Residential Solar Panels

[TXUSMC]

Tried the search and didn’t get much. Does anyone have residential solar panels? What is the best route to go on this type of project? Any help is appreciated.

[Pedernal]

I don't have residential panels but I have been approached by two companies. I have two main concerns with the companies that were out in my area.

1) Cost: in my opinion the product they are selling is way over priced. I have significant experience building and installing off grid solar powered communication sites. the prices they quoted me seemed way over what I would consider fair.

2) Potential roof damage: the potential to have roof damage is high and at least the companies that I spoke with were reluctant to show me their "roof warrantee" plans.

Here are some other things that I would advise you to consider if you are getting them installed along with the two I have already mentioned.

* cost to remove and reinstall panels if your roof needs to be replaced

* potential difficulty selling the home if you decide to move.
my real-estate guy mentioned there is no increase in home value and the
contract on the solar is difficult to transfer for various reasons

* I would make sure that the system you are getting has individual invertors on
each panel versus having one large invertor

i could go on but am short on time. feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss this or if you have other questions.

[TXUSMC]

Thank you Sir. I’m going to get into some research on those details.

[9452772]

We have solar but they are in a field next to the house. The advantage of the field is the company was able to get them at the optimum angle to the sun. The roof would not come close to allowing that. My brother in law has an electrical company and did the install at cost. They do save money but not sure what the payback would be if mounted on the roof and paying full price. I would also check to see if your local electrical provider offers solar that you can buy into. A friend at work bought into the CPS solar field. The big advantage is CPS manages and maintains the solar panels, they are more efficient and he can transfer the account to any home in the CPS coverage.

[Sippy]

I used to sell them and I don’t have them on my house.

If you are paying over 18c/kWh they make sense. And if you have great credit. Do not lease them, buy them.

Your homeowners insurance covers removing and replacing if you have to get a new roof in the future.

Battery backup systems aren’t very affordable or optimal yet, when they are I will likely move forward. Make sure your company will buy back at a decent rate.

[Preacher Man]

I’m a residential real estate appraiser. I’ve not seen one set of solar panels, installed on a roof, increase the value of a house that is located in my market area. Not one.

I have seen them cause damage to roofs and require maintenance.

Until they become more efficient, it’s a hard no from me

[dgilbert]

Alot of negative, need to check with your electric company on buy back.

[Pedernal]

Alot of negative, need to check with your electric company on buy back.

From my research, buy back by electrical companies can get really complicated. Some will pay/credit you at a lower rate than you pay them/kilowatt. Others will not allow it at all. It is really something that could bite you in the behind if companies were to change their policy to not accept a homeowner’s solar power.

[Backwoods101]

This thread isn’t going the route I was hoping for


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[dfkoon]

I've been interested in solar for 30 years and currently looking at it from the engineering side - I am an engineer.

The negative comments are likely due to installers and sellers lacking knowledge on how to properly size and design a system. They slap some panels up on the roof not really caring about the right way to do without causing roof leaks, run conduits across the roof which is unsightly and really just trying to make a quick buck. Figure they learn as they go and if what they are doing ain't broke then... Some will offer a 20 year warrantee, but is that really worth the paper it is written on?

If done right, there is no damage to the roof. If looks good then there shouldn't be a home value hit. If done right with potential for electric car charging then I think there is a value to a certain population segment.

You do not have to have micro inverters on each panel. A DC optimizer is likely a good idea if shade occurs during the day on part of the array.

There is a federal tax credit of 26% that drops to 22% next year (unless extended). I didn't see any additional incentives for Glen Rose, but there are cities that do offer.

I've always liked renewable, but thought everything should stand on it's own merit (including oil and coal).

Typically, it will take 12-20 years to break even with today's prices (and that 26% tax credit). The big thing for me is I don't believe that energy prices are going to stay low. We have been fortunate with the low cost of natural gas. Still have almost 3 more years of biden. Can't imagine what will happen. But if it goes the direction of gasoline/diesel then those that have solar will be the ones smiling.

[91cavgt]

Keep this in mind when trying to decide to add solar or not. If you have a grid tie system, which a large majority of them are, if the power goes out then you loose power too. A Tesla Power Wall will stop putting out power if the internet connection goes down, so that battery backup is a no for me. There are a lot of other battery backups on the market, just make sure they don’t need to be connected to the internet to work.


For me, I love solar but I do it myself to keep the cost down and mine have never been mounted on a roof. My last solar system cost me around $1,500, was installed on my shed in the back yard, and had the capacity to run a fridge or a window A/C along with lights and fans if the power went out. If you don’t mind buying used panels and doing some wiring yourself when it comes to the batteries then you can save a lot of money on an off grid setup.

[7sdad]

We were contacted about them and we talked about it for about 5 seconds and both said the same thing. THEY MAKE YOUR HOUSE LOOK UGLY!


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[3ChordTruth]

Good question OP, thanks for posting it. Also thanks to information pros and cons posted, I need to learn more about this.

[Philip-TX]

My questions would be along the lines of:

Is this really a good investment? Save a few $xx on electric bill, but now pay $xmorex on the note? really?

Is the life of the equipment longer than the term of the loan? (panels/batteries/etc?)
What is replacement costs of parts/equipment?

It has to be subsidized by government. That is part of their sales pitch. Tax rebates, subsidies, call it what you will. Gvmnt doesnt have any money to "give away" without taking it from someone else first.

Why isn't private industry taking this and running (w/out govmnt hand-outs) ?

I think there would be ALOT MORE going up if it was a solid investment.

No thanks.

[ken800]

A few things and I'll make it short:

No way I was letting someone poke a bunch of holes in my roof. I went to a field setup.

I bought everything wholesale and spent about $7K in total on my panels and mounting system. probably spent another $500 on the electrical.

I have microinverters instead of a string inverter and this is much more efficient. Don't do it any other way.

I have an 8.2kW system and on a clear day I'm just breaking 50kWh of electricity produced each day.

Pedernales is my provider and they USED to do net billing meaning at the end of the month, they'd square up. Use X, Consume Y, difference is what you pay. NOW they have changed this. Now if you push anything back at any time, they pay me 5.7 cents per kWh and then charge me the full 9.3 cents per kWh for every kWh I consume, even those I pushed back. I'm no longer using the grid as a storage system where I get my electrons back even-steven. This means that during the peak of the day, I'm pushing back way more than I consume so they are "double dipping" so to speak and this change has made solar a whole lot harder to justify. In a nutshell, they sell me back my own electrons at night for the low, low price of full retail after paying me a little over 1/2 price for mine.

If you aren't going to do it yourself, the payback is a long, long time. I'd wait until the panels are more than 21-22% efficient as you are doing it now to be green unless you can do it wholesale like I did. Note it was a pain in the arse.