Who has gone solar

Trying to find out what the savings really look like for people. Found a small brown stain on my 3rd floor ceiling and I think my roof is probably old enough to be approaching replacement stage. Friend of the wife's who did it recently told her about buying a roof through the solar company and getting panels free. Just starting on the research but curious to hear any takes.

Only briefly talked to one guy quite awhile back who said it worked out well numbers wise for him but never got details.

 

The solar programs are alot different now than what they were 2 years ago. Alot of them now lease the panels to you, and the cost of the systems has gone up significantly in the last few months. We originally got a quote with panels, new electrical panel, and roof. We had the roof and electrical panel done a few month ago. We asked for an updated quote sine those were done. The payment was more than double, and the overall cost of the system went un $25K. Yes...25K higher. No thanks. Solar installs here are almost non existent now.

 

I had solar on my previous house and was able to get them while there was still an 80% tax rebate. 50% federal. 30% state. Those kind of rebates don’t exist anymore and if you’re paying $10-15k for the panels, it’ll take you 15-20 years to see any real cost savings. And that’s assuming you get a tax rebate. Most likely, the company would be leasing the panels. I can’t see them giving you solar panels with the cost of the roof replacement. Something to consider, at least it effected us down south, your homeowners insurance may go up with the addition of the panels, as it now cost more to repair or replace the roof in the event of a claim because the panels would need to be removed and reinstalled.

 

In my opinion ...... Save your money. Only way I'd consider it would be going completely off grid out of necessity. You're unlikely to ever recoup your cost otherwise.

 

Forgot to add.....I'd you need a roof, look into metal roofing. We just had ours installed in July. We have the seamless standing along with the 2 inch Polyiso insulation panels. It does make a difference. We have an electric attic fan with the thermostat set at 105 degrees. It ran alot with shingles. It has not come on once since the metal roof was installed.

 

I looked at it for my house and to run the entire house on solar (and all of my appliances and heater are electric) it would have cost me close to $60k and that wasn’t installed. My electric bill this summer when it was a 109* for 3mo straight was only a $180/mo and that’s with my wife and I both working full time remote and keeping the AC at 74.

 

I think the whole solar panel fiasco is an absolute rip off, there’s these high-pressure salesman that literally make you feel guilty that you’re not buying their systems because you’re contributing to the carbon footprint, stay away from the solar panel business

 

I put solar on my house in 2020. We did a refi at a better rate and pulled some money out. The only way I'm doing solar is to own it outright, not leasing it.

1,500 SF house, 5.4 Kw system in San Diego. I didn't do the battery wall because A: It was gonna' add $12K to the system, (I hear they've come down in price) and B: We very rarely have blackouts here, when they happen they're only a couple hours, and I have a generator if needed.

System installed was right at $20K which included upgrading to a new electrical panel. Based on our bill history at 2020 utility prices (which are only going one direction, and it ain't down) it would be about 11 years to pay for itself.

BTW, the bills that ROI is based on are with my wife turning the AC off WAY sooner than I would 'cuz she was always worried about the bill.
When they were sizing the system I told the guy "I'm buying a hot tub, and I wanna' be able to run my AC whenever the fuck I want, so size it accordingly."

My annual true-up for my electric now is about $55/yr. and it's just fees for the privilege of being tied into their grid.

We got 26% of that $20K back on our taxes, and I used that to put solar on my trailer. We then got 26% of that back as well.

Keep in mind that the tax credit covers anything that is part of the solar install, so if they have to fix your roof you get the credit. (Double check me, might depend where you are. I'm in CA. Dunno' if the solar company has to be the roofer or if an independent contractor roofing in prep for solar would be deemed as eligible)

My AC is on a pretty good chunk of the summer whether I'm home or not... cats need to be comfy and I LOVE walking into a nice cool house on a hot day. Also, if my 1958 house heats up it takes way longer to cool it down than if I just keep it from getting hot in the first place.

I haven't given electricity usage in house or trailer much thought in quite some time. I'm glad we did it.

 

would folks buy solar WITHOUT a tax credit?

I'm south houston & it made ZERO economic sense....ponder that.

 

I can't help but wonder if prices would come down if there were no tax credits.

 

Have a Solar home - it is great except for the shitty franchise traditional electrical company F'n finding everyway under the sun to make solar more expensive (meters, taxes, fees). They have no interest in making solar an easy option while they drag their feet to stall and delay. As for the solar company - shitty is a kind word for them. Worst customer service ever and a billing department that is as smart as a sack of rocks. Sunnova Energy. Changes their name, rebrands, .... anything they can to look new and improved and distance themselves from their real truth. I'd do it again but stay away from Sunnova and hope your primary electrical provider is solar friendly.

 

I think it depends greatly on where you live too.

Electricity rates here (San Diego) are stupid and only getting worse, and the utility company is a couple of legal loopholes shy of organized crime.
They're also making it less attractive here now, changing the net metering structure drastically in their favor.

