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OT - Solar panels


philboking

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It's been about 6 months since I got my solar panels installed and connected. It's part of my campaign to minimize my monthly bills as I approach retirement. So far, it's been just great - - they generate a bit more than we use, so my monthly electric bill is now $10.64/month for a 4000 sq ft house. (That's enough to cover reading the meter I guess.) The output peaks at about 6300 watts each day, and has generated about 3.3 MW-hours so far. The extra I generate goes out on the grid, which means I'll get a check once a year for the excess. So I'm using the grid for storage, in a sense; I draw out power at night and dump power into it during the day.

 

I considered storing it in a battery bank, but it just seems ridiculous and inefficient. Although I can foresee a day when there is a commodity market for old Prius batteries that are not good enough for cars but will still work in garage...

 

The odd thing is the economics of it - - with electricity essentially free, I don't have to throttle the air conditioning down during hot days (though I still do when we're not home). Having been extremely poor for a large portion of my life, it still doesn't 'feel right' to waste power. And it really isn't free in a very real sense - - the less I use, the bigger the check from the electric company will be at the end of the year.

 

It cost a serious chunk of money, but 40% will be recovered in state and federal tax credits. (I had to change my W4's to list 11 dependents so I'd owe enough taxes to get that money back). I think the whole mess will pay for itself in 8 years or so. Maybe 10. The panels have a 25 or 30 year lifetime, so that means I'll be cash ahead for the remaining 15 or 20 years.

 

Overall I can recommend it pretty highly.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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How long will it take for the savings to cover the cost?

 

Guido - Your HOA may not reject it. It's not like they are an eyesore, at least not to me. I can easily foresee I time when there will be laws passed to forbid an HOA from disallowing them.

 

We were in the Palm Springs area all of last week, and "lookie-looed" at homes in a new gated community (Trilogy Polo Club) where solar panels came with the homes. They're trying to get the electric cost down to $0. Interestingly, I was told they had gas A/C.

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The cost-benefit analysis showed 8 to 10 years payback time. After that, it's free electricity for an additional 15 to 20 years (based on estimated life-span).

 

Interesting thing I heard recently -- people on the west coast, wanting to appear 'green', are asking panel installers to put the panels on the front roof of the house, even if the back is better for energy production, because they want the neighbors to see them. Ah, vanity! the least appreciated of the 7 deadly sins....

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Solar panels are the rage , here in California. That's why Pacific Gas and electricity is implemented a 12% hike in rates, to compensate for their losses in revenue.

 

Yeah, they're pounding nails into their own coffin. The more they raise the rates, the better solar will look to more and more people, and the more people will become ex-customers... Stupidity still reigns supreme in the corporate world, doesn't it?

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Some Right Wing campaigne in the media, was trying to demonize a solar array out in the California High Desert. Saying, it was burning birds in mid flight up in the sky.

Bad enough Corporations have taken over the Media, Government and Law ..... now they are trying to circumvent Science, logic, fact and reality ..... it's obvious the American House of Saud, is trying to tear down better forms of energy ( solar, wind) and transportation ( California High Speed Rail).

ENERGY Corporations that financed the TEA party, are like suicidal lemmings wearing suicidal explosive vests.

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By "Some Right Wing campaigne [sic]" do you mean the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

 

Just to be clear, these are not your roof top photovoltaic arrays. The bird killers are arrays of mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a boiler at high temperatures.

 

http://www.weather.com/news/solar-plants-birds-20140818

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2014/04/07/birds-going-smoke-brightsource-energys-ivanpah-project/7448299/

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