Solar power anyone ?

[TnAndy]

We started down the road of solar power about 5 years ago, first putting up 12 175w panels (2.1kw) on a couple of single axis tracking mounts I welded up in the shop. Built a little green house for the wife at the same time so I'd have a place on the left end for my "power room" ( charge controllers, batteries, inverters, etc ). The system is grid tied, the batteries are for backup power in a grid down situation. Transfer switch in the house garage let's me flip between the two.

Since the initial arrays, I expanded them to 10 panels each, added another tracking array of 10-245w panels, and two fixed arrays of 10-255w for a total of 11kw. We now produce more than we use, and the utility company owes us 400 bucks as of this date. They cut us a check at year end if we have a credit at that time.

I'd post more photos, but for some reason, the software for the "from URL" doesn't want to take them, and the attachment method seems kinda clunky.

 

[newbury]

Has the price come down enough to make it worthwhile if you have electricity for $0.10/kw and pay only about $200/month for ALL electricity including A/C.

 

[ultrarunner]

Most of my power averages 30 cents/kw... thought about solar... hard to justify with $50 a month electric bill for 2200 square feet.

My retired neighbor did the hillside arrays... did it himself at age 75 and his satisfaction is priceless... no tracking... he seasonally adjust manually.

 

[techman]

I have a ground array of 40 x 230 watt panels connected to a grid tie system. Been in operation nearly 2 years and producing 1 MWH/yr. This gives us about 60% of our usage. Stats: 2800 sq-ft home with 4 adults in NE PA. Heating/cooling is with ground source heat pumps. Heat pumps also contribute to domestic HW with desuperheater loops. Pool (3/4 HP) adds to the summer load. Shoulder months of Sept, Oct, Apr and June are usually zero or negative utility consumption.

Paul

 

[MacLawn]

Tn, you got my interest! My place is in Georgia, and I have a south facing slope behind, and on both sides of my house that would be perfect for solar. Mind telling us how much ye system cost? Are batteries just for backup or do you have to have batteries with solar power?

 

[TnAndy]

Has the price come down enough to make it worthwhile if you have electricity for $0.10/kw and pay only about $200/month for ALL electricity including A/C.

Individual decision, I guess. I put it in for backup power instead of a whole house generator that pays me nothing.

Prices have come down significantly in 5 years. Those first panels, I paid $800 each for 175w ($4.57/w) and the ones I put up this past June were $1.20/w.....all SolarWorld panels ( Made in USA )

When Obama said he was going to war on coal fired plants, which generate most of the power in our region, I believed that was change that was gonna happen !

Edit: I see you're moving to MS.....some of the State is on the TVA system if I recall.....you might check into the Generation Partner's program if your area is covered by TVA.

 

[TnAndy]

Tn, you got my interest! My place is in Georgia, and I have a south facing slop behind, and on both sides of my house that would be perfect for solar. Mind telling us how much ye system cost? Are batteries just for backup or do you have to have batteries with solar power?

I've got around 30k in the whole deal, of which there is a federal tax credit for 30% ( thru 2016 ). TVA ( our power provider ) has a Generation Partners program where they paid us $500 when we connected the system ( $1000 nowdays ) and pay us 12 cents per kw/hr over retail (9 cents) for all solar produced...separate meter on the solar.

No, you don't have to have batteries, but you won't have power if the grid is down if you don't. All grid tied inverters shut down if they don't sense grid power to prevent back feeding the line. Non battery systems are quite a bit cheaper, since you don't need the batteries, and other components. The last two arrays I did ( 20 panels ), I used Enphase micro inverters ( each panel has it's own inverter to change the panel low volt DC to 240 AC right at the panel ), as my previous 6,000w running thru the battery part of the system maxes out my two central inverters there. Using the micro inverters, the install was a piece of cake compared to the battery system.....you literally plug and play.

 

[MacLawn]

$1.20 per watt? They have come down from when you started. I'll have to check some out at solar web sites.

 

[MacLawn]

I'd have to go the cheaper and easier plug and play method. Man, I'd have to live about 50 more years to justify $30,000! I might have 20 if I live a long life, probably less. So, I'll probably pass on the solar stuff. Just wont live long enough.

 

[TnAndy]

Here's a website that does a regular check on prices and brands. IF you want to use Chinese ( I don't ), you can get them well under a buck/watt.

Free Solar Panel Price Survey | EcoBusinessLinks