How Much Can I Save With Solar Panels

What If Its Not Constantly Sunny Where I Live

You may be surprised to learn that you dont have to live in a super sunny state for solar panel installation to be worthwhile. As long as you live in an open space without many tall trees or buildings, well work with you to fit your home with a solar panel system to maximize sun absorption and cost savings.

How Will You Actually Experience Those Solar Savings

Solar savings come from a lot of angles, but most of them fall to one big question: who owns your power?

Right now, the power company owns your power. And they can decide when that price goes up or how much you get. A solar system on your house gets you out of some or all of that relationship .

But how you install your solar system and who you get it installed through can really change up your future savings.

This gets into purchasing options, which on the surface might seem pretty straightforward:

Each of these purchase options impacts your savings in big ways and often not good ways depending on which one you pick.

Solar Purchase is the easiest to understand: you buy it, you own it. But well get into how worthwhile this simple transaction gets later.

Solar Leasing is a lot like leasing a car where you essentially own it all, but instead of paying to own, youre paying to rent.

Power Purchase Agreements is where you shift your electric bill to a solar developer. They foot the bill, install the equipment, and you pay them for power instead of the power company.

Those last two options lease equipment or power, your choice. Anyone selling you one of these methods might offer a low buy-in and make it easy for you to jump right into an agreement.

However, youll jump right past most of your solar power savings too.

Own Your Power

Get Those Tax Breaks

Avoid Price Increases

Solar Farm Licensing And Permitting Process

FundsNet notes that all of the necessary approvals, contract, siting and permitting for a solar farm can take 3-5 years to be approved.

This is something that many farm and landowners do not realize, so it is important to plan ahead for this process, which is quite drawn out.

The majority of solar power plants today are located on privately-held land and so the solar power plant process undergoes a strict review by the federal, state, and local regulators.

These processes ensure that the environmental impact to the land and eco-system is minimal.

Once the solar farm is approved, the actual construction and installation only takes a few months.

Once a solar farm is up and running, the maintenance is very low and only needs to be serviced a few times a year.

While the approval process is painfully slow, you will be glad to know that the lifetime maintenance of your solar farm is very low Solar panels degradation rate is fairly slow and most panels will last 25-30 years.

Also Check: How Does Solar Help The Environment

How Does The Tesla Solar Roof Work With The Federal Solar Tax Credit

When it comes to the Federal Investment Tax Credit , Tesla claims it can be applied to their entire solar roof and their home storage battery the Powerwall. This is not necessarily the case. The issue here is that this type of solar technology doesnt fit into the structure of the current ITC. For this to change, a special appeal process is necessary to decide which parts of the solar roof fall under the ITC.

• Will all of the solar roof fall under the ITC?
• Or just the solar portion of the roof?

This all depends on how the IRS decides to view Teslas new solar roof. If they determine the non-solar tiles are so specifically engineered that it is in essence part of the machinery or equipment with which it functions, then the entire roof will fall under the federal solar tax credit.

Determining the solar roof and its impact on the ITC will certainly be a lengthy process. As customer service advocates at Pick My Solar, we can only hope that Tesla will take care of the entire process for their homeowners.

The federal solar tax credit, however, is going to start scaling down at the beginning of 2020 and be completely phased out in 2022. When taking into consideration the buying and installation process of the newly released solar roof, a large number of homeowners may miss out on the chance to claim the federal solar tax credit.

Tax Credits And Government Incentives

Countries around the world offer tax credits for solar panel installation. Governments are incentivizing people to add solar panels to their homes. That means you can substantially reduce the cost of installation which is your biggest expense. As you can imagine, these tax credits vary widely around the world. In general, sunny states like Arizona, California, and New Mexico, and sunny countries like Australia, are more inclined to give tax credits to residents for installing solar panels. Check DSIREUSA.org to find incentives across the United States.

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Net Metering: Sell Your Power Back To The Grid

The Sun generates light rays that travel to Earth.

Those light rays come in contact with the panels of the solar system where they are turned into electricity.

