Reason to beam - A number of homeowners with solar panels pays about $16 a month

[onpatrol98]

Reason to beam - A number of homeowners with solar panels pays about $16 a month to the utility company

By Sandi Kahn Shelton, Register Staff, [e-mail]

Carolyn Humphreys says one of the finest moments in life — in a consumer’s life, that is — is to have the electric meter running backward.

That’s right. Backward. This means that power is going back to the electric company instead of coming from it. This means, in case you’re having as much trouble grasping this concept as we were, that no money is being spent to run the air conditioner, light bulbs, computers and flat-screen television sets.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/08/06/life/doc4c5c6f192d9f2352114741.txt

[aquart]

1. NH? New Hampshire? New Haven?

[onpatrol98]

2. New Haven, CT

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Why so much?

I haven't paid for power in years. This year I will actually get something back from them too (new law in CA)

[onethatcares]

4. here in the Sunshine state, we have no incentives

and those that have tried to have their meters turning backwards have been unable to obtain refunds of any type. Something about it being too hard to keep track of those pesky watts and whatnot.

This is sunny Floriduh. Our legislature would probably be willing to outlaw capturing the suns rays in order to placate the power companies demands for rate increases.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. In CA we have been able to run the meters backwards for some time

Requires a certified installation and some other hoopla, but nothing to stressful. Mostly they want to protect the power grid from amateurs.

This year for the first time they will pay us of extra power generated. Not sure what the rate will be yet. Not expecting all that much.

I do pay a minimal admin fee and the books are balanced on an annual basis.

[onethatcares]

11. that's a great plan and I'm glad for you. Here,

we had the legislature get rid of the two people that actually belonged on the public service commission, they voted against billion dollar rate hikes for progress energy and all of a sudden weren't neccessary any more.

I would much willing to have a licenced electrician do whatever it takes to document a safe install than pay the power company more and more and more.

Remember, something is better than nothing and nothing is better than giving the electrical vampires a dime.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. CA is pretty agressive about solar and has for some time, the Solar Rights Act

is a big deal. It overides CC&Rs and HOAs, not that I have an issue with that

[ThomThom]

14. One of the main concerns is that if work is being done on the line

that the worker doesn't get electrocuted by power going back
it is the same for when you are powering your house from a generator when there is a power outage
if it is not wired correctly the linemen could get hurt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. Solar installs in CA require cutoffs on both sides of the inverter

(panels & mains) for just that reason

[4lbs]

5. One of my neighbors has solar panels on his house that supply almost his entire electrical demands.

However, he paid $60,000 to have them installed.

His electric meter from the utility company is almost at a standstill 24/7.

Yet, $60,000!

Even if his electricity portion was $200 a month before the panels (which is nowhere near the amount of electricity he actually uses), it would take him almost 25 years to just break even on $60,000 cost of the solar panels.

It's a good concept, but for homeowners, they need to find a way to drop the cost of installing solar panels so that they cost 1/10 what they do now.

If it cost $10,000 or less, I'd think many more people would have them installed. As it is, I don't see many people clamoring to spend $60,000 or so for solar panels on their homes.

I would rather take that $60,000 and spend it on one or two cars with very good gas mileage (35 mpg or more). However, if the cost to install solar panels ever dropped to $10,000 or less, then I'll have them installed in my home.

About 20 years ago, my father had solar water heaters installed on the roof of their garage. They worked well and gave them extra 100 gallons of really hot water all the time. However, 5 years later, the things burst and began leaking water all over the place. So now, they still sit on the garage roof, but the water has been routed away from them. They cost $4,000 to install and my father got a $3,000 tax credit, so the net cost was $1,000. I don't know if the natural gas savings amounted to $16 per month for 60 months (the 5 years they were in service) to essentially break even, but at least the cost was worth a try.

[druidity33]

6. he overbuilt and overpaid...

