I bought my system instead of leasing.  With a 30% federal rebate and 25% from NYS with a cap of $5K I ended getting a discount of approximately 55%.  At $.22 per KWH the system was supposed to pay for itself in 7-8 years.  With electricity price around $.17 KWH since the fall in energy prices two years ago it would take like 10 tears to recoup all of your costs.

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

I bought my system instead of leasing.  With a 30% federal rebate and 25% from NYS with a cap of $5K I ended getting a discount of approximately 55%.  At $.22 per KWH the system was supposed to pay for itself in 7-8 years.  With electricity price around $.17 KWH since the fall in energy prices two years ago it would take like 10 tears to recoup all of your costs.

What was you net cost after rebate?  What is the max power output from each panel and how many panels do you have?

VVP posted:

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

I bought my system instead of leasing.  With a 30% federal rebate and 25% from NYS with a cap of $5K I ended getting a discount of approximately 55%.  At $.22 per KWH the system was supposed to pay for itself in 7-8 years.  With electricity price around $.17 KWH since the fall in energy prices two years ago it would take like 10 tears to recoup all of your costs.

What was you net cost after rebate?  What is the max power output from each panel and how many panels do you have?

$12k net cost for a 7K system.  I used the LG monocrystalline 345 watt panel.  

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

That should generate about 15,000 kWh per year.  So I assume you get a refund from the power company at the end of the year?

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

what sort of battery bank and invertor?

Danyael posted:

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

what sort of battery bank and invertor?

I doubt whether he has a battery bank.  Most likely he is net metered so his power flows to the utility system.

VVP posted:

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

That should generate about 15,000 kWh per year.  So I assume you get a refund from the power company at the end of the year?

Nah!  It generates just a little over 9 KWH per year.

Danyael posted:

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

what sort of battery bank and invertor?

My system uses SolarEdge as the inverter... German made.  The grid is my storage with net metering.  

VVP posted:

Danyael posted:

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

what sort of battery bank and invertor?

I doubt whether he has a battery bank.  Most likely he is net metered so his power flows to the utility system.

 I would have a battery bank in case of power failure. I am thinking of  building a tornado shelter in my motherinlaw's yard and intend to make it completely off the grid.

I am using two 20 foot container, burying them six feet down ( two feet above ground) and using a   dome 20 feet in diameter over them (that will also be level 5 resistant)above surface. 

Still in the design phase. I told my wife I am not living there without a shelter since we are in the middle of tornado alley and one of the worse occurred a few miles over.

Since it is subsidized by the Federal Government they limit the size of your system to a maximum of 110% of your annual usage.  If you want a big system to cover all your electrical needs and have it subsidized then the smart to do is to start using electricity for all your needs at least one year before you apply for solar.  This way you will increase your consumption to the max and qualify for a big system.  Had I known that I would have switch my water heater  and heating system to electric before I go solar.

As for a battery bank you can install a Tesla back up battery for $3,500 to $4,000.  I don't it's worth it since the battery has  life of 9 years.  You are better off installing a gas-powered generator that can kick on when power is lost.

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

VVP posted:

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Correction:  I used the 315 Watt Neon 

22 monocrystalline panels

That should generate about 15,000 kWh per year.  So I assume you get a refund from the power company at the end of the year?

Nah!  It generates just a little over 9 KWH per year.

You mean 9,000 kWh or 9 MWh per year.  That's could be right at about 15% capacity factor.  I was assuming 25% CF, but I checked my stats and it looks like 15% is more in the ballpark.

I don't have solar.  I don't use enough energy for me to consider it.

9 Mega Watt per year.  Sorry about the confusion.  When it's a 10k system it simply means it can produce up to 10 Kilo watt per hour. 

Danyael posted:

 I am thinking of  building a tornado shelter in my motherinlaw's yard and intend to make it completely off the grid.

I am using two 20 foot container, burying them six feet down ( two feet above ground) and using a   dome 20 feet in diameter over them (that will also be level 5 resistant)above surface. 

Still in the design phase. I told my wife I am not living there without a shelter since we are in the middle of tornado alley and one of the worse occurred a few miles over.

Tornado shelter??  You will be better off with a secure basement room.  If the house gets destroyed you will have to find some place to live anyway.

As for refund, the company pays you less than half of what they sell for.  The extra unused Kilowatts are just about the cover what the Grid charges you to be connected --- $.37 per day or about $145 per year.  You will have to produce in excess of your need about 1800 kilo watts to cover this cost. 

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

9 Mega Watt per year.  Sorry about the confusion.  When it's a 10k system it simply means it can produce up to 10 Kilo watt per hour. 

Yes, but solar only produces power about 15% of the hours during the year. So for a 7 kW system like you have the power produced in a year which has 365*24 = 8760 hours would be:

7*8760*0.15 = 9,198 kWh per year.

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

As for refund, the company pays you less than half of what they sell for.  The extra unused Kilowatts are just about the cover what the Grid charges you to be connected --- $.37 per day or about $145 per year.  You will have to produce in excess of your need about 1800 kilo watts to cover this cost. 

Who is your utility if you do not mind me asking?

VVP posted:

Danyael posted:

 I am thinking of  building a tornado shelter in my motherinlaw's yard and intend to make it completely off the grid.

I am using two 20 foot container, burying them six feet down ( two feet above ground) and using a   dome 20 feet in diameter over them (that will also be level 5 resistant)above surface. 

Still in the design phase. I told my wife I am not living there without a shelter since we are in the middle of tornado alley and one of the worse occurred a few miles over.

Tornado shelter??  You will be better off with a secure basement room.  If the house gets destroyed you will have to find some place to live anyway.

Should the house fall there could be a problem exiting the basement

VVP posted:

Danyael posted:

 I am thinking of  building a tornado shelter in my motherinlaw's yard and intend to make it completely off the grid.

I am using two 20 foot container, burying them six feet down ( two feet above ground) and using a   dome 20 feet in diameter over them (that will also be level 5 resistant)above surface. 

Still in the design phase. I told my wife I am not living there without a shelter since we are in the middle of tornado alley and one of the worse occurred a few miles over.

Tornado shelter??  You will be better off with a secure basement room.  If the house gets destroyed you will have to find some place to live anyway.

There are no basements in this part of the red clay country.

If I tell you who is my utility company I would give my position away. Remember this is battle field we're in. Lol

Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

If I tell you who is my utility company I would give my position away. Remember this is battle field we're in. Lol

Well check if they have a feed in tariff.  That might be better than being on net meter.

To each his own, I would never hid behind an alias.

Vijay Puran