Solar panels (loan, how much, houses)

[antinimby]

Anyone here that would like to share your experiences with your solar panels and perhaps share some tips?

[NJBest]

Buy them early and buy them in large quantities. I have my roof, and an acre of land covered with solar panels. My break even point is 6 years.

[aedubber]

Solar panels are def worth it , i dont have experience with them but you do get some sort of tax cut or something for having them and the cost is super cheap for your utilities.

[Informed Info]

We used Geo-Genix about 4/5 years ago when you could still get a rebate from the state and a fed tax write-off.

We went with this company because a family member of ours did, and this family member researches everything until it can no longer be researched.

The panels aren't ugly (can't see the grids in them), and are pretty streamlined. They only used American made SunPower panels, and they are (were at the time) much more efficient than what is (was) coming out of China. So you didn't need as many to produce the same kwhs. I don't know how much has changed since we had them installed, if anything.


Here's a tip:

If you put them on the back of your house (roof) and have a deck along the back of your house, store your deck table during the winter. The snow (like we've had this winter so far) will slide off those suckers all at once and will take out anything and everything it lands on!

[ansky]

I'm curious about this. How much do you pay for electricity with the panels vs. before you had the panels installed? Seems like you would have to use a large quantity of electricity per month to make it worthwhile.

[Informed Info]

Originally Posted by ansky

I'm curious about this. How much do you pay for electricity with the panels vs. before you had the panels installed? Seems like you would have to use a large quantity of electricity per month to make it worthwhile.

That's all case by case.

We went from watching the meter run backwards to running forward.

It's changed for us because our family grew in size and age, so a lot more at home all day long that use electricity all day long...

But keep in mind that it's not just about the electric bill, you also have SRECs to sell.

SRECs were in the $600 range a few years ago, now they're in the $100 range.

We had our system paid off (didn't take the PSE&G "10 year loan") in 5 years when we had them installed. Now we're looking at a 9-10 year range (of paying ourselves back).

Probably would have been a wash had we gone with the PSE&G loan program.

But who knew that SRECs would bottom out, and so quickly?

[PDD]

Nothing can screw up the looks of a beautiful home more than those ugly solar panels on your front roof. If you live across the street from me it means I have to look at the mess while you are saving money on elect. They do make nice targets for plinking so keep that in mind if you want to f**K up the looks of your neighborhood.
The better upscale neighborhoods should have rules that do not allow those panels to be seen from the street.

[neon_volt]

Some solar panels look very nice, there are the standard solar panels that people just apply to the roof without consideration of how aesthetically pleasing the placement will be. But there are also solar shingles and even windows that are made with solar technologies (look up onyx solar). They are also great to have in power outages when they are connected to a battery and not to the grid.

[d from birmingham]

Yeah they are coming out with panels that look like roof shingles. You don't even realize that they are solar panels unless you know what to look for.

It also depends upon what your local utility pays you for the electricity you put back in the grid. Some utilities pay pennies per kilowatt overs it. 30 cents a kilowat to 75 cents a kilowatt.

[nybbler]

Originally Posted by PDD

The better upscale neighborhoods should have rules that do not allow those panels to be seen from the street.

Fortunately there are many houses, even in upscale neighborhoods, with no HOAs where the homeowners can do what they want despite their neighbors' aesthetic sensibilities. And in each and every one of those places, shooting at the panels is unlawful.