The Complete Guide to Solar Panel’s Video
In case you don’t want to read the book below… here’s the movie version. It doesn’t include everything… but hey, you don’t have to read!
Can I Get A Solar Panel System?
Before I decided to get a solar array I had no idea it was such a big deal. But there were a number of things that had to be expertly evaluated before we could even consider putting panels on my roof.First, they had to come out and do a site survey. A engineer had to actually climb up on my roof, take measurements, inspect to see if we have visibility to the south, and use this funky solar pathfinder device to determine the times of day that particular areas would be shaded.
I went up on the roof with him and learned how this worked. It was actually really cool. He went to the four corners of where the solar array was going to be installed with the Solar Pathfinder, and with it point towards the south it has a series of marks on it and a glass dome which reflects anything that would be throwing a shadow. You basically look at the reflection and see what time of day the shadow might affect that spot.
If you’re going to get funding assistance in the form of any kind of rebate, the electric company is going to require that your roof is pointing in the right direction. This means it must be facing south within about a 20 degree window. If they can’t point the panels in that direction, you might as well not do it because your solar generation drops dramatically. Same goes for shade. If you’ve got a building beside you, or trees that tower over the house, you’re done.
Even if your roof points south, and nothing’s blocking the sun you still need to have an engineering survey done to determine if your roof can bear the additional weight! Our massive solar array weighs tons. Literally. Luckily, it only adds about 5-6 pounds per square foot of roof loading, so most roofs should be able to take it.
How Big of a Solar Panel System Do I Need?
This is a tricky decision. For me, there was an upper limit because we were going for a partial rebate and it maxed out at 10kw. So to some extent figuring out what you need is narrowed down by how much room you have and cost. But you also need to take a look at your previous year’s electric bills, find out what your electric rates are, and research what the projected generation will be for the size of system you’re thinking about.Here’s a site to let you calculate production for your location. Just pick your country and state. You’ll come up with an estimate that looks kind of like this:
It’s a royal pain in the ass. So I built a big monster spreadsheet to calculate mine.
To give you a rough ballpark though, our house is over 4,000 sq ft., we’ve got a lot of stuff in there like a pool, two fridges, two A/C units, 7 TVs, and a bunch of electronics, and our 9.5kw system isn’t projected to completely offset our power usage. It would take closer to 14kw in theory.
For an average home of say 2,000 sq ft. you could probably get off the grid with 6-7kw. As far as we’re concerned, since we maxed out on the rebate for this year, we’re considering doing it again next year to be completely self sustaining.
Solar Panel System Tips and Tricks
Oh boy, there is a lot they aren’t telling you! For example, one really good thing is that these systems are mostly guaranteed for 25 years! What isn’t really talked about is that its the solar panels that are warrantied for that long, but the inverters are not. So when you’re doing your ROI calculations you need to include the fact that you’re going to have to spend thousands of dollars somewhere in the middle of the lifecycle for changing out parts.
In my case, the Sunny Boy 8000 will probably last 10-15 years, and a new one currently costs around $3,000 installed.Speaking of the Sunny Boy, I should explain that the reason you need an inverter is that the solar panels put out DC current. This is like the current that comes out of a battery. But houses use AC current. So the inverter takes care of the conversion. There are two different kinds of inverters that are currently in use.
Solar Panel Inverters vs. MicroInverters
Our SunnyBoy 8000 is rated for 8000 watts of incoming power. But due to some sort of magical logic that I can’t understand, its OK that we are actually funneling 9,750 watts into it. Anyway, the thing about inverters like this is that the solar panels must be fed into it using equal sized arrays. In our case three strands of 13 panels each.A normal inverter is going to have a couple of drawbacks when it comes to efficiency. Lets examine just one of our 13 panel arrays. In a string of thirteen 250 watt panels all of the panels will not be putting out the exact same amount of power at the same time. One might be making 99 watts while another is making 105, etc. But since they are all in a single string, the inverter is going to basically dumb them all down to the lowest panels output. That means you’re losing a few watts all the time.
Also, if a single panel in our string of thirteen happens to die, the entire string stops producing altogether. That means if we lose one panel we lose 1/3 of our energy production. Yikes!
