ITT We Discuss Rooftop Solar

Kevin · #1 01-30-2022, 11:43 PM

Hey folks, I recently had rooftop solar put on my house. Went through a pretty thorough bidding process and ended up with a 14kW Enphase system with a 10kWh battery. The plan is to add an EV to the garage within the next year or so and just opt out of increasing gasoline prices entirely, generating my own fuel.

If anyone has been thinking about it and has questions, fire away.

summer_gphib · #2 01-31-2022, 08:47 AM

We actually looked into it-- but after talking to a friend of ours who has been in real estate for many years, we decided to not move forward. She had told us that she'd never seen a house with rooftop panels that didn't have roof damage from the installation. And being that we are in Florida, solar is very popular here, so she's seen a lot of it.
It also wouldn't save us any money for a long, long time. The price of the panels would be almost exactly what I'm paying for my energy bill now. And I still have to pay Duke Energy a monthly fee. (A small one, but still annoying.)

AZ-AlphaXi · #3 01-31-2022, 12:16 PM

about 8 years ago, we put in solar. We needed a carport, so we built a steel structure and put the solar cells there instead of the roof. We have two electric cars, both of which plug in. We were able to use the IRS solar credit to off set another IRS liability.

Kevin · #4 02-01-2022, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by summer_gphib

We actually looked into it-- but after talking to a friend of ours who has been in real estate for many years, we decided to not move forward. She had told us that she'd never seen a house with rooftop panels that didn't have roof damage from the installation. And being that we are in Florida, solar is very popular here, so she's seen a lot of it.
It also wouldn't save us any money for a long, long time. The price of the panels would be almost exactly what I'm paying for my energy bill now. And I still have to pay Duke Energy a monthly fee. (A small one, but still annoying.)

That's definitely a concern going forward. So it's probably a pretty good idea to have a roofer take a look. The roof was only 3 months old when the solar panels were put on.

We did it more for future proofing, i.e., the cost of energy consistently goes up, so if I can lock in at what I'm paying now, there's a lot of upside on the back end of the investment.

And being able to with an EV opt out of paying for gasoline. I probably put $300-$400 in my tank every month as I have to drive all across the state for court.

summer_gphib · #5 02-01-2022, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin

That's definitely a concern going forward. So it's probably a pretty good idea to have a roofer take a look. The roof was only 3 months old when the solar panels were put on.

We did it more for future proofing, i.e., the cost of energy consistently goes up, so if I can lock in at what I'm paying now, there's a lot of upside on the back end of the investment.

And being able to with an EV opt out of paying for gasoline. I probably put $300-$400 in my tank every month as I have to drive all across the state for court.

I would love an EV, but we can't swing it right now-- but the thought of not having to pay for gasoline sounds divine. Of course, now that we are both permanent work-from-home, we use a lot less gas. We are purchasing a new Ford Explorer, and there was an electric option, but it wouldn't be able to tow our camper with that, making it unrealistic. (And we get huge discounts from Ford-- we are getting it at about 4,000 under MSRP when most dealers are over MSRP quite a bit, so I'll take that as a win!)

Kevin · #6 02-01-2022, 06:32 PM

Yeah, and if you do an electric Ford, your dealership is probably marketing it up $10K+ right now, so there's that. The Lightening, if it ever goes into mass production looks pretty sweet. 10,000 lb tow capacity. The GM Silverado claims 13K.

I don't really need that. I just need a daily driver that can get me all over Oklahoma for court appearances. Even now, when I go out to the sticks, I'm making mental note of where charging stations are. Probably thinking a Model 3 or Y.

PKT4LIFE · #7 02-01-2022, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by summer_gphib

We actually looked into it-- but after talking to a friend of ours who has been in real estate for many years, we decided to not move forward. She had told us that she'd never seen a house with rooftop panels that didn't have roof damage from the installation. And being that we are in Florida, solar is very popular here, so she's seen a lot of it.
It also wouldn't save us any money for a long, long time. The price of the panels would be almost exactly what I'm paying for my energy bill now. And I still have to pay Duke Energy a monthly fee. (A small one, but still annoying.)

