Solar panels for your home. Who has them?

[Walker]

Win win for them. Not so much for you.

[armadillophil]

Beware of the contract you have to sign. If you plan on selling your house it is a big negative.

[RGV Hunter]

That is what bothered me the most. I pay for the construction of a mini power plant and all the surplus power is taken away. I keep nothing. Are there companies that actually pay you money for your surplus energy?

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[RGV Hunter]

Beware of the contract you have to sign. If you plan on selling your house it is a big negative.

The representative said I would need to pay off the solar package with the sale of the house if it was sold before I paid off panels

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[Smart]

Don't forget to add them to your homeowner insurance. That will be added an expense. I know somebody that had their place burn and he assumed they would fall under his current policy with his receipt/proof of purchase. They did not.

[Swampa]

A guy at Costco or Sam’s caught me one day coming in. We looked at my usage and he quickly said never mind. My house is 3400 sq ft, 1 story and my current bill isn’t bad, plus I don’t like the looks of them anyway.


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[Swampa]

On a 2nd note, we use Go Griddy for our electric and I’m not conservative with my AC in the hot months. Our bill bill is pretty **** cheap, like not breaking $300/month in the hottest months. My August bill was $243.


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[SharpEnd]

In my research, whatever you save in electricity goes to paying for the panels and when the panels are paid off you gotta replace them again. Lose some or part of your electric bill, gain a payment somewhere else that you also have to pay to maintain or replace in the future. To me it's snake oil disguised as green energy....and the money you are paying out monthly just switches to somewhere else.

Same here, I looked at it heavily. Since our home is build with energy efficiency in mind (foam insulation walls and attic, good windows, etc) it would take the entire lifetime of the panels to break even, and then you have another install. Just didn't make sense.

[RGV Hunter]

In the winter months I pay under $250 in electricity. In the summers I pay about $320 in electricity. My house is energy efficient also. We have three AC units in our house and even in the summer we don't pay over $400.

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[Wits_End]

There are numerous threads about solar, some very recent. The math doesn't work out no matter how you work it. Unless you want to pay for being more environmentally friendly, solar will not save you money.

In a large home
I considered perfect roof space on carport with southern exposure and no worries of leaks
Tax rebate
8c/kwhr elec rate
Complete DIY install

Still takes absolute min 9 years to repay. Pay for install and increased equipment and it's likely 20 years.

It's all because solar is not efficient

Inverters have 12 year warranty, reports are they fail often.
Solar panels degrade every year, losing efficiency max life is 25yrs
Hail disrupts this plan.

[Throwin Darts]

Solar panels for your home. Who has them?

Ive now seen it all with folks financing solar panels for 20 years. People have lost their minds. Signing up for decades long debt to knock some bucks off their electric bill. Insane.

[Smart]

Ive now seen it all with folks financing solar panels for 20 years. People have lost their minds. Signing up for decades long debt to knock some bucks off their electric bill. Insane.

Agreed....I'd rather just let the electric company take care of all the maintenance/weather issues and pay a little more a month without the debt.

[WItoTX]

By the time they pay themselves off, they are worn out and have to be replaced. You will never get ahead.

This.

Plus you get roof damage from the install. Solar panels still cannot recover enough sun power to justify their cost.

I am not an expert, but I have been researching solar companies with the new admin, and bottom line, solar panels still don't work well, break a lot, and require a ton of cleaning.

[KX500]

Depends on the rebates/subsidies! - Absolutely! If you only pay 1/4 of the cost then the math works. If you had to pay full price, then yes, by the time they are paid for, time to replace them.

We got them this summer. Total project cost was right about $40K, with no upfront cash. The math/cost savings we were shown indicated that it would take about 30 years for the solar panels to show a savings of $40 K. And the life span of the panels is about 30 years - at which time comes removal or replacement cost.

So right, the math doesn't work - Who Would Ever buy Solar Panels with That Scenario!

But the government (note - I live in a much more Liberal state than most of you) wants to promote Solar Power. They absolutely want to push the agenda that Solar power is feasible.

So much so, that they pay for, in our case, almost 3/4 of the cost.

Of our $40 K project, we'll pay around $11 K, which is projected to mean the panels pay for themselves in 7 years or so - for Us.

Yes, big picture/overall cost is - they really don't pay for themselves.

Small picture - with enough subsides, anything works!

From years 7-30, we should have free electricity.

I can't recall how much of the rebates/subsidies were federal & how much were state - but hey, keep paying your taxes and helping me & all other solar panel owners out there!!

I'm not pro or con on Solar or Wind power.

I do want to know the total cost of these things and an answer to the question of - Are they economically feasible without subsidies?

My experience with getting solar panels, showed me the answer is a big NO.

Every solar panel installation I see know (especially the big ones), leads me to a question of - Wonder how much that was subsidized?

The little bit the I have looked into Wind power installations, tells me that, without subsidies, those never pay for themselves either.

Isn't being governed by philosophies that just lead to more taxes awesome!

[Killer]

It is not worth it in Texas unless you are located in a remote area and the cost for power would be in the $10s of thousands dollars then your pay back will be quicker. Also the cost to run a large 20 kw load house with solar and batteries gets large in a hurry.
If you have an all electric home with existing power from the grid it will never pay for itself.

It’s a good choice for remote area where the load is under 5 or 6 kw.