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I'm curios to know if anyone can tell me about pricing on an off the grid solar power system.
I understand that it can be a substantial amount, but for the independence it offers and the environmental aspects of it, I believe it would be money well spent. Well, within reason. If the system pays for itself in 10 or less years would be fantastic. Longer then that and being able to afford becomes questionable for me.
I have looked online but the info I get there varies a lot. I have a basic understanding of how they work.
I'm sure that I could install panels and do most of the grunt work but would want somebody with more experience to set up controllers, inverters, etc. I think that if I was off the grid that I would want a back up generator as well.
Our current electrical usage is about 350 kWh a month. We would be able to cut that usage down, as we are certainly not as efficient as we could be.
I'm curios to know if anyone can tell me about pricing on an off the grid solar power system.
I understand that it can be a substantial amount, but for the independence it offers and the environmental aspects of it, I believe it would be money well spent. Well, within reason. If the system pays for itself in 10 or less years would be fantastic. Longer then that and being able to afford becomes questionable for me.
I have looked online but the info I get there varies a lot. I have a basic understanding of how they work.
I'm sure that I could install panels and do most of the grunt work but would want somebody with more experience to set up controllers, inverters, etc. I think that if I was off the grid that I would want a back up generator as well.
Our current electrical usage is about 350 kWh a month. We would be able to cut that usage down, as we are certainly not as efficient as we could be.
Visit Maine Solar House. This house was built in Maine 13 years ago, and generates all its own electricity and hot water for all use. This was a "cost no object" project and there is no such thing as "Pay Back". Maine is a "net metering" state, and excess power generated by your solar array is "sold back" to the utility company. That is to say that the meter monitoring your solar panels goes backwards as well as forwards. But it is important that the terms of the "net metering" in Maine specify that there is no "banking" of credits, so if the solar array generates more than is used in any one year, the "credit" is NOT applied to the next year and the funds are not returned to the owner. Thus the ideal solar array should generate one watt less than the house will use each year.
We are planning a new home now that we hope will enable us to have a "zero carbon" footprint. We want to have an array of solar panels connected to the grid and would like very much to have no out of pocket cost to the Bangor Hydro each year. In our research we found that unless the house was located more than a mile from the nearest power line, the cost of a stand alone system was not justified, unless the system was very, very small.
The cost of solar panels and initial and continuing costs of maintenance of batteries makes the cost of poles small the closer to the power line you are. In addition, super energy efficient appliances are quite expensive.
About six months ago, I totalled our electrical consumption here. I had always felt that this house was relatively efficient in terms of electricity. In point of fact, we use more than most small consumers in Maine, which was a rude awakening, and I am in the process of seeing exactly which appliances and electric thingys consume the most energy. We replaced the old refrigerator last fall, and the dishwasher which was old, two weeks ago. I have replaced a bunch of light bulbs with compact fluorescents, but the majority of lighting in this house was designed around using a rheostat, and that becomes difficult for the use of compact fluorescents.
I have had an ongoing discussion with one of the few certified solar energy contractors in Maine, and when I told him how much my current usage was, his "off the cuff" estimate for duplicating our consumption with a solar system was around $60,000.
Now, in the planning for our new home, we will have some significant consumers of electricity NOT used. Here we have a sewer pump that pumps from the septic tank back to the leaching field. This is due to our location near the water. The new home will NOT have that sort of system, as we will not be on the water.
Every appliance will be carefully screened, and an awful lot of the old stuff will be going away. Our TV is a good example, as well as all of the computers and monitors. It is a big project, but the more I learn about this the more I am dedicated that we will make the changes necessary to clean up our carbon footprint. I don't believe that we will need a $60,000 system, but I am planning on having the system we will need, and borrowing what the cost is regardless.
The "payback" for us will be measured in our children's and grandchildren's lives. I think that making a personal committment to reducing our dependence on foreign oil is essential for every American to do, if we value our country at all. Reduction of the consumption of oil purchased from Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia, is one more step in preserving our ability to affort heating oil at all, of affording gasoline to drive cars that are a must in our society right now, and to securing the value of the dollar for purchasing other necessities.
If my electric bill in the new home reflects only the cost of having the meters on the house, then I will have instant payback.
By all means, read Bill Lord's website above. It is an amazing source of information.
Acadianlion.....that was a great web site....I learned a lot about the options of going solar.
Wouldn't it be great if we could drive down the costs of such systems, one of the few reasons I kind of dont mind oil being at $90 to $100 a barrel...its the only way the costs of such sytems can be driven down. Of course I am also a supporter of nuclear power.
My only major concerns would be...If I do not want to live in the house for the next 30 years...can i recoup my investment if I sell...its expensive and it takes a lot of years to pay for itself.
And once again..maine plays by their own rules....a lot of states are mandated to pay you for any extra power put into the grid..forget about a bank..just send me a bill once a month with my power usage - power created...if theres months with a surpless then send me a check
Acadianlion.....that was a great web site....I learned a lot about the options of going solar.
Wouldn't it be great if we could drive down the costs of such systems, one of the few reasons I kind of dont mind oil being at $90 to $100 a barrel...its the only way the costs of such sytems can be driven down. Of course I am also a supporter of nuclear power.
My only major concerns would be...If I do not want to live in the house for the next 30 years...can i recoup my investment if I sell...its expensive and it takes a lot of years to pay for itself.
