Considering the house you live in, and the area per people living is high, you have no problems with it. Now if we try to do the same on an apartment even with the permission of all the floor residents I'd highly doubt it would be a cost-effective system.
Yes sir, already did two installs. One off the grid for my parents' cabin, one grid tie on the garage roof for my previous house. Those were small, the next one's gonna be big and on the ground. Can't wait to get that puppy up and running.
This panel can put out close to 100 watts ruclips.net/user/postUgkxOqI2yqX0XVrhR2BMJciTWrHJpG8FhJyg when positioned in the appropriate southernly direction, tilted to the optimal angle for your latitude/date, and connected to a higher capacity device than a 500. The built in kickstand angle is a fixed at 50 degrees. Up to 20% more power can be output by selecting the actual date and latitude optimal angle.The 500 will only input 3.5A maximum at 18 volts for 63 watts. Some of the excess power from the panel can be fed into a USB battery bank, charged directly from the panel while also charging a 500. This will allow you to harvest as much as 63 + 15 = 78 watts.If this panel is used to charge a larger device, such as the power station, then its full output potential can be realized.
As an electrical contractor that has installed solar, I'm extremely impressed with your do-it-yourself,attitude and the way you got it done! I've seen electricians do poor work, where we could use you as an example of what it's supposed to look like at the end! I'm extremely impressed! And now I know the cost of what solar cost as well per kilowatt-hour. I understand is expensive, and the permit and the material but, now that I've seen you do it I will get your book look through it and I will recommend solar now in my area and see if we can get close the kind of return that you had on your system. I've been doing this for 33 years, and I'm extremely impressed with your Acumen, work quality, and the stick to it you need to get the job done! Thank you!
The electric company here in AZ still screws you over when going solar. SRP charges a flat fee of $32/month for using the grid. Once I pay off my system it wont be a big deal but for now I essentially just lowered my electric bill a bit and added a loan.
My bud in Texas installed a very similar system which he averaged 1500 KW in the summer and 900 in the winter. He installed his system last March after the February freeze disaster and paid $18,580 after the 30% credit. The electric rates in his town went up over 40% this year putting his return on investment from 6.8 years based on 2021's rates to four and a quarter years based on the new electrical rates. If the rates continue to go up then he'll end up paying his solar system off a lot sooner. During the winter he pays a $6 connection fee during October November December January February and March then he doesn't pay a connection fee from April through September and he actually generates close to 16 extra kilowatts of electricity per day during the months of May through September as he changed his work schedule to have him away from home from 10am to 7pm, thus his house uses less than a kilowatt per hour during the summer months.
I appreciate your openness. I always thought solar would cost tens of thousands...but then when you factor in hiring a guy to do it... Doing it yourself always saves you money. Very well done!
Thanks for watching! If you want to see more financial figures you might want to watch the video on how solar makes me money. If you have 1-1 net metering and have southern exposure, it really is a great option.
With geothermal heat pump you can use 5 times less electricity for heating. Also heating your water with sun is the way to go. You can reduce that 20 000kWh to 1/3 .
Wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post your DYI. You certainly did a great job. I have been wanting to DYI this myself and really appreciate you share the helpful links. I also plan to down load your guide. I was wondering how long it took you to get the system up and running. Ultimately it not all that important how long it took. Its really more important that you got it done. Great job and thank again for sharing the information on what you learned and how you got it done.
Your videos are OUTSTANDING! The content is outstanding of course, but the production quality is great too! I subscribed! :-) Many thanks for packaging up all of this information! I'm in Western PA looking to install a system myself :-)!
In my opinion you should get about 20kwh buffer battery bank. In those situations when grid will go dark , you will still have power for about a day or two, but in truth for much more because solars will charge buffer bank. I know it can be costy, but in WTF situation it comes handy
Your project is amazing! We in Germany often use batteries (~10kWh) because the cost difference between buying and selling electricity is waaay too high. You get your investment back a few years earlier by purchasing batteries. For the environment's sake, I think we should learn what others do to make pure solar power without batteries more attractive.
Wow, I think this is a good deal. We buy for 36.19 cents and sell for 6.83 cents in January 2022 (numbers from google, add 5% for dollar prices). Therefore I have also watched numerous DIY solar battery videos. But I have decided that it is not worth the risk because I have been goofing around with electricity before, and I have seen too much fire, explosions and dangerous defects while complying to specifications. A solar roof seems safer, especially if you have an expert a second pair of eyes. :) Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and wisdom!
Wait the way this is calculated in your country is actually amazing. In my country when you have solar and you dont need the energy and you send it into the grid you get payed about half of what you pay when you need energy and there is no storing up like in your case. So in the summer when you produce a lot of excess you basically get payed half for what you provide and when you need more in winter you pay full price.
In the US the net metering rules are different by state. So it is very nice when you get a 1-1 credit for each KWH. Sorry to hear yours is a half credit.
Net metering has already gone away or is unavailable for many new customers. The utilities want to buy your solar at wholesale and sell you energy at retail and they will be doing this in the future. When they do this your ability to get to net zero you need about twice as much power generation as you use to offset the difference in retail vs wholesale pricing and use the grid as your storage. There's also danger of radio frequency interference (RFI) from many of these systems, research it carefully. Plus when the power goes out they shut down and you have no power at all. Consider other system designs that include energy storage, they may cost a bit more but offer more benefits and savings.
aaahhh! so it's not really a "free ride (yet) when you already paid"... Another big factor, is paying cash or financing for the materials and labor. That's another variable to factor in as this will increase the amount of years to get back to even... I am on the research stage as the only way to go with installing solar panels is DIY'ing because $16-17,000 is a big chunk of change, not to mention dealing with contractors and wait time... Great info and great coverage... thanks..!
All is fine and looks good how it is where you live. Unfortunatly it isn't same for us in Europe..Too much paperwork you can't install it by yourself and another silly things..
I'm a DIY person but here in Texas, anyone who performs or offers to perform the installation of solar panels or perform maintenance on photovoltaics in Texas must be a Texas Electrical Contractor licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) and using Texas licensed electricians. Anyone else from Texas managed to get your grid-tied panels DYI installed and permitted without issues? I also heard these DIY installations void a lot of equipment warranties and home insurance.
im on 11 acres and i'd love to install a solar farm on my east field. it will be giant, probably super expensive but according to estimates i'd generate over 700,000 Kwh per year. excess energy that the power company has to buy from me.
Depending on how expensive electricity is in your area and how much you use, you could get panels installed for no cost and just get a cheaper rate for power. I would but the panels myself and erase my bill but it is also an option.
That bill here in San Diego would have been about $1000 a month. You have very cheap electricity there lol. Yet because you did most things yourself, it still paid off it seems.