The company I used (Shoutout to Baker Electric) was outstanding. Had a couple of hiccups during the job, in the process of chipping out my EXTREMELY hard stucco to put in the larger new main panel they damaged some drywall on the inside. They handled it perfectly, right down to matching the interior paint.
Two of my friends have used them since based on my referral. (I get $250 from each referral, so I just take said friends to dinner)

The sub-contractor Baker used for the stucco work is now a friend, and I've hired and recommended him a couple of times.

He did a beautiful master bath reno project for us, and a bunch of work on a co-workers rental property.

 

This all may become a moot point as I have established examining and re examining from inside and from outside with binos that there a roof vent directly over the stain.

gives me hope the whole thing is not quite shot yet. But still probably under 5 years out so keep it coming.

 

When they were designing my system the guy asked at least twice "Do you have, or will you EVER have an EV? Are you sure?"

I don't remember the Kw difference, but I remember being kinda' surprised how many more panels I would've needed to charge a car.

 

So I asked my wife if her friend leases or owns and her response was "she said neither." In all honestly most of the info she has given me 2nd hand about their math hasn't been coherent. Without going off rails I will say these are big climate change people we're talking to so I went in knowing ideology was at least part of the motivation but I don't understand the rest of their calculus yet.

 

here in south Houston- YMMV

weather is a problem. hail, hurricanes, etc. and tons of squirrels.

insurance - 2 of the 4 quotes i asked for would not cover roofs with solar panels

cleaning - we have pollen...lots of it.

engineering - existing roofs were not made for solar panels

excess energy....does not get sold back at YOUR rate...it gets sold at shamelessly low rates.

and....and...the solar company said i need to cut back my majestic oak trees. the hypocrisy!



consider all these

I did. and I'm not solar.

 

my math

I have ~$400 electric bill.

solar panels would kick me $150 at todays rates.

the 20yr note for purchase of shitty solar panels would have been $225

LOL

this is south Houston....not one of those state with GIANT credits that I have to pay for.

 

Lol. Sounds like they’re pretty naive.

 

Whatever happen to those small windmill solutions?

those seemed feasible

I guess not

How long does a windmill type thing last?

I have not seen one last over 3years down here

even the engineering high school, that has 2 units, broke after 2years. Never to be fixed

 

If you are in an area that has direct sun most of the time Phoenix, LA, Dallas, why not go passive and just buy some copper tubing in rolls, paint em black, hook em in series and attach them to the roof. Hooked to a small pump and a storage tank, you'll get all the hot water you could want with minimal moving parts.

 

You could say that. Last time we were out I saw the panels popped up out of nowhere and I got real temped to ask questions but just didn't think I'd have the patience for the conversation. They probably wanted me to ask.

 

More texting back and fourth makes me think for no up front costs they have a power purchase agreement and may be purchasing the excess power generated by the panels from the solar company as well as grid power on two separate bills, waiting for some promised or expected break even stage to happen down the line. They now have two electricity providers to pay instead of 1.

As I understand it and expected this arrangement is marketed most often to people who do it more for the environment than their financial interests.

 

I do think that solar has its place, at least in my scheme of things. I still don't think I'd consider a whole-house system, but in a relatively small project like mine, I think it's a feasable option.

I live in central TX and like @nobodyintexas I have a lot of oak trees ... live oak, Spanish oak, blackjack, and post oak. Out in the wilds on 20 acres, I'm my own utility company when it comes to water and sewer. But propane is delivered to a 1000 tank every 2-3 years for heating, hot water and cooking. On the grid for most everything else.

I also have a 9.5KW portable inverter/generator that would power most of my house (exc A/C) for 3-4 weeks, fueled by a 320 gal propane tank. A long time ago, I decided that in a grid-down, SHTF situation with a prolonged outage, I could live without electricity if I had to, .... except for water. Can't live long without water. I considered a windmill to pump ground water, but found to pump it from 275' down, I would need a 12' fan on a 50' tower to clear the trees and harvest enough wind power. Such a setup would cost around $20K, and I, in my ripe old years already, would have to climb the tower every so often to do preventive maintenance.

So I designed and built a solar setup in this instance. Including the solar apparatus, storage tank and plumbing, and a shed to house it all, it cost me around $15K back 10-15 years ago. I have two wells, both of which were grid-powered. One of the wells is now off-grid, powered solely by the sun. Eight 210W panels, 4 to the deepwell pump set at 340' will draw water as long as the sun shines and the 2500 gal storage tank is not full. The other 4 panels charge a 48 volt 250Ah battery bank to run the boost pump that draws water from said tank to pressurize the house system. I launched the system on 1 April 2014, figuring if it didn't work as well as I hoped, it would after all be an appropriate launch date.

But no April Fools on this endeavor. It's worked well all these years. I run it for a couple months in the summer, and for a few sunny days at a time during the winter, just to make sure it's working. Otherwise, it just serves as a backup, when I need it, or should I ever need it in a prolonged situation. The only thing I've ever had to do is to replace the battery bank a couple months ago. The batteries were still working fine, and could have gone a little while longer, but the drawdown at each cycle of the boost pump was beginning to exceed what I consider to be desirable.