How Long To Recoup Cost Of Solar Panels

Are Solar Panels Worth It In Arizona

Yes, solar panels are absolutely worth it in Arizona. Solar panels can increase your home value by 2-3% in AZ, save you up to 100% on electricity, and more! Arizona has more sunny days than any other state and the federal government will take care of 30% of the cost. Learn more about why solar panels are worth it in Arizona.

Solar-Estimate says, Arizona has some of the best potential for solar in the United States. The state receives more sun than any other area in the nation, meaning a solar system can produce about 180% more than what it does in places like New York.

Solar panels can increase your homes value up to 2%-3% in Arizona. On the other hand, choosing to lease solar panels will decrease your homes value. A leased solar system can lower a homes value by 3%-8% in Phoenix, Arizona. According to AZCentral, Panels that are owned add some value to the resaleThe panels add value in proportion to the amount of money they are expected to save on utilities through the remainder of their warranty. For example, if there are 15 years left on the warranty and the panels save $80 a month in electricity, the system could add $14,000 to a home appraisal.

Is Solar Right For You

There are a number of factors to evaluate before installing a solar PV array on your home or business. Our Consumer’s Guide to Solar Power can help you make an informed decision when deciding whether or not to install a solar PV system.

When making your decision, be sure to consider the following:

Location: In Jacksonville, optimal conditions for rooftop solar panels include homes with a southern-facing orientation free from shade created by trees, buildings or even other parts of your home. Your installers estimate should indicate how much energy your specific system is expected to produce and the economic value of that energy.

Energy Efficiency: Before going solar, reduce your overall electricity usage by making energy-efficient upgrades. Making your home more energy efficient reduces the amount of power you use from any source and may allow you to purchase a smaller solar PV system. Not sure how energy-efficient your home is? JEA offers free in-home energy efficiency assessments: Our home energy experts will evaluate your house and recommend measures you can take to make it as energy-efficient as possible.

The Benefits Of Switching To Solar Energy

When it comes to investing in a solar PV system its important to make the right choice for your unique home and lifestyle. However, using solar power at home has many benefits, including:

• Reduced impact on the environmentSolar produces no direct greenhouse gas emissions.
• Potential cost savings on your power billsYou will be using power from your solar panels during the day rather than solely from the electricity grid.
• House-appealA solar photovoltaic system is a popular feature and may add market value to your home.
• Financial incentives from government schemesUnder the Australian Government’s Small Scale Renewable Energy Scheme, eligible households receive money for small-scale technology certificates . You may receive either an upfront discount off the cost of your solar PV system, or a quantity of STCs that can be created and sold following installation to recoup some of the cost.
• Solar feed-in tariff payments These are payments youll receive for any extra solar energy you generate that goes back into the electricity grid. This appears as credit on your electricity bill and is deducted from the total amount you owe. Learn more about solar FIT rates and eligibility here or see below for our current standard solar feed-in tariff rates .

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What Is Considered A Good Solar Payback Period

More important than payback time is a concept called Internal Rate of Return, or IRR for short. IRR is expressed as a percentage of return on investment, and answers the question, Considering the estimated future benefits of this investment, what percentage return would you need to get from another investment to be equal to this one?

In the solar industry, we use IRR to compare the return on an investment in solar with the returns of other popular ways to invest.

For example, a long-term investment in a broad stock index fund has historically resulted in an IRR of about 8% per year. A home solar system in a state like Virginia, where the payback time of an investment in solar is around 12 years, has an IRR of about 8%.

The good news is, there are many states with better IRR and payback time than Virginia, especially in the northeast and California, where electricity costs are very high. For example, people in Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, and New York can expect IRRs of between 16 and 20 percentdouble or more of the average return of a long-term index fund.

See the solar payback period for your specific home

What Are The Main Disadvantages Of Solar Panels

Schalk said thats a hard question to answer without asking another question: Compared to what?

One of the main disadvantages of solar energy is that its inherently tied to the cycle of the sun, Schalk said, and its exact output depends on things like weather and cloud cover. Without larger and more advanced battery storage options, which are being developed, electricity cannot be produced at night. That means that solar power cannot be a stand-alone source, Cohen said, and needs some supplemental generation which often comes from fossil fuels.

Solar power, especially at the utility scale, also requires a larger footprint to produce the same amount of electricity output as some other sources, such as a traditional fossil fuel plant, Cohen added. It can sometimes be difficult to find that much aggregate space to set up a solar farm, or to find an area where the grid is robust enough to handle the new energy.

Still, Schalk said he sees these as differences from traditional energy sources, not disadvantages.

Solar energy is different from our legacy energy sources, he said, but I view those differences as opportunities to shape our energy system into something thats clean, just and equitable.