Are you still using baseboard heat? If so have you thought about a mini split with heat pump function? You get 3x the heat per watt that electric heat can get you.
Hello, for anyone reading this if you are looking into solar as an investment and sorry to say this is the worst investment you can get but solar is a great way to help the ecosystem but this video and RUclipsrs are not accounting for the other risk factors pointed out below. below is the risk factor in a Miami market I run into getting quotes from solar companies. This is with the 90% outset system I have been quoted. Doing the math if I pay the full amount upfront wouldn’t make sense because the return investment, I can get off the stock market or invest in other real estate projects. So, this is my concern if I get it loan out of it for 26% using the tax credit on the loan. The monthly bill is $207 for loans with tax credits. The system doesn’t pay my full FPL bill. Keep in mind my average bill is $280 per month (I know this increase is about 4.4% per year in Miami/FPL energy). This is how I see it. My roof is 3 years old. I have dimension shingles that last about 25 years. So, it can last me the rest of the time with panels. Now accounting for the liability insurance that I have gotten is estimated at $45 per month (this would increase every year by 3%). Also, Miami hasn't gotten a category 3 or higher hurricane in 12 years, and we are due two to four within the next 20 years. Also, I am accounting for the two or four liability insurance claim I need to make, and mostly they going to charge about a 20% deductible. Right now, to remove the panels and put them back electrical technicians for panels are charging $125-$175 per panel (this would go up over time). The degradation I lose per year on the panels. Let says over the 20 years there are about 25k in damages or no warranty repairs. I'm going to pay about a 20% deductible. so around 5k in deductible. That's an extra $20 per month. So, in total, the risk factor is about $271 per month, and this doesn’t cover my full FPL bill., even if you do a system set up with the full cost of my FPl bill the risk factor increase. Two other risk factors took place was selling the property. Even with the increased value of the property, buyers are not interested in buying an old use solar system and roof, so I need to get it replaced. I contact about five green certification realtors in Miami with 20+ years in the market and all said is going to be harder to sell with that use system the buyer would ask for a discount on the price of the home. The other risk factors are roof insurance warranty claims based on the few neighbors that have solar nearby and online forums. Home insurance going to blame the contractor who installs the solar panels for leaks and hurricane-related issues, and I would need to reach out to the insurance adjuster to come to help me with the claim. What I see solar as is basically a way to help the ecosystem and reduce carbon footprint but don’t expect a return with the risk factor.
I have a question regarding grid tie vs off grid systems. I live in Texas where we get a lot of sun, and apparently, brown outs. The grid tie system seems like the best way to go to avoid the hassle of batteries, but I'm hoping for a system that would continue to allow me to use power even if the grid is suffering from a brown/black out. Would a grid tie system allow me to use my solar power despite the grid being off?
Without batteries, no. The inverters only output AC power when they sense the grid. There are different options with grid tie with batteries, though it can be complicated (and expensive) since you need to section off what loads will connect to the batteries and get the proper equipment to manage it. Another option is to get a portable battery backup that you can charge in a wall outlet then use it when power goes out for critical load like your fridge.
To get power during outage, you have two options: If you want convenience, get backup battery, but you will need to install automatic transfer switch with solar. This will cost you > $10k, and more likely $20K If you want to save money but can do away with some manual work during outage, get manual transfer switch and back up generator, ideally dual fuel which can use propane. It will be much lower than $10K to set up. I had my own house backup generator installed by myself and cost < $1k.
Although your home is two storey it does appear to be lower than my two storey home. So I had mine installed. Here in the uk if you have more than I think 16 panels you cannot join the MCS scheme. Micro Generation Scheme. I have 14 panels. I buy my power from supplier A but sell my excess power to supplier B. The scheme guarantees a stupidly high price for my power for 20 years. Which is subsidised by bill payers from the big six suppliers. Complicated and tbh its a scam. But people can't opt out of it unless you use a small supplier. But if you can't beat the scam, join it. So I got my panels. I make about 6 to 700 pounds a year from my panels but my power bill is about 1200 a year. Still worth doing though.
this is one reason I didn't go with solar yet, I'm afraid as more people go solar that the utility companies are going to heavily lobby to have net metering eliminated, and frankly they should. once solar makes up ~20% (or so i have read) of the grid then it becomes hard for utilities to juggle manage the grid without storage of some kind. So having net metering is basically telling the utility companies that they must buy and maintain batteries to store someone else's power and then also pay them each time they use the battery. Yeah that's not going to fly with any company, at least not without huge fixed fees for everyone using net metering, to cover the cost of storage.
That's why I'm going to undersize my system. I can't carry a credit more than one month. I don't mind a smaller system as in the future my usage will go down as the kids move out.
Dude if you have electric baseboard heat, get rid of that ASAP! Put in an air source or ground source heat pump system, you will literally use like 3 to 5 times less electricity and be able to sell all of the extra back. I had a company put in geothermal and it paid back in 6 years
So how does the credit work? You generate more kw than you need and that is a kw credit?! Or do they give you some cents for each kwh that you insert into the grid and they add up as credit in dollars?
Did your property taxes go up when you made the solar improvement to your home? I hear others have been taxed on their solar array... after all that is one of the reasons they want you applying for a permit.
I'm more than interested in eco friendly ways but when you are connected to the grid that means its not 100% eco friendly right ? the positive thing for this way is basically financial ? I mean compared to the off grid solution which I assume its 100% eco friendly but you risk power shortages in the night or on cloudy days.
Power is produced to match the demand at any given time, the power company cannot store power for use later. When you supply power to the grid that means the power company needs to produce less power. All the energy you are not using goes to helping power everyone else on the grid. If your power company is producing using fossil fuels you are still contributing to the reduction of the amount of fuel needed whether you are tied to the grid or not. The only benefit of being off grid is not having the connection and potentially being able to operate 24/7 on your own, but this requires you to also invest in batteries for storage.
I don’t. That’s a downside of not having integrated batteries. But I do recommend portable battery backup, and I have that to power the fridge and other essentials.
@@FrugalRepair thank you responding fairly quick to all that has ask you questions on your solar project. BTW, great work, great videos, I see that there are plenty more videos you have on yt. I'm subscribing to your channel! Thank you sir!
Tesla will charge you $1.5/watt right now for the entire system -- permits, panels, inverters, wiring, mounting, labor, etc. and that price factors in the federal tax credit. You have a 16 KW array, so they would have charged you $24K. Instead, you only spent $16K by going the DIY route, so $1/watt and $8K saved. Well done! Still, I don't think 99% of the population could do what you did (which makes it that much more impressive).
