Solar Panels - Lease or Own

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PV cells degrade with age and lose efficiency. Plus they are hazmats and VERY difficult and expensive to properly and ethically dispose of.

Lease them. Let the vendor worry about the hassle and expense of dealing with them when they are worn out.

Their expected life is more than 20 years, which is probably longer than your expected time owning the house, since most Americans move every seven years, on average.

is that like the expected life of my light bulbs that last a year tops?

[Anonymous]

we leased for 30 yrs. Also put in a new and improved roof (withstands higher wind speed) before solar installation. I did not want to own the solar panel. I did not want to maintain it. I did not want to care about it if a hurricane blew the solar panel and the roof away. The lease agreement guaranteed a minimum level of production each day. The company updated tech, put squirrel guard when squirrels started to nest under the panels etc. . By the time 30 years will end, there will be new tech and a need for new roof. I can live with that.

[Anonymous]

Hi- Ive just started researching this myself. We are getting a new roof so seems like the right time to do this. Is there anything different we should ask the roofers to do?

Also- my neighbors have used Solar City and have had good experiences however I did not realize Musk bought them. Have service levels changed with new ownership? Any other recommendations on providers?

[Anonymous]

So I see the SREC credits for DC. Does VA have any good incentives? I have looked into panels in the past, but Dominion didn't offer anything good.

[Anonymous]

Can someone talk about what installation means to your roof? Does it damage the roof or increase water leak risks or higher maintenance costs??

[Anonymous]

Leasing makes it very difficult to sell your house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leasing makes it very difficult to sell your house

Please expand? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leasing makes it very difficult to sell your house

Depends on the terms of the lease. We had a fully prepaid 20-year lease on panels on a house we sold a few years ago; that was no issue at all, because the new owners didn't have to assume any payments, they just got cheaper electricity. Transferring the lease was easy, too, just another form in the closing/maybe 10 minutes of phone calls and emails to set it all up.

I can see where a lease that involves ongoing payments might be an issue for some buyers, though usually even with the payments, you're still saving money on electricity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone talk about what installation means to your roof? Does it damage the roof or increase water leak risks or higher maintenance costs??

My roofer said it will technically void the warranty on your roof if you have one, but that it’s nothing to worry about. He said the anchors they use now don’t cause any leak issues and if anything the solar panels protect the roof.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone talk about what installation means to your roof? Does it damage the roof or increase water leak risks or higher maintenance costs??

My roofer said it will technically void the warranty on your roof if you have one, but that it’s nothing to worry about. He said the anchors they use now don’t cause any leak issues and if anything the solar panels protect the roof.

If you're in a rowhouse or a townhouse and your roof has parapet walls, they generally just hang beams to attach the panels to -- nothing needs to penetrate the roof at all.