SOLAR INSTALL - FINAL DAY

The 20 solar panels arrived yesterday morning.

The last of 4 installation days began early in the morning, with the arrival of our 230 watt photo voltaic panels. The 3 prior work days of installing the mounting brackets on the roof, all of the conduit & wiring, and the new inverter and associated hardware, preceded the final task of mounting the panels on the roof.

As I've mentioned before, our system is relatively small, primarily due to the fact that on an annual basis, we don't use a lot of energy. When we're gone during the summer, we set the A/C at 90 degrees, and with a well insulated house, it doesn't run that often. During the spring and fall, we go for weeks without using the cooling or heating systems, and during the coldest winter months, the heater doesn't come on that often.

The capacity of this system was designed around our annual usage, and we'll know pretty soon if we indeed cut our electrical bill down to almost nothing. When the guys were finished with the panels on the roof, they temporarily plugged one of their meters into the solar D.C. side of the system, in order to test it's operation. With the inverter on, I watched the Unisource meter start running backwards, as the panels were generating more electricity than the house was consuming. A check of the inverter panel indicated that the system was generating about 4,300 watts (4.3 kilowatts) of electricity. Cool!

On Monday, the city will come by, and do a final inspection. Then, Unisource will install two new meters, and the system will be functional. By the end of next week, we will be an electrical generating plant, sending all of the power back into the grid. By design, our power consumption should equal what we produce. That's the theory at least.

Some of the questions that I'm being asked about solar systems are ones that I was asking a few months ago myself. Here are a few answers.
1. What does it cost? As of Jan 1, 2012, some of the incentives have changed, but to buy the system we just had installed would have cost us $30,130. I chose a 7 year lease, with a buyout at the end of the 7th year. Our cost upfront is $9,286, with an $885 buyout in 7 years. Total investment - approx. 10 grand, and we own the system at the end of the 7 year lease.
2. How much will we save? The system was designed to lower our utility bill to $O. Over the course of 20 years, with an average utility inflation of 4-6%, we will save approx. $31,505. The system is a built in hedge against utility rate increases. When the utility raises the retail rate, they also raise the wholesale rate that they credit us for the electricity that we generate. At our age, looking at savings over a 20 year period might not make a lot of sense, but on a shorter range, the system will be paid for in about 9 years, and our return on investment will be in the 8-9% range. Where today, can you get that kind of return on your money?
3. What kind of warranty comes with the system? Very simple. The performance is guaranteed for 20 years, or we get our money back. 10 year warranty on workmanship.
4. What other cost options are there? Other than our 7 year lease, with an upfront payment, there is also a 7 year lease with no down payment. In our case, the lease payment would have been pretty close to what our monthly utility bill is. The buyout at 7 years, would be close to what we put up front, approx. $10,000. Over time, this would be more expensive, but no capitol would be required up front. As mentioned previously, our other option was to buy the system upfront @ $30,130. Again, some of the rebate rules have changed, so I'm sure most, if not all of these figures have changed.

Watching the Unisource meter on the left run backwards, was almost worth the cost by itself!

This morning, we're off to meet Nancy in Yuma, where she has stayed the last two nights in her new Phaeton Diesel Pusher motor home. For the first time, she'll drive it back here to our house, and stay probably a couple of nights until the wind dies down a little. Hopefully, it won't be too bad on the drive north from Yuma.