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Residential Solar Panels Arizona

SolarReviews estimates the average cost of residential solar panels in Arizona to be about $3.15 per watt or $10,247 total for a 5kW system after claiming tax credits and incentives.

Alternative Energy, LLC is proud to announce that we offer the most affordable residential solar panels in Arizona. We offer some of the best solar deals in Phoenix Arizona. Read our reviews. We can get you started with solar panel installation for $0 down payment when you finance. No one can beat No Money Down Solar Panel Installation. NO OTHER SOLAR COMPANIES IN ARIZONA CAN BEAT OUR PRICES because we install more than just solar panels. For example, our competitors will offer you a high priced solar system for around $30,000 to cover your inefficient energy usage, while, our company, on the other hand, will only charge you $20,000 for a smaller solar system and other energy upgrades. We can also help you maximize your Arizona solar rebates and tax incentives.

Alternative Energy, LLC ensure TOTAL HOME COMFORT, while our competitors only offer solar. Both decisions will save you 99% on electricity but choosing Alternative Energy, LLC means your home will be more comfortable too!

Mount Angle & Orientation

Solar panels work best when they face directly into the sun. But that task is complicated by the fact that the sun moves across the sky throughout the day. It also changes angle in the sky as the seasons change.

You can buy pole mounts or trackers to adjust your panels to the optimal angle throughout the year, but the production gains from these adjustments are minimal. Most system owners will be happy enough to mount panels at a fixed angle, which saves money on racking and installation costs.

Ideally, solar panels should be tilted at an angle that is equal to your latitude. The natural slope of your roof should come pretty close to this angle, so you usually dont need additional adjustments.

You also want to point your panels toward the equator so that they are facing the sun. In the US, south-facing arrays offer the most production. You can generally make do with east or west-facing arrays, but will need to oversize your system to account for a dip in production.

PVWatts is an invaluable tool for calculating the efficiency of your system based on the above factors.

For more info, check out our article on angle and azimuth, which explains the optimal position to mount your panels.

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Solar Panel Roi: Is It Worth It

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The amount of money you save by investing in solar energy varies, depending on factors including where you live, the incentives available from your state government, and the type of system you install.

To calculate the solar panel ROI you can expect, you need to get a customized quote for your specific installation. Regardless of individual circumstances, however, the savings are significant.

For example, installing a 5-kilowatt system could result in lifetime savings of $38,000 in Oregon or more than $70,000 in California. While these are very different numbers they still represent an excellent value.

Read on to find out more about solar panel ROI or how long it takes to see a return and the specifics of what you can expect in terms of returns and various incentives.

Payback Times For A 5kw System In Each Capital City

Accurately predicting the time it takes for an investment in solarPV to pay off isn’t straightforward, so we asked the independentAlternative Technology Association to calculate approximate payback times for a 5kW solar system in eachcapital city.

They provided time frames for households with high daytime solar powerusage and for those with low daytime usage .

In most cases, the results will be similar for the rest of the state exceptwhere available sunshine differs.

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Get Ready For Your Quote

The process starts by going online to a solar companys website and putting in your street address. This will allow the company to use a satellite map to pinpoint your home and assess your solar potential. Have your past years electric bills handy, because youll be asked about your energy usage.

Your property will also need a fairly clear shot of the Southern sky. Dont worry if your roof is too shaded. You can still have ground-mount panels installed in a sunny spot on your property.

Some of the more popular solar companies include SolarCity.com, Sungevity.com, SunRun.com, Sungevity.com, and Us.SunPowerCorp.com. Know that it is an unstable field, so there will be casualties as some companies go out of business and others start up.

Myth #: Solar Energy Is Too Intermittent To Be Viable

This myth relates only to utility-scale energy generationsince residential and commercial-scale solar PV take advantage of net meteringto mitigate solar intermittency.

To clarify, solar intermittency is an issue because peoplerequire energy regardless of whether or not the sun is shining. This is a key argument against solar power,one which holds more merit than most of the items on this list, and is activelybeing combated with new technology and innovation.

The primary solution for this is to develop utility-scalebattery banks to store vast amounts of energy. The battery industry, is not currentlysufficient to supply enough storage for the world, but the technology isexponentially advancing and is alreadybeing deployed on larger scales.

What is important to realize is that solar PV only generatesa small portion of global energy so there is little reliance on it. As technology continues it exponentialgrowth, the market for battery storage systems will follow the demand. When solar reaches the point where it is acommon energy source in 10 to 20+ years, battery technology will have developedsubstantially.

This gives some context as to how technology develops tomeet demand, and batteries are on the same path.

