A couple of members asked about the solar system on our house, so here goes:
We talked to 3 different companies and got conflicting advice, so choose your company carefully, the most professional and the one who volunteered to do all the paperwork was Eco Technolgies Inc here in Sarasota. They took my last 12 months utility bills and worked out a 'net zero' system for me.
We did not want battery back-up as that would have required about 35-40 marine batteries (read big! and cost about $130 a piece) which would need to be replaced every 3 years. The 'net zero' system requires a bi-directional electricity meter and in Florida the utility companies are obliged by law to provide one on request. The charge for installing the meter was $400 but the paperwork and hassle to get it done was something else - we were really happy to have a good company taking care of things for us. (The power company really didn't seem to want to be helpful - OMG!)
We produce too much electricity during daylight hours, so the bi-directional meter runs backwards giving us a 'credit' and when we stop producing power (at night) the meter runs forwards as normal using the 'credit' we built up during the day. Some months we use more power than others (we have no heating here, but we do run the AC almost all year) so the target is to 'net zero' by the end of the year; some months I will have a small electricity bill (last month $7.04) and it looks like this month (being sunnier) the utility company will owe me about $20.00.
Spec's: PhotoVoltaic Module System - Total System Size - 19 kW System includes: (100) SunTech STP190 Modules and (100) EnPhase Micro Inverters.
Note: PV systems require inverters and you can run about 13-18 panels through one of the "old-style" inverters. These inverters weigh 30-40lbs each and we would have needed 6 of them about the size of a small suitcase. They have to be wall mounted and ideally indoors or in a weather resistant cabinet outside. However, if there is a fault on one PV panel you may never know and you wouldn't know which panel was the problem. This is why we went for the micro inverters, one on each panel, and about the size and weight of a hardback book. They have a NEMA 6P rating which means they will operate even underwater and we could fit them under each panel on the roof. There is a connection to my home pc where I can see the perfomance and power output of all panels and a built in alert system should one of them not be producing properly. (For more on this sytem, see my post here)
Cost: $117,342 including taxes, installation etc. There is a 30% Federal Tax deduction so the real cost is less. Previously we were paying about $5,000 a year in electricity bills and now we are adding EV's that would have increased somewhat. I know the payback would still be about 16 years but the reality is a great sense of freedom and the house value has increased by more than $100,000. Now we also managed to finance this work through my bank for 0.75% so and the return on investment runs about 6.25% (tax free!) annually so I can argue it makes financial sense also. The truth is that you don't make this sort of investment expecting a 5 year payback but who buys a Roadster on that basis? :wink:
One last point: we were obliged here (this may well vary by State) to add $1,000,000 liability insurance to our current house policy. The cost for us was about an extra $100 per year.
Here's some pics:
Racking and inverters (tip; we set it as close to the roof as possible to prevent wind issues - this is hurricane country after all!)
Starting the install
Job half completed
Final look (the excess racking was trimmed off to give a more aesthetic look)
We talked to 3 different companies and got conflicting advice, so choose your company carefully, the most professional and the one who volunteered to do all the paperwork was Eco Technolgies Inc here in Sarasota. They took my last 12 months utility bills and worked out a 'net zero' system for me.
We did not want battery back-up as that would have required about 35-40 marine batteries (read big! and cost about $130 a piece) which would need to be replaced every 3 years. The 'net zero' system requires a bi-directional electricity meter and in Florida the utility companies are obliged by law to provide one on request. The charge for installing the meter was $400 but the paperwork and hassle to get it done was something else - we were really happy to have a good company taking care of things for us. (The power company really didn't seem to want to be helpful - OMG!)
We produce too much electricity during daylight hours, so the bi-directional meter runs backwards giving us a 'credit' and when we stop producing power (at night) the meter runs forwards as normal using the 'credit' we built up during the day. Some months we use more power than others (we have no heating here, but we do run the AC almost all year) so the target is to 'net zero' by the end of the year; some months I will have a small electricity bill (last month $7.04) and it looks like this month (being sunnier) the utility company will owe me about $20.00.
Spec's: PhotoVoltaic Module System - Total System Size - 19 kW System includes: (100) SunTech STP190 Modules and (100) EnPhase Micro Inverters.
Note: PV systems require inverters and you can run about 13-18 panels through one of the "old-style" inverters. These inverters weigh 30-40lbs each and we would have needed 6 of them about the size of a small suitcase. They have to be wall mounted and ideally indoors or in a weather resistant cabinet outside. However, if there is a fault on one PV panel you may never know and you wouldn't know which panel was the problem. This is why we went for the micro inverters, one on each panel, and about the size and weight of a hardback book. They have a NEMA 6P rating which means they will operate even underwater and we could fit them under each panel on the roof. There is a connection to my home pc where I can see the perfomance and power output of all panels and a built in alert system should one of them not be producing properly. (For more on this sytem, see my post here)
Cost: $117,342 including taxes, installation etc. There is a 30% Federal Tax deduction so the real cost is less. Previously we were paying about $5,000 a year in electricity bills and now we are adding EV's that would have increased somewhat. I know the payback would still be about 16 years but the reality is a great sense of freedom and the house value has increased by more than $100,000. Now we also managed to finance this work through my bank for 0.75% so and the return on investment runs about 6.25% (tax free!) annually so I can argue it makes financial sense also. The truth is that you don't make this sort of investment expecting a 5 year payback but who buys a Roadster on that basis? :wink:
One last point: we were obliged here (this may well vary by State) to add $1,000,000 liability insurance to our current house policy. The cost for us was about an extra $100 per year.
Here's some pics:
Racking and inverters (tip; we set it as close to the roof as possible to prevent wind issues - this is hurricane country after all!)
Starting the install
Job half completed
Final look (the excess racking was trimmed off to give a more aesthetic look)
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