Going Solar

I have mentioned this in a different thread but this thread will be dedicated to the project.
Started researching Solar in the Spring of 2022. A problem I have encountered my entire life is that when I develop an interest in something, I generally do research and end up knowing more than the professionals trying to sell what I am interested in. I guess that makes me a tough customer. When something doesn't seem to make sense, I notice it and challenge.
Solar is not cheap. It is wise to put it on the sunny side of the house. Therefore it is best to figure out a layout to maximize the amount of panels on that sunny side to meet one's needs. All the sales people are pretty much brain dead and can provide layouts that their so called engineers have approved. Months later they all want to change the layout. I signed a contract months ago and just recently I was told by my sales representative that "setback rules" changed October 1, 2022, and my layout would need to be changed. I have the email for the city electrical inspector who months ago told me via email that my proposed layout was fine. So the first thing I did was send him another email asking him if my layout was still okay. His response was yes. The rule here is if one roof plane only is having solar panels you can fill it up completely with solar panels. So I told my sales rep to please send me the new code that shows the new setback rules. She sends a 200 page PDF that I download and then do a search for setback. Anyway nothing I see has changed and I ask the rep to please provide the exact reference to the new setback rules. The sales rep realizes that I am right and supposedly goes to bat for me. I was originally going to have an 18kw system installed on my main house roof, garage roof, and sunroom roof. 45, (400) watt panels. 24 landscape panels on main house, 18 on the garage, and 3 on the sunroom roof. According to the supposed new setback rules they were telling me that I could only put 20 portrait panels on my main roof, the roof that gets the most sun. Understand this is months after signing a contract and already having a design. Anyway I just signed the new final layout. It still has the main roof filled with 24 landscape panels, the garage now has 14, and the sunroom has 2. The total size of the new layout is 16kw. The price has been lowered proportionally to reflect the smaller system. I am actually okay with this because I think the 16kw will be big enough to meet my needs. The point of this long intro is to inform people that if you are going to do something like this it is best you do some research, know the rules, and figure out the best layout yourself.
Here is the layout I am going with. Here is the raw cost. Here is Electric usage from early summer for previous 12 months. Note I have and expect to use less electricity in the future.

My home was built in 1982 and the roof was original. It was showing signs of wear and was due to be replaced. Here are a couple pictures of my house before I started work on it. Showing the sun hitting the roof on the front and back. Note all the trees around and behind the house.

Several years ago I purchased 80 square of white vinyl siding at auction. I figured one day I would side the house, garage, and another home I acquired down South. So since I was figuring on putting on solar panels I thought it would be wise to replace the roof and a good time to do the siding. The roof was done in a timely manner and is completely finished. The siding is completed to my expectation/goal and will be finished next year. I opted to strip the roof down to the sheeting and remove the wood siding. Good choice on removing the siding because I found carpenter ants and the header above one of my garage doors needed fixed. I did all the work myself. Stripped the roofs, carried all the shingles up a ladder onto the roof and applied the shingles.

All the front porch posts were rotted and need replaced.

Most of the trees in the front yard were cut down and I had my neighbor who is in the stump grinding business remove the stumps. Next spring I plan to grade the front a little bit more and plant new grass. [media] [/media]
I hired a guy to fell many trees. Probably over 200.

As mentioned the roof is finished. I removed some electric conduit that wasn't doing anything and moved some plumbing vents closer to the ridge so the solar array would not have any obstructions.

Electricity in Connecticut is expected to double in price January 23. As I have mentioned in other threads the cost per kwh is only a portion of the cost of electricity here in Connecticut. They tack on deliver charges and whatever else. My guess is that next year the average kwh cost here will be $0.40 per kwh.
If I can produce and use 16,000 kwh a year, that equates to $6400 per year for my electricity.
The cost of my system with a 25 year complete guarantee is $53,600.
I have federal taxes that I pay and will be able to use the 30% federal tax credit so my actual cost for the system will be $37,520/$6400=5.8625 years to pay off they system.

There are more considerations. I don't have time at the moment but will discuss this further in future posts.
One thing is the Solar company is going to cut me a check for $3,000 toward my tree removal. Some people might argue about the tree removal but IMHO the property is looking way better than it did smothered in trees. There are still plenty of woods/trees all around the property. I don't need them smothering my house.

Oh yeah one last thing was prior to winter decided to change up the front sidewalk. I elected to do a Belgium block edging/border with colored stone walkway.

Wow.
Are you going micro inverters on panels or a common grid tie inverter. Any battery backup in case power goes out?
Many systems turn off if there is no grid power, therefore, no power to house either. Panels turn off so they don't back feed the grid and injure line workers. Many people think they have power if they loose grid power with solar. they do not.

I put solar system (1500watt) and battery bank (700aHr) at our summer farm house, but we are completely off grid. Batteryu bank runs into 2 x 3000 watt inverters that feed the house.

What will be the added weight to the roofs?

You have a lot of projects! I expect we will all be seeing a lot of panels going up all over the country with the rising rates.

warminmn wrote: ↑

Sat. Dec. 17, 2022 8:30 am

You have a lot of projects! I expect we will all be seeing a lot of panels going up all over the country with the rising rates.

Does this mean rate increase will slow because demand will drop? Is it the power companies pushing solar or other parties?

Wow that seems like an absurd price for the size of the system...
Have you checked out SantTan Solar diysolarforum?...
You can get that amount of panels for well under 10k.
What's the reasoning for the micro inverters instead of a high voltage string inverters?
You are aware the panels won't power your house if the grid is down, depending on your setup....

I started with a tiny 200w of panels with 500wh battery and automatic transfer switch to keep the coal stove lit when the grid went down, this was mainly to give me enough time to get the generator started.
Now I have 2 2.7kw arrays (I'm out of roof space but a ground mount is in the works) running around 370v into a 6kw hybrid inverter. I also have a DIY 22kwh lifepo4 battery bank. The inverter uses solar as first priority, then batteries, then utility as a last resort. All the above along with wire / cable, some new tools, surge and lighting protection and Tamarack mounting rails cost under 10k; 7k after the rebate.

Retro_Origin wrote: ↑

Sat. Dec. 17, 2022 8:36 am

Does this mean rate increase will slow because demand will drop? Is it the power companies pushing solar or other parties?

The delivered prices could easily rise as they are selling less KW's and need to make up for it. There are a lot of hands involved in the sale of solar including power companies. Im sure they are all getting a cut of the action. But I think this topic is about the system is he is installing, not the politics of it.

The ROI is not accurate. The 40 cent/kwh is likely OK as far as expected early 2023 cost from eversource but the cost today is 25...which will be the rate once natural gas prices go back down. So the ROI is likely better estimated at about 10 years.

5 yr ROI is min. for me for such.

There are companies that lease solar panels wherein the electrical cost for the homeowner go down to about zero. Could be a better option.

FYI..a 10kw pv system will produce about 10000 kwh per year. Lots of factors involved. Up to 15000 in best conditions. CT is not a great place for solar or wind unfortunately.