<p>We’re seriously contemplating this. Anyone else done or doing so? Tips about pros & cons? We have met with one guy already. Our electric bill is actually pretty reasonable @ only about $100/month. It would involve the installation of only 9 panels and a new two-way electric meter. One of the incentives is that the state and federal tax credits are set to expire this year & no one knows what 2012 will bring. Two of my brothers put in systems but their electric bills are MUCH higher – 3 to 4x ours, or more when they ran their ACs. One brother has 36 panels & the other has maybe a few less, I think.</p>
<p>If you get the right product, it is an excellent idea and now is the time to do it. </p>
<p>You might have neighbors who don’t understand what you are doing. Don’t let them stop you but, I would recommend letting them know what you are planning as a courtesy.</p>
<p>Payback period?</p>
<p>Factors to consider:
- Hours of sunlight in the day.
- Cost of electricity per watt
- Cost of the pannel.
- Payback period(as mentioned above)
Essentially, LCOE (Levelized Cost of Energy) is what you need to consider.</p>
<p>I can not really help as I know nothing about this. But I wonder whether the manufacturers design these things so that when newer more effective/efficient panels come out, you can easily upgrade?</p>
<p>I think your $100/mo electric bill is too low for the installation. I think it has to be around 150 to start thinking doing that, at least in my case. We had several estimates, even with the fed and state rebate, the cost came out to be around $8,000 and I will never have a chance to payback at $100/mo.</p>
<p>HI’om, did your brothers see cost savings?</p>
<p>In addition to saving money, having an independent source of power would be worth something.</p>
<p>After the rebates, our out of pocket cost will be a net of about $6000+ and take about 5-6 years to pay for itself. Both my brothers & a friend who installed all seem happy not to get more than a $18 electric bill any more. Theirs was MUCH higher than ours (about 4x or more), so savings are experienced more immediately.</p>
<p>There is really NO way to upgrade to a lighter system down the road. The panels installed are meant to be there for their warranty lives of about 25 years, I believe.</p>
<p>We have a friend who is creating & installing solar systems, but so far, I believe he’s only installed one in our state–on his sister’s home on another island. I will call him & see how close he is to being able to install on homes in our state.</p>
<p>Your payback should be inconsidration of inflation, cash spend today is worth more than cash spend few years later(we call it discount cash flow). Also, if you are having the new roof, than it is more cost justrified. If the panels last longer than the roof, re-install cost will make the deal less desirable. Another thing you should ask is that if the warrenty covers panel damages from falling object or panel being blow off by high winds. </p>
<p>Not sure what is the normal maintanence cost is. Neverhteless, I have seen many resale homes with the panels installed, but were not in use for a long long time.</p>
<p>Frankly, after a few years, the original installer may not be in business, thus the warrenty.</p>
<p>The person who came to give us a quote so far says they’ve been in business for over 35 years, so hopefully he will remain in business. Haven’t studied what IS and IS NOT covered by the warranty but it does NOT include labor of them having to repair things. Will look further into things.</p>
<p>The reason we’d put a new roof in now (with ours about 20 years old) is so it will last the projected life of the system, which is warranteed for 15-25 years. The price of photovoltaic panels are rapidly falling every year, according to a friend who is in the business & from whom we’ve just ordered a photovolatic panel to charge our cell phones and flashlights. :)</p>
<p>Sadly, my friend who is doing solar will NOT have any other products for home use in the near future. He’s working on some commercial applications that sound interesting and promising though. That makes decisions less complicated.</p>
<p>I was told to convert everything to electric, so the payback will be much faster…:)</p>
<p>Everything in this house IS electric (plus our solar water heater). We are just not heavy consumers of power (relative to other HI households we know). Most of our power use is our computers & printer, plus fridge & washers (dish & clothes).</p>
<p>OK, we’re in the process of getting quotes/bids and are thinking of re-roofing FIRST. Not sure how things will work themselves out, but will see. H’s best friend just got a quote & my brothers are both happy with their systems, both brothers used the same company, which is different from the company H’s friend used & still different from the company my friend used for her system.</p>
<p>Are you considering a system with or without storage batteries?
Batteries add significantly to the up-front cost and detract significantly from longevity.</p>
<p>I agree that with $100/mo. electric bills, you may not ever see pay-back. If you just want bragging rights, fine. If you want a real financial return on investment, a solar hot water system might be much more cost-effective for you than PV.</p>
<p>You’ll want multiple bids to compare.</p>
<p>A good installer will do a full site analysis, and will be able to determine how much sun (and hence how much power) you’ll get, averaged over the entire year. Your location puts you in much better shape than us North America types 
but the site analysis will also consider things like shade from surrounding vegetation and neighboring buildings. The installer should be able to make recommendations about trimming or removing trees that would significantly shade the panels. </p>
<p>The panels will extend the life of the roof underneath, so yes, if you need a new roof do that first. </p>
<p>Find out from your local utility if there will be a charge for remaining hooked to the grid, and also if they give you credits for pushing excess power back to the grid. You need to stay hooked to the grid because you can’t use solar during the night unless you have batteries, and those are very expensive.</p>
<p>Consider your future needs, too. If you think you’ll be getting a plug-in electric car, you might want to get enough capacity to be able to juice up the car. And take a look at how your local utility generates electricity now…and think about how power rates are going to increase in the years to come.</p>
<p>there are now new solar panels that double as roofing material so you can kill 2 birds with one stone. Dont know if they are available in HI yet.</p>
<p>We have had a solar water heater for many years now & that dropped our electric bill by about 1/3. Our current electric bill is still pretty low. We live in a very sunny area and don’t have blocking of our roof from much vegetation. One of the companies which was recommended to us does mention that they have parts that interlock with roofing material, so that might be good to think about as we consider re-roofing (which H wants to do anyway as our roof is 20 years old tho it’s warrantied for 40-50 years).</p>
<p>Will see what the other 2 installers have to say if & when they get back to us. If we do it this calendar year, we’ll get about 2/3s paid by rebates. Who knows what will happen to those rebates in the future?</p>
<p>We have friends who got a large array on their roof when they replaced the roof, and they have fun standing in the basement watching the meter run backwards. </p>
<p>They make money now; they sell the extra to one of those energy brokers.</p>