Would love to hear from anyone in Arkansas that has had Solar put in or researched it and what did you find?
You’ll never get your money back during the lifetime of the system.
You answered your own question.
Have you factored in keeping them clean?
Went through the numbers once...Solar panels won't work out for most people because we move on the average of 7 years.
NOT WORTH IT! Don’t mess with it, especially in Arkansas. I live in southern Arizona and it’s still not worth it. You’re throwing money away, unless of course the system is free.
So far all I hearing from is the naysayers, I want to hear from people who actually know something about this and have done it.
A 6.3 kw system cost me $14k, was tax deductible, and saves about $2,500/year.
don’t...
I looked at it as an economic question, and absent serious subsidies, the numbers don’t pencil out. If you’re looking to save money, insulation and weather stripping have a great payback.
I still might do solar, but only for energy resiliency purposes. Not to save money.
I’ve not put in solar but I have plans to build a house with an advanced solar system and have done a fair amount of research...
The biggest question you need to answer is why are you wanting to put in a solar system ???
To lower your electric bill or have power should the grid go down or some other reason....
If you don’t have a battery backup system, if the grid goes down, you solar system is useless so in my mind putting in a solar system without a battery back up system is not what I would do.....
I live in Florida and my idea is to have power regardless if the grid is down and down for a significant period of time like days or a couple of weeks due to a hurricane....
In this scenario you would need a battery back up system combined with a generator that can charge the batteries should the sun not cooperate...
The other issue you need to justify in your mind is the cost, the question of solar systems comes up on FR from time to time and someone always brings up that you will never make your money back.....to me that is the wrong way to look at Solar, it’s about what type of lifestyle you want to live....
People make purchases all the time when there is no ROI, things like buying a mercedes vs chevrolet, large or small home, international vacation vs staying home, etc...it’s about lifestyle not ROI...
To me solar would give me the ability to be as off grid as possible and produce your own power and there is not an ROI for that type of freedom in my book, but that may not be everybody’s idea of a good investment so it’s an individual decision.
In my system, I would have enough solar to basically run the house, have a propane generator to charge the batteries and sell power back to the grid and use grid power as a last resort.....that type of system is expensive but it’s a lifestyle I’m seeking not a money making investment...
The panels are warranted to produce 98% of their rated power at twenty-five years, so I expect them to last at least that long. If I factor in the tax credit, the electric bill savings, including a yearly rose on price of 5%, the cash back from SRECS, Solar Renewable Energy Certificates, and our local property tax credit, the system will have paid for itself in less than ten years. Personally, I expect electric rates to skyrocket much more than 5%, as Virginia has adopted an aggressive policy of switching to wholly renewable energy sources by 2040.
The devil is in the financing. My advice is to completely avoid it. It is touted as being at ~2% for twenty-five years, but they take your tax credit and extract a huge origination fee from you and another large sum from the contractor, which is passed along to you as well. Either pay cash for the system, or get a home equity loan to cover the cost. That’s the only way it makes sense.
But the solar panels generating that power don’t last forever. The industry standard life span is about 25 to 30 years...
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/what-will-happen-solar-panels-after-their-useful-lives-are-over
I wouldn’t waste the time or money. I have worked as an electrician since 1975.
The quotes you mention seem really high.
I have a 4.1kW system from Tesla, which cost $7500 up front and about $4750 after rebates. It is new, but I’m thinking it will cover 60-70% of our needs in Maryland.
I was originally going to get a 8.2kW system which would have cost more than double due to the way Maryland handles rebates (flat sum vs percentage).
Adding the batteries costs $$$$ and is unnecessary in places like where I live that have net metering.
My low cost system should pay for itself within 7 or 8 years, especially if President Brandon’s policy causes electric costs to go up, which seems likely.
I live on the central coast of California, so it’s very sunny here. I first evaluated systems around 10 years ago, when the only options were purchase or lease. No way I would do a lease, and the purchase was a little pricey for us at the time, but with about a 5 year payback given our electrical usage.
Eventually the solar companies started offering Power Purchase Agreements, which is what I wanted, so three years ago we put a system on our house. The solar company sized it at 5.2 KW, but I did the calculations myself and decided 3.6 KW was better sized for us. It’s turned out to be just a little larger than we needed. They provided all the hardware and installation labor at no cost to us, and we pay them 17 cents per KWh for all power generated by the system. This is compared to around 31 cents per KWh for power we purchase from the utility. PG&E does net metering, so we do a true up once per year.
Things to consider:
What will the utility actually pay you for excess generation? Here it is only 4 cents per KWh, so only a fraction of what we paid to generate it (17 cents) which emphasizes the importance of not over-sizing your system.
When you own the system, you are responsible for maintenance, and the system usually adds cost to your property taxes and to your homeowner insurance. With the power purchase agreement, Sunrun is responsible for all maintenance and it does not affect our assessment nor our insurance. The problem with a lease is you have to make the monthly payment even if the system is down and not generating.
For us, it has saved a tremendous amount of money. About $100 / month in savings over what we were paying PG&E. At three years in we’ve saved around $3600. This year has been exceptionally sunny, so it’s really been a boon. We have a gas stove, gas furnace, and gas water heater. If you had a heat pump system, you’d save a lot more. Of course, we have probably the highest utility electric rates in the country, so your mileage may vary.
I’ve got a solar house. ~1Kw solar panels, 10Kwhr battery.
Propane furnace, waterheater, cook stove, fridge, wood stove, 3Kw propane generator.
Works great. Grid is $60K away, down the road. If you don’t have a realistic choice, solar’s fine.
While I personally would never do it, at least you’re trying to make an informed decision. If you’re thinking about a set for the roof on your home, have someone knowledgeable evaluate that it can support the extra weight. Being in Arkansas, I’m assuming snow is a low risk but that adds weight as well. Also, if you have a storm that damages your roof, will your insurance pay to have someone take them off to fix the roof or re-shingle it?
Make sure your utility support “net metering” where you’re being paid for any surplus electricity but back onto the grid.
Best of luck to you.
Only as a novelty and ability to thumb your nose just a little at the power company. Even with increasing rates it is close to a wash if you have the work done. If you can do it yourself and access used panels and a tie system it makes sense but just barely.
This is all in broad general terms of course. YMMV.
I’ve considered about 7-10 kW to keep it within my barn’s backfeed capability without having to string 50A cable. A friend did it and he has generated 3,000 kWh since summer started with a 7 kW system. My average monthly demand is about 1,300 kWh so you have to go a long way to replace your needs in most cases.
We paid billions for DOE to sponsor all kinds of studies and make all kinds of calculators but you can’t find a one of them on their web site. I can’t anyway. More of my money, pissed away.
Consider the type of roof you have. You want one (a metal roof) that will outlast the life of your panels. Otherwise, you will have to dismount the entire solar panel system in order to put on a new roof.
Unless you are truly off grid it will not be worth it. However if you want off grid pay or it. I am completely off grid for my home so it made sense. But I live meager. If I had the option of a hookup to the main grid I would have done it. If you want a backup buy a battery bank and charge it on grid power. Before you spend the money do the math. As others said you will never get the money back so only you can decide if you want the offgrid luxury.