Residential Solar Panels
- Thread starter VTXCyRyD
- Start date
Things to check out to answer your question of return
1) what are the current federal tax credits and what is your tax bracket
2) what are your state tax credits and your tax bracket
3) are you eligible for grants
4) what is your current electric companies rates
5) do yo have electric water heaters, heat, or anything that is usually gas.
If you are Alliant, you may be in that 5-7 return area.
Not necessarily. The amount of wiring and trenching can make a difference. I would go ground strictly due to roof replace, easier maintenance and annual care.
I've finished my PhD so I can finally start some fun projects....
This dude built his own 3.5kWh battery
This dude built his own 3.5kWh battery
I got the same message when hitting the link on my phone, but when I did it on my laptop it worked fine. Not sure why but that was my deal.
We're looking at this pretty hard right now as well. Was originally looking at getting the batteries as well but for one, I live in town and can't remember once where I've lost power other than flicking off and on a few times. Also if you lose power from the grid you have somewhere between 8-18 hours of juice before batter goes dead. 8 if you get the minimum amount of batteries and 18 if you get double or triple the amount. If I am paying that much for batteries, I want more than that. I guess that assumes the batteries aren't getting charged at all in that 8-18 hours so that changes things a bit to.
Of course, saying all that, I got that info from reading stuff on the web, so hopefully my facts are close.
Of course, saying all that, I got that info from reading stuff on the web, so hopefully my facts are close.
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Batteries are nasty expensive. I looked at two Tesla batteries and they were the same cost as the panel project. You can hold close to 24 hours with two batteries, iirc. If you lose power, be smart and go bare minimum and you should be able to stretch that out. Remember, if the sun comes out, you will charge those batteries some also.
One other point I forgot about return on solar. Check on the metering of the electric company. Mine is 15 minute metering (that sucks), if you can do at least daily, that it better. Monthly would be fantastic.
Ya it hit me right before I seen your reply that I was assuming no charging during that time. Still seems pretty extreme if I don't plan on going off grid. Pretty sure I am going to do something. Guy coming today to talk details.
Sorry for the late reply. Been out working on stuff..
Purelight Power was who I talked to today
Get 12-24 months of usage that you have had and use that to figure out what you need. I got mine at work and knowing I would not go off the grid, planned for the second lowest month of use. I can always add more if it makes sense I figured.
For anyone in Polk County considering it, Grow Solar Polk County is a group purchase thing going on this year (thru Sept I believe) - https://www.growsolar.org/polk-county/ . The solar company is 1 Source Solar out of Ankeny here's a few details of a quote I got from them last night:
- 22 VSun 370W panels with one SolarEdge inverter (no batteries)
- Solar PV System Size is 8.14 kW
- 1st Year production is 11,000 kWh, which is ~101% of our usage from the past year
- All-in price (includes materials, installation, permits, etc) is $22,900
- Federal tax credit of 26% (goes down to 22% after 2022) is ($5,950)
If more people in Polk Co sign up, it could go down another $1,000 or so. This would be about the max number of panels they could fit on our roof, said they're rated for 1" hail @ 50 mph. They said to add a Tesla battery wall it'd be another $18,500. Seems more reasonable than I was expecting.
- 22 VSun 370W panels with one SolarEdge inverter (no batteries)
- Solar PV System Size is 8.14 kW
- 1st Year production is 11,000 kWh, which is ~101% of our usage from the past year
- All-in price (includes materials, installation, permits, etc) is $22,900
- Federal tax credit of 26% (goes down to 22% after 2022) is ($5,950)
If more people in Polk Co sign up, it could go down another $1,000 or so. This would be about the max number of panels they could fit on our roof, said they're rated for 1" hail @ 50 mph. They said to add a Tesla battery wall it'd be another $18,500. Seems more reasonable than I was expecting.
Went to our local county fair the other day and the county power co-op was advertising solar panels/generators. We are in the very preliminary stages of eventually buying ~4 acres of farm ground from family to build a forever home acreage. Mostly verbal conversations so far.
With moving into the country a generator would be nice in case of a storm causing an outage.
Anyone else bite the bullet and go solar on an acreage?
Can you have a combination of power sources? Maybe have solar be a secondary resource, not primary.
With moving into the country a generator would be nice in case of a storm causing an outage.
Anyone else bite the bullet and go solar on an acreage?
Can you have a combination of power sources? Maybe have solar be a secondary resource, not primary.
My Dad has solar and a generator. Takes a little more paperwork with Alliant, but it’s not an issue. Dad’s happy with everything so far.
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How so? This is my first experience with them so would be open to hearing any feedback. The estimate process was pretty painless, they gave us the breakdown of everything, answered the few questions we had, and took a look at our roof/electrical meter & panel. About 20 minutes in total, zero pressure at all. Feel free to PM if that's easier.
When I looked into this, a battery to store solar power was around $16k, but it couldn't back up major power sources like A/C (I think it was Generac's big battery at around 18 KwH).
I then found a Generac generator from propane or natural gas for $8K that could power the whole house including A/C. My parents have the propane version at their house and it works great.
It is still insane to me it cost that much money to install Solar. 10 years ago it was like 12k. Not its nearly doubled and for what reason? Most likely greed.