Key Takeaway: Batteriesmay not be where they need to be today, but markets always meet the demand ofconsumers. For most consumers, solarintermittency does not pose a problem if connected to the grid.

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Return On Investment For A 25 Kw Solar Panel Installation

Double the size of your solar panel installation and you almost double your savings. The cost of a normal 2.5 kW array will be around £4,000 and produce an estimated Feed in Tariff of £30 per year whilst saving on your energy bills to the tune of £240. With the export tariff of about £25 you will get income and savings that amount to approximately £130 to £200 per year. This will enable you to pay off the cost of installment in around 17-18 years.

Is It Still Possible To Make Money From Solar Panels

The Feed-in Tariff scheme which entitled solar panel owners to earn money for the energy generated by their solar PV system unfortunately closed in March 2019. At the time, a replacement scheme hadnt been lined up but now we have the Smart Export Guarantee .

Through the Smart Export Guarantee anyone generating their own electricity with a solar PV system smaller than 5MW can once again earn money. The scheme works differently to the FiT, in the sense that energy suppliers set their own tariffs Compare Smart Export Guarantee Tariffs.

In addition to SEG payments and saving money on your energy bills, if you decide to move out of your home then by installing solar panels you will have added value to the property. This is because, not only do they require little maintenance, they also mean that the potential buyer will be able to benefit from lower energy bills.

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How Much Does A 5kw Solar System Cost And How Long Will It Take To Pay Itself Off

If you want to join the 20% of Australian households now generatingelectricity on their rooftops, we’ll show you how long a 5kW rooftop solarsystem could take to pay for itself through reduced power bills.

Calculating a payback period is complicated and looks at your electricityconsumption patterns, location, energy tariffs and solar feed-in tariffs, and the cost and quality of your system. Use our figures as a guideonly.

Which States Are The Best For Solar

The best states for rooftop solar typically have a combination of high utility rates, full retail-rate net metering, and incentives to help drop the cost of solar. All these factors allow homeowners to cut their payback period to as short a time as possible.

As of 2019, California, North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida lead the way in total solar capacity. California alone has installed over 25,000 MW of solar thats enough for about 4 million homes! California homeowners enjoy great weather thats perfect for solar as well as excellent solar rebates , but also suffer from high electricity costs. The average utility rate in California is $0.20 per kWh thats over 50% higher than the national average!

A 7 kW installation in southern California can produce about $71,900 worth of electricity over its lifespan. Assuming you spent about $17,710 , youd be producing electricity at about $0.07/kWh and youd see a return on your investment after just 8 years!

Homeowners in states that offer no incentives and/or have low electricity prices generally have a harder time saving money by installing solar. Louisiana homeowners, for example, already have incredibly low electricity rates just $0.09 per kWh and no solar incentives beyond the federal tax credit. However, it does offer full retail-rate net metering and good, clear skies.

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If You’re Likely To Move Home In The Next Decade It Probably Doesn’t Add Up

As it takes typically more than 10 years to recoup your installation costs, if you’re considering moving it’s probably not worth it .

While you could physically remove the panels from your old home and install them on the new one, this could prove costly. Plus, while you could still use what you generate yourself at your new address, you’d no longer get paid for what you export. To receive payments your panels need to be certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme and the organisation told us it wouldn’t certify panels that have been moved.

It’s also worth noting solar panel installations are tailored to each home to fit the roof and be positioned to maximise the level of sunlight they receive so it’s likely they wouldn’t perform as well if you installed them on a different home anyway.

Financial Incentives For Solar Owners

Previous government grant and rebate systems have been replaced by thesmall-scale technology certificate scheme and FiTs.

1. Small-scale technology certificates

Under the Federal Government’sSmall Scale Renewable Energy Scheme, eligible households receive money for small-scale technology certificates.

One certificate is equal to one megawatt hour of eligible renewableelectricity generated by the solar PV system over a deeming period. You canclaim the certificates your system can potentially earn over the next 13years upfront. This period will decline by one year, each year, until thescheme ends in 2030.

You can calculate the number of certificates a system may be eligible forusing theSmall Generation Unit STC calculator. The price you get for each STC is likely be close to $36 as of June 2018.

2. Feed-in tariffs

This is the rate you’re paid for electricity that grid-connected panelscontribute to the local network. All FiTs in Australia are net feed-intariffs.

Feed-in tariffs pay for your surplus electricity fed into the grid. Forexample, if your system produced 3000 kWh of solar electricity, and youused 1000 kWh of that in your home while it was being generated , the net FiT is paid for the 2000 kWh difference that is sent to thegrid.

High FiT rates on your electricity deal mean more money for your exportedsolar but

it does not always equate to a good deal if the deal also has highelectricity tariffs.

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