amsunshine Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 We are considering switching to solar power for our home. Does anyone out there have experiences to share or advice? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 It is expensive to start, but well worth it in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 We're in Florida where we get LOTS of sun. It's been a few years since we priced it, but we determined that generally a solar substitute for electricity was not terribly efficient/feasible vis a vis what you'd pay for a system. However, using solar to hear water (for our pool and hot water tanks) was much more affordable and efficient. So that's what we've got. However the technology may have improved since we last looked into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 We have solar power. and a solar hot water service. We got the solar hot water service first it is a combo solar and wood heated system connected to the combustion stove. In summer most of the heat is from the sun, in winter most of the heat is from the wood heater. The solar electricity we put in a year ago. it was pretty expensive to install. We sell the surplus electricity to the power company. It is so nice to receive a check in the mail instead of a bill. We make around one thousand $ per year on our surplus electricity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted March 9, 2013 Author Share Posted March 9, 2013 We have solar power. and a solar hot water service. We got the solar hot water service first it is a combo solar and wood heated system connected to the combustion stove. In summer most of the heat is from the sun, in winter most of the heat is from the wood heater. The solar electricity we put in a year ago. it was pretty expensive to install. We sell the surplus electricity to the power company. It is so nice to receive a check in the mail instead of a bill. We make around one thousand $ per year on our surplus electricity. I had heard about getting money from the power company, but was skeptical. I have friends who went solar who now say their power bills are the same as, if not sometimes more than, their bills prior to going solar. So it's nice to hear a better report financially speaking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted March 9, 2013 Author Share Posted March 9, 2013 We're in Florida where we get LOTS of sun. It's been a few years since we priced it, but we determined that generally a solar substitute for electricity was not terribly efficient/feasible vis a vis what you'd pay for a system. However, using solar to hear water (for our pool and hot water tanks) was much more affordable and efficient. So that's what we've got. However the technology may have improved since we last looked into it. We're in California, so another pretty good place for sun. I was wondering about efficiency, as well, and am going to look into that more. I'm also curious about using one of the companies that installs it for you at no charge, but then you sign a power contract with that company. I can't quite wrap my head around it yet, but I'm just starting to research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 If you're not also connected to the mains, you might want a generator too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 If you're not also connected to the mains, you might want a generator too. If you ARE connected to the grid, you'll want a generator or other source, as well. Grid-tied systems go down when the grid goes down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Does anyone know if Reguheert is still around??? He's a homeschool papa and did a huge solar project at his home if memory serves. Very knowledgeable. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 we leased, and put some money down to make our lease payments lower. Supposedly, they can come get them in 15 years, but the rep didn't think they would want them. We don't have the max amount we could have on our roof, because we have a room with vaulted ceiling, but we have enough that our energy use is taken down to the lowest pay tier, so we pay the lowest rates, usually. We save about $100 or so a month, more in the Summer. We pay $38 a month for the lease. We are pretty happy with it. The energy companies here raise the rates often, so we like not being impacted so much by them. I think if we were able to have more panels, our savings would be better- I just remembered that because we have an older house, we were limited on the panels or we would have had to change out our electrical panel- for a few grand, we decided not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 We got solar panels just before Christmas. Our first summer bill with solar was 20% lower than our spring bill without solar, so we are optimistic. The summer bill included a fair amount of air conditioner usage. The initial outlay, even with government subsidies was hefty, and the electricity company pays us substantially less on the buy-back scheme than what they charge us. We try to maximize our usage of solar by doing what we can during the daylight hours - washing machine and dishwasher, showering, cooking etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 I had heard about getting money from the power company, but was skeptical. I have friends who went solar who now say their power bills are the same as, if not sometimes more than, their bills prior to going solar. So it's nice to hear a better report financially speaking! there was a short time where the state government in my state was trying to reach a emissions target. so they were offering to buy renewable energy from people. we managed to get a contract 'till 2024 where they will buy our electricity at 66c/kWh. This is above what the going price of electricity is at the moment. hence why we are making money on our surplus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isabella Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Which state are you in, Melissa? Wow, I'm impressed that you were able to lock in the contract for so long!! I'm in WA, and would love to have solar, but never researched it enough, and maybe it's too late now. Everyone talks about the benefits of solar (re: buyback of power) have passed their peak, and it's not so worthwhile anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Does anyone know if Reguheert is still around??? He's a homeschool papa and did a huge solar project at his home if memory serves. Very knowledgeable. Faith Wow, Faith! Those are kind words! Thanks! MomsintheGarden saw your post and asked me to respond. It took me a while to figure out how to get back into this forum, but I managed! :) Regarding solar, I will try to state some things which I believe to be universally true and then I will direct you to more discussions elsewhere (sorry SWB!): 1) How quickly (or even if) a solar electric system will pay for itself depends on four main things: how much sunlight there is in your area, your roof orientation and shading, how much you pay for electricity and the laws governing your state and country. 2) A grid-connected system will be cheaper, more efficient and more reliable than an off-grid system. 3) Modern photovoltaic systems are almost universally liked by their owners. (Interestingly, the same cannot be said about the electric vehicle owners' views of their cars on the forum where I am about to direct you!) Since we live in VA and our system was installed a couple of years ago, our experiences are not overly relevant for OP. But I will provide this link to our system including pictures and performance anyway. By way of comparison, our system is almost exactly 20% larger than this system in San Diego, yet both produce about the same amount of electricity each year and the electricity produced by the CA system is more valuable than that produced by ours. At the risk of unleashing you ladies on a bunch of geek EV owners unawares, here is a link to the solar portion of the My Nissan LEAF Forum. Interestingly, most of the posters over there are from CA and nearly half of the folks who have an EV also have solar panels. The two technologies seem to go hand-in-hand. There is a lot of discussion by those looking into solar and trying to understand all of the complicated rate plans that the different utilities in CA offer. (It seems that electricity is so expensive there that the utilities try to make it more palatable by offering complex plans that are nearly impossible to comprehend, but perhaps it's just me!) The short of it is that solar electric systems seem to work well for very many people in CA. That said, there are many more options related to which vendor, which rate plan, buy versus lease, etc., than I can assist with, so I will encourage you to read or ask there to get more accurate information than I can provide. You can also read some of my opinions about solar over there if you like. My opinions are still free and still worth every penny! ;) Of course please feel free to keep this discussion going here as there likely are many solar owners from CA here who can answer your specific questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Which state are you in, Melissa? Wow, I'm impressed that you were able to lock in the contract for so long!! I'm in WA, and would love to have solar, but never researched it enough, and maybe it's too late now. Everyone talks about the benefits of solar (re: buyback of power) have passed their peak, and it's not so worthwhile anymore. Victoria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 Wow -- thanks everyone for all the info! I have a lot of reading to do.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 I'm in Ca, no shade on that part of my roof and the panels are on the South East side, but more on the South side. I do kind of wish we would have gotten a new electric panel so we could get more solar panels...we just didn't want to dish out 2 grand for that, but we just ran into a problem of not being able to get a second oven, also because of our panel problem. We leased with Solar City and we are pretty pleased with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adamgs Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I think that solar power is good, and it is a choice. usually the solar panel can last over 20 years. long enough to get the money back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 We have solar panels. Pleased with them so far. Ours are guaranteed for 25 years and I think it will take about 10 years to pay them off if the money we get stay the same. I'm in the south off the UK so pretty far north and we won't generate much in mid winter. We've only had them since May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.