Solar Power

[dixie_belle]

We've had 26 solar panels up for the past 3 years (and haven't had a utility bill in all that time). But hubby just added our phase II of the project, which was 12 more panels. These panels are more efficient than the original ones and can produce more electricity, individually, than the original ones. So now, on a good day, we produce a little over 50 kilowatts of power. I'm excited. The only reason we don't have a bill now from the electric company is because they pay us $.12 MORE than they charge per kilowatt/hour. (It's some kind of an incentive from the government. We had a contract with them to do this for 10 years. So, seven years from now, the incentive disappears.) But now, with these additional, more efficient panels, we'll easily produce what we use. I don't envision ever having a utility bill again. How cool is that?? And, at some point if we were to ever have to sell our house, wouldn't that be an incredible incentive? Buy this house and you don't have a utility bill.

Hubby has always wanted to go solar and has actually been researching it forever. He knew all about them before we started the project. In fact, he knows more than the utility company. LOL We were the first ones in our county to install solar and he had to teach them. They quickly went up the learning curve, however, and now there are several people with solar.

Now he is installing an off-grid system, with batteries, for our storm shelter. It'll only have six panels. It will charge the batteries that will run all the electric in our underground shelter in case of a loss of electricity.

 

[paintponylvr]

That is awesome!

I've long been fascinated by solar power, but have not managed to do the necessary research. Since you've done this in several parts, are you willing to share some info? I totally want to get off the grid, so to speak. Eventually, I definitely want to be on solar power. Preferably with enough storage to allow for the number of gray, no sun days we've had this winter... I had recently heard that if you "overproduced" energy, you could sell it back to the power company - but I'd be happy just to lose the $ 200 - 300 bill every month.

Congratulations on having no utility bills and even earning a bit, that is so cool.

 

[shorthorsemom]

our amish neighbors have a solar charging shed where they have panels set up on the roof of a shed and they use it for charging their batteries for their flash lights and battery tools. I cant afford to get panels for our house but I would love to have a shed set up for charging batteries etc to get my electric bill down. Would be nice to be able to power the electric bucket I keep in winter for my horses to drink from too from the shed.. My electric bill has been too high with this brutal winter.

 

[dixie_belle]

Our main system in a grid tie system. We feel 100% of anything we produce back into the grid. We actually have two meters on our house: one for the power we use and one for the power we generate. Now you're asking yourself......why would they do that? Well, three years ago, when we were installing our system, the federal government had an incentive plan where they would pay us $.12 MORE for each kilowatt of power we produced than they would charge us for the power we used. Um....you can make money doing that. Our contract is for 10 years, so we've got 7 years left. At that point, they will pay us whatever they are charging, that's why we needed to add the additional panels. This way, in 7 years when our incentive disappears, we'll still be producing roughly the electricity we produce. Now, the advantages of a grid tie system are plain economics. We didn't need to buy a single battery and with the $.12 extra they were paying us, it just made sense to sell the utility company every kilowatt we produced. And cloudy days are no problem because we're using the same electricity you are. But on sunny days, we are "making bacon" as we say. At the end of the month, it typically evens out. They send us a bill every month, just like everyone else. Then we get two checks: one from the utility company for whatever we produced that month, and one from the special federal people for our $.12 per kilowatt hour). We put those checks in a savings account. During the spring, summer, and fall, our account balance really grows because we don't use a lot of electricity then. But during the winter, since we are all electric, our demand is much greater. We simply pay our bill from the special savings account we set up. So even though we get a bill, our account balance has always been higher than that bill so, in essence, we haven't had a bill in 3 years.

Now, would I tell everyone to rush right out and install solar? No. It isn't for everyone. The panels are expensive. They are heavy. I don't recommend putting them on roofs, although I see it done all the time. And you must have a south facing sunny spot for them. Any shade, even a little tiny bit on a corner of a panel, will significantly reduce the power production for the entire panel. We are lucky because we've got a huge field right next to the house. The panels sit on a frame right on the ground next to the house. We can get to them easily to clean off any bird poop, they are not putting all that weight on our roof (which was not built to support that kind of weight), and it's much cooler on the ground than up on the roof. The panels are more efficient the cooler you can keep them.

The prices on solar panels have come down in the three years since we bought our Phase I. They are probably half as expensive now, and they are slightly more efficient so the new panels will actually produce more power than the old panels. But you are still looking at $250 or so per panel, plus the microinverter (an I have no idea what those cost), all the cables, a frame, nuts and bolts, etc. But for those of you who are interested, now is the time because 30% of the entire cost you can use as a tax credit. Not a deduction, but a credit. I'm not sure how much longer the government will be willing to do that. And check with your local utility companies. Some of them might be offering incentives like our $.12. Although any new systems hooked up this year will only be getting an extra $.04 per kilowatt hour. And I fear in a couple of years, the incentive will disappear altogether.

 

[DeeEckhardt]

We've had 26 solar panels up for the past 3 years (and haven't had a utility bill in all that time). But hubby just added our phase II of the project, which was 12 more panels. These panels are more efficient than the original ones and can produce more electricity, individually, than the original ones. So now, on a good day, we produce a little over 50 kilowatts of power. I'm excited. The only reason we don't have a bill now from the electric company is because they pay us $.12 MORE than they charge per kilowatt/hour. (It's some kind of an incentive from the government. We had a contract with them to do this for 10 years. So, seven years from now, the incentive disappears.) But now, with these additional, more efficient panels, we'll easily produce what we use. I don't envision ever having a utility bill again. How cool is that?? And, at some point if we were to ever have to sell our house, wouldn't that be an incredible incentive? Buy this house and you don't have a utility bill.

Hubby has always wanted to go solar and has actually been researching it forever. He knew all about them before we started the project. In fact, he knows more than the utility company. LOL We were the first ones in our county to install solar and he had to teach them. They quickly went up the learning curve, however, and now there are several people with solar.

Now he is installing an off-grid system, with batteries, for our storm shelter. It'll only have six panels. It will charge the batteries that will run all the electric in our underground shelter in case of a loss of electricity.

Awesome.. You seems to be doing a lot in making use of solar energy for power generation. I don't have enough money otherwise I would have opted for solar power..