:tup:
Thatâs awesome. Iâm looking forward to seeing what the long term results are. :tup:
Congrats Man! My system has been in your state for 3 weeks now. We had it installed, then the inspector came out. Now, Iâm waiting for a Final Acceptance from National Grid, which then gives them another 10 days to come swap out my meter to a Bi-Directional!
I am kind of bummed. These last few steps are taking FOREVER!
Itâs been weeks now since I had that first kW. My meter in the basement with the system off now says 7 kW, itâs been so long! Itâs been slowly getting power at 1W at a time per panel⌠ha
Soon though, you and I will be able to share data and crap 
I just want to flip that switch in the basement SO BADLY!
I complained too soon! I got to flip my switch tonight!! Right after I posted my frustrations, National Grid showed up unannounced with my bidirectional NET Meter in hand. Final Acceptance, completed. It took five minutes for him to swap my meter and it was done.
Solar Liberty linked my account with SolarEdge and Iâm off and running!!
The joy I had flipping the switch⌠even though itâs pretty much dark right now 
8.96 kW ⌠hopefully itâs sunny tomorrow!
Nice! Did you have some inspection issue with your meter?
Yep. I needed an electrician team out with National Grid for a full road disconnect to re-attach the meter box to the wall of my house. It was falling off when I bought the house, so that was an extra step in the process. It was planned, but just took some coordination to get an electrician team out when Natainal Grid could do the disconnect/reconnect. That only took an extra week off of the timeline. So, from panels on the roof to turning it on today, 21 days. 3 weeks exactly.
Hopefully youâre looking at way less and things just happen! Would be awesome if you get up and running within a few days! (Crosses fingers for ya)
Yeah, my project manager said we should definitely be live by the end of next week.
Why did you âgo solarâ?
Great way to invest money? Save the planet? Fun hobby? Fuck the man?
I like money. Itâs a hedge into the future that will have no direct costs to me up front. Win win. I use 12,000 Wh of energy in a year. I was able to fit 8,960 kW of solar on my roof. If it over produces, which it should, my electric bill will be $18 for the fee of just having grid connection, along with any leftover my solar didnât capture/cover.
Doing the math, with the cost of the system vs. what I pay in electric bills, I am going to be paying less for the solar loan payment than I would for my electric. Heck, I wonât have to start paying for the loan for 365 days. Talk about a good startâŚ
Right now, with immediate discounts in NY, then also Amherst having a discount, along with NY and FED tax credits, Ill have it paid off in four years and itâll be free electricity. Itâll cost me less per month up until then.
so, instead of just paying for grid power, I invested in a four year return on my money. Itâll also raise the value of my house.
As a bonus, I now get to tell people that my car is solar powered⌠
Its also pretty cool. I like technology, too⌠and I guess the environment is pretty coolâŚ
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If youâre curious, I have a solar solar design tool. If youâd like me to tell you the feasibility of your house for solar, Iâd be glad to give you a quick ideaâŚ
PM me your address and the last twelve months of electricity kWh you used. Thatâll help determine the system size youâll need. If you have National Grid, thereâs a USAGE option on the website that has a yearly graph that you can export.
ill also use it to check your roof space, to see what panel will fitâŚ
Maybe I should try the numbers again, like I said in post #22 it made no sense to go with NRG. The other thing is, do you really believe you can go that long with ZERO repair costs? That can greatly effect your ROI.
I really like the idea of solar but not for the ROI especially in WNY snow, etc. I live in Aurora but almost in Colden, the snow is more consistent down here.
I went with LG panels for the warranty. SolarEdge, too. I had a choice of gong with a similar wattage panel for cheaper, but couldnât justify the risk. A panel company called Seraphim. I could have paid $2.60/W installed, but went with LG at $2.75/W.
As for snow, the calculator I use takes into account sunlight and weather based on ZIP code, including snow. Since net metering works on credits, summer is when you build them up and then winter is when you use them. Thatâs also why proper sizing based on historical usage is very important for our area.
Still around if youâd like me to give you a second set of numbers. Just let me knowâŚ
100% for the investment. My wife and I are both professionals in our 40âs, one kid, good health, so we get killed on taxes every year. Weâll be able to claim the full state and federal tax credits in one year. $22k system, cost to me is $7200 after all the tax credits, discounts and incentives. Took their 1 year zero interest loan and since we just paid off our home equity loan Iâll take the payment I was making there combined with my old average electric bill and toss in an extra $100 a month and Iâll pay for the solar in a year making it 100% interest free.
