Solar Panels

[Brovane]

$21,000 worth of electricity in 5-6 years?

$200/mo=$2400/year
Sounds more like 9-10 years to me.

I currently pay $250 a month in a level payment plan.

 

[Brovane]

Bro, Congrats!!

I have someone coming out to the house on Monday to see about solar.

Thank you.

Let me know if you have any questions.

They can play games with the kWH output per year. So pay careful attention to that. I am also having them over size my array for what I needed currently.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Thank you.

Let me know if you have any questions.

They can play games with the kWH output per year. So pay careful attention to that. I am also having them over size my array for what I needed currently.

Thanks. I thought about oversizing mine too so that I can run the AC more in the summer and not worry about it. Not sure if I can though because my roof is not ideal and there are a lot of trees around my house. Stupid shade!!

 

[Blain]

Thank you.

Let me know if you have any questions.

They can play games with the kWH output per year. So pay careful attention to that. I am also having them over size my array for what I needed currently.

Would your system produce enough for you to go totally "off grid", with a battery bank of course?
Did you discuss only grid-tied systems with Solar360?
Would your HOA, etc allow for the addition of a wind turbine?

 

[Brovane]

Thanks. I thought about oversizing mine too so that I can run the AC more in the summer and not worry about it. Not sure if I can though because my roof is not ideal and there are a lot of trees around my house. Stupid shade!!

If you have a lot of shading you need to consider Micro-inverters. They can better atune panel performance for variances because of shade versus string inverters. You also might want to look into something like this - http://www.tigoenergy.com/

With string inverters you might have 10 panels on a string, if one panel is shaded this can affect every other panel on that string's output. With micro-inverts each panel works more independently.

Have you figured out your true South on your roof? The close you can get the panels to 180 degrees the better. I have one roof that is 200 degrees azimuth and one is about 120 degrees azimuth. The prime position is the 200 degree roof but it can only fit so many panels, the 120 degree roof area is bigger but a panel on this roof will produce on average about 10% less electricity because of the azimuth change.

 

[Brovane]

Would your system produce enough for you to go totally "off grid", with a battery bank of course?
Did you discuss only grid-tied systems with Solar360?
Would your HOA, etc allow for the addition of a wind turbine?

I think technically yes because I will be producing just about the same kWH's that I use in a year. However when storing electricity you have loses so practically it wouldn't work unless I really cut down my AC usage.

I only discussed grid-tied because of my location in Orange County, CA. You can increase your costs significantly by trying to do off-grid and you also have higher maintenance costs.

The interesting thing that the newer SMA inverters have what is called a Secure Power Supply. It is a plug that can provide 1500watts of power in a outage situation as long as the sun is out. So if the power is out during the day I can use this outlet to charge a cell phone, laptop probably even run small appliances. I will have two inverters so I will have two of these plugs. I am paying the solar installer to run the outlets into my garage so I can have easy access to them.

I never looked into wind because I don't get enough wind in my location. However if you are in a area that you can use a wind turbine it is great because they have a lost cost per kw.

 

[Kaido]

With string inverters you might have 10 panels on a string, if one panel is shaded this can affect every other panel on that string's output. With micro-inverts each panel works more independently.

Wow neat!

 

[skyking]

My brother just had 9900 watts of panels and intertie system installed Tuesday, at a cost of 34,000.
With the tax incentives, power company buyback and all credits he will have 42,000 back in 5 years.

 

[Brovane]

My brother just had 9900 watts of panels and intertie system installed Tuesday, at a cost of 34,000.
With the tax incentives, power company buyback and all credits he will have 42,000 back in 5 years.

What state/city is your brother in?

 

[skyking]

He is in Yakima, Washington.
They have special incentives if all the components are made in Washington, so an industry got started building the converters and panels here. Yakima has great sun potential.

 

[Brovane]

He is in Yakima, Washington.
They have special incentives if all the components are made in Washington, so an industry got started building the converters and panels here. Yakima has great sun potential.

That makes sense.

