backup instead of a generator like I had before... I'm more interested in the backup notion than the production...

Just sharing for those thinking about it... If any of that is incorrect I'm sure experts will chime in.