My 6.6KW system cost me $AU 3300 or about $US 2200. that includes the panels, inverter, installation (which comes with 5 years guarantee for installation, panels has about 12 years product guarantee) and fees. It doesn't cover 100% of my bills but the bill is down to only about a third of what it was before. It will pay for itself after about 7 years as well, should have been much faster but my state in Australia has absolutely pitiful rate for credits, the fossil fuel lobby group has absolute control of the government. Couple interesting things that completely disputes the rubbish the fossil fuel puppets like to say: "solar doesn't work if it's cloudy or rain or cold" Even on heavy rain days I can still get about 50% power capacity from solar, had cloudy days where no direct sun get through and it sat at 100% totalling among the highest power generating days. Solar panels use a wide spectrum of light to generate electricity, especially infrared light, not just visible light. the optimum temperature it works at is 25C, unless it gets so cold that it is literally frozen then the system shuts down, same if it gets extremely hot but very few places on Earth sees heat that extreme for it to shut down from heat regularly, mine works through 45C days no problem. "solar panels costs more power and emits more pollution to make than it will ever make back, and can't be recycled", average panels makes back the power it cost to make it after just 1 year. And it's literally just made of silicon, or sand, melted down, that layer is pretty thin, most of the panel mass is just protective glass which is made of same stuff.
After your video, nah I’m good. I’ll spend 2,000 for 10 years rather than just go 25,000 out of pocket for your set up. Haha this was so funny to watch. Very informative.
What about a hail storm? What about a lightning strike. I would set up tall metal poles to protect my house, my solar panels and farm animals in their rain shelter. I have seen videos of farmers losing 30 to 40 sheep to one lightning strike.
It's crazy how cheap is the electric power in other countries, In Romania today the price for electric power is 0.28euro per kw/h, and the average wage is like 500 euro per month...
Do you think a metal roof would be a good idea? Having to remove the panels would be a huge expense every time you have to reshingle the roof. A metal roof would last the lifetime of the panels.
I live in the UK and I've noticed you comsume 5 times more kwh units than me...I have probably half size house than yours. I wonder if you have any AC units installed in your house?
I am going to live in Bulgaria and my house will need a very extensive renovation, so I want to put the solar panels. Do you think I can use your guide?
@@FrugalRepair we use all gadgets and use AC 4 months a year. Thats all. Our home is 2 Bedroom 1500sq.ft our monthly consumption is 150Kwh on average. 3 fans 6-8 LED bulbs, 1 fridge, 1 washing machine, 1TV, 1 Water Motor, 1 AC. And regular mobile and laptop chargings. I don't understand how heating uses so much
Just curious why wouldn’t you ditch the electric baseboard heat for something more efficient. Instead of making a huge solar investment just to heat with it.
I thought about it but to add mini-splits or ductwork was more of a headache and cost because of how the house it set up. I probably will add some mini-splits at some point though.
@@FrugalRepair Dang, thanks for the response. In IL the SREC program has the below language, kills self installs for the program in this state it seems like. "A system applying for the Illinois Shine Program (SRECS) can only be self-installed if the individual installing the system is a Qualified Person which is defined under 83 Ill. Adm. Code § 468.20 as: “Qualified person” means a person who performs installations on behalf of the certificate holder and who has either satisfactorily completed at least five installations of a specific distributed generation technology or has completed at least one of the following programs requiring lab or field work and received a certification of satisfactory completion: an apprenticeship as a journeyman electrician from a DOL registered electrical apprenticeship and training program; a North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) distributed generation technology certification program; an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) distributed generation technology certification program; an Electronics Technicians Association (ETA) distributed generation technology certification program; or an Associate in Applied Science degree from an Illinois Community College Board approved community college program in solar generation technology."
Yeah, there's no requirement like that in PA. IL is in a different grid zone than what we have here. We are in PJM. That's crazy you have to have 5 installs to qualify! I wonder if there is an exception you can request or something.
Love the video and thank you. I am from Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. If u can please answer my easy to answer question below cuz I am confused over how you determined your kw system size. Sorry to bother you. I see u use around 19,000 KWh annually and you use a 15.6 kw system that covers all of your electric bill. How did you come up with only needing a 15.6 kw system? My homes electric bill states I use around 24,000/25,000 kwh annually. I am confused over how to determine the kw size of my system. I was under the impression my solar system kw would have to identically match my annual electric output of 24,000/25,000 kWh that is stated on my electric bill. How kw should my system be if electric bill says I use 24k/25k kWh on an annual basis? Thank you. Your would be appreciated Allen
Thanks! They are different values kw and kWh. How much sunlight the panels get each day makes the difference. Weather modeling and latitude helps to figure it out. Did you get my solar guide? There is info in there that should help you.
Were you able to do that amount of solar without doing a side tap? I have self installed a 7.2 ground mounted system that is on 6 QS1 microinverters. Totally spent around $7k like to exspand to around 10k to 12k but can only backfeed 40 amps thru a 200 amp panel if I go to a 300 panel it only allows another 20 but that would work however costly. Can a side tap be done without hiring a solar installer? All the company's in my area will only come out if they do the entire job....same story with all the master electricians
No, too many amps for the busbar. I could have done the line side tap myself if I wanted to. I don’t think the electrical inspector cared, as long as it was done correctly. But that was the part I didn’t want to mess with and I hired the electrician for that.
If you do a load calc onyour panel, you might find that you could downsize the main breaker to 175A, which would allow you up to a 65A solar input at the opposite end of the panel from your main breaker. I was able to downsize to a 175A main and since the busbar in my panel is rated ar 225A, I was able to have a 95A solar input - my solar input is 80A.
@@jimroth1821 thanks for that reminder but I think I may be hard pressed to downsize as I have a 40 on heatpump air to air another 30 on water heater heatpump when garage gets rebuilt it will need a 100 for car charger 40, air compressor, welder 40 I can't remember what the requirements are as we never have all these things going at the same time as well as a shallow well pump only 120volts all the above are 220
Does your solar workwhen the grid is down? I heard it won't. Is there a way to tie into the grid and have the solar work? I had a city person tell me not to tired intu the grid if i got solar.
Mine doesn't because I don't have batteries or a switch integrated in. Yes, there are ways to tie in but those inverters/setup are more expensive and of course, the batteries can be very expensive. You have to consider the cost versus the need. For me, the power rarely goes out and it's even more rare that it goes out when it's sunny out. So a full home backup would kinda be a waste. However, a small battery backup is nice to have on hand when there is a power outage.
