NGC Solar Powering a home?

[John Ulrich]

What's your experience?  Costco is hooked up with Sunrun Solar  They quoted me $8,500 for a 2.61 KW system to power a winter home.  I'll get credits in the summer from the utility when I'm not here and use the credits & output in the winter when I'm here. 

Anyone have actual experience with this company thru Costco?

[Kev m]

Ask Jay (JAS67). He seems pretty fanboy about his sometimes.

Despite the fact that it's like a 30 year payout and he still needs a generator when the grid goes down.

But maybe they're better now.

[Arizona Wayne]

What's your experience?  Costco is hooked up with Sunrun Solar  They quoted me $8,500 for a 2.61 KW system to power a winter home.  I'll get credits in the summer from the utility when I'm not here and use the credits & output in the winter when I'm here. 

Not familiar with this system but just decided to not go solar here in Arizona because my house is not all electric.  I have electric & propane for heat/water heater.  As for the credits at my co-op electric co., sure they would give me credits for excess solar I didn't use but not at the same value of what they charge you as a customer to buy it, so they make $ off of that too.  If a house is not all electric it's not worth it, IMHO.  And like said, if the power co. goes down so does your power unless you have backup.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Just park your Tesla in the garage and plug into that. Is charging up electric cars still free?
It was here in Canada.

[Texas Turnip]

OToh I've had a solar powered clothes dryer all my life. I did have a line break one time because of a heavy load and high wind.

Tex

[John Ulrich]

OToh I've had a solar powered clothes dryer all my life. I did have a line break one time because of a heavy load and high wind.

Tex

HOA rules prevent line drying....apparentl y the neighbors don't care for the smell.

All electric.
payback in 6 years estimated.
The utility is changing the power buyback July 1st to a lower price.  If I do it now I'm grandfathered for 20 yrs.

[Triple Jim]

Some information on Sunrun:

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/solar-energy/sunrun.html

[Adk.IBO]

HOA rules prevent line drying....apparentl y the neighbors don't care for the smell.

...you're supposed to hang them out after they're washed...

[twhitaker]

My brother has a system in SC that provides about 1/3 of his needs.

[canuck750]

All of our municipal clients want us to specify Solar Photovoltaic systems on their new buildings. There are small government incentives here for municipalities to employ the systems. Our electrical engineers always have the same conclusion, its a feel good thing, but the actual pay back cost is more like 12 ~ 15 years by which time the technology will have been substantially upgraded. Our university and energy industry clients spec the systems more for marketing their green stewardship than any other reason. Personally I would hold off for another 3 ~ 5 years. There is a huge spread in quality, life cycle cost, adaptability etc. in the many systems on the market today. Wen I purchased the office building my business is in I contemplated installing a system given I had to re-roof and replace my electrical distribution but the numbers did not work for a 10 year pay back on capital.

[Pancake]

The technology is moving quickly, but this is mostly in storage and grid inverters. Existing panels are pretty good panels and very reliable. I fitted some thin film panels on a house in London, these have a lower sicker efficiency compared to silicon wafer based panels but the measuring process doesn't give the full picture making them compare unfavourably with silicon. They are 'flashed' with 1000Watts/m2, equivalent to the sun, and their voltage and current measured at that point. The thin film ones actually have light doping effect in that their efficiency goes up after a period of exposure.

The clients put chairs in the basement to watch their meter go backwards. It soon wound it back to below their previous meter reading.

As they have not been around as long as crystalline PV panels their durability is not as certain. Their is little you can buy that has a 25 year guarantee, which is what the best crystalline and hybrid panels have.

[John Ulrich]

Some information on Sunrun:

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/solar-energy/sunrun.html

Thanks Jim,  This mirrors other reviews I've seen. 
My interest was peaked last weekend when two friends were over who both purchased homes with existing solar systems already installed.  One pays $7.00 a month, the other $13.00 for accounting charges. I like the sound of that, but the "mass market sold" system sounds like a gamble. 

Thanks everyone!

[rodekyll]

HOA rules prevent line drying....apparentl y the neighbors don't care for the smell.

