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Finally
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So you are re-volting?
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I am *really* eager to see how you like the system.
After ten years I still haven't found anyone with roof-top (or backyard) panels, who say the decision was smart financially. Green yes - financially, no.
Around here, there are big installations on schools, municipal buildings, etc. But the panels and other hardware were all donated - for publicity!
Hang in there!
Tom M.
After ten years I still haven't found anyone with roof-top (or backyard) panels, who say the decision was smart financially. Green yes - financially, no.
Around here, there are big installations on schools, municipal buildings, etc. But the panels and other hardware were all donated - for publicity!
Hang in there!
Tom M.
OP
DNK
Great Pumpkin
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Well of course their is subsidies
wouldn't be prudent without it
I wouldn't have done it with out them
In Ca there is so much solar during the day they can't use it all that at night it's a big problem with demand.
Musk has started a new subsidiary for his solar generating battery business to sell them to the power companies to store the juice so the power can be used at night
wouldn't be prudent without it
I wouldn't have done it with out them
In Ca there is so much solar during the day they can't use it all that at night it's a big problem with demand.
Musk has started a new subsidiary for his solar generating battery business to sell them to the power companies to store the juice so the power can be used at night
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I guess that's one of the "gotchas". Someone has to pay for the subsidies.
Regarding storage of un-used generation: Use the excess current to run air compressors, which would pressurize underground caverns. During cloudy days - or at night - use the stored air pressure to run air-powered generators. Nothing is 100% efficient, but seems ti would be cheaper than those batteries, which don't store as much as most people think.
OK - back to my cave.
Regarding storage of un-used generation: Use the excess current to run air compressors, which would pressurize underground caverns. During cloudy days - or at night - use the stored air pressure to run air-powered generators. Nothing is 100% efficient, but seems ti would be cheaper than those batteries, which don't store as much as most people think.
OK - back to my cave.
Online
Did they do a solar analysis to see how much sunlight falls on your roof through all the months?
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DNK
Great Pumpkin
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David, you don't use any of the power .
They buy it from you as you produce it
Unfortunately, Ca pays more than our power company pays
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DNK
Great Pumpkin
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Elliot, my house rear faces almost due south. Even in December it is in full sun
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Don - I think Elliot is asking about "insolation" (sun fall on the surface).
Check this out for Mt Pleasant SC:
https://www.solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-irradiance.html
Here's a calculation based on panels facing directly south, with the optimal 57 degree angle:
View attachment 47551
The calc shows monthly output (kilowatt hours per square meter) of the panels. They use "average sun fall over a 22 year recent history" for that area. So should take into account things like bad weather, dust, pollen, etc.
Anyway, I sure look forward to following Don's adventure.
Tom M.
Check this out for Mt Pleasant SC:
https://www.solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-irradiance.html
Here's a calculation based on panels facing directly south, with the optimal 57 degree angle:
View attachment 47551
The calc shows monthly output (kilowatt hours per square meter) of the panels. They use "average sun fall over a 22 year recent history" for that area. So should take into account things like bad weather, dust, pollen, etc.
Anyway, I sure look forward to following Don's adventure.
Tom M.
GTP1960
Jedi Knight
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I have heard of a solar power company that does a turn key lease.( don't know the name)
with terms structured so you pay them about 2/3 your normal electric bill, but the solar company owns & maintains the panels.
i think their percentage comes from the subsidies and from feeding the grid.
my concern is will the business survive, or will you be stuck with "roof art" after a few years.
with terms structured so you pay them about 2/3 your normal electric bill, but the solar company owns & maintains the panels.
i think their percentage comes from the subsidies and from feeding the grid.
my concern is will the business survive, or will you be stuck with "roof art" after a few years.
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Guy - that's the way it works here in Connecticut. And if you sell the house, the new owner has to buy the lease - or you have pay to have the hardware removed.
I swear, at least here, it would be beneficial for us poor average Joe's to just lease the roof space to the generating company. They'd pay us monthly to use our roof (or backyard, whatever). Instead, we buy/lease the equipment and hope we eventually make our investment back. Buying (or leasing) the hardware from a company that bought it with big state subsidies, and can't guarantee (1) what you'll make on the system to pay back what you've already invested), and (2) can't guarantee what the system will be generating - or even what the system is worth - 10 years from now ... that's too risky for most of us.
Edit: and as Don says, you're not powering your house with the electricity. You're just selling the electricity to the power company, at a much lower rate than you're paying them for what you're already using. I pay 20 cents per kwh, but I can only sell my generated power at 8 cents per kwh.
About ten years ago, Connecticut announced a huge "solar incentive program", where they offered thousands of subsidized solar generating systems. But the contractors swooped in, bought them all within a few days, and now we have to get buy/lease the systems at higher prices.
/rant off
I swear, at least here, it would be beneficial for us poor average Joe's to just lease the roof space to the generating company. They'd pay us monthly to use our roof (or backyard, whatever). Instead, we buy/lease the equipment and hope we eventually make our investment back. Buying (or leasing) the hardware from a company that bought it with big state subsidies, and can't guarantee (1) what you'll make on the system to pay back what you've already invested), and (2) can't guarantee what the system will be generating - or even what the system is worth - 10 years from now ... that's too risky for most of us.
Edit: and as Don says, you're not powering your house with the electricity. You're just selling the electricity to the power company, at a much lower rate than you're paying them for what you're already using. I pay 20 cents per kwh, but I can only sell my generated power at 8 cents per kwh.
About ten years ago, Connecticut announced a huge "solar incentive program", where they offered thousands of subsidized solar generating systems. But the contractors swooped in, bought them all within a few days, and now we have to get buy/lease the systems at higher prices.
/rant off
I must have misunderstood how it works.
I thought that any excess power you produced beyond what your home needed went back into the grid and that was what the power company would buy.
Around here in spring you would need to wash the panels frequently to keep the pollen off then it blows around like a snow storm for a few weeks.
Working near Brantford Ontario I watched a house being built. Mostly dug into the hill side with just one wall showing. They had a tracking solar array, water heating system and a windmill. After it was occupied some mornings going to work I thought they must be having a cold dark breakfast. The sun was not up or it was foggy and windless morning. Hope the batteries are charged up.
David
I thought that any excess power you produced beyond what your home needed went back into the grid and that was what the power company would buy.
Around here in spring you would need to wash the panels frequently to keep the pollen off then it blows around like a snow storm for a few weeks.
Working near Brantford Ontario I watched a house being built. Mostly dug into the hill side with just one wall showing. They had a tracking solar array, water heating system and a windmill. After it was occupied some mornings going to work I thought they must be having a cold dark breakfast. The sun was not up or it was foggy and windless morning. Hope the batteries are charged up.
David
my contract with PG&E has them pay for my solar production at the premium afternoon rate paid by customers. I buy back power in the evening at the lower non-prime time rate. IE: about 1/3 the rate on the buy back. This is an old contract that they don't allow anymore, but it made my panels pay for themselves in about 7 years. I now have had the panels for 10 years and have had to replace two Inverters (they were warrantied for only 5 years). Still nice that in my retirement, I don't get an electric bill.
Jerry
Jerry