Perhaps he has electric heating (resistive heating) - I'm in germany aswell and we (5 people) have roundabout 22.000 kwh per year (everything is electrified here, and not in a good way - electric heating instead of heatpump based for example). Though his house seems quite a bit smaller than ours -> we got basement split into living space + garage, 1st floor living space, 2nd floor living space (roof begins there aswell) and the attic which also has some rooms. Resistive Heating is a bitch, in terms of heating efficiency. Guess the only thing that saves us from a more horrible bill is that my grandpa went completely nuts on the wall thickness on basement + 1st floor (between 30 - 40 cm). Some energy saving experts who my parents asked a few years back even said "Nah, wall insulation makes no sense here". But then again there was no assesment done on how much energy was lost through all other openings like windows and doors. Edit: He says he got "Electric Baseboard heat" at around 0:15 so I guess it's using resistive heating in some way.
Solar is costly compared to hydro-power. Hydro-projects have a target cost of $0,25 per kWh annual productions. @FrugalRepair system cost is $16,045/ 19,371 kWh = $0,82/kWh. That is more than 3 times the cost of Hydro! From an economical standpoint, solar is way too expensive at the moment.
Oklahoma sucks. If I recall you can carry excess credit one month, not an entire year. My electric company does allow you to switch to wind energy. It costs an extra 2-5 dollars per month but I can claim that my EV is wind powered 😁
Damn, your electricity costs are only about .093 cent a kWh. It's currently 0.24 cent my part of the world, and likely to be at least 0.28 cent in another month.
Yes, it’s because of the roof trusses and where the mounts need to go. I had some wiggle room to choose but I wanted the one side to be snug because I could walk on the garage roof. And have more room on the other side where I could walk if needed.
I want solar but there's no way I can afford the upfront cost. Even if I built the system to be easily expandable, the cost would still be $8K minimal to get up and going and that only about 3-4KW.
Tesla 4 KW system will cost you $6491 after the federal tax rebate. State rebates may be additional savings if available. You also have the option of leasing it instead of buying with no upfront cost . Leasing also will save you some money over regular power bill, but owning the panels save you more and payback period is generally 4-5 years depending upon electricity rate that you pay to the power company.
Seems you got a great trade-off with a financial return of investments of 6 maybe even 5 years. It does mean you have to pay the prices the power company dictates if you keep using the grid. Credits seems mediocre to me. A battery would be cheaper to install and compensate for that at night. A company could go bankrupt or rogue and you need re-investing to maintain your leases. The term OF GRID does not apply here. Helping neighbors is nice, but a risk for them if they don't understand what your doing. Your video is impressive though.
Perhaps I’m misunderstanding but batteries are way more expensive than using 1-1 net metering with the utility. In my situation, you’d never get batteries unless you were hedging against a power outage.
Do you have any upfront costs to be eligible for SRECs? In Finland it costs a total of 400 € per installation to validate and register it in order to receive any Guarantees of Origin (the certificate equivalent to SRECs). Therefore it is not cost effective for installations with less than 1 MVA or so output.
I live in the 'Texas Hill Country', out of Kerrville, and have a 38 KW System (Professionally) installed. I am getting Screwed by my Electric Co. because they don't pay me 'Squat' for the electricity I produce, And we continue getting electric bills, so I want my panels to Power my house. Would I need an inverter to do this? I Hate the idea of having to buy batteries. Can you, or Anyone, Please help me.....?
Without a net metering agreement with the utility, I’m not sure how you can get anything for your extra KWHs you send to the grid. You would then need batteries to store the excess and use it at night or when the sun isn’t out.
Would you consider installing solar yourself?
Yep I did. Just a small inexpensive 2k baby system. But it shrank my bill about 35%.
Considering the house you live in, and the area per people living is high, you have no problems with it. Now if we try to do the same on an apartment even with the permission of all the floor residents I'd highly doubt it would be a cost-effective system.
Yes. Just discovered you, thanks!
I'd love to
Yes sir, already did two installs. One off the grid for my parents' cabin, one grid tie on the garage roof for my previous house. Those were small, the next one's gonna be big and on the ground. Can't wait to get that puppy up and running.
This panel can put out close to 100 watts ruclips.net/user/postUgkxOqI2yqX0XVrhR2BMJciTWrHJpG8FhJyg when positioned in the appropriate southernly direction, tilted to the optimal angle for your latitude/date, and connected to a higher capacity device than a 500. The built in kickstand angle is a fixed at 50 degrees. Up to 20% more power can be output by selecting the actual date and latitude optimal angle.The 500 will only input 3.5A maximum at 18 volts for 63 watts. Some of the excess power from the panel can be fed into a USB battery bank, charged directly from the panel while also charging a 500. This will allow you to harvest as much as 63 + 15 = 78 watts.If this panel is used to charge a larger device, such as the power station, then its full output potential can be realized.
As an electrical contractor that has installed solar, I'm extremely impressed with your do-it-yourself,attitude and the way you got it done! I've seen electricians do poor work, where we could use you as an example of what it's supposed to look like at the end! I'm extremely impressed! And now I know the cost of what solar cost as well per kilowatt-hour. I understand is expensive, and the permit and the material but, now that I've seen you do it I will get your book look through it and I will recommend solar now in my area and see if we can get close the kind of return that you had on your system.
I've been doing this for 33 years, and I'm extremely impressed with your Acumen, work quality, and the stick to it you need to get the job done! Thank you!
Wow, thank you for your many kind words! Shoot me an email if you want to chat any more.
The electric company here in AZ still screws you over when going solar. SRP charges a flat fee of $32/month for using the grid. Once I pay off my system it wont be a big deal but for now I essentially just lowered my electric bill a bit and added a loan.
$32 just for using the grid. That is my monthly charge of electricity, my god.
And people wonder why land is so cheap in the american south...
thanks for going over the numbers, it was the only thing missing from the first vid
Thanks for watching!
Absolutely love your videos on this.
It's pushed me to diy it. Permits all done. Ordering panels today.
Thank you!!!
That’s awesome! Shoot me an email if you have any questions.
Really great video! Nice work.
Thank you for watching!
My bud in Texas installed a very similar system which he averaged 1500 KW in the summer and 900 in the winter. He installed his system last March after the February freeze disaster and paid $18,580 after the 30% credit. The electric rates in his town went up over 40% this year putting his return on investment from 6.8 years based on 2021's rates to four and a quarter years based on the new electrical rates. If the rates continue to go up then he'll end up paying his solar system off a lot sooner. During the winter he pays a $6 connection fee during October November December January February and March then he doesn't pay a connection fee from April through September and he actually generates close to 16 extra kilowatts of electricity per day during the months of May through September as he changed his work schedule to have him away from home from 10am to 7pm, thus his house uses less than a kilowatt per hour during the summer months.
Did he add batteries with his system?
I appreciate your openness.
I always thought solar would cost tens of thousands...but then when you factor in hiring a guy to do it...
Doing it yourself always saves you money. Very well done!
Thanks for watching! If you want to see more financial figures you might want to watch the video on how solar makes me money. If you have 1-1 net metering and have southern exposure, it really is a great option.
