[bimmerfrk]

I do not think this has been discussed much as topic in the off topic forum.

I recently moved to a larger house, about 4200 sq/ft and it has a pool and 2 10 SEER compressors for AC. My electric bill was north of 500 a month in the summer.

So i looked into the option of doing PV on my roof. I live in nj and the incentives are very good as we have an SREC program that pays about 210 dollar per 1000kw of energy produced. With the shrinking cost of solar that just about covers the cost of a system over the course of 5-10 years in most implementations

So i signed for a 12.6kw system which is $38k of which i get a 26 percent rebate on my taxes for 2020. It should produce somewhere in the range of 16-17kw a year. My SRECS will generate $3,360.00 if they dont go down in value. over 10 years system pays for itself...... And i have no electric bill seems like a win


Any one else gone solar? Experiences?

[2000cs]

If you’re being paid $210/KWh for SRECs, that is quite a subsidy. Since you can afford $38k, you are able get a subsidy for the solar investment. Your less fortunate/wealthy neighbors, who don’t have the up front, get to pay for that subsidy. No free lunch, system wide. (This is also my complaint about subsidies for electric vehicles: financial benefits go mostly to the high-earners/wealthy)

Price of energy can be seen at PJM’s web site. Running in the high teens; so you can calculate the actual subsidy. https://pjm.com/

What are you paying for grid connection and non-sunny power (night, cloudy days)?

You might look at your pool equipment to see if a timer for the pump would make sense, assuming you don’t already have one. Most pools need 8-12 hours of filtering/day, and the pump is a big electric user, so it can make sense to do this. Otherwise, I don’t understand your bill being so high consistently.

[bimmerfrk]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

If you’re being paid $210/KWh for SRECs, that is quite a subsidy. Since you can afford $38k, you are able get a subsidy for the solar investment. Your less fortunate/wealthy neighbors, who don’t have the up front, get to pay for that subsidy. No free lunch, system wide. (This is also my complaint about subsidies for electric vehicles: financial benefits go mostly to the high-earners/wealthy)

Price of energy can be seen at PJM’s web site. Running in the high teens; so you can calculate the actual subsidy. https://pjm.com/

What are you paying for grid connection and non-sunny power (night, cloudy days)?

You might look at your pool equipment to see if a timer for the pump would make sense, assuming you don’t already have one. Most pools need 8-12 hours of filtering/day, and the pump is a big electric user, so it can make sense to do this. Otherwise, I don’t understand your bill being so high consistently.

Actually I pay the same taxes as they do, and furthermore my taxes may even go up from pulling permits. Lastly, I'm financing the system, so really my neighbors just need to have decent credit in reality and can do the same....

its $210.00 per 1000kw produced

Also why pay a provider for something and be dependent on them. Their cost will only go up over time. Mine will go down. I mean logically think about it.

[bd307]

We went solar 3 years ago and endured 3 full summer seasons. Similar house size and amenities as you.

Used to be paying mid $500/mo on the electric bill during summer months as we have people in the house all the time and $200/mo on all other months.

Paid $3/watt for a 7.84 kw system before any incentives.

Since going solar, we have been paying around $20/year to the provider for staying on grid and that includes their admin fee, credit we received from overproducing, and power that we buy from them on rainy/cloudy days.

OP hits it right. The cost of electricity will just be going up more and more, but we are sort of independent from them as long as sun is up.

We will look into getting more panels perhaps in another 3-4 years when the kids are older.

We have a 2-story house so cleaning the panels is not so convenient and we will look into hiring people to clean them before this summer.

[bimmerfrk]

Originally Posted by bd307

We went solar 3 years ago and endured 3 full summer seasons. Similar house size and amenities as you.

Used to be paying mid $500/mo on the electric bill during summer months as we have people in the house all the time and $200/mo on all other months.

Paid $3/watt for a 7.84 kw system before any incentives.

