Solar Panels

[mom2rb]

Does anyone have solar panels? We are thinking about having them installed. I want to know the good and the bad, how many panels, output, if you have a battery system?

 

[HeatherC]

We looked into them but decided against because we probably won’t be in this house forever. We also learned that many times they can put a lien in your property if you are in an u stall net plan which could make it difficult to sell. I am sure other will have better info on this.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I don't know to much for the house, but had it for the pool. Even the hottest of days the water was still cold

 

[Orion Nebula]

I looked into them and the massive amount I would need for my house would've taken something like 15-20 years to recoup the cost. And that's if you never need to spend money on repairs or replacing any of the panels. I would for sure do that math and see if it's worth it to you.

 

[dclpluto]

I thought about it one time even started a thread here. I decided against it the savings wasn’t that much. You do it for the environment not because of cost savings because the cost savings isn’t much. Plus I don’t l like how they look on the roof. Was told I didn’t use that much electric to have it put on the ground.

 

[_19disnA]

I looked into them and the massive amount I would need for my house would've taken something like 15-20 years to recoup the cost. And that's if you never need to spend money on repairs or replacing any of the panels. I would for sure do that math and see if it's worth it to you.

That was my experience as well. Solar panel ads typically make it as cryptic as possible to figure out if you are actually going to save anything. Basically, you need to look at: 1) what is the initial cost?, 2) how much electricity will they produce?, 3) how long will they last?, 4) what sort of maintenance is required and 5) what do you do on cloudy/rainy days? Anything with a 20 yr pay-back is a terrible investment. Solar panels may be useful for some companies who use most of their electricity during the day and this helps with peak demand. If the panels/maintenance cost more then you will ever save, I would look for a different way to save money. Some companies now offering leasing schemes that can be an issue if you ever go to sell your home. Leasing solar panels doesn't change the basic economics which aren't very good to begin with.

Regardless of where you live, the sun typically shines for at most 12 hrs per day. So at best, you will save only 50% of your current electric bill. The rest of the time (or on cloudy/rainy days) you will still need electricity from the power company. Some solar ads also talk about storage batteries which will drive up the costs quite a bit. Some states let you back feed electricity into their grid (somewhat like running your electric meter in reverse) while others do not.

Most people find they are not cost effective for typical home use and that is part of the reason they have not caught on. If building a new home, a more cost effective solution would be to use better insulation along with better quality windows that keep out the heat.

 

[Meriweather]

We looked into it for out house, but decided against it.
We did get them for the pool. So we get about 3 extra months use. We have to turn it off when the water gets too warm in the summer.

 

[LYSE]

Basically you need to do your research, the return on investment will vary from house hold to house hold and your local utility and incentives.

We did it years ago and calculated a 10.5 year ROI, we could have gone with cheaper panels that had a slightly better roi, in the end we sold the house only 2 years into ownership of the panels, the appraisal did give us about 10k in value for the panels (new cost was 15k after tax credits) the new owners saw it as a major plus for the house (panels were owned and not financed or leased) and all said and done I think we broke even on the panels since they were saving us more than projected, so between 2ish years of savings and 10k added value its pretty close..factor in making the house more marketable and I was satisfied.

 

[longboard55]

I think it depends where you live, we have had them 10 years and they have saved us a bundle, but we have high rates and a lot of sun. I would say the payoff was about 5 years. But solar panels do not work on cloudy days, and if your bill is small it is not worth it

 

[tvguy]

We looked into them but decided against because we probably won’t be in this house forever. We also learned that many times they can put a lien in your property if you are in an u stall net plan which could make it difficult to sell. I am sure other will have better info on this.

Yes, if you pay nothing for the system (have a PPO, Power Purchase Agreement) they will put a lien on the house until your agreement expires, which in my case is 20 years from date of install. If they purchaser agrees to take over your PPO, then no need to payoff the lien. No big deal. Like any other lien, it would be paid off in escrow with proceeds of your sale if you sell.
A PPO solar system is one put on your house for free. You agree to buy ALL the power it produces at a pre-determined price, even the power you don't use. This rate is lower than the electric company charges. You sell any power you don't use back to your electric provider at a pre-determined price which is lower than what you paid for it. The agreement runs 20 years.
I could have purchased my system for $36,000. It was been on my house for 6 years, and after 5 years I have a right to buy it outright at the depreciated value of the system as determined by an independent appraisal. Either way the system and all it's components are under warranty for the entire 20 year term. The roof under the panels is guaranteed not to leak for 20 years or they will fix it. At the end of 20 years, the system is yours, you can keep using it but have to pay for any repairs, or they will come out and remove it for free. Our kids are aware of the conditions involved with the solar system if we should pass before the 20 years. We are saving about $25 to $30 a month over buying power from our electric provider. Our electric provider is one of the lowest cost providers in the nation, our savings would be greater if we had a provider with higher rates.

