Solar panels..

[Tortuga]

There are solar panel sales reps knocking at my door more often than Mormons and JW's combined, the last guy had a pretty good sales pitch but I'm hesitant to bite, mostly out of ignorance, so I'd like to get some feedback from anyone that has experience with solar panels or is familiar with the current status of solar panels in California.

 

I saw there was another thread about two years ago about solar panels at the KH but I'm looking any current information about solar panels, incentives, rebates, cost, contracts, etc.

 

Thanks.

[Precision]

I too have recently looked at solar. Solar City charges $30-$35K, for a full install without a backup battery storage unit OUCH!      Currently CA has Federal and state incentives.

 

Online, just the panels run $3-$5K depending on efficiency, quality, warranties, size of home, German or Chinese etc.  

Edited May 14, 2016 by Precision

[Precision]

Also too the orientation of the home without southern exposure can be a deal breaker. Maybe the solar company rep. can come out for a free analysis. 

 A friend who maintains the A/C at the hall has done solar installs. Not too complicated if you do most of the work and have your A/C electrician obtain the permits, hookup the electrical and test the system out.   

[Shawnster]

Yeah,  $35k is too steep for me,  especially if it takes me years or decades to break even.  Makes more sense to me to do solar on a new build where the cost can be absorbed. 

 

30 years ago my grandmother installed solar heat in her home in Indiana.  Made her home nice and toasty. 

[rocket]

Reading the Thread Title, I thought someone was going to make another Bald Joke Thread. LOL

[Tortuga]

The guy that I talked to today kept saying the system wouldn't cost anything, obviously that wouldn't be completely true but I think he was saying the finance payments would be less than my current energy bill so essentially I'd be paying less each month and eventually own the equipment. I tried to get an estimate of the total cost of the equipment if I bought it without financing and it sounds like their system is around $15,000. 

 

We just talked at the door for a few minutes and we didn't do any numbers but I checked their website and it says the same thing he did.

https://www.unisunsolarnetwork.com/solar-power-faq/

[pnutts]

They have made that type of door step sales illegal in Ontario. Look at Nanor? Solar manufacturing in California.  They use printing technology to make their panels.  Will have to check spelling and link when back on computer. On my tab 3 running Android 6.x alpha 2.

[tekmantwo]

There is a Brother in West Congregation that has been working in the industry for years.  I  have been meaning to talk to him about kayaking,  I  can ask him about this too....

 

I also remember there being a news item a few months back, some teacher or scientist said that solar panels posed some kind of health risk. Not sure but I think it in Georgia or Alabama,  somewhere in the southern area. ..will look, see if I can uncover something. ...

[Tortuga]

11 hours ago, Tortuga said:

The guy that I talked to today kept saying the system wouldn't cost anything, obviously that wouldn't be completely true but I think he was saying the finance payments would be less than my current energy bill so essentially I'd be paying less each month and eventually own the equipment.

I did more research and it looks like I misunderstood what the salesman was telling me. According their website they are offering a PPA or Power Purchasing Agreement. The PPA means they install and maintain the solar panels for free but they maintain ownership of the panels. The customer agree to switch from their current utility company to the solar company and agrees to buy power from them at a reduced rate for the length of the agreement.  

 

So instead of buying electricity from PG&E at their rates, I'd be buying electricity (produced by the panels on my house) from the solar company at a reduced rate. According to several sites I looked at, the solar company gets the tax incentives and rebates because the solar company own the equipment. Basically the solar company is borrowing my roof to set up a power production unit and they get all of the benefits and profit, the homeowner just gets lower rates and is now contracted with a small utility company instead of a big utility company...

 

The salesman said the homeowner get the tax credit, rebates and energy credits, so either I misunderstood him or their PPA is different from everyone else..

[Tortuga]

7 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

I also remember there being a news item a few months back, some teacher or scientist said that solar panels posed some kind of health risk. Not sure but I think it in Georgia or Alabama,  somewhere in the southern area. ..will look, see if I can uncover something. ...

http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/24498-solar-panels-suck-up-all-solar-energy/?do=findComment&comment=358383

 

[Qapla]

Many of the states have restructured their solar credit program to disallow individuals to receive the credits and incentives, therefore, the only way to receive any benefit from solar is to either go totally off the grid or go through a solar power company who can get the credits.