All hardware/labor is covered for 5 years, parts for 12, and solar production to 85% of day one production for 25. The panels and controllers are plug/play and my neighbor/project manager says we could swap one ourselves in about 10 minutes. So basically very little chance of major costs over the 25 years. My average electric bill is about $115 when you account for my higher bills in summer because of AC or $1380/yr. New bill will be $17, the meter minimum with National Grid or $204/yr. $1176/yr savings. Even assuming ZERO inflation on electric rates I break even at 6.1 years and at the end of 25 years, again assuming 0% rate inflation Iâm still up over $22k. Electric rates WILL NOT be 0% inflation and the Solar Liberty estimate puts my break even just over 5 years with a 25 year RIO of almost $50k. If some hippies get voted in and start passing a bunch of carbon tax nonsense the returns will look even better.
So you guys own your systems or are they leases?
Own
Nice!
It is too bad that NRG left such a bad taste in my mouth about solar. The payback was a joke. I will not waste my money on any investment that gives me less than 10% return.
the solar on my house has produced 8.35MWh on a 4.6K system on my garage roof. It is massively oversize for my house but at least no matter what I do in my house my bill is always the same. If I had a way to secure a line of credit I would have continued installing solar because I enjoyed doing it. The labor is the easiest part. I just didnât have a investor to front the money for jobs. I also used the solar as a excuse to replace my roof which also applies as part of the tax incentives which is something a lot of people donât know. I will be adding more onto my house because I need a new roof on my house next. I will also be converting my hot water to electric, and adding a electric heater in my garage to help use the surplus of electric.
I have 16 HIS-S280RG, and I am using Enphase M250 inverters. They have been in service since First Report Date: 01/12/2016 06:34 AM PST I have had no issues to date.
my setup is overproducing its estimated production by quite a bit. Which is fine by me because i think the panel was under rated which works out with the estimated annual degradation.
Sadly, roofs DO NOT count towards the tax credit. Normal asphalt shingle replacement isnât a part of it.
Roof replacement could potentially be sold to you by the solar installation company, if the solar installer themselves replace the portion of roof during the project and youâre billed together, to essentially hide the roof cost in the solar panel cost. (eg. Instead of $2.75/W installed, the IRS would see $7.50/W, because they rolled your roof in).
I had a solar company trying to convince me to utilize their roofer as well, then theyâd just roll all of the costs in together. Reaching out to my CPA excited as all can be, he laughed and told me that there are some shady solar installers that are doing this. Itâs NOT legal and the IRS will care if they find out.
So, itâs only possible because of sneaky paperwork. At the end of the day, you simply replaced roof shingles, which are never a part of a tax credit for anyone.
If you did your roof a month before your solar panels and paid for it separate, you will definitely not even want to try. The IRS doesnât care if you replaced your whole roof, which is needed in the first place, to put solar panels on. Theyâre two different products.
SO, lessons learned?
- You can put the roof on your IRS paperwork, but if you are audited, they will ask for the money back with interest and penalty. If youâd like to try, youâd also only want to try with the portion of roof that have your solar panels. A $15,000 full roof replacement, with just $3000 of it holding solar panels would NEVER be allowable, even if it was allowable to begin with.
- If your solar company rolled the roof into the total cost and on paper it looks like you overpaid for your solar system, then you can also try, but you wouldnât want to. Will they catch you? Maybe.
- The IRS probably knows how much solar panels cost nowadays. If your neighbors are getting panels for $3.00/W and yours comes in a $8.50/W, they may start to wonder why⌠and you donât want the IRS asking $15,000 questions. SO, final answer. Donât roll your roof into your tax credit. Youâd be asking for trouble.
That bankrate article explains it pretty well in the first two paragraphs. Only a special roof could get part of the credit, but only the costs which would be above and beyond a normal roof replacement. So, if you went asphalt to asphalt and thereâs nothing special about the roof, you canât even think of writing it off. If you went from asphalt to a metal roof with reflective coating, you can write off the difference in cost to go with your solar system. ONLY the portion of roof that would be under solar panels, too.
There is A LOT of misinformation on Google as well. Some companies boast about including your new roof. Some show the language of the rule, which people try to skew⌠âVery vagueâ.
http://nwphillysolarcoop.com/roofs-and-rooftop-solar-and-the-federal-tax-credit/
If you have a structural issue and the solar company recommends to fix your roof to allow panels to be installed, they may be allowable. If you just replaced an aging roof just because you wanted the panels on a newer shingle, thatâs probably not allowed.
http://nwphillysolarcoop.com/roofs-and-rooftop-solar-and-the-federal-tax-credit/
Good info. I never looked into this because we did our roof about 5 years ago.
somedude,
What type of money would it require for investing? $50,000? $100,000? $200,000?
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Roofing FYI: I put 50 year shingles on my house and I was shocked at how much more heavy duty they are than 30 year. They are way thicker, heavier and cannot be cut with a knife because of the fibers etc. in the construction. Maybe something to consider if you are going solar because who wants to have to replace them after 20 years. (30 year shingles only really last 20 years)
you guys all plan on living in the same house for 20, 30, or 50 years?
Every 7-10 years Iâm ready for an upgrade to a new and nicer house, in a nicer area but thats just me.