All electric.
payback in 6 years estimated.
The utility is changing the power buyback July 1st to a lower price.  If I do it now I'm grandfathered for 20 yrs.

I'd NEVER live anywhere with an HOA.  WTF are they doing sniffing your shorts?

[Adk.IBO]

I'd NEVER live anywhere with an HOA.  WTF are they doing sniffing your shorts?

 :1:

[Triple Jim]

I'd NEVER live anywhere with an HOA.  WTF are they doing sniffing your shorts?

I occasionally stayed in a company provided condo a few years back.  Some rules I remember:

* No vehicles with advertising on them (company trucks, etc.)
* No hanging of anything outside to dry, including beach towels on the porch railings, etc..
* No boats on trailers in view
* No motorcycles!  If someone rode in on one, it had to be parked outside the gate at the guardhouse and you either walked from there or got someone to pick you up.

I thought about going to a thrift store and buying a ton of underwear of all kinds, and stringing it all up between a couple trees on the golf course at about three in the morning, so I could watch the fun later that day.

[Luap McKeever]

Funny this should come up. We're 12 days into converting our home with a 17.64KwH system.  Rather large, but my goal is ZERO electric bill. Our utility company has been squeezing me long enough. Had this house been built only 1 county over, the electric bill would average $150 vs our $300 per month.  For us, it would have been stupid to not convert.  The local solar company offers zero down and no payments for 18 months, plus you get 30% of the total system cost back in tax rebate.

Anyhow, after only 12 days, we've generated roughly 1000 KWH.  At $.10 per KW, easy to see that we've already knocked our bill down this month by $100 for only 1/3 of this month.

Yes, it can be a long term pay off.  But the way I look at it, you're going to be using electricity anyways.  So, why rent it when you can OWN it.  Our plan is calculated at 25 years (at one rate that doesn't change), but most people will pay that and then some to a utility company that will continue to raise its rates.  But, we're hoping to pay it off in 5 years. Then, no more electric bill.  By that time, battery technology should be a lot better than now and we can add some batteries and go completely off the grid.  The way it's going and the proposal has us still using about 25% from the grid.  Would sure be nice to go into a hopefully early retirement with no utility bills at all.  We shall see.

The straw that pushed us over the top was the fact that our utility sent us notice that rates will go up 15% in 2018.  That equates about $60 per month for us.  Too much.  Rediculous.  Price gougers.  I hate them.

If you live in AR, OK, MO or KS and are interested in solar, PM me and I can get you in touch with the right people if you like.

Here's a link to the public monitoring site of our home if you'd like to see it:
https://monitoringpublic.solaredge.com/solaredge-web/p/initClient?target=%27site/public?name=McKeever%20Mountain%27#/dashboard

[jas67]

Payback varies greatly by state.

When we put our system in in 2011 SREC (Solar Renewable Energy Credits) were over $300.
That's $300 credit for 1000 KWh, plus the energy cost saves.
So, that's $0.30/KWh + $0.12/KWh (what we pay for electricity here in Central PA).   So, $0.42/KWh.

The 9 KW system we put in was about $25k after tax credits from the Federal & PA governments.

Payback would've been about 7 years, but, a lot of solar capacity in the markets we could sell our SREC's into got put in, including some large commercial systems.     SREC prices dropped to about $15 (per 1000 KWh).    That pushed our payback out to 25-30 years 

We bought at exactly the wrong time.    A few years later, the per KW price of panels has come way down, so, the payback should be shorter for systems put in today.

YMMV.

[LowRyter]

here in Okla you are charged to use the grid with solar.

[Arizona Wayne]

Another option here in Az. is buy or lease. Us older customers find it cheaper to lease, except me who decided to opt out.  Since we belong to a co-op elec. co our cost is already cheaper than for profit elec. co.s.  The only time we pay $100 or more a year for elec. is a couple months in the summer for air conditioning as it is.

[Arizona Wayne]

here in Okla you are charged to use the grid with solar.

