I should start looking into this for my mothers house as she’s by her self in Akron/Newstead and could probably get a decent kickback from putting electric back into the grid since she wont be using a lot. Also then has the benefit of having that if she ever resells the house.
She’ll never “make” money on it because you don’t sell it back to the grid. You push it back to the grid and earn credits toward your electric bill but they’ll never cut you a check for unused credits. This is why solar companies will examine your past year’s worth of electric bills and build you a system to cover right around 100% of your usage but not more.
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Interesting article. Just one of the issues mentioned:
Norling also had an explanation for why Spruce told me that our panels were working when they in fact weren’t: 3G technology. Older residential solar systems were installed with meters that communicated over 3G, he says, and when cell phone service providers discontinued 3G, those meters were forced offline.
If you leased your panels you didn’t do your homework.
Meanwhile, my 100% owned by me system hit it’s payoff point this summer 6 years after install and I still have 19 years of panel warranty left where my roof is basically printing money for me. 
^ That one concerningly short bar in July was 2017 because my system got 100% approval and final meter connection on the 19th of July, so I missed more than half the power producing days that month.
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@JayS is yours connected to your WiFi?
It’s hardwired. The WiFi adapter was really unreliable so I made Solar Liberty come back like a week after the install and remove the WiFi adapter and run some cat6 right to my router. All the network connection does though is give me access to the SolarEdge software. If I take it offline the system still works 100%, I just lose the ability to monitor it from the app/website.
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These $18.09 electric bills on this hot summer are really killing me. #solar
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Hell yeah nice!! I’m getting pounded this year on electricity.
my last bill was $450…i need to go solar
It was definitely a great investment at the time I did it, but I’m not sure if it is right now or not. I think the metering calculation has changed a little for new hookups with National Grid and I know the cost of panels and labor to install them has gone way up like everything else under Bidenomics. I haven’t really done ROI calculations since I installed my system for $7200 out of pocket and as of today it has generated $8050 and just keeps printing out cash.
Just by the fact that I don’t see new systems popping up at the rate they were when I installed mine makes me assume the ROI isn’t as good now.
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What was the company you went through?
Ive only checked w tesla and they want like $50k
Solar Liberty and I’ve been really happy with them. PM me your name/address/phone and I can send you a referral. Gets you some money off and if you sign they give me like $250. My neighbor used to be high up there but left to start his own company installing EV chargers.
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Is your home around 5000 sq ft or are you heating a pool?
3500sq ft, hot tub, tesla, and a wife who keeps the thermostat at 68 
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Same here, systems are still not worth it… Jay killed it with the federal and state help at the time. He can never move lol.
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That’ll do it.
Just comes down to doing the math if it makes sense to go solar assuming you’re staying in your home for some time.
If you sell a house can you get your money back on it?
Hard to imagine any potential buyer on my house wouldn’t look at the years of my National Grid bills and not see a massive value in the system.
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The place @JayS set me up with called friday and they think they can more than offset the cost immediately, ie if i took financing the payment would be lower than my current electric bill. Well see what they come up with.
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Interesting. When I did mine I financed the entire thing ($22500 for a 9KW system) with nothing out of pocket with their 1 year interest free loan (that went up to a ridiculous interest rate after the year). I applied the state and fed tax credits directly to the loan after tax season and paid off my portion of $7200 before the 1 year so I was able to get the whole thing 100% interest free.
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Since a couple of you have reached out for referrals, I wanted to add a few points.
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Verify what they quote you over at PVWatts Calculator
I got 3 quotes before I ended up going with Solar Liberty. One of my quotes (Solar by CIR) was way too much hopes and dreams and was never going to deliver the numbers they promised. They quoted a 8.6kW system and had it producing 9600kWh on my east/west roof. Go play around on that calculator and you’ll see that is NEVER going to happen even today, and the calculator has been adjusted for the panel efficiency gains the past 7 years have brought. My Solar Liberty quote was a 9kW system producing 9125kWh a year by comparison and has averaged out to basically that number each year. Some years I’m a little over, some years I’m a little under but with something powered by the sun that’s expected. I know had I gone with CIR’s proposal there’s no way it was going to come close to what they promised. -
Make sure you find out how your utility handles the net metering, because the utilities are always fighting to change that contract to their benefit. I’m locked in on mine for the life of my system but new conversions today may not get the same deal I do.
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I’ll be curious if anyone quotes battery systems with the solar. At the time I did mine the cost to add battery banks and be truly off grid was no where near worth it. Even today it looks like it only pays off if your utility has terrible metering options where they credit you less during the times of day that your panels are really cranking, then debit you more during the times of day when the panels aren’t producing. For me, at least at the time I locked in, it was a true 1:1 credit/debit no matter what time. I have been looking at a DIY solution lately and might be taking that on eventually just to have a seemless cutover for when the grid power goes out. Currently I have to fire up my generator and manually transfer over via a sub panel. Here’s a DIY battery kit review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH5Y_gJXOsI -
When you get your quotes feel free to share them here. I’ve learned quite a bit about this over the years and will gladly look them over. I’m curious to see how many watts per panel they’re hitting now. At the time I got 300 watt panels which were almost top of the line (325 was available but the cost difference wasn’t worth it especially since roof real estate wasn’t a limiting factor for me). Looks like there are several on the market now pushing 450 per panel.
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