I love the analogy/perspective of the rental property that never has late payments. That's a great selling point
Yep, it’s even more exciting when the SRECs go up in value.
From another Pennsylvania resident thanks for the video
Thanks for watching!
With geothermal heat pump you can use 5 times less electricity for heating. Also heating your water with sun is the way to go.
You can reduce that 20 000kWh to 1/3 .
This is by far the best video I’ve seen, I’m planning to install a 20 kw before end of this year.
Wow, thanks! That's cool that you are putting in solar. Do you know what panels you are planning to put in?
@@FrugalRepair not sure yet still considering where I’ll purchase from. Suggestions?
Depends, where you live and are you considering DIY or hire an installer?
@@FrugalRepair I’m in Arkansas and I’ll install
That’s great you’re up for DIY! If you want shoot me an email (on the about page) and I can give more thoughts.
Really informative video. Now I'll try installing almost a same setup on our home to hopefully bring down electricity costs.
Wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post your DYI. You certainly did a great job. I have been wanting to DYI this myself and really appreciate you share the helpful links. I also plan to down load your guide. I was wondering how long it took you to get the system up and running. Ultimately it not all that important how long it took. Its really more important that you got it done. Great job and thank again for sharing the information on what you learned and how you got it done.
Thanks for your encouragement! Shoot me an email if you have solar install questions.
Your videos are OUTSTANDING! The content is outstanding of course, but the production quality is great too! I subscribed! :-) Many thanks for packaging up all of this information! I'm in Western PA looking to install a system myself :-)!
Thanks so much for your kind words! Shoot me an email if you have questions about your possible solar install.
Thinking of installing a 7KW system myself.. Great info. Looking forward to more helpful videos.
That’s great to hear! Any suggestions on new solar videos?
In my opinion you should get about 20kwh buffer battery bank. In those situations when grid will go dark , you will still have power for about a day or two, but in truth for much more because solars will charge buffer bank. I know it can be costy, but in WTF situation it comes handy
Your project is amazing! We in Germany often use batteries (~10kWh) because the cost difference between buying and selling electricity is waaay too high. You get your investment back a few years earlier by purchasing batteries. For the environment's sake, I think we should learn what others do to make pure solar power without batteries more attractive.
Thanks! Here in Pennsylvania we have 1-1 net metering so you get full credit for excess KWH you send to the power grid.
Wow, I think this is a good deal. We buy for 36.19 cents and sell for 6.83 cents in January 2022 (numbers from google, add 5% for dollar prices). Therefore I have also watched numerous DIY solar battery videos. But I have decided that it is not worth the risk because I have been goofing around with electricity before, and I have seen too much fire, explosions and dangerous defects while complying to specifications. A solar roof seems safer, especially if you have an expert a second pair of eyes. :) Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and wisdom!
Wait the way this is calculated in your country is actually amazing. In my country when you have solar and you dont need the energy and you send it into the grid you get payed about half of what you pay when you need energy and there is no storing up like in your case.
So in the summer when you produce a lot of excess you basically get payed half for what you provide and when you need more in winter you pay full price.
In the US the net metering rules are different by state. So it is very nice when you get a 1-1 credit for each KWH. Sorry to hear yours is a half credit.
Heck in some countries you have to pay a tax that you are sending power into the grid.
Net metering has already gone away or is unavailable for many new customers. The utilities want to buy your solar at wholesale and sell you energy at retail and they will be doing this in the future. When they do this your ability to get to net zero you need about twice as much power generation as you use to offset the difference in retail vs wholesale pricing and use the grid as your storage. There's also danger of radio frequency interference (RFI) from many of these systems, research it carefully. Plus when the power goes out they shut down and you have no power at all. Consider other system designs that include energy storage, they may cost a bit more but offer more benefits and savings.
True and it's eco friendly
Really helpful. Concise and clear overview. Excellent content, thanks so much.
aaahhh! so it's not really a "free ride (yet) when you already paid"... Another big factor, is paying cash or financing for the materials and labor. That's another variable to factor in as this will increase the amount of years to get back to even...
I am on the research stage as the only way to go with installing solar panels is DIY'ing because $16-17,000 is a big chunk of change, not to mention dealing with contractors and wait time...
Great info and great coverage... thanks..!
All is fine and looks good how it is where you live. Unfortunatly it isn't same for us in Europe..Too much paperwork you can't install it by yourself and another silly things..
I installed 12v system to generate power to my farm with 450w solar panel. I don't use inverter bcz less power lost. Thanks for video sharing
Thanks for sharing and watching the video!
@@FrugalRepair thanks
I live in California, i want to do something like this. I'll be looking at your videos for help
Cool! I hope they are helpful to you. If you want to see something specific, feel free to send me some ideas.
Just want to say that I really enjoyed your videos.
Thanks for watching!
I'm a DIY person but here in Texas, anyone who performs or offers to perform the installation of solar panels or perform maintenance on photovoltaics in Texas must be a Texas Electrical Contractor licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) and using Texas licensed electricians. Anyone else from Texas managed to get your grid-tied panels DYI installed and permitted without issues? I also heard these DIY installations void a lot of equipment warranties and home insurance.
This is a great video with great explanations of cost! Keep up the great vids!
Thank you for watching!
im on 11 acres and i'd love to install a solar farm on my east field. it will be giant, probably super expensive but according to estimates i'd generate over 700,000 Kwh per year. excess energy that the power company has to buy from me.
Switch your baseboard heat to a Mr cool multi-zone mini split system you can install yourself.
Good idea. I’m actually considering doing something like that.
This is great...thank you. I just bought a house and I'd love to be able to have solar panels. Although I'm not sure Id be able to do it myself.
Thanks for watching! Hope you can get solar either way, it’s been working out so well for us.
@@FrugalRepair Thanks. Is there a company in New York you'd recommend?
Should me an email and I can give you some thoughts.
@@FrugalRepair I DM'd you on instagram
Depending on how expensive electricity is in your area and how much you use, you could get panels installed for no cost and just get a cheaper rate for power. I would but the panels myself and erase my bill but it is also an option.
That bill here in San Diego would have been about $1000 a month. You have very cheap electricity there lol. Yet because you did most things yourself, it still paid off it seems.
Excellent presentation!! You sold me!!!
Thanks! I hope getting solar works out well for you too! Let me know if you have any questions.
Fantastic stuffs you make bro.... keep going on...Love from India..
Thank you!
Are you still using baseboard heat? If so have you thought about a mini split with heat pump function? You get 3x the heat per watt that electric heat can get you.
Hello, for anyone reading this if you are looking into solar as an investment and sorry to say this is the worst investment you can get but solar is a great way to help the ecosystem but this video and RUclipsrs are not accounting for the other risk factors pointed out below. below is the risk factor in a Miami market I run into getting quotes from solar companies.
