Solar and power wall 3 quote.

[djlew]

I have no bad things to say about the installer, they were super and took care of all paperwork and dealing with inspections and everything. I would have pulled all my hair out if I'd had to deal with all that!

That's very true! I wouldn't want to do any of this work personally. The only sort of gripe I have with my installer is the lack of communication or expectation of the process. After site survey and design approval it was crickets from February to early April. Then it was financing approvals and now I am onto the formal engineering and permits. I was lucky to have a friend who was using the same installer I am that I mentioned above, and without him setting expectations for me I would have been left in the dark I feel like. So far I feel like maybe that's common, especially because during this time in the process there isn't much to talk about while you wait for utilities and municipality approvals.

 

[EbS-P]

That's very true! I wouldn't want to do any of this work personally. The only sort of gripe I have with my installer is the lack of communication or expectation of the process. After site survey and design approval it was crickets from February to early April. Then it was financing approvals and now I am onto the formal engineering and permits. I was lucky to have a friend who was using the same installer I am that I mentioned above, and without him setting expectations for me I would have been left in the dark I feel like. So far I feel like maybe that's common, especially because during this time in the process there isn't much to talk about while you wait for utilities and municipality approvals.

Once my callers submitted my application was to the utility I could track its progress.

I think the prices of panels are about to go way up.

 

[djlew]

Once my callers submitted my application was to the utility I could track its progress.

I think the prices of panels are about to go way up.

I have a tracker too, but I've been on "site survey done" for 3 months LOL. I agree with you. I was wondering if installers are swamped right now with people trying to rush in before major changes to prices and/or credits.

 

[begreen]

We're finally starting to see some nice bell curve output. Now generating about 33 kWh/day and selling rather than buying power.

 

[EbS-P]

Yesterday was 92 degrees. My AC ran 12 hours on low. I sent 3 kWh to the grid but didn’t do any car charging. So far this month I’m a net producer but a couple cloudy days and it will go the other way. We had a 300 mile day trip that I charged at home after so that took some sun. 🌞 day today!!

 

[EbS-P]

And so far this year I have charged the car 920 kWh with a 5 Mw solar production and used 5.8 Mw

 

[bogieb]

May is going to be a bust for solar production - it has been super cloudy nearly all month, which will continue until about Monday. Along with the February numbers, that were nearly non-existent, I will be down by 300-400 kwh for the year (comparing to the last 2 years thru May). That assumes that I make at least 23.8 kwh per day until the end of the month (the average production so far). Over the last two days, I've only made 22kwh, so it's not looking promising as the weather pattern continues.

It is like I've already lost all of November and December production. The only saving grace so far, and the reason I won't be down 600+ kwh at this point, is that March was a bit over previous years and so was April. And, I did manage to eek out sending about 0.4 kwh to the grid yesterday even though it made only 8.0 kwh total, since I'm running the pellet stove and have not used the mini split this year (except for about 8 hours one day).

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We’ve had a pretty wet spring so far. Hopefully the clouds go away in June and you (and everybody else with panels) have a good month of production.

 

[begreen]

It's the opposite on the left coast. Too little rain, and for the next week, lots of sun. We're continuing to see nice bell-curve solar output.

 

[EbS-P]

Well it’s been about a year with solar.
Quick stats.
In the last 12 months

I have used 13.6 Mwh (car had used 1.9 Mwh)
I have generated 12.3 Mwh
I have imported 1.3 Mwh
I have paid $122
I currently have $151 credit.
My house has not lost electricity once
I have a total of almost 6 hours of battery only power
Rough estimate of two metric tons of CO2 not emitted.

I crunched some numbers. I break even in 8.5 years (if you count only the purchase price of the electricity and my $53. Or 8.5 years if you 3% annual inflation of electric rates based on the total cost per KWh bill from 1 year ago). If invested the capital at 5% after 20 years the electricity savings figuring 3% increase is within $1000 of the the capital invested at 5%.

So I got a new main panel panels with a 25 year warranty and a batter and inverter with a 10 year warranty. And I’m not throwing money away. If the subsidies were not available this would never have happened. The ROI would have been 20+ years.

Some near graph.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

the investment side really depends on your risk tolerance and investment choices. 5% is a fairly risk adverse return. That’s not bad, everybody has a different risk tolerance. The S&P 500 has a historical return of around 10%, but some years your going to do great, retuning 30% and others you might lose 20%. Many can’t stomach the -20%.

 

[sloeffle]

the investment side really depends on your risk tolerance and investment choices. 5% is a fairly risk adverse return. That’s not bad, everybody has a different risk tolerance. The S&P 500 has a historical return of around 10%, but some years your going to do great, retuning 30% and others you might lose 20%. Many can’t stomach the -20%.

This is the exact reason I've never pulled the trigger on solar. If you take the 20 - 30k and put it in the market and make 10% a year that's 2 = 3k a year you are historically making. That 2k+ (with taxes taken out) pays my electric bill for the year right now. I've heard of electric bills doubling in my area due to all of the data centers they've put in, I'm glad I have my electric through a coop.

I went the air sealing / insulation / conservation route.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It can be part of your whole financial plan though. Anything that gives you security and peace of mind is valuable. Maybe even more important than the return itself. It’s not uncommon for CDs and dividend yields to be around 3%.

 

[bogieb]

IDK, I already had my 401k maxed out for what I could put in. I had saved up for a 1 car garage for several years and then covid hit and prices for wood went thru the roof. I saved up the extra I needed and then wages started really rising (I'm not saying they didn't deserve it, just hit at the wrong time for me). Since I needed the money to be liquid, and the interest rates were still down, that wasn't making me much sitting there.

By the time I saved up some more, the cost had gone up about 40% over the original estimate I'd gotten so it still wasn't enough. Sat myself down and figured out whether it was still something I wanted to chase and found I couldn't stomach the cost of a garage just to keep snow and ice of my vehicle - especially since I had gone to full time WFH.

So, decided to spend that money on a solar system. At least it pays me back and I won't have any electric bills for at least another 15 years (contract goes to either 2040 or 2042).