I have a system (3.2 KW) that fills 80-90% of my family's electrical needs. 9 months out of the year we pay no electric bill and the other 3 months range from $5 to $30 each. The total for the system after rebates and taxes came to about $8,500. I also have solar H2O panel that takes care of most water heating and home heating needs (radiant floor). I have a 1300 sf home in Massachusetts.

Contact Real Goods and they'll set you up with a good system within your budget.
:shrug:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Did he really pay that much out of pocket?

Depending where you are, subsidies, tax credits, etc cover a lot of the out of pocket. Some states are also paying for excess power.

My place came with a large ground mounted solar plant, well in excess of which I use. I would not have installed more that 3KW myself. I am in prime solar country in the SoCal desert. With the incentives, its about 8 years payback for a right sized system.

[csziggy]

16. The quote I got when I built my house was $30,000

For various reasons, I would not have been able to apply for rebates and incentives. And being in Florida, I could not get the local energy coop to even talk to me about buying back my excess.

So instead, I put that $30,000 into building a tighter, better insulated house and a solar water heater. Our utility bills are running about half of what they were in the old house was was 2/3 the size, so that investment is paying off.

The local coop is starting to put in smart meters, so hopefully in a few years they will start purchasing energy from home systems. Once they do I will have to see if I can scrape up the money for a PV system. We've got lots of roof surface or we could put the panels over the field where the septic drain field is. Either way, we should be able to generate a good amount.

Heck, if the utility would let me, I'd put in five or ten acres of PV panels and make money selling them power!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. Ground mount if you can...

Cheaper, safer, easier to maintain.

[csziggy]

20. Yeah - and I really do not want holes in my metal roof

It was nerve wracking watching the guy install the panels for the solar water heater on the roof and I need to get someone up there every few years to clean off the dust to keep the efficiency up. If I only had a suburban lot, on the roof would make sense, but since I have the acreage, I will likely go for ground mount. Right now I have wildflowers planted over the drain field. Putting solar panels over those should not be a big problem and it would be easier, therefore cheaper to clean them off regularly.

But I might need to put the panels in an area that gets more hours of direct sun - the drain field is shaded in the early morning and late afternoon. If I put panels in the pasture to the north east of the house, they would get full morning sun and direct light until late afternoon. That field slopes about ten degrees to the east and I could situate the panels so they would not be shaded more during the winter. But it would put them farther from our main electrical panel, though not that much farther from the incoming transformer.

The third choice is in the flat field to the west of the house. I could put about three to four acres of panels there that would get sun most of the day. The main supply line for the house comes through that field so I could work out details with the energy coop on how to supply excess to them. It is one of our main riding areas, being the largest flat place on the farm, but I'm not riding anymore and if I could sell enough energy to the coop, I would not need to worry about leasing the farm to another trainer.

I could be an energy farmer!

[AnArmyVeteran]

9. The electric companies have to PAY you when you produce electricity.

If you are producing more energy than you're using and the meter goes backward you could make money. That's the law in my state anyway.

[chaska]

10. IF ONLY THEY WERE GREEN. Please read....

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/03/the-ugly-side-o.html

[NickB79]

12. $4000-$40,000 to buy and install the system. Ouch

I barely had the extra cash to throw $500 worth of extra insulation into the attic this year, and that will pay for itself in 2 years.

5 years ago, when people were riding high on a wave of home equity and misplaced optimism, this might have looked like the wave of the future. Now, it just looks like rich toys for rich boys.

Without FAR greater rebate programs from state and federal governments, only a small fraction of US homeowners can afford to put in these systems.

[JCMach1]

15. at 60k he was ripped off... seriously...

He should be making 100's a month if not thousands with the capacity that would buy.

[Yavin4]

19. Now Here's A Big Stimulus Idea That's Also Pro-Environment

Why don't we require ALL federally own properties all across this nation to be fitted with solar panels. We could create jobs to people to install them, and what's even better, the project will eventually pay for themselves with increased energy efficiencies.

[onpatrol98]

21. Great Idea!