This is with the 90% outset system I have been quoted.
Doing the math if I pay the full amount upfront wouldn’t make sense because the return investment, I can get off the stock market or invest in other real estate projects. So, this is my concern if I get it loan out of it for 26% using the tax credit on the loan. The monthly bill is $207 for loans with tax credits. The system doesn’t pay my full FPL bill. Keep in mind my average bill is $280 per month (I know this increase is about 4.4% per year in Miami/FPL energy). This is how I see it. My roof is 3 years old. I have dimension shingles that last about 25 years. So, it can last me the rest of the time with panels. Now accounting for the liability insurance that I have gotten is estimated at $45 per month (this would increase every year by 3%). Also, Miami hasn't gotten a category 3 or higher hurricane in 12 years, and we are due two to four within the next 20 years. Also, I am accounting for the two or four liability insurance claim I need to make, and mostly they going to charge about a 20% deductible. Right now, to remove the panels and put them back electrical technicians for panels are charging $125-$175 per panel (this would go up over time). The degradation I lose per year on the panels. Let says over the 20 years there are about 25k in damages or no warranty repairs. I'm going to pay about a 20% deductible. so around 5k in deductible. That's an extra $20 per month. So, in total, the risk factor is about $271 per month, and this doesn’t cover my full FPL bill., even if you do a system set up with the full cost of my FPl bill the risk factor increase. Two other risk factors took place was selling the property. Even with the increased value of the property, buyers are not interested in buying an old use solar system and roof, so I need to get it replaced. I contact about five green certification realtors in Miami with 20+ years in the market and all said is going to be harder to sell with that use system the buyer would ask for a discount on the price of the home. The other risk factors are roof insurance warranty claims based on the few neighbors that have solar nearby and online forums. Home insurance going to blame the contractor who installs the solar panels for leaks and hurricane-related issues, and I would need to reach out to the insurance adjuster to come to help me with the claim. What I see solar as is basically a way to help the ecosystem and reduce carbon footprint but don’t expect a return with the risk factor.
I have a question regarding grid tie vs off grid systems. I live in Texas where we get a lot of sun, and apparently, brown outs. The grid tie system seems like the best way to go to avoid the hassle of batteries, but I'm hoping for a system that would continue to allow me to use power even if the grid is suffering from a brown/black out. Would a grid tie system allow me to use my solar power despite the grid being off?
Without batteries, no. The inverters only output AC power when they sense the grid. There are different options with grid tie with batteries, though it can be complicated (and expensive) since you need to section off what loads will connect to the batteries and get the proper equipment to manage it. Another option is to get a portable battery backup that you can charge in a wall outlet then use it when power goes out for critical load like your fridge.
IMO, go grid tie, and then get a nice battery pack or two for grid outages.
Grid tie + generator back up maybe?
Leaved in san antonio tx for 48 yrs. Whats a brown out. Only electricity goes during big storms. Couple times a year
To get power during outage, you have two options:
If you want convenience, get backup battery, but you will need to install automatic transfer switch with solar. This will cost you > $10k, and more likely $20K
If you want to save money but can do away with some manual work during outage, get manual transfer switch and back up generator, ideally dual fuel which can use propane. It will be much lower than $10K to set up. I had my own house backup generator installed by myself and cost < $1k.
Although your home is two storey it does appear to be lower than my two storey home. So I had mine installed. Here in the uk if you have more than I think 16 panels you cannot join the MCS scheme. Micro Generation Scheme. I have 14 panels. I buy my power from supplier A but sell my excess power to supplier B. The scheme guarantees a stupidly high price for my power for 20 years. Which is subsidised by bill payers from the big six suppliers. Complicated and tbh its a scam. But people can't opt out of it unless you use a small supplier. But if you can't beat the scam, join it. So I got my panels. I make about 6 to 700 pounds a year from my panels but my power bill is about 1200 a year. Still worth doing though.
Not all states permit this banking of credits... some have changed to no longer allow credits
this is one reason I didn't go with solar yet, I'm afraid as more people go solar that the utility companies are going to heavily lobby to have net metering eliminated, and frankly they should. once solar makes up ~20% (or so i have read) of the grid then it becomes hard for utilities to juggle manage the grid without storage of some kind. So having net metering is basically telling the utility companies that they must buy and maintain batteries to store someone else's power and then also pay them each time they use the battery. Yeah that's not going to fly with any company, at least not without huge fixed fees for everyone using net metering, to cover the cost of storage.
@@lexpox329 my neighbors pay $400-500+ per month for electric. I pay well below that and in summer (with geoHVAC) pay less than $50 per month....
That's why I'm going to undersize my system. I can't carry a credit more than one month. I don't mind a smaller system as in the future my usage will go down as the kids move out.
So what do you do during power outages?
Currently I have some portable batteries that I use and charge via solar.
Great Job Man
Thanks!
Dude if you have electric baseboard heat, get rid of that ASAP! Put in an air source or ground source heat pump system, you will literally use like 3 to 5 times less electricity and be able to sell all of the extra back. I had a company put in geothermal and it paid back in 6 years
In the first video you replaced the shingles too, but don’t show that as part of your cost in this one
This is a good system. Your house store no battery, it eliminated a potential danger.
How has it been handling snow?
Good question. I made a video about it that you might be interested in.
So how does the credit work?
You generate more kw than you need and that is a kw credit?! Or do they give you some cents for each kwh that you insert into the grid and they add up as credit in dollars?
Did your property taxes go up when you made the solar improvement to your home? I hear others have been taxed on their solar array... after all that is one of the reasons they want you applying for a permit.
No tax increases here.
I'm more than interested in eco friendly ways but when you are connected to the grid that means its not 100% eco friendly right ? the positive thing for this way is basically financial ? I mean compared to the off grid solution which I assume its 100% eco friendly but you risk power shortages in the night or on cloudy days.
Power is produced to match the demand at any given time, the power company cannot store power for use later. When you supply power to the grid that means the power company needs to produce less power. All the energy you are not using goes to helping power everyone else on the grid. If your power company is producing using fossil fuels you are still contributing to the reduction of the amount of fuel needed whether you are tied to the grid or not. The only benefit of being off grid is not having the connection and potentially being able to operate 24/7 on your own, but this requires you to also invest in batteries for storage.
If the grid is blackout, how do you get power??
I don’t. That’s a downside of not having integrated batteries. But I do recommend portable battery backup, and I have that to power the fridge and other essentials.
@@FrugalRepair thank you responding fairly quick to all that has ask you questions on your solar project. BTW, great work, great videos, I see that there are plenty more videos you have on yt. I'm subscribing to your channel! Thank you sir!