How Solar MicroInverters Work
An answer to the efficiency problem comes in the form of micro-inverters. Instead of stringing multiple panels together and putting them through one big inverter, micro-inverters are installed on every single solar panel. This allows each panel to contribute 100% of its production to the home, and if one fails it doesn’t affect the output of any others.Choosing between Inverters and MicroInverters
Each type of inverter has its own benefits. While micro-inverters are more efficient, they are also more costly. In our case they would have added over $2,000 to the installation (which buys a lot of electricity). There would also be 39 inverters and a lot more wiring that have to be mounted and routed. Yikes! Big inverters like the SunnyBoy might weigh 140 pounds, but they get mounted in one spot and with minimal wiring. They are also extremely reliable, having been around since the beginning of the industry.Other Things To Keep In Mind
Another thing no one bothered to mention to me was that the roof on your house generally doesn’t last as long as these systems. So let’s say you have a 10 or 15 year old roof. There is NO WAY it’s going to last as long as the panels. What do you do then? If you have to do any work on the roof you have to deal with the solar array first. I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to do about that.
Who’s going to look after the system? And how? In our case since we have a flat roof I also installed a hatch so that I can get up there and mess with things whenever I want. I stayed at home and participated during the install so I could learn how things were connected, and if something needed minor repairs I could do it myself.
If you have a pitched roof, you probably don’t want to be getting on it to service your panels. So make sure the company you choose has been around a long time so you don’t have to rely on service from someone else.
How Long Does It Take To Install A Solar Panel System?
The
good news is that it only took about 2 full days for Axiom Solar to do
the install on my roof. If you’re in the Dallas area I highly recommend
those guys. They did a great job. And I didn’t get paid a dime to say
that.The bad news is, that the answer isn’t that simple. After we did the site survey and worked out pricing and all that, we had to sign contracts. Those contracts had to get sent off for approval to the electric company because we were going to be tying into the grid. And because they were picking up the bill for about 40% of the system, they had a bunch of rules about how efficient the systems have to be.
Meanwhile, we had to have the structural engineer come to the house to determine if the roof could bear the weight, and permits had to be pulled with the City of Dallas.
By the way, if you’re wondering if you can do all this yourself – the answer is no. Next question!
All of those things took weeks to complete, combined with the fact that Axiom has a very packed install schedule meant it took a couple of months before we could get the system installed. AFTER we were installed, there were several inspections from the city and the electric company before we could turn it on and actually generate power.
So, lets say it takes about 3 months to get the system installed.
How Much Does A Solar Panel System Cost?
The cost of the actual system probably won’t vary that much from place to place, but there are a lot of options, and there are different incentives from place to place.In my case our system cost almost exactly $30,000, and we got a 10kw system. If you were to piece it all out, probably around 60% of the cost is just the hardware. And believe me, the labor cost was worth it! You should have seen all the equipment and people it took to get the job done. They had a machine that lifted the panels and tons of bricks onto the roof, then they all had to be carried over and installed. Plus the framework for holding the panels had to be built on the roof, and all the electrical work had to be done…
The reality is, it was worth every penny. It was just a lot of pennies!
Now, out of the $30k, our local energy company, Oncor, picked up the first $14k. I had to pay $16k out of pocket, and at the end of the year we get a 30% federal tax write off, bringing my net cost down to around $11,500.
According to my spreadsheet, this equals around a 10 year payback for a system that is guaranteed to last 25 years. By the way, the actual guarantee is that the solar panels will still be producing 80% of their original output 25 years from now, or they’ll replace them. Assuming the Chinese company we got them from is still around to warranty them. That’s a big if.
More important than the 10 year payback is the fact that my investment of $11,500 is expected to generate a return of only about 5%. That’s the equivalent of buying a decent bond, but frankly it’s not as risk free. A lot of things could happen to ruin my return, so the risk is not really in line with the reward. From a purely monetary standpoint, over a 25 year period you’d get at least double the return if you put that money in the stock market.
And that’s what makes solar so iffy! With today’s level of solar efficiency, and everything it takes to install it, it’s really not a good investment unless you are just committed to going green. However, if you can afford to do it, it is also a form of insurance against the potential of skyrocketing energy prices.
How Much Power Does The Solar Panel System Generate?
Well, so far according to our reporting our system has generated over $360 retail dollars worth of power in the roughly 2 months its been operating. That’s pretty good! But one thing I quickly learned and which I found astounding was just how poorly these systems perform when it isn’t a beautifully clear day.For example, this is a sample graph of power output for last month. You can clearly see the two days that were rainy. There was almost no power generated!
That explains why these systems are great for climates like Texas, Arizona, Southern California, but horrible for places like Seattle or San Francisco.
Here’s a closer hourly look at the production on a typical sunny day in Texas.
And here’s what it looks like on a rainy day.
It’s enough to make you cry.
I hope that answered a lot of your questions, but I’m not foolish enough to think it would answer them all. So ask away in the comments below and I’ll respond to them as best I can.
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