Life with solar after a year.

[Alan]

We are at latitude 55N, 10 degrees further north than Portland Maine. Our solar panels were installed September 2nd last year and over the last 12 months we have generated 3,353 kWh, imported 994 kWh, and exported 1,342 kWh.

That makes consumption of the devices in the house 3,005 kWh, of which we have had to pay for 994 kWh, and we have sold 1,342 kWh to the power company. The 3,005 kWh is in line with our usual ~3,000 kWh annual consumption.

[Ian S]

When we lived in Phoenix, we had a 6.9 kW system installed on our patio home in 2012. At that time we got a great deal on a prepaid solar lease - a single payment of $6300 upfront and no additional costs for the 20 year life of the lease. It produced around 12,000 kWh annually and with the electric plan we were on, we saved around $1500 annually on our electric bill which was mostly for air conditioning. In 2018, we opted to exercise our one time lease buyout provision for about $800 that made us the owners of the system. We pretty much hit the sweet spot of solar deals on that top of the line Sunpower system. We sold the home last October after moving to the Sedona area; I don't think having solar added much to the home's value but I don't think it was a detriment either.

Here in Sedona, our home is all-electric with heat pumps and we'd probably benefit from solar. But, we will pursue various energy efficiency modifications to the home before we'd go with solar again. Frankly, I really wouldn't like the look of the panels on our home and I think the utility company has made it far less to our financial advantage to go solar than it was in 2012. I would actually look into converting to natural gas to save on our heating bills rather than going solar again.

[SmallCityDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian S When we lived in Phoenix, we had a 6.9 kW system installed on our patio home in 2012. At that time we got a great deal on a prepaid solar lease - a single payment of $6300 upfront and no additional costs for the 20 year life of the lease. It produced around 12,000 kWh annually and with the electric plan we were on, we saved around $1500 annually on our electric bill which was mostly for air conditioning. In 2018, we opted to exercise our one time lease buyout provision for about $800 that made us the owners of the system. We pretty much hit the sweet spot of solar deals on that top of the line Sunpower system. We sold the home last October after moving to the Sedona area; I don't think having solar added much to the home's value but I don't think it was a detriment either. Here in Sedona, our home is all-electric with heat pumps and we'd probably benefit from solar. But, we will pursue various energy efficiency modifications to the home before we'd go with solar again. Frankly, I really wouldn't like the look of the panels on our home and I think the utility company has made it far less to our financial advantage to go solar than it was in 2012. I would actually look into converting to natural gas to save on our heating bills rather than going solar again.

Wow that was a great deal.

[ProspectiveBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 How does the amount consumed fit into the payback equation? Are there a lot of fixed costs or economy of scale for a larger residential installation? Otherwise, I would think it would just be a $/watt cost factor. -ERD50

Sorry for the late reply. We have tiered pricing here, with the first tier up to ~400KWh at .23 per KWh, 2nd tier is up to ~700 KWh at .41 per KWh and 3rd tier is anything above that at .48 per KWh. Our consumption for a family of 4 is around 500 KWh per month. If we consumed significantly more, our costs per KWh would be higher, and the payback period shorter. Last time I looked at installing solar, the payback was over 12 years, which was longer than I wanted.

If we ever got an electric vehicle, that might make the finances of it more appealing for us.

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

In this state the utility companies do not pay you for power you put on their grid. You get credits which may be spent when you want power from the grid. And you still pay the transmission fees and taxes on the power both ways.

[pj.mask]

The main factor for solar is electricity price. Here in the sunny sky south - I’d love to get it but a got a bad contract rate due to electric renewal timing. 8.7cents/kWh. Coming off a 7.5cent/kWh

I can’t find any reasonable payout time. Lots of areas have high priced electric due to demand (high or low).

There is a lot of appeal to not having to rely on the grid.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProspectiveBum Sorry for the late reply. We have tiered pricing here, with the first tier up to ~400KWh at .23 per KWh, 2nd tier is up to ~700 KWh at .41 per KWh and 3rd tier is anything above that at .48 per KWh. Our consumption for a family of 4 is around 500 KWh per month. If we consumed significantly more, our costs per KWh would be higher, and the payback period shorter. Last time I looked at installing solar, the payback was over 12 years, which was longer than I wanted. If we ever got an electric vehicle, that might make the finances of it more appealing for us.

OK, thanks. I see where the tiered pricing fits in now.

-ERD50

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj.mask The main factor for solar is electricity price. Here in the sunny sky south - I’d love to get it but a got a bad contract rate due to electric renewal timing. 8.7cents/kWh. Coming off a 7.5cent/kWh I can’t find any reasonable payout time. Lots of areas have high priced electric due to demand (high or low). There is a lot of appeal to not having to rely on the grid.

In my area with us the biggest factor was watching how much our neighbors spend on generator fuel. If you have to run your generator for a week every month, by the end of the year you will have spent a great deal on fuel.

My wife did not want to be so reliant on petroleum just to power our house.

Solar power is always going to be more expensive than grid power.

But with a large enough battery-bank a solar system can power your home every day all year round, which obviously the power grid can never do. In our town the grid can not provide power for a single month, not once in fifteen years [so far].

[tb001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProspectiveBum Sorry for the late reply. We have tiered pricing here, with the first tier up to ~400KWh at .23 per KWh, 2nd tier is up to ~700 KWh at .41 per KWh and 3rd tier is anything above that at .48 per KWh. Our consumption for a family of 4 is around 500 KWh per month. If we consumed significantly more, our costs per KWh would be higher, and the payback period shorter. Last time I looked at installing solar, the payback was over 12 years, which was longer than I wanted. If we ever got an electric vehicle, that might make the finances of it more appealing for us.

Yes. In SoCA if you have a large house, need AC and have a pool pump running it starts to make sense fast when most of your energy is in the higher tiers. Our energy prices have gone up considerably over the last 5 yrs as well. One of the ‘gotchas’ is that the utility companies are charging more for evening power, so unless you have a battery, those evening hours can hurt the return.