Tesla will charge you $1.5/watt right now for the entire system -- permits, panels, inverters, wiring, mounting, labor, etc. and that price factors in the federal tax credit. You have a 16 KW array, so they would have charged you $24K. Instead, you only spent $16K by going the DIY route, so $1/watt and $8K saved. Well done! Still, I don't think 99% of the population could do what you did (which makes it that much more impressive).
My 6.6KW system cost me $AU 3300 or about $US 2200. that includes the panels, inverter, installation (which comes with 5 years guarantee for installation, panels has about 12 years product guarantee) and fees. It doesn't cover 100% of my bills but the bill is down to only about a third of what it was before. It will pay for itself after about 7 years as well, should have been much faster but my state in Australia has absolutely pitiful rate for credits, the fossil fuel lobby group has absolute control of the government.
Couple interesting things that completely disputes the rubbish the fossil fuel puppets like to say:
"solar doesn't work if it's cloudy or rain or cold" Even on heavy rain days I can still get about 50% power capacity from solar, had cloudy days where no direct sun get through and it sat at 100% totalling among the highest power generating days. Solar panels use a wide spectrum of light to generate electricity, especially infrared light, not just visible light. the optimum temperature it works at is 25C, unless it gets so cold that it is literally frozen then the system shuts down, same if it gets extremely hot but very few places on Earth sees heat that extreme for it to shut down from heat regularly, mine works through 45C days no problem.
"solar panels costs more power and emits more pollution to make than it will ever make back, and can't be recycled", average panels makes back the power it cost to make it after just 1 year. And it's literally just made of silicon, or sand, melted down, that layer is pretty thin, most of the panel mass is just protective glass which is made of same stuff.
🇨🇦🇨🇦Betty and I are thinking about solar panels for The Ole Church 5 Acre Homestead!
Hope you can get them!
Awesome Reese!
Why did you remove your acc # when you showed your bills via mobile?
Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
After your video, nah I’m good. I’ll spend 2,000 for 10 years rather than just go 25,000 out of pocket for your set up. Haha this was so funny to watch. Very informative.
Michigan is talking about making a law that energy companies don't have to give a kickback.
Did the power co up the minimum cost of being connected for you ?
I herd a story about that, but i still think its worth it lol.
I installed solar last year. I got screwed. I’m now paying 3 times what I was paying before solar.
Sorry to hear! Do you feel like an installer mislead you?
This dude is laughing at us pesants rn with the price of power
What about a hail storm? What about a lightning strike. I would set up tall metal poles to protect my house, my solar panels and farm animals in their rain shelter. I have seen videos of farmers losing 30 to 40 sheep to one lightning strike.
It's crazy how cheap is the electric power in other countries, In Romania today the price for electric power is 0.28euro per kw/h, and the average wage is like 500 euro per month...
Where did you source the panels?
How do you track your rate at what you should get paid by the Electric company?
Do you think a metal roof would be a good idea? Having to remove the panels would be a huge expense every time you have to reshingle the roof. A metal roof would last the lifetime of the panels.
What happens when it snows? Battery storage bank?
I live in the UK and I've noticed you comsume 5 times more kwh units than me...I have probably half size house than yours.
I wonder if you have any AC units installed in your house?
Great videos!
Thanks!
I am going to live in Bulgaria and my house will need a very extensive renovation, so I want to put the solar panels. Do you think I can use your guide?
The guide is for beginners and it’s a free download, so yes, I hope it will be helpful. Dober Den!
i have an 8.45kwh system and paid 16k CND $
Are you happy with your investment?
In india we use max 2000KWh per year. We use everything u guys use. Why does USA uses 20k?? Only no heating here.. we use AC
Heating is the biggest use for us by far.
@@FrugalRepair we use all gadgets and use AC 4 months a year. Thats all. Our home is 2 Bedroom 1500sq.ft our monthly consumption is 150Kwh on average. 3 fans 6-8 LED bulbs, 1 fridge, 1 washing machine, 1TV,
1 Water Motor, 1 AC. And regular mobile and laptop chargings. I don't understand how heating uses so much
What on line engineering company did you use for roof framing approval?
Very good info. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
Just curious why wouldn’t you ditch the electric baseboard heat for something more efficient. Instead of making a huge solar investment just to heat with it.
I thought about it but to add mini-splits or ductwork was more of a headache and cost because of how the house it set up. I probably will add some mini-splits at some point though.
@@FrugalRepair My parents had a similar house growing up. Ended up putting a unit in the attic and one downstairs in a closet.
in europe you can get solar installed for 1.17$/watt
How did you get around the “qualified installer clause” to qualify for self install and do the paper work for the srecs? Are you a journeymen?
I’m not sure what you are referring to. There was no such requirement like that that I am aware of.
@@FrugalRepair Dang, thanks for the response. In IL the SREC program has the below language, kills self installs for the program in this state it seems like.
"A system applying for the Illinois Shine Program (SRECS) can only be self-installed if the individual installing the system is a Qualified Person which is defined under 83 Ill. Adm. Code § 468.20 as:
“Qualified person” means a person who performs installations on behalf of the certificate holder and who has either satisfactorily completed at least five installations of a specific distributed generation technology or has completed at least one of the following programs requiring lab or field work and received a certification of satisfactory completion: an apprenticeship as a journeyman electrician from a DOL registered electrical apprenticeship and training program; a North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) distributed generation technology certification program; an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) distributed generation technology certification program; an Electronics Technicians Association (ETA) distributed generation technology certification program; or an Associate in Applied Science degree from an Illinois Community College Board approved community college program in solar generation technology."
Yeah, there's no requirement like that in PA. IL is in a different grid zone than what we have here. We are in PJM. That's crazy you have to have 5 installs to qualify! I wonder if there is an exception you can request or something.
Thanks I subscribed. I want to learn Solar
Awesome! What part are you wanting to learn?
@@FrugalRepair check my comment above thanks
You paying $180 for power, heat and cooling must be nice, I bet its 4x where I live
Love the video and thank you. I am from Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. If u can please answer my easy to answer question below cuz I am confused over how you determined your kw system size. Sorry to bother you.
I see u use around 19,000 KWh annually and you use a 15.6 kw system that covers all of your electric bill. How did you come up with only needing a 15.6 kw system? My homes electric bill states I use around 24,000/25,000 kwh annually. I am confused over how to determine the kw size of my system. I was under the impression my solar system kw would have to identically match my annual electric output of 24,000/25,000 kWh that is stated on my electric bill.
How kw should my system be if electric bill says I use 24k/25k kWh on an annual basis? Thank you. Your would be appreciated
Allen
Thanks! They are different values kw and kWh. How much sunlight the panels get each day makes the difference. Weather modeling and latitude helps to figure it out. Did you get my solar guide? There is info in there that should help you.