 

[bcla]

I don't know to much for the house, but had it for the pool. Even the hottest of days the water was still cold

Hot water heating uses solar collectors to directly heat the water or perhaps a thermal transfer fluid. For electricity it's photovoltaic cells that create electricity from visible light

 

[bcla]

There are some issues with photovoltaics. They create DC power while most homes use AC. So they need an inverter to convert DC to AC. Then there's the efficiency of the inverters. There are inverters designed to take the combined output of several cells, where the overall cost of the inverter is cheaper than several smaller inverters. There are also "micro inverters" where each cell powers its own inverter, and the AC power of those is combined. It's kind of complicated, but if there's a weak cell feeding a large inverter, it will limit the power that can be extracted for all cells. Microinverters maximize the energy converted from each cell. But for the most part regular series inverters are where the market has gone because the costs are lower and it works well enough.

 

[RamblingMad]

I have solar panels. The good is that you have lower electric bills. The bad is that you have to clean them and have to deal with whatever plan your utility offers. Some are more hostile towards solar usage than others. I'm grandfathered in, so I'll see what happens when I look to replace my existing system in 4 more years.

 

[tvguy]

There are some issues with photovoltaics. They create DC power while most homes use AC. So they need an inverter to convert DC to AC. Then there's the efficiency of the inverters. There are inverters designed to take the combined output of several cells, where the overall cost of the inverter is cheaper than several smaller inverters. There are also "micro inverters" where each cell powers its own inverter, and the AC power of those is combined. It's kind of complicated, but if there's a weak cell feeding a large inverter, it will limit the power that can be extracted for all cells. Microinverters maximize the energy converted from each cell. But for the most part regular series inverters are where the market has gone because the costs are lower and it works well enough.

Every system I looked at had 20 year warranty, so any equipment failure is their problem. And they monitor my solar production over the Internet, so they will notice a failure and call to do service.

 

[bcla]

Every system I looked at had 20 year warranty, so any equipment failure is their problem. And they monitor my solar production over the Internet, so they will notice a failure and call to do service.

A weak cell isn’t necessary about failure or damage. It could be one cell that might be shaded by a branch or cloud. Maybe leaves landing on one panel. The worst performer in the series will limit the entire series.

 

[cmarsh31]

Yes, if you pay nothing for the system (have a PPO, Power Purchase Agreement) they will put a lien on the house until your agreement expires, which in my case is 20 years from date of install. If they purchaser agrees to take over your PPO, then no need to payoff the lien. No big deal. Like any other lien, it would be paid off in escrow with proceeds of your sale if you sell.
A PPO solar system is one put on your house for free. You agree to buy ALL the power it produces at a pre-determined price, even the power you don't use. This rate is lower than the electric company charges. You sell any power you don't use back to your electric provider at a pre-determined price which is lower than what you paid for it. The agreement runs 20 years.
I could have purchased my system for $36,000. It was been on my house for 6 years, and after 5 years I have a right to buy it outright at the depreciated value of the system as determined by an independent appraisal. Either way the system and all it's components are under warranty for the entire 20 year term. The roof under the panels is guaranteed not to leak for 20 years or they will fix it. At the end of 20 years, the system is yours, you can keep using it but have to pay for any repairs, or they will come out and remove it for free. Our kids are aware of the conditions involved with the solar system if we should pass before the 20 years. We are saving about $25 to $30 a month over buying power from our electric provider. Our electric provider is one of the lowest cost providers in the nation, our savings would be greater if we had a provider with higher rates.

Yes, all of that. We're 8 years into our 20. We paid cash for the battery back-up system a few years ago. Our town loses power A LOT. In the fall, our neighborhood was out for 3 days. We have to manage our usage (we don't have full battery power) but were able to be comfortable and our fridge/freezers safe. We've had 2 or 3 4-6 hour outages since then. Whole house generators are very common. We preferred the year-round savings of this system over one.

 

[tvguy]

Yes, all of that. We're 8 years into our 20. We paid cash for the battery back-up system a few years ago. Our town loses power A LOT. In the fall, our neighborhood was out for 3 days. We have to manage our usage (we don't have full battery power) but were able to be comfortable and our fridge/freezers safe. We've had 2 or 3 4-6 hour outages since then. Whole house generators are very common. We preferred the year-round savings of this system over one.

Our electric provider requires solar systems to shut down if there is a power outage in the electrical provider system. This is a safety rule so that a solar system doesn't feed electricity into the grid when someone is working on the grid to restore power.

 

[Beach Bunny]

Just had a young man come by the other day that was offering me a "deal of a lifetime". Free solar panels if I would let him put his sign in my yard. Nope. Don't know you. Don't trust you

 

[cmarsh31]

Our electric provider requires solar systems to shut down if there is a power outage in the electrical provider system. This is a safety rule so that a solar system doesn't feed electricity into the grid when someone is working on the grid to restore power.

Ours just charges the batteries some how when the power is off. It's my husband's thing anyway. I'm in charge of Disney. He's in charge of electricity!

 

[_19disnA]

A lot of solar panel companies are here today and gone tomorrow. A 20 yr warranty is worthless if the company who offered it has gone out of business. If you are only saving $30/month using solar you never recoup the initial costs.