Solar Power

   / Solar Power #1  

hamiltor16

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Messages
25
Location
Southwestern Ontario
Tractor
YM195D and Zetor 8045 Case 580SK kubota 2320 fel
My tracking solar panel Selling the power to the Local utility
 

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   / Solar Power #3  
Looks good, you did my dream project.

I was looking into that years ago. If I lived in Austin Texas it would have been worth it with the rebate the Electric Company giving for the panels. The payback was estimated to be 17 years.

But the Electric co-op I'm in gave no rebate and would charge for a extra meter and bought back the electricity at a low rate making the payback never happen.

Their moto was "We need a reliable source of electricity when the sun does not shine, therefore we will make it just another expense for you". Then they go to schools and talk about green energy. ?????

Hopefully things will change and the Co-op will be more cooperating.
I have an excellent metal south facing roof for an array of panels or would I need ground tracking to make it pay.


Would you mind sharing the cost involved and the number of years your before your payback on your investment? Was your Electric Company cooperative?
 
   / Solar Power #5  
Hmmm, i had mine calculated to take nearly 35 years to pay for itself. Our power is only $0.065/HKH ... i guess thats the problem. Needless to say i never have built it... and never will
 
   / Solar Power #6  
Hmmm, i had mine calculated to take nearly 35 years to pay for itself. Our power is only $0.065/HKH ... i guess thats the problem. Needless to say i never have built it... and never will
We pay just over twice that. And I know some places the rate goes up in tiers. If you can keep out of that top tier (I think the 4th tier at my Aunt's is $0.27/kWH) it can pay back pretty well.
 
   / Solar Power #8  
Hmmm, i had mine calculated to take nearly 35 years to pay for itself. Our power is only $0.065/HKH ... i guess thats the problem. Needless to say i never have built it... and never will
The key words are DIY. I installed two systems. One on our farm was 24 kW at cost about 54000 (including the concrete mixer) before the tax rebate. Installed January 2012. Paid for itself in 11 years. We sold the farm in 2021 the panels added a significant amount (estimated 70-100K) to the selling price.
After we moved to the town, I installed 3.8 kW on our new house for little less than 7000. The size was limited by the Net Metering contract. But I installed 8 kW inverter for future expansion because I saw an electric car in our future. It didn't qualify for the tax rebate because the house is owned by our son's company. To qualify the owner must live in the house. Estimated payback is about 5-6 years.

The installation cost is more than half of the investment. Therefore, DIY is the biggest money saver. The installation is quite simple and anyone with only basic mechanical and electrical skills can do it. The company I bought the hardware from provided the wiring diagram. There are many videos on youtube showing how to install the racking so the roof doesn't leak. The large ssystem on the farm was ground installed and took us about four weekends to complete. The second system took about two days to install on the roof. I paid for a helper.
 
   / Solar Power #9  
Way to go, I have been looking at doing the same thing. Here where I live I see a lot of people getting on board and installing the panels.
 
 
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