Considering solar for house

[Ctwoodtick]

Thinking about solar with our good southern exposure to roof.
We use about 700 kWh per month. We end up having a couple/ few power outages for a day or 2 bc of weather per year. Considering a battery as part of the solar.
I asked my neighbor about his set up that he makes payments on and he said he loves and that it’s far less expensive than the normal electric.
I’ve been researching a bit online about solar, but wanted to ask here if there are questions that I should be asking now that will help me make a good decision on it.
Thank you!

 

[peakbagger]

Spend a few bucks, pick up a new or used copy of "Solar Power your home for Dummies". Read it and understand it before you do anything. Next figure out what the incentives are in your state. This site may help https://www.dsireusa.org/.

If you want to play around with output and siting, this site is fairly easy to learn. https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/

Bateries add a lot of complexity to system, panels are reliable, but electronics seem to have a shorter life span. Many of the battery options are proprietary equipment, if the original company goes out of business you may have a bunch of useless equipment not supported by anyone.

If you cannot afford to pay for the system up front, be careful, lots of creative financing methods out there that benefit the seller rather than the consumer. In theory the new bill in congress will return the solar tax credit to the prior 30%.

 

[ABMax24]

Decide where you want to put it. Roof mount is cheapest per kw, but may not be the best depending on location. Ground mount is more expensive but can more easily be positioned to find the most sun, granted now you have an (in some peoples opinion) unsightly PV array in the yard.

Adding a battery limits you a lot as only a couple manufacturers support them as part of the inverter.

 

[stoveliker]

If you have net metering that resets once a year, I would not do a battery; it's not worth it for the three outages a year. A small generator for the fridge, some lights and a fan or so costs $300.

If they give you 7 cts per kWh delivered to the grid and you have to pay 25 cts at night, then a battery may make sense (with caveats noted above).

I know opinions differ, but I'd go for microinverters rather than one big inverter, especially if you have partial sun blocking, aka trees (or bird poop...).

Factor in future needs (EV?, Heat pump?) if you can and are allowed.

 

[Poindexter]

I too have been directed to the "Solar for Dummies" book but haven't purchased a copy yet. Winter will be here soon enough with plenty of reading time, at this time I am actively getting my home ready for this winter. We have had three frost warnings already, with snow forecast for 3k feet and up tonight.

However, I did go to an industrial auction today. Bulldozers, drilling rigs, a bunch of diesel equipment. I almost bought a grader for $15k, but I don't really have room for it and my wife would make me sleep in it if I brought it home. But I paid close attention to the forklifts. They auctioned three electronic forklifts today with pretty uniform looking battery packs in them, $500, $1250 and $2000 for the three, plus a standalone samey-same looking battery pack for forklifts, probably Flooded Lead Acid aka FLA. The battery alone went for $200 and the auction company would have forked it up into my truck. However, I would be on my own to unload it once I got home, and I can only hope the Solar for Dummies book that I will read this winter has some good info in it about testing forklift battery packs.

Local the auction ground is open for inspection for about a week before auction day, so next time around I may be headed over there with a gas powered generator in the back of my truck and then come back with an ammeter and a load a couple days later and then put my bids in online.

Good luck and best wishes.

 

[Poindexter]

FWIW my wife and I are averaging about 550 - 600 kwh/ month in the 5 bedroom house we used for raising children. 700kwh / month is pretty respectable I think. All of our heat is oil/wood, but running the head bolt heaters on our vehicles in cold weather is a notable chunk of our electrical consumption.

 

[Brian26]

Thinking about solar with our good southern exposure to roof.
We use about 700 kWh per month. We end up having a couple/ few power outages for a day or 2 bc of weather per year. Considering a battery as part of the solar.
I asked my neighbor about his set up that he makes payments on and he said he loves and that it’s far less expensive than the normal electric.
I’ve been researching a bit online about solar, but wanted to ask here if there are questions that I should be asking now that will help me make a good decision on it.
Thank you!

Solar is still a great investment in CT but there were big changes in net metering and the solar incentives this year. There was a huge state incentive that is now no longer available. When I got my panels in CT 6 years ago between the 30% federal rebate and the state incentive close to 50% of the cost was covered between the two. My payback period was 5 years and I hear now it's close to 10-12 years.

With electricity approaching .30 kwh it is with out a doubt still worth it but the payback period has doubled since I installed in 2016.

Here is the current net metering in CT. You either do a sell all or a month to month with a credit. Those with existing systems are grandfathered in untill 2039 with 1 to 1 net metering.

Connecticut Residential Solar Incentives

Learn how to offset the cost of the electricity you buy from Eversource with energy you generate with your home solar energy system.

www.eversource.com

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Thanks for the info everyone. I know a lot more about solar than I did a couple days ago. I’ll keep reading

 

[woodgeek]

With the current bill moving through congress, I think the 30% Fed solar rebate is supposed to be reinstated.

Watch this space.

 

[peakbagger]

I think it will be extended. The big question is if it will require US produced panels. The government backed down and kept letting offshore panels into the US without tariffs for a couple more years. Its chicken and eg situation, companies will not try to open up new factories in the US (they have been burned many times before) unless they know that they will be be competing with subsidized panels from third world countries.

 

[begreen]

With the current bill moving through congress, I think the 30% Fed solar rebate is supposed to be reinstated.

Watch this space.

That's correct, for another 10 yrs. Looks like all it needs is a signature. The bill also provides tax credits to US solar panel manufacturers and developers, and they are stackable.

The Inflation Reduction Act could revive solar manufacturing in the US

The largest climate investment in U.S. history marks the dawn of an actual domestic industrial policy for solar power and other clean energy technologies.

www.canarymedia.com

 

[stoveliker]

Wow, 10 years for that credit is great. If it survives an opposite push in a future administration. Good that it's (ok, will be) law (rather than an executive order).