That electricity is then used to power the system owners home .

One of the most talked-about elements of home solar power is net metering. Net metering is a billing setup that allows solar energy system owners to feed excess electricity generated by their systems onto their current utilitys grid and get credited or paid for doing it. In other words, a solar system owner can actually earn money for the excess electricity his or her system produces. In most cases, homeowners sell their systems electricity to the utility during peak usage hours and buy utility-provided electricity during off-peak hours, often leading to a net monetary gain for the homeowner.

When Will You Start Saving Money With Solar Panels

The upfront costs of solar depend on where you live, the size of your array, the type of solar panels, and whether you have a simple installation or, for example, a complicated roof in a remote area. The average payback period for a home solar installation is around 8 years, though, after which you could have another 20 or so years of free electricity.

While you start saving money on your electricity bills right away with solar, it can take a little while to break even. If you take out a loan to install solar, you might not see any savings for a few years, but they will come, eventually.

Conversely, you might live somewhere with a high cost of electricity, generous tax incentives and rebates, and net metering. This could mean you break even within a couple of years and actually start making money from your home solar system. By my calculations, someone living in Honolulu could have a payback period of less than two years, after which they could save more than $4,000 every year on electricity!

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$ Value Of Solar Power:

As a rule of thumb, we assume the value of each kWh of solar power would be around 20 cents.

This is essentially the difference between your usage rate and feed-in tariff .

If you are a small energy user with a big solar system, you might want to adjust the 20 cents to 15 cents or 12 cents .

So for a 4kW solar system in VIC or TAS:

4 x 1300 x 0.2 = $1040 saved each year

And for a 4kW solar system in NSW, SA or QLD:

4 x 1450 x 0.2 = $1160 saved each year

How Many 100w Solar Panels Does It Take To Charge A 100ah Battery

This is where the basic electrical equation of amps x volts = watts comes in handy.

Charging a single fully-depleted 12-volt / 20 amp battery will typically take about 3-5 hours on a single 100W solar panel.

Part of the extra time is created in the final phase of charging, where the charge controller will slow energy delivery down to protect the battery cells from damage.

In the real world, we recommend buying two 100W panels for each deep-cycle 12V battery so you can continue to operate during cloudy days, etc.

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Solar Panel Cost Per Watt In New York

Many solar panel systems are sold and installed by the watt. In New York, the average cost per watt ranges from $2.73 to $3.51, with most households needing 6 kW or 6,000 watts to meet their needs and each panel having between 200 and 400 watts. However, it is entirely possible to need a smaller or larger system based on your home size and energy usage. You can also install smaller systems to offset your energy needs, so there can be a range of systems. Below are the average costs for differently sized systems in NY and the number of panels you need for each installation.

Explore Your Solar Options Today

Rhode Island Energy and EnergySage can help you save an additional 10-20% on solar energy systems thats on top of the current 26% federal tax incentive.

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Solar Panel Tax Benefits

For people who purchase and install a solar panel system, the federal government provides a 26% tax credit for solar panel installation through 2022. That credit will lower to 22% in 2023, and there isnt a tax credit for residential solar systems scheduled after that.

For example, you could receive a $5,200 credit on a $20,000 system in 2021 with the federal tax credit alone.

You can take advantage of tax benefits as long as you own your system, no matter how you fund it.

The federal tax credit is nonrefundable, meaning if you dont owe taxes or owe less than the 26% credit will get you you wont get that money back in a refund. You can, however, carry the credit over to a future tax year.

Some states also offer tax benefits and other incentives for solar installation. You can look up your states offerings in the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.

Recommended Reading: How Much To Solar Power A Home

So Is A Solar Power System Worth It

In short: absolutely yesif you have the budget for a decent quality solar system and shop with reputable solar companies.

And thats why millions of Australian households and businesses are turning to solar powerbecause the numbers simply make sense. When sized up properly, solar power can cost as little as 5 cents a kWhgiving you a return on your investment in just three to five years.

