Thoughts on Solar

Vickson -

I cannot really advise you directly, since I’m unfamiliar with the details of the market in New York. What I would suggest is you contact an installer who is NABCEP certified. Here’s a link to the list of such installers in New York state:

https://www.nabcep.org/nabcep-professionals/?last_name=&country=USA&state=NY&certification_type=PV

Get multiple quotes, and ask a lot of questions. Ask for references and talk to them. Take your time, this is a big investment and you want to get it right.

Good luck!

Jim

Hi, i am considering solar installation and my research brought me here. looking at all the coments and problems here, it makes me loose interest in going that route. i have a company called trinity solar come knock my door telling me i could save on my bill and they gave me an estimate of free installation and only pay $67 monthly for 25 years fixed. i am suspecting the problem of paying my electricity company in addition with the “net metering". also I would prefer to have the back up battery for nights and stormy days. i forgot to add that i was told if i use the state grant towards my bill, i would be paying $44 monthly fixed for 25 years. I live in Newburgh NY. Please what should i do to avoid similar problems other people had with solar installation in terms of paying electricity company whiles with solar. please any other advise or guidance will be mich appreciated. How many panels do i need to install for a 2500 square feet house. God bless you.

Jayson –

I don’t know how things work in TX, but generally if you build a home in a city area, you will be required to be tied into the local utilities. You could certainly size a PV system large enough to cover most, if not all of your usage, but you would need a storage system as well to cover night time, as well as stormy days. And you would still end up paying access fees to the utility, even if you rarely pull energy from the grid.

Designing a storage system to support you during an outage like what is going on in TX right now is a complicated process. While a home of the size you describe will likely use 35-45 kWh/day - more if you have lots of toys - in an emergency you are not going to try and power all of that, unless money is no object.

Instead, you would want to pare down to just the absolutely necessary loads: refrigerator, lights, maybe a space heater if the gas goes out.

Good luck!

Jim

When the rates are as low as $0.11/kWh, and your LCOE on solar is $0.08/kWh, it will indeed take a very long time to recoup your investment. When we do projections, we assume an annual increase of 3%, but it might even be lower in your neck of the woods.

Hi Jim, Novice on solar here, so be gentle in response. I am thinking of building a new home, which will be out of state (in Texas). While I know state laws vary, it is possible to pay outright for panels (so there is no lease contract) and not sign up with the utility company for a net exchange - basically, I would like to use my own solar energy and if I exceed my solar usage, have my house switch to local power? I think that is a more sustainable model than the pay for power model by big energy companies who only pay you pennies for the energy you provide them. Ultimately, is it possible to have a converter (or something) that is able to switch back to local power when my solar usage is low or out for the day? Second question, can I purchase batteries to store energy from solar panels, to power the home (at least partially at night or during winter storms - i.e. what is currently going on in Texas ice storms). If so, what kind of storage space would be required for a home of 4,500 sq feet? I am very new to all of this, but would like to get some seasoned knowledge before I proceed. Feel free to email me directly. Thank you in advance, Jason

Nevada residential power through nv energy is not tiered, the rate is fixed at about 11 cents a kwh, no “peak rates", but it does change slightly through the year depending on the season, with summer rates being a couple of cents higher per kwh (plus the standard monthly service fees that are incurred) my last bill was $105 for 833 kwh. if i only get future credit for surplus power to the tune of 75% of what i banked, how can i ever have enough credit to fully off-set my bill. i suppose if i found a way to conserve, and lower my usage about 30%, it could be possible. even if that were possible, it would also take about 12 years of use to recover my initial investment ($150 month = $1800 year x 12-13 years =$23.000). of coarse, if the power rates increase drastically in the future, the pay-off could occur much sooner. thanks for any advise you can provide.

Thanks for the kind words. It is hard to judge the claims without knowing your actual usage, the projected production from the proposed systems, and the relevant rate structure in play. (In other words, it is complicated, which is why we use EnergyToolbase to do those calculations for us.)

