Solar - WANT TO GO OFF GRID

Frankly, sounds like a lot of work. I could see it if you had a place in the outback, but then again, you'd have to somehow get all this stuff out there. Service calls would be tuff also.

 

Tesla just unveiled a new roof "shingle" that is actually a solar tile. No word yet on cost or when it will be available. But my guess is "expensive" and "soon, 2017".

Really look at how much energy you use during peak days, you will have to size the system for that if you want to go totally off-grid. And then when you have it sized you have to see how long your ROI will be, if it ever pays for itself. My guess is the batteries in the powerwall will be worn out before you break even.

 

We spent quite a bit of time at my manufacturing plant looking into a solar conversion. Even with the state and federal dollars that were being tossed at us, we couldn't find a way that it made sense to do it.

Big bucks up front, and unless you're going to sell back your overproduction into the grid, there's no way to make the money work out. And at just about breakeven + 1 day, the solar panels start to fail and you're right back at it putting more big bucks into the system.

I think small solar works for hot water or pool heating, but for full house electric, they're not there yet.

As to your view. Unless your neighbors play along, you're still gonna get poles, right? And without poles, you have no way to sell your excess generated electricity back to the utility.

Bury the lines, pay the money, move on. Someday when you go to sell the house, you'll thank me.

HOWEVER, if you want to have a conversation with the guy we used to spec out our system, who also did residential (I think) shoot me a PM and I'll hook you two up. He no longer does solar, so he'd be pretty unbiased as a source.

D

 

Think of how much a normal roof costs. I can only imagine the cost is going to be astronomical.

Very intriguing though.

 

I have a small array to power a remote water fountain... I have the harbor freight special, $149...

Lessons learned on a cheap microscale:

1) Whatever the system is rated for, cut it in 1/2 at least, unless you are in close proximity to the sun .
2) Once the battery is full charged, all the solar energy goes to waste
3) The rated amperage output ONLY occurs on a near dead battery. As the battery gets more charged, the voltage differential between it and the solar array gets smaller, and amperage goes way down...
4) I wouldn't want to power anything critical. Clouds are not your friends.
5) Panels are cheap, batteries are expensive.

Solar only makes sense if you can sell the output. If you need a huge battery array, you had better be in the middle of Alaska to make the finances work...

 

Yeah, but in 10 years after the Chinese knock it off it will be 1$ a foot...

 

First thing is too cut usage as much as possible. Go to LED lighting etc... Not sure what if any tax $$ you may receive if not tied to grid.

Dave above makes great point though, if other neighbors sign up your motivation is gone.

 

Sit down when you get it. I used to live in the American River bottom in Sacramento. All you had to do was say Gold River to a pool contractor to see them run off screaming.

 

We took a cursory look into this when deciding to build at the farm - conventional utilities or solar. They both scared us off so we decided to push off any building on the farm for 5 years and re-evaluate. Re-arranging utilities when using conventional can be expensive. Local utilities used to make it worth your while to install electricity, etc. everywhere. Now, they send out a person to evaluate profit potential and you get quoted a "per pole" cost ($2,500 - $3,000 each). Laying said line underground is even more expensive.

 

Solar roof shingles have been around for a while to get rid of the look of the large panels to blend in with the regular shingles, but still don't look nice. His idea is to make it more aesthetically pleasing than those old shingles.

He claims it will cost less than a regular regular roof PLUS the electricity cost saved/electricity generated. This website runs some numbers to give a general idea of cost: http://www.consumerreports.org/roofing/heres-how-much-teslas-new-solar-roof-shingles-could-cost/

 

Yes very true! been a few pools pop out!
If anyone is going to do solar for the tax credits I would suggest doing it very soon...
the policies are going to be rewritten and the tax credits may soon go away...
The battery systems are good option especially when you are at peak demand hours...which the utilities are trying to mitigate against..there are already units out there, and there is talk also about using the electric vehicle as a battery storage device...
In many areas there is to much solar, curtailments are happening...
I see microcells happening in the future as ratepayer rates rise..while wholesale rates are at record lows...

 

The estimates given for an asphalt roof are too high, double at least.
Also its pretty much impossible that the whole roof will ever be in the sun. Front, back etc... Tax credits would be next. If your tied to the grid, net metering regs are constantly being fought by the utilities. So forecasting savings going forward is tough.
Here with 3rd party pricing on generation we can save almost 30% off the the normal rates with a phone call. That's helped to keep rates flat to down over the last few yrs.

 

I hate it when a company starts touting the next big thing when they are full of ****. There is so much wrong in these Tesla "shingles" I don't know where to start.

 

Yes and Tesla shareholders approved the acquisition yesterday of solar city all spin....
solar is in deep do do...

 

I'd say very VERY soon! Anyone want to guess whether they'll extend things or not?

Will Congress extend solar tax incentives expiring in 2016? | GW Solar Institute

 

Since curtailments are already happening with over saturation of the solar market in some areas, I would say they will be reduced in places or done away with in those markets.. both residential and commercial enterprises...
First Solar is laying off people...
Look at what happened to the German PV market...and a lot of Europe...

 

what DMStuff said...


look into geothermal (might not work in your area) for heating/cooling. don't ignore wind as well.

it's possible to build an entire system that works well and can get you off the grid...but the economics of it still aren't there.

you'll still need water/sewer too, unless you can collect (and filter) enough rain water and use a septic system but even that usually needs some sort of outside maintenance.

 

Avoid solar, out here in north texas everyone that harnesses any of the energy uses wind turbines.

 

You can do whole house solar now. Take a look at your electric bills, and give me the average kwh/month that your are using. I could let you know how many panels you would need.

As far as storage, you can use commercial deep cycle batteries, like forklift batteries. About $100 each. Use 1 battery for each 200w panel.

Still there will be some days when you just don't get enough sun. Easy solution is a small portable generator (Honda, etc.) hooked up to charge your batteries.

The advantage of the Tesla battery is that it is very compact in comparison to lead-acid batteries.