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In Reply to: RE: Induction cooking is most energy efficient too.... posted by Sondek on July 5, 2023 at 12:31:18:
Our system cost us about $18,000 net after the 26% Federal Investment Tax Credit at that time. You can thank Joe for extending the ITC phase out period and the tax credit is back up to 30% for this tax year. Our 7kW system is comprised of 16 440-Watt panels + the inverter.Our consumption has typically been about 700kWh to 1200kWh per month. Low during the winter since the AC doesn't run. High in the summer with AC going. Our production can vary anywhere from almost Zero-watts/day [panels covered with snow] to 20kWh/day on rainy and overcast days to about 45kWh/day typical and 50kWh/day on our best days.
For best ROI you want to "right size" for quicker break even. You want to produce enough power to completely offset your consumption w/o going overboard. In other words you don't want to over spend for a larger system BUT we oversized ours slightly. Our electric company rules allow us to oversize by no more than 120% of our average yearly consumption so that's what we did. We cheated a little. Knowing that we were going to install solar we deliberately consumed LOTS of energy for the a few months leading up to our install and "permission to operate" in order to bump UP our average consumption.
The ROI will vary considerably based on your electric rates and how your electric company compensates you for excess solar production. In some parts of CA electric costs are upwards of $0.40/kWh or more. Our rates are more like $0.13/kWh but we're smack in the middle of a change as we are transitioning from fixed rates to time-of-use rates - higher cost during peak hours vs lower cost during off-peak. They just installed our new "smart" electric meter today! The utility is also petitioning to increase rates again. Last time I did the calculation it would take about 8 to 9 years to break even but that figure will improve as rates go up. Is that a good thing or a bad thing ;-) One thing we didn't do is an "opportunity cost" analysis which is a fancy way of saying how much would we have earned had we invested that money instead of paying for solar. Being a bit of a "techie" I wanted the solar setup regardless along with no cost concerns for blasting the air conditioner all day during the summer.
Your ROI analysis will also depend on how your electric company compensates you for excess production. Whatever we produce over what we consume is "banked" at the retail electric rate vs wholesale. If we continue to produce more than we consume that "bank" grows month over month. We're still early in the summer and our electric bills have been Zero and with excess electricity going back into the grid we have about + $96 in our solar bank right now. As winter comes along we produce less solar energy and we start dipping into the solar bank until it's depleted. It's all automatic and itemized on our utility bill.
The other factor in your ROI is whether you take out a loan and figure out how much that is costing you. Leases are the worse way to go and I believe they've fallen out of favor. We paid cash based on the installer achieving certain milestones then paid in full once we had "permission to operate" from the electric company. They were pretty quick, less than a month. Our installer worked with the electric company toward PTO so it was in their best interest to keep hounding the electric company and we didn't have to.
Which brings up another topic. Some areas are more solar friendly than others. Some States and their electric companies make it difficult for homeowners to install solar while others actually PAY incentives and rebates. Research before you jump in. The utility lobbyists can crush your dreams of going solar.
One of many good resources is EnergySage.com
The figures above are in Megawatt hours per month.
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Follow Ups
- My Residential Solar - more than you wanted to know - AbeCollins 07/6/2309:31:01 07/6/23 (1)
- Thanks, Abe. nt - Sondek 15:14:21 07/6/23 (0)
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