Other thing is they don’t last forever so 30K every 20 years on top of 15K for a roof every 20 at least in Florida.
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Actually you can usually figure on them being at least 85% of their original output at 30 years. They will likely do much better than that if you keep them clean.
I have a few thoughts about solar after living with it for a few years. I’m in Kentucky. The chart says I can figure on about 5 hours a day average, I wish. While there are days when I get a lot more than that, cloudy days don’t produce as much as I was led to believe.
Don’t get me wrong, I like my solar. I have 12KW on the roof and a whole lot of battery storage, over 3200 Amp Hours at 48V. On a sunny day I send much more electricity than I use back to the grid and they give it back at night with only a small charge, about $12 a month.
I have a heat pump and gas heat. I put a lot on the roof so I could run my heat pump, well without a lot of sunshine I can’t. I can make a dent in my heat pump cost with clouds, a pretty good dent but if I didn’t have the grid I would use more gas or leave the windows open at night in the summer. I could always use a generator and the battery but the battery has a finite life and it is expensive. Not using it will allow it to last virtually forever as long as I care for it.
That’s another thing. You have to care for the battery. I don’t know if it’s an art or science but it took over a year for me to finally figure how to keep it in tip top shape so that it would tide me over for several weeks without power input from other sources including sun.
I never worry about having power, it went off in the neighborhood a couple weeks ago because of an ice storm we didn’t even know about it till a couple days later when a neighbor came over and thought the power must be back on because we had power.
We like what we have, it is expensive. I originally figured 7-8 years to pay for it, I figure now I’ll be lucky if it pays for itself in 10 years. I didn’t get it though for the payback, I’m getting old and wanted to have power if it gets cold. I also didn’t want to lose all the stuff in my 3 freezers full of stuff. I do, and now I have a warm place for the kids to come home to if the world goes to hell in a hand basket.
My recommendation to people considering solar. Get twice as much as you think you will need. I’m seriously considering putting more up. Get it while the government will still pay for a third of it.
Utilities getting into solar is a boondoggle for someone or they wouldn’t be doing it. It’ll take a long time go pay back 30 million, investors don’t want to wait that long.
Wow. Thank you for your post. Very informative. Someday I am sure I will have to have solar (Florida might make it mandatory someday), but I printed your post so that I have it ready. In our community, we all have electric....would love gas especially for the stove but the HOA said no when they started building. Anyway, it is nice that you were able to keep your electric on when everyone else went out......good think the neighbors didn’t know or you would have had a lot of company. lol.
“ I could always use a generator and the battery but the battery has a finite life and it is expensive. Not using it will allow it to last virtually forever as long as I care for it.”
I seem to have hit a ceiling of about 12 years with well-cared-for and lightly used SLA batteries. That’s pretty good, though. This is with continuous desulfating.
bfl
Wow, you have a lot of money!
actually the laws that force the utilities to buy your power are a boondoggle of its own.