[pnutts]

My bad. Nanosolar went belly up   The concept was good though. Too many fingers in the solar pie and too many delivery glitches.

[Miss Bea]

We had to use solar panels for years. Had too. Now, we are on the grid, and it is too expensive  to update the system for it to be viable. It would take too many years to get out of the red. So, we are dismantling, hoping to not loose money doing even that! Someone need a pelton wheel? That is going, too. We have become dependent on the grid, and, at times the generator. Thus, the machine. 

[pnutts]

Documentary - Here Comes the Sun 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLHBFyfvK8A

 

I added an addon for firefox - download youtube as mp4 which puts a download link on page.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-uS/firefox/addon/download-youtube/?src=cb-dl-mostpopular

[New World Explorer]

On 5/14/2016 at 11:34 AM, Tortuga said:

The guy that I talked to today kept saying the system wouldn't cost anything, obviously that wouldn't be completely true but I think he was saying the finance payments would be less than my current energy bill so essentially I'd be paying less each month and eventually own the equipment. I tried to get an estimate of the total cost of the equipment if I bought it without financing and it sounds like their system is around $15,000. 

 

We just talked at the door for a few minutes and we didn't do any numbers but I checked their website and it says the same thing he did.

https://www.unisunsolarnetwork.com/solar-power-faq/

Just be careful when calculating numbers etc ... a lot of "selling techniques" are very refined and only after thorough investigation full picture can be seen.

Also is $15.000 a regular price of comparable models where you live  ? or is it well below ? Where is equipment manufactured ?

I know of one property where residents purchased fully automated gate that was priced to sell (comparable models where $6000 more)

Now they are stuck with constantly breaking down gate (It has been faulty at least 2 times already)

Bottom line ? Do you thorough research before committing dear friend. 

Having said that there are some good deals around.

 

Some reviews about Unisolar that will help you to ask right questions http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/unisun-solar-san-diego-2

Edited May 15, 2016 by Gregexplore

[Alexa]

http://www.solarphilippines.ph/solar-panel-home/ our current rate were about 1 dollar to 45 pesos. I can say,if it is converted here it sure a lot of mark up

[Tortuga]

1 hour ago, Gregexplore said:

Just be careful when calculating numbers etc ... a lot of "selling techniques" are very refined and only after thorough investigation full picture can be seen.

Thanks for the info, I have pretty much decided not to get solar. The cost and break-even point just didn't make sense to me so I was surprised when the salesman told me the system was free. Now that I have gathered more information I see that he was talking about a PPA and since I wasn't familiar with a PPA  I thought he was talking about purchasing the system.

 

If I decide to get solar, I would talk to several companies and compare them. I appreciate the info about the types and quality of the equipment, that's good to keep in mind.

[RaymondG]

Solar panels are becoming more and more efficient, they've made big strides in the past ten years...

 

But $35,000 sounds like a total rip-off.

 

The other potential trap is that you can have problems with the fire brigade if you have a fire. In daylight they have to be wary of all that voltage that's unable to be shut off in your roof.

[GrumpysWife]

My son is in business installing solar to homes. Not sure exactly how he does it, new or old homes. Pretty good business though. 

[Precision]

27 minutes ago, RaymondG said:

Solar panels are becoming more and more efficient, they've made big strides in the past ten years...

 

But $35,000 sounds like a total rip-off.

 

Absolutely !!!  There are lots of DIY companies out there that will help you run through the process, comparing components, warranties, orientation. off grid, and tie in systems. If you can install the panels, brackets and wiring , you can save a ton of dinero, hiring an experienced electrician to help with local building code compliance and the permit process. 

[Pabo]

I find it interesting that how they implement the use of solar panels on your homes over in the US in different to here in Australia. Let alone the prices! We usually have an Australia Tax (that is we pay twice as much as you would elsewhere in the world) but the prices we pay is much cheaper then that in the US. But also, the energy supplier using your roof (or space) to give you a reduced charge of electricity, I have seen some solar companies are proposing that here, but that hasn't taken off as readily.

 

We purchased a 3kW system for our home back around 2012 and we only paid about AU$8,000 (US$6,000) after Govt rebates and credits for installing solar. Thus we own the PV solar system and the power generation we make we use, and any excess that we feed back into the grid we get a small amount back from our energy supplier (but at a significantly lower rate than what we pay for electricity that we get from them). We still connected to use main grid power when we need it and still pay a daily connection fee and any electricity usage that we incur.