And once again..maine plays by their own rules....a lot of states are mandated to pay you for any extra power put into the grid..forget about a bank..just send me a bill once a month with my power usage - power created...if theres months with a surpless then send me a check
Well, recouping the investment at time of sale IS an issue. Reading what people say on this site is an exellent example of how far the public awareness of the real costs of energy may become in the future. I think that a properly designed and installed system that enables a house to achieve a high level of energy efficiency will be rewarded at time of sale, provided appropriate documentation can be provided about the true cost of operation of the house over time using the systems installed.
I doubt that in anyone's lifetime here we will see a utility pay small users of electricity for excess electrical generation. This was tried in Maine some years ago for commercial businesses that could generate some power of their own. A client of mine in the 1980's made the investment in a General Electric turbine that ran on the water power of the river across their property. They pumped some power back into the grid, but mostly they made the investment for their own use. As far as I know all of those small power agreements have been terminated throughout Maine because the cost was too high for all concerned.
Now, IF at some point, enough people have private solar generators, it may well become economically possible for power companies to actually pay something for the excess generation. It may be necessary for the politicians to make tax or other benefits available to the utility to encourage this kind of arrangement. But I doubt that we will see it in the next fifty years or so.
For now, just achieving a zero net electrical consumption and having to pay only the cost of the meter is a good, reasonable and realistic goal to work toward.
For my part, if I were shopping for a house in my price range that had a solar panel array attached, and the seller could provide me with real documentation that the electrical consumption was such and such BECAUSE of the solar array, it would be worth dollars to me in making the buying decision.
If my electric bill in the new home reflects only the cost of having the meters on the house, then I will have instant payback.
Just got a letter from Bangor Hydro, power line cost rate changed in Dec 2007 from $9.95 to $14.95 per foot over the allowance(200' ?). If we send in request for service in by March 2008 and start service by July 2008, we can take advancetage of old price(9.95).
Just got a letter from Bangor Hydro, power line cost rate changed in Dec 2007 from $9.95 to $14.95 per foot over the allowance(200' ?). If we send in request for service in by March 2008 and start service by July 2008, we can take advancetage of old price(9.95).
All of which makes speaking with other pole line installers make a great deal of sense. In our case, we will be installing power more than 600 feet from the pole to the house site. I am not sure right now how we will be doing it, but I will own the power line most likely, now and into the future. Accordingly, I may end up putting the line in conduit underground, and not having poles at all. I can rent an excavator and do the trenching myself, I know how to stuff cable into conduit and can drop it into the hole and then backfill. Of course, if anything catasclimic happens to the whole assembly, it all has to be dug up again, and there is another story.
the huge increase in the cost of the power line is due to the huge increase in oil and the resulting rupple effect across the entire economy. As long as we are foreign oil dependent, count on the cost of everything going up rapidly while our overall standard of living declines.
Not to change the subject, but what is the perspective on wind power out in Maine? Is that a viable option for supplementing a solar array, i.e. the best of both worlds?
I have this vision of my next 'place' being highly efficient with a goal of reducing my carbon footprint and requiring less fossil fuel inputs...
Acadianlion knows:
"As long as we are foreign oil dependent, count on the cost of everything going up rapidly while our overall standard of living declines."
Very true. I am also a strong advocate for nuclear power. It's clean and could be cheap if the environmental industry didn't heap huge legal expenses onto every project. Westinghouse is building commercial nuclear plants as fast as they can. They are all going to Red China. France generates more than 80% of their power from nuclear plants. Much of the rest comes from hydroelectric plants. Holland has huge wind farms. We are so far behind the rest of the world due to the environmental industry in our country. They are the last refuge of the old line communists from the 1940s. Nothing they do is about clean air or clean water. Their efforts are aimed at rural cleansing and defeating business.
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There are many viable wind power sites in Maine. All are on ridge tops or on islands and peninsulas. Those are the sites the greens want to protect against you and me.
so if I was to move to Maine, find a property that is a viable location for a wind turbine, and I'm trying to do good by consuming less and going with renewable energy sources, some local 'greenie brigade' is going to shoot down my plans for a small wind turbine....?
Are there varied planning & zoning regulations in your counties that specifically call out restrictions for wind turbines, or are they not on the books yet?
Just curious. I'm constantly amazed at how out-of-touch the average American is with regard to the looming energy crisis. Cheap oil is going away...
shuffler is concerned that:
"some local 'greenie brigade' is going to shoot down my plans for a small wind turbine....?"
Yes indeed. Large or small they are against wind power. They want you to live in a government approved condominium in a "core service community". However, their wealthy donors are encouraged to build 5,000 square foot three story lodges overlooking their "viewscapes". However, they don't want to see any lights at all at night in "their" viewscape.
Remember the beautiful photo that MaineWriter posted? I used to watch the sunset from there in the summertime and as dusk turned to night I would see campfires on the lakes built by folks on canoe trips. We could camp just about anywhere.
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boonskyler discovered:
"Just got a letter from Bangor Hydro, power line cost rate changed in Dec 2007 from $9.95 to $14.95 per foot over the allowance(200' ?). If we send in request for service in by March 2008 and start service by July 2008, we can take advancetage of old price(9.95)."
This is huge. Thanks boonskyler. It's the first I heard of that. That's an increase of $26,400 per mile. I know people who will want to take advantage of this saving.
Bangor Hydro is being sold to a Spanish company. We are selling our basic infrastructure in our country to foreigners.
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power line rate changed
