So, someone from Costco’s partner solar company came by, said it would cost about $200/mo to pay off my panels and battery and installation over 10 years. I pay about $250/mo over the year (sometimes A LOT more, requiring far more power at certain times than the panels and battery can provide – I mean the A/C).
Wondering if it is a good deal.
I’d have to put these panels over Spanish tiles (JSM: “flex”), which are 40 years old, but last 80.
So, who has solar panels for electricity, and how are they working?
It’s going to depend on your electric company and how they pay you for your excess production.
My company (Lincoln Electric) buys back my electricity at the same cost that they charge me…except that if I produce more than I use in a month, they keep the excess, so my electric bill may go down to zero, but they’ll never cut me a check.
In summer months, I produce about 80% of what I need. In non-a/c-months, I produce 100-120% of what I need. The solar panel company helped me choose how many panels to install based on my past electric usage in order to maximize the value.
I paid for the whole thing up front instead of financing it. Based on my mad excel skills I projected a ~3% ROE. This assumed that rates won’t go up. Although rates have been lower, Mr. Buttlicker, there’s a really good chance that they’ll increase substantially because Texas in which case my return should improve.
I don’t have enough history to determine if my projections are coming true or if it was all a big façade. I’ll try to remember the check in eight or so months from now.
The company said 'this many is what you need." My Electric Company, Kennedy Electric, won’t give me money back if plaster my whole roof with panels that makes power I won’t ever use. I’d be getting only half the roof (it’s a very long SE-facing roof) plastered, 13 panels instead of 22 or so. I might ask for one or two more on the expectation that we buy an EV in the future. So, the formula, I think, is, “whatever you used in the past year, you can generate that much, but that’s it.” So, some months I’d have a credit and some months I’d pay. And the battery is the big deal, assuming I can figure out what I want to keep on (two fridges in different places, my office stuff, assuming i’ll have internet, TV).
If it faced the other direction, I’d definitely look into putting panels on the south side of the roof. I could put them on the North side but I’ve read they are less useful if not in full sun most of the day.
And?
Are you not allowed to put them up in the front?
Or do you think it will “look bad” relative to the neighborhood?
Or, just personal preference?
Would you install Tesla solar roof (provided they actually work) that looks like a regular roof?
Mine would be in the front. Most houses here have them wherever the south and/or west face (less fog in the afternoon vs morning) is.
So, here is something I read about in Time magazine… (waiting N of an R…)
Just sold my mom’s home that had leased panels (Mom, talk to me first!!), and one of the sticklers were the leased panels. Nice deal, though: $35/month for all the electricity you want, until the company goes belly up, of course.
IMO, the leasing is backward: you want to use MY roof? Then lease it from me! I mean, I wouldn’t own the panels on MY roof. Why would I put them there unless someone was paying me? Why would someone put them there unless they would generate enough power to pay the lease plus some profit? Well, there is a reason why they don’t: there are too many suckers out there to swindle first.
One, of course they packaged up the leases into bonds and sold them. I never thought about it but of course they did.
Two, I’m still hoping for solar in a year or two and while I was really planning on using a local shop anyway, now I know to not even call these big leasing outfits.
Another reason for companies pushing leases are/were rebates given by state govts for producing electric. The rebates pretty much covered the cost of the panels and then you the consumer paying you a set rate for the electricity, which is the cherry on top.
Now that solar has gained traction some states cut back on the producing incentives which took all the fun out of leasing.
Excellent video showing the installation of floating solar panels. They cover a retaining pond which slows down evaporation, reduces algae growth, provides shelter for fish and the temperature of the pond keeps the solar panels cooler and more efficient.
My MIL sent me a Facebook link last night, which I’ll paste below. There is a discussion of adding a solar farm maybe 5-10 miles from them, I assume that’s why this is circulating. My very simple explanation to her was that yes, black things get hotter. Like a dark roof, or an asphalt parking lot. So a solar farm won’t impact anything more than their local mall with its huge expanse of asphalt around it. I’m not sure if she bought it or not.
Article
As more & more counties get more solar farms…here’s some truth about solar farms.
From a STEPHENVILLE resident, George Franklin:
I should start by telling you what bonafides I have for writing this. I am a retired aerospace engineer. A literal rocket scientist if you will. I worked on MX (Peacekeeper) Space Shuttle, Hubble, Brilliant Pebbles, PACOSS, Space Station, MMU, B2, the Sultan of Brunei’s half billion dollar private 747 with crystal showers, gold sinks and 100 dollar a yard coiffed silk carpets. I designed a satphone installation on prince Jeffry’s 757. I did all of the design work for the structure of Mark 1V propulsion module currently flying on at least 3 spacecraft that I know of. Some of the more exciting projects I have worked on are not shareable. My personal projects include a spin fishing reel with a 4.5 inch spool which is entirely my own designed, machined and assembled. It has 2 features that are patentable. A unique true flat level wind and a unique line pickup mechanism. I am also am FAA certified glider pilot and FAI certified gold glider pilot. I fly both full scale and model sailplanes. I am Microsoft certified and ComTIA A+ certified.
Solar panels are at best about 20% efficient. They convert almost 0% of the UV light that hits them. None of the visible spectrum and only some of the IR spectrum. At the same time as they are absorbing light they are absorbing heat from the sun. This absorbed heat is radiated into the adjacent atmosphere. It should be obvious what happens next. When air is warmed it rises. Even small differences in ordinary land surfaces are capable of creating powerful forces of weather like thunderstorms and tornadoes. These weather phenomena are initiated and reinforced by land features as they are blown downwind. It is all too obvious to me what will happen with the heat generated by an entire solar farm. Solar farms will become thunderstorm and tornado incubators and magnets.
Solar panels are dark and and they emit energy to the space above them when they are not being radiated. This is known as black-body radiation. Satellites flying in space use this phenomenon to cool internal components. If they didn’t do this they would fry themselves.
So solar farms not only produce more heat in summer than the original land that they were installed on, but they also produce more cooling in winter, thus exacerbating weather extremes.
So I conclude with this. There is nothing green about green energy except the dirty money flowing into corrupt pockets.
There is no such thing as green energy. The science doesn’t exist. The technology doesn’t exist. The engineering doesn’t exist. We are being pushed to save the planet with solutions that are worse than the problems.
In summary, while there are valid points about the efficiency and local environmental impacts of solar farms, the broader claims about their overall negative impact and the non-existence of green energy are not supported by current scientific evidence. Renewable energy remains a critical component of sustainable development
So, he designed a phone on a rich guy’s plane and is too stupid to work out how to take out a patent on some fishing stuff that he invented. But you have to listen to him about green energy.
