Anyone have solar on their house?
Residential Solar Systems
Anyone have solar on their house?
The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
I wish!!
"The length of a conversation is not a good gauge of its quality"
"Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith." - Alexis de Tocqueville
reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States
I looked into the current FAD. Solarcity. At the time i did an ROI.
They may have state to state differences or have changed their business model entirely so take it for what its worth.....
The problem is that the lease was to be for the equipment and included installation. As such, if during the lease period i was to attempt to sell house, Out of the pool of potential buyers, I would then have to try and sell them on the lease. Out of the winnowed list they then had to pass a pretty high credit check. The chances were actually pretty high that someone could be approved for mortgage but not the lease. If that was case, i had option to not sell or to have the equipment removed and re-installed on my new domicile at additional fees. Not cheap. The win was to lock the electric bill into a flat rate. Not really a big win. And the equipment is not the latest and greatest. I may have still considered it but the real reason I initially looked into it was to have an emergency back up should power fail. That was outside the scope. Available again for a large cost.
Solar can ROI depending on the system and geographic areas but having a system designed specifically for your home and area along with ability to be off grid seem to be best bet. But this is pricy and ROI is over decade or more.
Want to tick off a conservative? Tell them a lie. Want to tick off a liberal? Tell them the truth.
another big negative, in my opinion, of SolarCity is after the 20 year lease, you either have to sign a new lease or they take the equipment. Per the contract, you do NOT have the right to purchase the equipment.
The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
I think you're a lot more than a decade for an off-grid system.
I helped design and install some 3kW arrays with 6kW inverters (battery backed-up) and our cost was about $30,000. This was a few years ago and some pricing has come down, but it's still expensive.
If you get some used equipment and DIY, you could save a lot, but you'll likely need stamped engineering plans and/or licensed installation to get inspected and tied to the grid.
And as mentioned above, you might be able to coerce your neighbors into helping to pay for your system... I mean get tax credits.
---
I have a system at my cabin and absolutely love it. You have to do it right though.
Julie
"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man."
Benjamin Franklin
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks