Did you actually read the article? It puts asphalt shingle roofs at $20k.
Here is the relevant snippet:
Consumer Reports did some estimated math for a 30 year period, including an assumed savings of $2,000 a year in electricity bills, a ~$6,500 cost for Powerwall 2.0 ($5,500 forenergy storage and inverter and $1,000 installation), and three regular roof types:
Clay Tile: $16,000
Asphalt: $20,000
Slate: $45,000
In theory, 30 years translates up to $60,000 in savings on electricity, so over the period the total costs in case of regular roofs would be a simple analysis:
I’m still seriously considering slapping the standard panels on my roof just because I don’t think the tax incentives are going to get much better than we have right now. The ROI is pretty quick even in WNY.
The best way to get a ROI is to open a hippy/granola/crunchy/nuts and berries/tree hugger type farm, have it fail (which should be easy) and write off the solar panels. PRESTO- big tax savings.
What are you guys paying for electric? My average bill during the summer is $75-$80 with central air keeping my house at 68 degrees 24/7. Last month my bill was $48.
From the little it of research I’ve done based on my $80 winter/$130 summer electric bill I would break even in 7-9 years on a panel with a 25 year warranty/40 year lifespan. I can’t see us moving for at least the next 15 years, probably longer, so it really makes sense. Combing the tax incentives with our historically low interest rates I’m not sure the tech gain in the next 2-3 years is going to beat the ROI you can get today.
The panels are black so they do a good job melting the snow off. I watched my neighbors house with them last winter and even after a storm they cleared quickly. The panels are really smooth so what I would notice after a storm was the snow would tend to slide down a bit, exposing the black panel at the top. That black strip would catch the sun and the snow would slide/melt off pretty fast.
the answer is the sun. after a day or 2 the snow is usually gone, if it is a day where there is little to no sun then the snow will stay. if there is little to no sun you will not make much power anyway so fuck it. Also the steeper the pitch the faster the snow will slide down. It is after all a smooth surface that is dark in color.
I encourage people all the time to go solar, just not on here because I am not a paid advertiser. I went through the process of becoming a “eledgible” NYSERDA installer. The tax incentives are outstanding. Some of the loop holes if you want to call it that are getting a new roof for 30% (tax credit) if it is required to be replaced as part of the installation. I installed both my moms house and my house last year. With the exception of a undersized fuse tripping due to installer error (I grabbed 20 amp fuses instead of 30 amp fuses by mistake.) the systems have performed flawlessly. To date my property has produced 4.99 MWH and has been operational less than a year so far.
It would be really tough to loose money on a solar system in new york state. You can finance everything through your electric bill at a fixed interest rate so when you sell your property… hold onto your ass for this one the loan stays on the property assuming it is negotiated as part of the sale yada yada yada. It is a easy sell though because part of the regulation for NYSERDA is that the loan amount CANNOT exceed the ammout of production. So basically instead of paying for electric usage you would pay for equity in your property. I want to say it again so that sticks in your brain. instead of paying for the electric you use you are paying for equity in your property. Plus on top of that you get to take all of the benefits from the tax credits even if you sell that property right after. So if you are looking to sell a house. Install solar and once the system is commissioned take the tax credits, and sell the house and the next guy pays for the bulk of the system. Plus you get to sell the house with another benefit or extra.
battery systems CANNOT be used in NYS if you want to receive tax incentives, and there is absolutely no reason to put a battery system in a house here (assuming you have utilities at your house), because for the $18 you save a month to be grid connected (even if you use no electric at all) that $18 will never pay for it self in the batteries usable lifespan.
One of the issues with the Tesla power wall (or any battery bank) as compared to a properly sized generator is how much can the battery bank discharge. Whole home battery is kind of a misnomer because this thing will not power every single thing in your home. You would still need to power just certain items. I think the peak delivery on the power wall 1 is currently (no pun intended) 2 kW. It would seem that the new powerwall 2 is a 5kw continuous. It probably wouldn’t power an entire home for long in off grid situations without some form of charging capability.
As it was said prior, early adopters get the ball rolling. Some day this will be totally viable option and I look forward to it but for now a properly sized standby generator is probably your best bet.
One way to increase the ROI is to over use electricity for a few months prior to having a system designed for your home. NYS limits you to 10% net metering. Meaning you can produce 10% more than you typically use. Perhaps @somedude can chime in on this but as I know it who ever specs out your system looks at the past 3 months of electric bills and usage and designs a system for that. So if you want to build a larger system you just crank the load up for a few months bite the bullet and then go in.
Another reason for this is the way most batteries banks are set up. Your battery bank is only as good as your weakest battery so if you change one you are supposed to change them all. This can get very pricey overtime.
If you are thinking of using a battery bank inplace of a generator, there is no benefit to a batery bank. Buy a $600 generator and have a 220 watt ouet run somewhere so you can plug in and power your house. Our grid is too reliable here in buffalo to justify a expensive standby.
The reason NYSERDA only lets you size your solar to 110% of your last 12 month (not 3month) usage is that you cannot get paid for over production of electric in nys. I can elaborate on why this is a good thing if you want… with that said you still can size it to pretty much anything you want but the incentives stop at 110% unless you can justify why you need the system to be so large. Like a buisness expansion or a new build.
Lead acid batteries are still the industry standard but they will be going away quickly. I follow enphase more closely than tesla , although to be honest they are releasing very simaliar systems. I mainly like the enphase system because it can communicate with my existing micro inverters to optimize production and usage. Some of the features the enphase and tesla battery systems have we cannot take advantage of here in nys because our power purchase agreement is surpurior to most other states.
Actually the fire and building codes do address the concept of automobile parking and the fuel contained within.
There are prescribed limits to all classes of flammable liquids and gases but a lot of it has to do with the volume and the type of container. An automobile is generally thought of as a “closed system” so the restrictions are substantially less severe than if the gas is in a plastic can. I actually believe the legal limit for gas storage in a residential setting is like 2 5 gallon containers- much less than what 2 cars/trucks might have in their tanks.
i would expect these batteries to be treated like propane tanks. Basically they would have to located outside.
When I talked with NRG they told me the system could only be somewhere around 60% or 65% of my energy usage. The reason was because NYSEG did not want to lose 100% of their business.
I have an entire office of dedicated solar professionals as well as two or three teams of full time installers. If you want to look at Solar, let me know and I will have Darren or Ashley reach out to you.
