Quote:
Originally Posted by Neilk
Just out of curiosity, what are you electricity rates in SoCal?
I am not sure solar would make much sense in Texas where rates are under 10c/ kw.
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Neil,
You are correct if you neglect the value increase in the house with a Solar energy system installed.
@0.089/kWh, 30% tax credit, and I arrange a roofer to install the panels/rack and an electrician to tie the electricity in, I believe I can do a $3.6kW system for ~$7K in Texas.
3.6kWh system will produce 6570 kWh here or about $585 of electricity each year. That is still an 8.4% return on investment. Not bad.
But if we assume the nominal $10K system adds $5K to the value of my house, then the sunk cost is only $2K and will pay off in a couple of years.
When I install a system on my house, it will probably be 70-80 panels or about 16-18 kWh. Initial cost around $50K, with a tax credit of $15K. It should produce around 31000 to 32000 kWh per year, or about $2750 in cost avoidance per year.