Where we are at in Az. You are charged $23 a mo. in other fees even with solar panels.     Our elec. co. discourages you going solar.

[oldbike54]

 Who knew Luap was a hippie 

 Dusty

[Muzz]

here in Okla you are charged to use the grid with solar.

Same here in NZ. Just coming in now.

[John Ulrich]

Another option here in Az. is buy or lease. Us older customers find it cheaper to lease, except me who decided to opt out. 

I've read too many horror stories about leasing.  They over estimate how much your system will produce and you end up locked into a 20 yr lease for twice the monthly payment then your were paying before solar.

[John Ulrich]

I'd NEVER live anywhere with an HOA.

I wanted a HOA.  I don't want to see junk cars in the front yard of my neighbors house, hot pink front doors or a 45ft RV in a 40 ft driveway with garbage cans sitting out.  My wife and I went to our first board meeting a week ago and she commented how tough they were..... I said great, that keeps the complex nice from lazy asses with no manners.   

[Testarossa]

You were quoted $3.26 per watt, which is a decent price (I was quoted $3.30 recently for a 4.6kW system). By all means get competing quotes from other installers. SolarCity does have a pretty good reputation but they're picky about where they want to work -- their business model cuts installation costs (for them) by doing a lot of installs in a concentrated area, usually a suburb, so that one or two crews can do a dozen installs in a week with short travel times. You may have better luck and get much better after-install service by dealing with a local installer instead of a national.

In Minnesota, check out this list of installers:  http://www.mnseia.org/installers

An invaluable (nonprofit) resource is Doug Shoemaker at the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society -- he can point you at reliable info on state incentive, local utility company buy-back rates (called "feed-in tariffs" in the industry) and monthly connect charges.  Your local installer will be able to explain all those issues too, but not always in a concise summary.

Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
2928 5th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Phone: (612) 308-4757
General Inquiries: info@mnrenewables.org

[Arizona Wayne]

I wanted a HOA.  I don't want to see junk cars in the front yard of my neighbors house, hot pink front doors or a 45ft RV in a 40 ft driveway with garbage cans sitting out.  My wife and I went to our first board meeting a week ago and she commented how tough they were..... I said great, that keeps the complex nice from lazy asses with no manners.   

Don't know what state you live in, but have seen much different compliances from different states.  Have seen a shack right next to a mansion in Louisiana.  This kind of thing out west is rare.  So where you live makes a big difference.    I have never had to live in a shabby neighborhood out west like you refer to unless I was in the same boat.  Even then nothing is like Louisiana out this way.  There's no way I would live in a HOA with all their regulations.

[elvisboy77]

HOA rules prevent line drying....apparentl y the neighbors don't care for the smell.

All electric.
payback in 6 years estimated.
The utility is changing the power buyback July 1st to a lower price.  If I do it now I'm grandfathered for 20 yrs.

I would be nervous about the "grandfathering" clause.  In many instances in North Carolina, it does not make economic sense, not even close, unless you include rebates and utilities paying you peak rate for excess generation (back into the grid).

Someone that worked for me put in a 15 kW system, works great but less than a year into it either laws were changed or the utility changed its policy but either way this guy lost his payback, it went to like 40 years - beyond the life of the system. 

The current administration is pretty friendly to the idea of eliminating subsidies from tax money.

Cool stuff but be careful!

[Rough Edge racing]

What's your experience?  Costco is hooked up with Sunrun Solar  They quoted me $8,500 for a 2.61 KW system to power a winter home.  I'll get credits in the summer from the utility when I'm not here and use the credits & output in the winter when I'm here. 

Anyone have actual experience with this company thru Costco?

21 amps at 120 volts is one way to look at it...How much is your average yearly electrical bill?

[blackcat]

The current administration is pretty friendly to the idea of eliminating subsidies from tax money.

With coal coming back, who needs solar power?

[John Ulrich]

The place is located in Scottsdale, AZ.  It's a gated HOA community with many snowbirds.  It's well maintained and great for a part time resident.

I'm gonna pass for now.  Too many "moving parts" right now and leaving in less then a week for MN.