Are you on a tiered rate structure? What is the LCOE of the solar systems being proposed? If you are on a tiered rate structure, and the bottom tier is cheaper than the LCOE, then it makes no financial sense to “zero out” your bill.

Good luck. Jim

Great article. Recently had 2 presentations from solar brokers. They contend that with a properly sized rooftop system I can totally off-set my monthly power bill (averaging $140 a momth). I live in nevada, and the net metering rules allow banking your surplus power at 75% (for every kw you bank, you can draw .75 kw free at a later time. Size of system can’t be greater than 100% of you average historical use. Is this possible, or are the sales people blowing smoke up my ass? System quoted is 8-9 kw, 25 year warranty, cost $30,000 before 26% tax rebate. What do you think? Thanks.

I will email you directly. Good luck!

Hello there. My story is way to long to post on here. I have had issues since the end of the 1st week of signing the contract. Of course now if I was to get out of it I would have to pay alot of money. I need guidance on how to get this company to give me what was promised. We just don’t see it and no one will go over anything with us. I have mix feelings about this company and they know how angry I am. Any help will be great appreciated.

I’m sorry to hear about your troubles. If you would like me to look into this more, please email your bill to info @ runonsun DOT solar.

I understand the calculations, but after the first electric utility bill showing solar credits and purchases plus local consumption via Enphase stats, it would appear that I had my largest usage month ever in 5 years and by almost 60%. Weather was not extreme and my thermostat showed very little AC usage. I’m really concerned something isn’t adding up somewhere, but my installer gave same explanation as you.

I’m sorry to hear of your experience. I would suggest you call the Arizona Solar Energy Industry Association and see if they can intervene on your behalf. Their phone number is 623-204-0366. Good luck!

I’ve had solar for like 3 years since I’ve had solar I have never seen a credit the lowest I have ever seen my electric was under $50 in January of this year. Since I’ve had solar I’ve called the company to complain about my phone electric bill having solar has not saved me AZ nything especially during the summer ever summer for 3 4 months straight my bill goes up so between solar and electric I pay the sam as if I didnt have solar $700+ I’ve contacted my solar company and they said their is nothing they can do they have even hung up on me because I told them the salesman lied to me about my system they just said look at the contract but between what the salesman told me my wife my mom my dad my brother is not what was in the contract SAS nd when he brought us the contract I realized we didn’t read it because he actually didnt let us he went through it quick and when we started to ask question about what he was saying he changed the subject.i am not the only one with the same issue like high electric Bill’s many people have c as me forward to complain. Sunrun is a bunch of liars and thieves I even talked to another solar company recently and they even said my solar is not right they said it is to small I honestly dont know what to do

GoGreen8 -

I am very sorry to hear of your issues - sadly, as the comments above attest, it is not at all uncommon.

I will contact you directly.

Jim

Jim I also wanted to add that its just myself, my husband and 7month old. We have a stove, hot water heater, and dryer thats gas. I do not see why our bill is this high

Hi Jim, Thanks for the vital but late for me information. I have a situation similar to stellareese’s with sunrun. They promised me a 97% offset on my bill and that my powerbill will not go pass 200 bucks. Well my first bill was way over 300 bucks and now my second bill is way over 200 bucks. I feel hopeless due to this 20 year contract. How can we get out of this contract. We are paying 190 for panels plus the ridiculous powerbill this is putting us at a possible 5 to 600 dollar bill monthly combined. We have never paid over 200 dollars before. The promises they gave us on saving money every month was a total lie. Please help me on what to do.

Hi Laz –

The generator integration is not supported in the initial software rollout. Moreover, without the storage component you do not have anything to form the microgrid that can control the IQ microinverters on the roof. Best regards…

Jim

Thanks for the Info, It was very helpful, waiting for this for a long time…Wondering if the Enpower could be installed without the Encharge in case client wants to utilize a generator instead of battery back up?

Thanks for the kind words, TJ.