Here in Cali, solar is very popular due to electrical rates being high (PG&E raised their rates a lot due to the wild fires and law suits). However in sunny Florida, solar is not. I was told that the Florida energy companies do not want solar power so they set the electrical rates very low so that it's almost impossible to recover the cost of installing solar. My South Florida condo electrical bill is about $45-50 a month (summer time) and that's running air conditioning too.

Low D Flat · #8 02-01-2022, 11:56 PM

We're planning to buy a place out in the desert southwest, and maxing out the solar and getting a plug-in car is a no-brainer for us. We expect it will save us money, but we don't need to come out ahead financially to feel like it's a good investment. Being energy independent and minimizing our polluting are major pluses for us on top of the potential cost savings.

summer_gphib · #9 02-02-2022, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PKT4LIFE

Here in Cali, solar is very popular due to electrical rates being high (PG&E raised their rates a lot due to the wild fires and law suits). However in sunny Florida, solar is not. I was told that the Florida energy companies do not want solar power so they set the electrical rates very low so that it's almost impossible to recover the cost of installing solar. My South Florida condo electrical bill is about $45-50 a month (summer time) and that's running air conditioning too.

That's probably true-- it just didn't make financial sense, especially considering our roof is not old (we built the home in 2018) and didn't want to risk possibly having to replace it. Our energy bill runs about $200 a month for 2200 sq. ft. We have a hot tub that I know takes a lot of energy, but we use it regularly so it's worth it. I believe the solar panels themselves would end up costing about $245 a month, and we'd still have to pay a fee to Duke Energy. In theory, I'd love to have them!

navane · #10 02-02-2022, 09:19 PM

The California Public Utilities Commission is now looking to eliminate several of the benefits of owning solar. The proposed changes include charging higher fees to solar owners to access the grid and buying the extra energy generated by solar owners at much less than previously.

This is typical for government and California in particular. They screamed “Save the earth! Everyone should stop using fossil fuels and go solar! It costs thousands of dollars to install solar, but we’ll give you an incentive to do it! Do it for the children!!!!!” So people went and got solar. Several years later, the utility companies realized they’re not taking in as money as they used to. Now it’s “Uh…..you need to pay your ‘fair share’ for….uh…..accessing the grid.”

They’re doing this to us with cars and highways as well. They wanted people to drive electric cars….do it for the environment!!! People went and got EV and hybrid cars. Then the state started losing money on gas sales. Now they want to tax us for every mile we drive (true story).

Kevin · #11 02-03-2022, 09:41 AM

What's your grid connect fee like in Cali? In OKC, it's $12/month. If you don't invest in a 2-3 battery system, the availability of net metering allows you to use your overproduction at a later time. That's a pretty valuable service.

In theory, I have no problem paying a mileage tax so long as it's close to what I'd be paying on fuel. EVs are generally heavier than ICE vehicles, so they would cause more wear and tear on the road.

navane · #12 02-05-2022, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin

What's your grid connect fee like in Cali? In OKC, it's $12/month. If you don't invest in a 2-3 battery system, the availability of net metering allows you to use your overproduction at a later time. That's a pretty valuable service.

I don't have solar and some of the news articles aren't clear. It appears that the current grid connect fees are around$10-20/month and the solar owners can sell their excess energy production back to the utility company. However, the new proposal wants to increase the grid access fee to $40-60/month.

Quote:

In theory, I have no problem paying a mileage tax so long as it's close to what I'd be paying on fuel. EVs are generally heavier than ICE vehicles, so they would cause more wear and tear on the road

California already has outrageous gas prices. We have the highest prices in the nation. Today's average for regular grade gas is $4.672!!! In 2017, the voters approved a measure to increase our gas tax "...designed to raise about $5.4 billion a year for highways, bridges, transit and local roads." So, we already agreed to a tax to "pay for roads". Now, all of a sudden, the gas tax isn't enough? They charge us $4.67/gallon AND they want to charge us a per mile tax on top of that?? GTFO