Where is ur solar guide?
I’d like to know more about this. Will you help me?
Send me an email (it’s on my website or the about page here on RUclips)
Were you able to do that amount of solar without doing a side tap? I have self installed a 7.2 ground mounted system that is on 6 QS1 microinverters. Totally spent around $7k like to exspand to around 10k to 12k but can only backfeed 40 amps thru a 200 amp panel if I go to a 300 panel it only allows another 20 but that would work however costly. Can a side tap be done without hiring a solar installer? All the company's in my area will only come out if they do the entire job....same story with all the master electricians
No, too many amps for the busbar. I could have done the line side tap myself if I wanted to. I don’t think the electrical inspector cared, as long as it was done correctly. But that was the part I didn’t want to mess with and I hired the electrician for that.
@@FrugalRepair what do you think of Tesla Solar is supposed to beat everybody else price? I do not believe they are in the north east yet.
I’m planning to keep my eye on them.
If you do a load calc onyour panel, you might find that you could downsize the main breaker to 175A, which would allow you up to a 65A solar input at the opposite end of the panel from your main breaker. I was able to downsize to a 175A main and since the busbar in my panel is rated ar 225A, I was able to have a 95A solar input - my solar input is 80A.
@@jimroth1821 thanks for that reminder but I think I may be hard pressed to downsize as I have a 40 on heatpump air to air another 30 on water heater heatpump when garage gets rebuilt it will need a 100 for car charger 40, air compressor, welder 40 I can't remember what the requirements are as we never have all these things going at the same time as well as a shallow well pump only 120volts all the above are 220
just saw. thanks
Does your solar workwhen the grid is down? I heard it won't. Is there a way to tie into the grid and have the solar work? I had a city person tell me not to tired intu the grid if i got solar.
Mine doesn't because I don't have batteries or a switch integrated in. Yes, there are ways to tie in but those inverters/setup are more expensive and of course, the batteries can be very expensive. You have to consider the cost versus the need. For me, the power rarely goes out and it's even more rare that it goes out when it's sunny out. So a full home backup would kinda be a waste. However, a small battery backup is nice to have on hand when there is a power outage.
a really useful information, thank you
Glad it was helpful!
What if the power grid turns off
His montly usage is close to our yearly usage and we are 4 people o.O (2000kwh)
But then again, electricity is stupidly expensive here in germany..
Perhaps he has electric heating (resistive heating) - I'm in germany aswell and we (5 people) have roundabout 22.000 kwh per year (everything is electrified here, and not in a good way - electric heating instead of heatpump based for example). Though his house seems quite a bit smaller than ours -> we got basement split into living space + garage, 1st floor living space, 2nd floor living space (roof begins there aswell) and the attic which also has some rooms.
Resistive Heating is a bitch, in terms of heating efficiency. Guess the only thing that saves us from a more horrible bill is that my grandpa went completely nuts on the wall thickness on basement + 1st floor (between 30 - 40 cm). Some energy saving experts who my parents asked a few years back even said "Nah, wall insulation makes no sense here". But then again there was no assesment done on how much energy was lost through all other openings like windows and doors.
Edit: He says he got "Electric Baseboard heat" at around 0:15 so I guess it's using resistive heating in some way.
Solar is costly compared to hydro-power. Hydro-projects have a target cost of $0,25 per kWh annual productions. @FrugalRepair system cost is $16,045/ 19,371 kWh = $0,82/kWh. That is more than 3 times the cost of Hydro! From an economical standpoint, solar is way too expensive at the moment.
Why wouldn’t you install batteries for the excess? Is that a cost issue?
Oklahoma sucks. If I recall you can carry excess credit one month, not an entire year. My electric company does allow you to switch to wind energy. It costs an extra 2-5 dollars per month but I can claim that my EV is wind powered 😁
That’s too bad that’s the rule there.
Damn, your electricity costs are only about .093 cent a kWh. It's currently 0.24 cent my part of the world, and likely to be at least 0.28 cent in another month.
Was there a reason for having the array off-center on the main roof..?
Yes, it’s because of the roof trusses and where the mounts need to go. I had some wiggle room to choose but I wanted the one side to be snug because I could walk on the garage roof. And have more room on the other side where I could walk if needed.
I want solar but there's no way I can afford the upfront cost. Even if I built the system to be easily expandable, the cost would still be $8K minimal to get up and going and that only about 3-4KW.
Tesla 4 KW system will cost you $6491 after the federal tax rebate. State rebates may be additional savings if available.
You also have the option of leasing it instead of buying with no upfront cost . Leasing also will save you some money over regular power bill, but owning the panels save you more and payback period is generally 4-5 years depending upon electricity rate that you pay to the power company.
How u do the tax 30% credit?
Seems you got a great trade-off with a financial return of investments of 6 maybe even 5 years. It does mean you have to pay the prices the power company dictates if you keep using the grid. Credits seems mediocre to me. A battery would be cheaper to install and compensate for that at night. A company could go bankrupt or rogue and you need re-investing to maintain your leases. The term OF GRID does not apply here. Helping neighbors is nice, but a risk for them if they don't understand what your doing. Your video is impressive though.
Perhaps I’m misunderstanding but batteries are way more expensive than using 1-1 net metering with the utility. In my situation, you’d never get batteries unless you were hedging against a power outage.
SunPower M series is a good panel?
Sunpower are highly rated panels.
Do you have any upfront costs to be eligible for SRECs? In Finland it costs a total of 400 € per installation to validate and register it in order to receive any Guarantees of Origin (the certificate equivalent to SRECs). Therefore it is not cost effective for installations with less than 1 MVA or so output.
No, there are no upfront costs nor any ongoing costs.
been thinking about it but dont know. i'd mess it up lol love the idea tho have been and will keep watching thanks for videos
Thanks for watching!
Good diy solar cell
what about mission solar vs panasonic.?
It’s hard to answer that because there are many details to consider and compare to.
I live in the 'Texas Hill Country', out of Kerrville, and have a 38 KW System (Professionally) installed. I am getting Screwed by my Electric Co. because they don't pay me 'Squat' for the electricity I produce, And we continue getting electric bills, so I want my panels to Power my house. Would I need an inverter to do this? I Hate the idea of having to buy batteries. Can you, or Anyone, Please help me.....?
Additional Info: Each of my panels have Enphase Microinverters on them.
Without a net metering agreement with the utility, I’m not sure how you can get anything for your extra KWHs you send to the grid. You would then need batteries to store the excess and use it at night or when the sun isn’t out.
@@FrugalRepair Thank you Very Much. Any ideas on what batteries would be the Best, but less Expensive?