No incentives in CA anymore. Some utilities still have incentives, however no statewide program. Just the 30% Federal Tax Credit.

 

[skyking]

The utilities will buy back power for the next 5 years here at 54 cents a KWH, if you got all the components from WA manufacturers. That is the huge part of it.

 

[Greenman]

Pulled the trigger today on a system from a local company in Southern California called Solar360.

The system is a 8.55kw system and is projected to generate 13,665 kWH a year which should offset my power bill by 100%. Total system cost $30k and I will get 30% back as a tax credit.

The Solar Panels are from a US company called SolarWorld and the Inverter is a SMS SB4000TL-US.

Payback period should be 5-6 years. and the cost of energy of the 25 year designed life of the system is .069 kWH.

Learned a lot about PV Solar panels going through process. So let me know if anyone has any specific questions.

It looks like American made parts and micro inverters for a system of that size will run about $15K from the diy solar store. Based on what I use now, thats near a 15 year break even point.

 

[MongGrel]

The cheaper option is to stop using your AC and drain the pool

Our pool needs work these days.

It's a pretty big enclosed caged one, I made the same suggestion to my wife more or less a few days ago, put some dirt in there and start a large veggie garden/cat playland out of it.

I never almost got in the pool anyways, I 'd rather see a garden growing there myself.

 

[Brovane]

Our pool needs work these days.

It's a pretty big enclosed caged one, I made the same suggestion to my wife more or less a few days ago, put some dirt in there and start a large veggie garden/cat playland out of it.

I never almost got in the pool anyways, I 'd rather see a garden growing there myself.

Here you go.

http://gardenpool.org/

 

[Brovane]

It looks like American made parts and micro inverters for a system of that size will run about $15K from the diy solar store. Based on what I use now, thats near a 15 year break even point.

The 8.5 kva system I am getting is sized for how my electricity I use in about 1-year which is about 13,000 Kwh. If you don't use that much electricity in a year it doesn't make much sense to size your system this big.

 

[Greenman]

The 8.5 kva system I am getting is sized for how my electricity I use in about 1-year which is about 13,000 Kwh. If you don't use that much electricity in a year it doesn't make much sense to size your system this big.

Don't you sell the excess back to the power company? I thought that was part of the cost offset with solar?

I haven't done any due diligence on this yet, pretty much everything I know about solar is hear say and high school physics.

 

[Brovane]

Don't you sell the excess back to the power company? I thought that was part of the cost offset with solar?

I haven't done any due diligence on this yet, pretty much everything I know about solar is hear say and high school physics.

How solar works is you have net-metering in CA for SCE. During the day your excess power gets sent back into the grid and you build up credit's of Kw/h. You can choose that this excess power is a cumulative bases or time-of-use basis. Your extra kw/h can roll over month to month if you have any. At the end of the year you look at where you are at. You could either have a bill or still have extra kw/h. You can either roll those kw/h over to next year or choose a payout. The payout isn't that great if you sell it back. It isn't like you are going to be getting a big check from the power company. However different states have different compensation rates for excess power.

 

[Greenman]

Thank you.

I'm going to take a serious look at this. Doing the installation myself should save a big chunk of the cost, but I'll have to figure out how that plays into the tax rebate.

 

[Brovane]

Solar panes are installed and up and running. :whiste:

 

[skyking]

Woohoo! my brother gives me reports of KWH whenever I talk to him.
EDIT: Nice peaks at 7KW.

 

[Brovane]

Woohoo! my brother gives me reports of KWH whenever I talk to him.
EDIT: Nice peaks at 7KW.

Probably something like this.

 

[skyking]

nah, just the verbals. I am trying to get a bid now but my location is problematic.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Awesome!

How long from the install until you got your PTO from Edison?

 

[Brovane]

Awesome!

How long from the install until you got your PTO from Edison?

It should just be a couple of weeks. I will see how long it takes and I need to talk to Edison about the best rate schedule. I think I am going to change over to time of use for my rate schedule. Technically I am not supposed to be running the system right now until Edison signs off......:sneaky: