SOLAR on your homes?

Question

Just curious if anyone has installed solar on their new builds or other construction? What are your thoughts? I've been thinking of putting it on the house we own in Redding. It's a 4300 sq. ft. house on 20 acres. It's very sunny there much of the year, though when it rains, it can go for a month!

If you do use it, have you ever been in a situation where there was an excess?

Jimmy Nguyen · Answer

Hi Karen,

I am going to put solar panels on my custom house (I'll be living in it for a long time I hope) and got a bids ranging from $2.85-$3.50 per kw installed.  With the federal tax credit of 30%, which has been extended through 2019, I estimate that my payback period will be 9 years.  We don't get as much sunshine as Redding and Virginia does not offer any state incentives so your payback period may even be shorter.  A good place to estimate how much energy your solar panels will generate is through this website by the Department of Energy: http://pvwatts.nrel.gov/.

We are going to install a dc to ac inverter that is compatible with Tesla's Powerwall.  When Tesla finally starts shipping these out to customers, the Powerwall will act as backup power in case of outages.  Of course, you probably know that typical backup generators can be very pricey so the Powerwall can be a great alternative if a customer elects to go with solar panels.  The Powerwall can also be beneficial if your area charges different rates for peak hours and normal hours of energy use.  You can use the solar energy stored in your Powerwall during peak hours to avoid those higher costs.

The best report I've read about whether or not solar is a good investment for a homeowner is the Going Solar in America report by the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center. The report found that purchasing a 5kw solar array in 20 of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. is a better investment than the S&P 500 index (assuming 6.61% annual return).  In cities with low electric rates and unfriendly solar laws, the customer may not make a return on investment.

I think if you do the analysis for the customer, they can decide if it makes sense for them or not.  But I think you are wanting this on your own home?  I would say do it because as someone who wants to reduce our dependence on dirty sources of energy - solar pv is the cheapest and easiest thing you can do right now.

Troy Fisher · Answer

Better yet, if you are custom building, have you thought about the value that a greywater recycler will have?

http://www.rainharvest.com/aqua2use-greywater-recy...

I have no affiliation or even thoughts on this, other then droughts suck.

Kevin Kohler · Answer

make sure you get everything you need to protect your roof from leaks!  I'm a solar contractor and you can get equipment at good prices direct from websites and suppliers like renvu.com or civicsolar.com. I recommend Solar panels from SolarWorld and inverters from enphase or SolarEdge. If you want the hottest modules on the market, splurge a little for LG.

Chad Ballard · Answer

Had an interesting discussing at the Orange County BP Meetup (everyone should come) with an engineer that deals with solar projects. He has a lot of experience in that area with developers. I can put you in touch since he is in the are but not coming up in the BP search as having an account.

David Frandsen · Answer

my dad recently put solar on his house. I guess it is supposed to pay for itself in less that 7 years from what I understand. Redding is one of the sunniest cities in America. You've got that going for you :)

John Blackman · Answer

Texas is an oil and gas state.  You will likely offend about 1 in 2 buyers with solar panels.  :)

Although in Austin they are growing in popularity especially as the prices drop and electricity prices increase.  We haven't put them on any of our houses.  I'm not sure they are a selling point and they do cost more.  It's harder to justify a premium price for the panels.  They might make a good option for a buyer that wants them.  They can be installed pretty quickly.

That being said, I have solar panels on my personal home and they save me about $100/mo in energy costs.  In Austin, solar power offsets your usage ($0.11/kWhr).  However if you produce an excess they only give you ($0.03/kWhr) so that you don't go trying to be a producer.  They are telling you offset as much as you like, but don't produce because that will take money out of our (Utility) pocket.

Jimmy Nguyen · Answer

Update - a work friend's husband actually installs solar panels for a living.  He told me they are relatively easy to install.  He can get them delivered to me for $1.50/watt, which is good compared to the $2.50/watt installed price I have gotten recently.  I am planning on getting a 4,680 watt array so this would save me $4,680.  If I went the DIY route, my payback period would be less than 5 years. Have you thought about installing them yourself since you already know how to build houses it shouldn't be that hard?

Karen Margrave · Answer

@Jimmy Nguyen No we didn't get them. Someday!

Jimmy Nguyen · Answer

Woops just realized that the last few posts were from half a year ago.

@Karen Margrave - did you get those solar panels?

Karen Margrave · Answer

Thanks @Jim Keller hope you liked the area, it's going through some major changes, and hopefully will be turning around soon. You'd be surprised, Redding has actually been named the 2nd sunniest citiy in America for the number of days the sun shines! Redding and Shasta County

SOLAR on your homes?

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