Since going solar, we have been paying around $20/year to the provider for staying on grid and that includes their admin fee, credit we received from overproducing, and power that we buy from them on rainy/cloudy days.

OP hits it right. The cost of electricity will just be going up more and more, but we are sort of independent from them as long as sun is up.

We will look into getting more panels perhaps in another 3-4 years when the kids are older.

We have a 2-story house so cleaning the panels is not so convenient and we will look into hiring people to clean them before this summer.

That's why I'm going with a bit bigger system as I may get a heat pump to offset some of my gas heating costs when it's not to cold for the heat pump to run.

[upstatedoc]

i've seen a thread about this before and I thought the consensus was it wasn't worth it.

[zx10guy]

A few years ago, I looked into solar. Didn't pull the trigger because I wasn't sure the upfront cash outlay was worth the only 40% supplementation of my annual power usage it would provide. Things are a bit different now and I'm sure the newest solar panels are much better than the ones available tome a few years go. I also have shut down quite a few devices in my server room which I had kept running 24/7/365. So I'm pretty sure that 40% would be a bit bigger now.

[bd307]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

i've seen a thread about this before and I thought the consensus was it wasn't worth it.

I wasn't in that thread, so not sure how long ago was it.

It comes down to usage, roof layout of the property, quality/efficiency of panels, location (sunny vs gloomy), and incentives.

It is well worth it for my case.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

If you’re being paid $210/KWh for SRECs, that is quite a subsidy. Since you can afford $38k, you are able get a subsidy for the solar investment. Your less fortunate/wealthy neighbors, who don’t have the up front, get to pay for that subsidy. No free lunch, system wide. (This is also my complaint about subsidies for electric vehicles: financial benefits go mostly to the high-earners/wealthy)

Price of energy can be seen at PJM’s web site. Running in the high teens; so you can calculate the actual subsidy. https://pjm.com/

What are you paying for grid connection and non-sunny power (night, cloudy days)?

You might look at your pool equipment to see if a timer for the pump would make sense, assuming you don’t already have one. Most pools need 8-12 hours of filtering/day, and the pump is a big electric user, so it can make sense to do this. Otherwise, I don’t understand your bill being so high consistently.

My guess would be the 2 10 SEER a/c compressors, probably combined with heavy usage and / or high electric rates. Throw in some older hot water heaters and other inefficiencies (for example windows and doors), I think $500 is easily attainable. Our bill in South Florida during peak summer in a 2,645 sq. ft. under air home is around $350 with far more efficient a/c units , a pool timer, newer appliances and energy efficient storm windows and doors.

Every time I ask someone about maintenance costs of solar, I am told there are none. They may be low, but I don’t believe anything has zero maintenance costs. For those that have solar, what are the realistic costs to maintain it? How often do the panels require cleaning? Does anyone have it installed on barrel tile roof panels? If so, how do you deal with mildew on the roof tiles?

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

My guess would be the 2 10 SEER a/c compressors, probably combined with heavy usage and / or high electric rates. Throw in some older hot water heaters and other inefficiencies (for example windows and doors), I think $500 is easily attainable. Our bill in South Florida during peak summer in a 2,645 sq. ft. under air home is around $350 with far more efficient a/c units , a pool timer, newer appliances and energy efficient storm windows and doors.

Every time I ask someone about maintenance costs of solar, I am told there are none. They may be low, but I don’t believe anything has zero maintenance costs. For those that have solar, what are the realistic costs to maintain it? How often do the panels require cleaning? Does anyone have it installed on barrel tile roof panels? If so, how do you deal with mildew on the roof tiles?

I haven't heard of the panels themselves requiring any kind of maintenance. Though when I was looking the panel technology at the time is known to degrade in efficiency on producing electricity over time.

One thing which may or may not have been improved are the inverters used in the solar system. I was told to expect to have to replace these things after some years of use. I don't remember what the expected life span of these things are but they're not cheap to replace.