Solar Panels

[Anonymous]

PP who has researched the issue: what are the best brands of solar panels? We are looking to take the plunge as well! Our electric bill also averages only $80 per month (if that) and we are wondering if it is even worth it at this point to get the panels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP who has researched the issue: what are the best brands of solar panels? We are looking to take the plunge as well! Our electric bill also averages only $80 per month (if that) and we are wondering if it is even worth it at this point to get the panels.

I am the PP, but it isn't me who has done the research - it is one of my husbands coworkers. In your case, depending on the size of your roof, you may generate enough to go off the grid altogether and actually be able to sell back to Pepco. It also can increase the value of your home. The company he ended up going with was solargaines and getting the 275W panels. My husband and I are just starting to research this - so we haven't compared the different panels yet. I know degradation rate was one factor that my husbands coworker took into consideration (along with cost). With the increase on the grid rate that Pepco is proposing, it sounds like people who lease the panels will soon realize even less savings than anticipated. I do recommend purchasing outright (at least if you are in Maryland) to get the State and Federal Tax credits.

[Anonymous]

Most solar companies won't bother to even return your calls if you live in VA...no incentives.

[Anonymous]

Don't worry about 'going off the grid all together.' With PEPCO, any surplus you have in one month carries over to the other month. Effectively you are selling to PEPCO at the retail rate. However, every April PEPCO zeros out your surplus KWhs by paying you the wholesale rate. Which is not as good as retail.

[Anonymous]

How much of an investment are solar panels? Ball park? Is there an easy way to estimate? And if you have invested in buying them, what kind of an impact have they had on your electricity bills?

[Anonymous]

You can get quick quotes online or look at market reports from NREL. Around 3 to 4 dollars per watt installed. Go to PVWatts and calculate how much energy you can produce with your roof.

Then like any investment do a present value calculation of the income flows including incentives.

I'm expecting to offset just over half of my energy use (small roof) with about a 5.5 year break-even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most solar companies won't bother to even return your calls if you live in VA...no incentives.

Just got a quote for a 10+kW system. About $32K after tax incentive.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We are about to make the plunge.

My DH is an engineer and works with a lot of similar minded people who have researched the heck out of it.


Avoid Solar City and other places that lease the panels. Quality is not good and they degrade at a much faster rate.
It is more economical to purchase them than to lease them (but obviously the initial outlay is higher) including tax credits
There are low cost/low rate HUD Financing opportunities that are available

I forgot the kind of panels that were suggested- but avoiding the ones made in China sticks out in my head (again it is a degradation issue- which will shorten the longevity of the panels).

Disagree that the quality isn't as good - it's in Solar City's financial interest to make sure the qualities are good quality and won't degrade because Solar City owns the panels and is responsible for all maintenance. It is true you don't get to take advantage of the tax incentives though, Solar City takes those since they own the panels. Pros and cons to both but its similar to leasing vs buying a car.. you aren't getting a crappier car because you lease.

The information about Solar City was given to my husband by an engineer who heavily researched it (he went into details about which ones degrade by how much over what period of time). Bottom line, the ones that were made cheaper (including Solar City) were not as good as others out there.

Your logic is flawed in applying the lease analogy. You can lease a Ford or you can lease a Lexus - the quality is different based on the manufacturer that builds it.

I think you misunderstood PP. I think meaning was you can buy or lease a Ford; you get the same Ford. You can buy or lease a Lexus: you get the same Lexus.

I understand that. But he was implying that because Solar City owns it, they are going to buy the best out there. That is not necessarily true. They are going to do what makes economical sense for them. You may get a Ford, a Lexus or heack, you may even get a Yugo. It is best to research WHICH panels are going in - not all panels are created equal.

New Poster: Yeah but caveat emptor! Using your example: a Lexus is just an expensive Toyota!

It's better to shop around and have multiple choices. I am glad to hear different views of Solar City because it so aggressively markets in my neighborhood and it seems to good to be true. Thanks everybody!

LOL! It is better to shop around!

With regard to Solar City - the basic 'issues' were that they use Chinese panels that are about 200W each - so for the particular scenario (keep in mind these guys are engineers) the roof would only fit an 8kW system (barely saving $20 a month with the lease). Solargaines sells the system outright and you get to pick the panel - they have one that is 275kW - essentially allowing the same roof to carry an 11.8 kW system PLUS the Maryland Solar Credits (SRECs) and the tax credits.

Bottom line, with the Solar City system, the net savings was about $20/month. With Solargaines, net savings is substantially higher (I think it was closer to $200). Plus there is the whole degradation issue. AS I mentioned earlier, we are just starting to look into this ourselves - and we are still researching it. We just happen to have some technical friends who did a substantial amount of research already- so we are using that as our jumping off point.

I am also hearing that it is taking PEPCO almost 6 months to approve some of the requests for Solar Panels and that they trying to increase the grid fee (currently at $8) to $32 (essentially wiping out the savings for leased panels).

I wonder if Consumer Reports rates Solar Panels yet - I would love to see an unbiased reporting of good versus bad.

How much electricity do you use? We have a 4.32kW system that saved us $50 a month (it basically covers 60-70 percent of the electricity we use each month). It seems hard to believe a system twice as large would yield such low savings.

Though we also had no ongoing monthly payments to SolarCity -- we did a fully prepaid 20-year lease that, after the company credited us for the D.C. REIP incentive, only cost us $1,800 up front.