 

However, we only did this to the supplement our usage that we drag off the main grid. We used to use on average 24kWh per day to now between 9-12kWh per day (depending on the seasons). Since installing this system 12 years ago, I estimate about $13,000 in electricity usage costs (using 12kWh at $0.25kWh per day x 365.25 x 12 years) that we didn't have to pay for, which after deducting the initial cost of the system we have saved over $5,000 in our electricity billed over the last 12 years (or $400 annually).

 

We haven't got a battery system fitted and as it is still yet a bit pricey, but we can retro-fit a battery onto our system if we choose to do so. But if we look at doing that, we will possibly upgrade our inverter system to be 3 phase (as our house has 3 phase power and the current solar system in only single phase) at the same time and possibly get more panels as well, but this will mean that we will then need 3 batteries to power our home if we choose to go off the grid. Or we can rewire our home, so that we can use most of the power from the single battery system, which is do-able, but the costs would be about the same either way.

 

The solar system supplier and installer have been around for a long time (over 60yrs) and have a good reputation, as we have a roof solar hot water system that they had installed.

[RedRob]

I'd love to get some solar energy going here!  It would be wonderful to have a carbon-neutral source of power that would eventually pay itself off!

[MullumMiss]

On 3/29/2023 at 3:34 PM, Pabo said:

 

We purchased a 3kW system for our home back around 2012 and we only paid about AU$8,000.

The solar system supplier and installer have been around for a long time (over 60yrs) and have a good reputation, as we have a roof solar hot water system that they had installed.

Same here.  We installed solar hot water around 3 years before the panels.  Our local Solarhart is a brother so he gave us a discount for both systems.  Without doing the math I would say we have saved significantly with having solar.  In summer we run 4 split systems (air conditioning) and sometimes run them in winter.  We have LPG for cooking and heating.  This winter we intend to start using our open fire.  It is just in the last 6 months I’ve noticed the higher cost of our electricity.  This is an Australian thing due to selling our energy overseas.  We have LED lights throughout the house plus ceiling fans in every room of our house.  This includes kitchen, dining, lounge and back verandah. All in all the solar system has been well worth it.  We are selling next year and if our new place doesn’t have solar we will definitely get it installed.

Just a side point, in the 90’s we lived in an area where many homes out of town did not have access to the grid.  Back then most of them had solar, though nothing like the sophisticated systems we now have available.  

[Miss Bea]

We are on the solar panel path again. There is, or was a program that PG&E sponsored. It was two Tesla batteries, um, free. My husband waded through 2 years of getting it right, and they have come to the house to do the prep work on these batteries. (Worth some $25,000) 

So, it’s real. It got my husband to thinking. He wants solar panels that will make us not as dependent on PG&E. We were without power, one time for 7 days running this last winter. For the initial snow storm, (we’ve had 5 real snow storms, and today, a dusting, and, snow-rain) 

He wanted 6 panels, (soon to be  eight. I do know the panels are way more efficient then those we had some time ago. 
During all the power outages, we managed to have gas when that first storm stranded us. For the generator. 
So, we got through it okay. 
He was looking at a tax break, using the cost we will put out for the panels, and, now, a new generator. (Sid wants one that will automatically crank on, when the power goes off.) 
Right now, there two panels involved that need addressing to switch the power from PG&E, to the generator. Our old faithful Honda generator doesn’t meet the specs. 

Our tax break, non-existent. It seems we, um, don’t pay taxes. Because of our income. 
So, when all is said and done, any excess electricity the system generates will be sold back to PG&E. 
The ironic part is that our electric bill, last I knew was around $50 dollars. 
Most of what would suck up PG&E power is on propane. And the tribe has done a deal where our propane is not expensive. 
Yes, after being off the grid for all those years, now, not off the grid, here we go again. 
Part of the way this is possible is Sid was an electrician. Plus the experience on the old system. (No Pelton  wheel this time) So he will teach himself to run it. 
Me? This is all too much. I depend on Jehovah to move me along. And keep the stress down. 
 

[ChrisW]

On 5/14/2016 at 3:48 PM, Tortuga said:

Basically the solar company is borrowing my roof to set up a power production unit and they get all of the benefits and profit, the homeowner just gets lower rates and is now contracted with a small utility company instead of a big utility company...

 

Companies are sneaky like that. Glad you researched it before committing.