Solar Panels

Anyone have these? Purely interested in the financial cost/savings analysis. We are moving out to the country where nobody would see or care about them, especially if we put them on the back side of the house.

I ran across this guy a while back. Very informative.

I was thinking about it as well, as we have a couple of barns that would be ideal for collecting the suns rays. Was looking for an 8kW setup and after all was said and done, having Tesla come out, set it up along with two Tesla batteries for black outs was probably the cheapest way to go and I wouldn't have to touch a thing. Complete turn key and I'm getting to that age where, that doesn't bother me to much. I hear the incentive from the almighty Gov are going to be reduced at the end of the year too. Just hear say, if anyone can clear that up that would be awesome. More than anything, I just want back up power for when the power goes out and if my parents have some kind of life saving apparatus , it will be powered.

Side note, we're on a Co-Op power grid and so far, our highest electric bill has been a flat $100. So it would take a LONG time to recoup our savings. If I get rid of the water heaters in here eating up all the electric, I bet the monthly would be $30 in the lighter months. But I haven't fired up my shop yet either.

Build your own. Check out this guy pm YouTube


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoj6RxIAQq8kmJme-5dnN0Q

The only person know who actually did it says over the year says the savings about equal the cost on the 25 year lone he has on them. He says you have bragging rights in the summer but not so much in the winter.

I am skeptical about batteries due to the very large cost of the necessary wiring, the cost of the batteries, and how long a battery would last as my understanding it is measured in hours. Generac with 500 gallon buried tank may be the better solution.

I've checked into doing the whole system myself and I could see that for a younger under 40 crowd. Couple of my good techie friends have already designed and laid out the plans for my 1.21 giga-watt station in my back yard. But when I compared the time invested in actually DOING all that work to what Tesla was doing turn key, it would be worth it in this scenario. One of the few things I would allow to be done by someone else. And like 176 said, in the end, it all works out about even if you ask me. Bought a generator last year for emergencies and when that big storm hit in Feb, we never lost power, thank you Jesus.

If you're of the younger crowd and have the energy to do your own system, give it a whirl. I'd like to see the how and how not of how it all works. Roof penetrations, leaks, shorts...?

“I am skeptical about batteries due to the very large cost of the necessary wiring, the cost of the batteries, and how long a battery would last as my understanding it is measured in hours.”


This^^^^^^^^

I'm not putting that stuff on my house, no way

We void our homes 50year warranty if solar is installed on roofs. Washington state so 7 months of rain.

Permanent residents at the trailer park will build an awning over the trailer to keep the sun from directly hitting the roof. I kind of see the solar panel in the same light. It’s the metal awning for the suburban dweller who doesn’t want to look like trailer trash.

I do this on a small scale to keep an electric pure sine generator charged for camping trips and for running computers if the grid goes down. My gas powered generator at home is not pure sine wave ( modern electronics prefer sine wave power supplies). So, it’s nice to have a solar powered back up sine wave generator for situations where the gas stations are out of gas/diesel and the propane delivery truck isn’t coming)

Portable pure sine wave power station— EcoFlow Delta $1100
Solar panel—HQST solar panel $80
2x1.5x1.5 steel cabinet mounting L brackets x4 —$10

I’d do some DIY solar power projects utilizing the roof of your house if you enjoy doing those sorts of projects.

The best argument for doing so isn’t cost savings, but some increased autonomy/independence from ERCOT.

generac/propane tank.

think bad hail storm, then power outage, how is your solar gonna hold up?

I’d do both; nice to have the max wattage of a propane or natural gas system and the independence from gas lines and propane trucks with the solar system.

My BIL put solar panels all over the roof of his house in austin a few years ago, and he used to brag about not having electric bills anymore. Fast forward to the snow storm this year, my house never lost power, he was having to go out to his truck to charge the families phones, and I was texting photos to him of light fixtures at my house, my gas stove cooking something, and the thermostat in my house.
If there isn’t any sunlight for an extended period of time, solar panels are as worthless as tits on a boar hog

I've sold a bunch of them

Dependency on one system will have a failure.
Solar doesn’t charge batteries at night or if extremely cloudy.
Propane trucks don’t deliver if the roads are iced over.
Gas lines don’t run if lines are down.

Most power outages in Texas would be during the summer.
Power outages on the coast would be more likely—hurricane season.

https://www.tesla.com/solarroof

The roof tiles look interesting. But, I don’t see a good ROI at my age.

Do both solar and wind. Plus I don't think most people would go 100% solar. Always good to have ERCOT as a backup.

As Hop said earlier, hail? What incentives are the government giving to do it?

I’d probably consider it if I lived on a bunch of land in the country. House down the street from me has them on their roof, but I’ve never met the people.

what they are good for
is when the grid shuts down

If the power goes out in a storm you usually don't the sun to power your house.

If you have the land don't put them on your roof.

Solar panels on new construction is required by law here. That should be all you need to know about solar. Don't do it!

Would be easy to put them on a frame instead of on the roof/house.

That's what the Tesla Power Wall batteries would be for. It could run essentials like well pump and HVAC for 2-3 days with the set up I had drawn up on their website. I also have a duel fuel generator and a 500 gal propane tank for emergencies. Unless a tornado of the F5 variety comes and completely wipes us off the face of the planet, I'm feeling pretty confident in survival of a storm. But...

Back to the OP question. How cost prohibitive is all of the solar? If the cost were not an issue, I would put up a ground based solar array and feed back into the grid that more than likely will be a Co-Op generated system. Will use this house as an example, based on Tesla solar estimate. I'm only referring back to Tesla as I have zero desire to climb back on roofs and do the work getting things wired and run around a sub panel and back feeds etc. etc. I just like their turn key operation, has nothing to do with the company itself.

2300 Sq Ft. house.
Avg. electric from the Co-Op is $80/month.
8.20 kW system with 2 Power Wall Batteries (damn they are expensive) = $33,400 cash price.
Federal Tax Credits $8684
For a grand total of $24,716.

So $25K / $80 month = 26 years to break even, give or take. And that's IF the equipment never breaks or has problems like the plastic being dirty/yellowing and reducing efficiency or as Hop mentioned, hail storms. Which brings up another question...

If you install a solar system, whether ground or roof mounted, how much of that is covered by insurance and if roof mounted, do you get a roof/hail discount for the solar panels taking the hail vs your roof?

Another good video and he also has a 1 year update in another vid.

We checked out a couple of places cost was $1000 per panel installed.

The roof is metal R panel that's dark red. I was looking at them as a efficiency improvement over having the sun beat down on the poorly-insulated roof.

I have two properties , one in Texas , one in Cali .
Not once did I ever think when I bought my first house in 1984 that I would have a energy company so poorly run that blackouts are very common --- sometimes a few hours , sometimes 1/2 a day --- all summer long .
PG & E used to be good , today , I wouldn't trust them ever again . It has to make you wonder how it happened and could it happen in Texas ?
If spending a little bit more money protects you from the slightest chance of being without power for days or possibly weeks --- why wouldn't you do it .
I have a neighbor that just installed solar with one power wall ---- after all in , $17K out of pocket ( 1`600 SQ foot house ) . He then traded in a BMW SUV for a low end Tesla . He no longer has a PGE bill and practically Zero gas bill . Total savings per month average of $400-450 and when we have a black out --- he's up and running .