Are solar panels worth the up front cost for a house?

[alice915]

I have considered converting my house to solar power. My question is it worth it and how long is the payback???

[JohnA136]

From what I read, the payback is 15 years. Here in NJ you can get them installed for free and they will cut your energy costs by 40-50%. I just ordered a 330 panel system for our clubhouse and we project savings of $8000.00 to $10,000.00 a year for the next 20 years. Our costs was ZERO! On my house, my average bill is about $140.00 a month and with solar they would charge me $93.00 a month. Not sure if they offer this in all states?

[Mjolinor]

My sister installed some in the UK a few years ago when the feed in tariff was at its best.

Cost was £14000 which she took out on a loan. Using only the money returned from the solar panels she paid that off in three years and now does not really need to do anything as the solar panels bring in enough cash for her to live, all be it in a rather basic manner.

[JohnA136]

That's awesome! Here in US most states do not allow us to produce more solar electricity than we use so we can't compete with the power companies.

[LambdaFF]

Solar panels are extremely long lived. Unless you're hit by a hurricane, they should last for over 20 years. The output depends on the lighting, the temperature range (which affects efficiency), the number of couldy days... most resellers have data tables to inform you on that.

What is difficult to advise you on is your local regulations. In Europe, the government subsidizes this to a large extent and in 5 years at most it is paid back. The arrangement seems different in the US.

[Mjolinor]

In the UK (and Europe) there are incentives for people to do it. My sister gets paid a fixed 69 p per unit produced irrespective of whether she uses it or not. That rate was fixed when she installe the panels and at that time the cost to buy 1kWh was about 11p so the government pay her 5 times more for the electricity than she can buy it for.

There were some ever inventive Greeks prosecuted for selling the electricity to the grid but also taking it form the grid, their field full of panels was never wired up. They came unstuck when someone noticed they were generating in the middle of the night.

The payment tariffs only apply to a maximum 4kWh in Europe. After that you are considered commercial so the rate drops.

The distributed generation phenomenon is causing real problems for the utilities because they can no longer assume a network to be dead once it is disconnected from the grid. I offer solutions for utilities in this field, utility technology / communications / sensors is what I do if I am doing anything.

[Wes@MachWax]

As already mentioned, there are a number of variable to consider. I recently came across an article talking about a google program called sunroof that helps evaluate those variables. Haven't tried it out yet, but sounded like it would be helpful.

[jimc]

solar city is another elon musk venture. call them, they come to your place to do an eval. if you get enough sun then they install for free. it cost you nothing. not sure if they are worldwide yet. i talked to someone that works for them and i know in the next few months they are expanding out of the us and into other countries if they haven't already. just something to look in to.

[Mjolinor]

solar city is another elon musk venture. call them, they come to your place to do an eval. if you get enough sun then they install for free. it cost you nothing. not sure if they are worldwide yet. i talked to someone that works for them and i know in the next few months they are expanding out of the us and into other countries if they haven't already. just something to look in to.

Companies like that are all over the UK. I get up to ten unsolicited calls a day about how cheap they are and no cost up front. It's all government sponsored.

[JohnA136]

Three big players here in NJ are Trinity (NJ Based Company), Solar City and NRG. I am sure there are scores of others. We signed up with Trinity for the clubhouse based on their reputation and reviews and are just waiting for the permits from the town. It seems to take a long time for the permit process? I had NRG in and so did my neighbor, two different salesmen and they were offering two totally different plans for our same model houses. I went online and looked at their reviews. I suggest everyone check out the reviews on their companies before signing on for a 20 year contract. Some have VERY poor service and customer support! I guess in the end you are rolling the dice that they will still be in business for the term of your contract?