Does anyone here have a solar energy system?

[Momgonepostal]

We just had a sales guy leave, after a very aggressive pitch. It sounded like it could be a good thing, but I know NO ONE who has done this. There's a cool federal tax credit out there now that would pay back 30 percent, plus another smaller, rebate from the local utility company. Any experiences, good or bad with this? We're in Central CA, so we have a lot of sun, and use the AC a lot during the summer.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Post in the EE forum (link), also, get more bids.

Post your question here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1127&sort=time

Also, I can give Solar City a good rec but you want three opinions, IMHO.

Good luck!

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. I have a neighbors who have been totally solar for 15 years

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I've known them for 9 years and are familiar with their system, specs, costs wiring and so on.

I lived without hydro for over 3 years in a trailer, not by choice - lack of $$.

I had a small 45 Watt solar array that charged a small battery for lights, and could use an inverter to charge the laptop and run a drill on sunny days when the input would handle it.

You'd have to have quite a healthy solar array to live as if you were on hydro - stationary panels only get you about 1/3 of the sun available.

However, if you do not have a large property, stationary is the only way to go, usually on the roof.

My neighbors have 100's of acres, so that is not an issue.

They only have 1000 Watts in panels, but it is on a 20' high periscope sort of thing and they manually turn it to face the sun numerous times a day.

There are systems that will electrically "chase" the sun with a small motor - it can be programmed in increments of 1,2,3 hours.

I've even seen one system in the Northern USA where a farmer put his solar array about 3 feet off the ground, -

WHY?? - because the reflection off the snow in the winter greatly increased it's input, even on cloudy days.

yeah - I DO know a bit about this solar thing . . .

Do not be in a hurry to buy cuz it sounds like a good deal.

An educated decision will most likely be a wise one.

Keep pickin' people's brains, then,

Use your own!

CC

[womanofthehills]

4. I was totally off grid solar for about 10 yrs

but last yr I connected my system to the grid. I like being connected to the grid because I hated the upkeep of the batteries and not being able to use electric heaters.
I have 2000 watts of panels so I have no electric bill about 7 months of the yr (except for a $16 fee per month) and in the winter I can run electric heaters and still have a very low bill. I have most of my panels on the roof and a few on some posts.
I would definitely check online to compare the prices you were given. I live in NM but bought almost everything online because the prices were cheaper even including shipping. You could start with a few panels and increase wattage over the yrs. I started with 1000 watts.
Check out the prices of Wholesale Solar in California. I bought some panels from them at a good price but found a better price in the mid west for my inverter. I also hired a electrician who specializes in solar energy systems; he was way cheaper than the guys who work for the solar stores.

I love watching my meter run backwards!!

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. Just giving it a kick

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It deserves it

CC

[drmeow]

6. We have a 5.2 watt system in AZ

We got at least 3 estimates, maybe 4. The aggressive sales person did not get our business. He pushed us to put in a bigger system but the people who installed ours said that the minute one panel in an array goes into the shade, the productivity of the whole array drops. As a result, you pay more for the bigger system but if part of it goes into the shade a lot earlier (or comes out later), you end up producing less energy per dollar invested. The company we went with did a calculation of the best size/cost/energy production for us to maximize the amount of energy produced per dollar spent on the system to come up the design.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. I hope you mean 5.2 KiloWatts

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A 5 watt solar system consists of one small panel



http://www.crystalbay.net/solar-panels/


CC

[drmeow]

8. oops - yeah, KW

[Momgonepostal]

9. Just now getting back to this...

I know, I'm a lazy turd!

We did end up getting other bids and committed to company #2. We've secured financing, have the layout plan, and have submitted the proposal to our local utility company. We are hoping to have our 4 kw system installed in about 3 weeks. We are VERY excited!

We are totally NOT DIYers. I wish, but I can barely put up curtains, so we knew we'd have to get a contractor to do the work.

We'll be saving about $9,000 by NOT going with company #1, plus they interest rate they offered us was 3 percent higher, plus their system was smaller, so one of our rebates would have been smaller, too.

With the current tax credit and our local rebate, we'll be getting about 43% off.

We are hoping to save about 80 percent on our electric bills...we'll keep you all posted.

Thank you to everyone who threw in their 2 cents!

[denverbill]

10. Can you tell us anything about your results? I assume it's installed now.

I've been considering this for years.

[Momgonepostal]

12. We've had it about a week and a half

The whole process did take a bit longer than we thought, but so far we think it will be worth it.

We have our old meter that measures our electrical use, plus a new one that measures solar production. With the way the weather has been lately, our production exceeds use from about mid-morning until early afternoon, then the a/c goes on and we use more. It's is really cool to see my old meter with a little negative sign on it!

Our next utility bill will be about half the month with the panels, so it will be lower than last month, but we won't see the full results until the bill we get in October.

I'm zipping off to work now, but got a brief glance at an article in our local paper this am about one of the towns nearby offering more incentives for people to do "green upgrades" including solar to their homes. It looks like low financing...and maybe some other stuff. I'll post the link when I get back. It would be great to get the the point where more lower income people could do this.

[cbayer]

11. So glad you were able to follow through on this.

I hope it keeps getting easier for the general population.

We just added a wind generator to our solar panels. I am not yet convinced it was worth the investment, but we won't really know until winter.

Enjoy!

[Momgonepostal]

13. answered above...

and keep us posted on your wind situation!

[Zorro]

14. Did a 3.4KW system for our home in 2008

Have no regrets. Have not paid an electricity bill since.