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Tax Breaks And Incentives

Though the price tag for a new solar setup is significant, a number of federal and state rebate programs can help offset the cost. The Federal Tax Credit offers up to a 26% rebate on the price of a new solar installation. Additionally, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency can help consumers find discounts of up to several thousand dollars within their states.

Value Of Solar Tariff

Similar to net metering, Value of Solar Tariff is an alternate way of measuring and valuing power generated from solar systems, such as those on private homes. With the VOST, customers continue to purchase all of their energy at the utilitys retail rate but are then compensated for the solar energy their private systems generate and place into the grid. VOST is currently in use in two markets: Minnesota and Austin, Texas.

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Solar Panels Effect On Electricity Bills

The amount of money that you save on your electricity bills when you install solar panels depends on the size of the solar power system you install. Larger systems are able to collect more sunlight, thereby increasing the amount of electricity they produce. As previously mentioned, the climate in which you live, the angle of your roof, and the type of panels that you install can all impact how much electricity your system produces and, in turn, how much money they save on your electricity bill.

On average, solar panels can save you $2,200 a year on your energy bills and between $10,000 and $40,000 over the course of their lifetime.

Are Solar Water Heaters Worth The Hype

Solar systems are definitely worth the hype if you are looking for a way to lower your bills in the long run while lowering your carbon footprint. In addition, since water heaters need so much energy, solar power is a great way to retain some of the luxuries of modern living without the high costs.

Of course, there is a huge one-time expense associated with solar power. Panels themselves are costly. You will need to ensure that your heating system is hooked up with the panels too.

As you would expect, these are costly expenses. Even though the system can help you save money in the future, many people dont have the current finances to afford the system.

Even if you have the money, buying a solar heater system may be an unwise financial choice. For example, you will not want to upgrade to a solar water heater system if you are about to move.

Although it will increase the value of your home, it likely will be too much of an investment that you wont be able to experience the benefits from.

So, these systems are worth the hype if you can afford them and arent expecting to move any time soon. However, if you find you are strapped on cash or are thinking about moving soon, you should probably forgo these systems for the time being.

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How Do Seg Tariffs Work

All energy firms with more than 150,000 customers have to offer a SEG tariff, but smaller firms can choose to do so too.

A fixed rate SEG tariff pays a set amount per kWh of electricity you export to the grid.

A flexible rate tariff pays a different rate depending on how valuable the electricity is to the system at different times. So you could get more money if there is a high demand.

Multi-rate tariffs, meanwhile, offer set rates for different times for example day and night rates, or weekend and weekday rates.

And if you dont want to sell the electricity, you could buy an electricity storage unit and keep hold of it.

This can be a good strategy if you find you produce more than you need in the brighter summer months when theres more heat and light, to cover you during the winter months when youll likely generate less.

Take Advantage Of Lower Prices On Solar Panels

Its 100 times cheaper to install solar panels today than it was in the mid-1970s, and according to GTM Research, utility-scale solar has seen the sharpest declines recently with a 17 percent drop, while residential solar prices have fallen by 8.6 percent.

You may be asking yourself, If solar prices keep falling, shouldnt I wait for even lower prices? You could, but consider this.

If a solar system in your area cost £17,000 today you could save £1,462 by putting off solar for another year, assuming current cost declines continue. However, you will delay the immediate solar energy benefits, known as opportunity cost. Lets say you have a £200 per month energy bill thats £2,400 a year in expenses that solar could eliminate . Paying £2,400 for electricity this year to save £1,462 next year puts the cost of waiting at almost £1,000. And when you factor in the time value of money concept, along with a potential utility rate hike, waiting makes even less sense.

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Premium Solar Panelswhat Are The Advantages

If you can be more patient, paying for a mid to premium solar power system with an ROI of three to five years comes with many advantages, especially if youre planning to add solar battery storage later down the line.

A premium system will generate plenty of solar energy with absolutely minimal maintenance. And, it will come with a far longer product warranty and better aftercare from your installerwhile lasting on average seven years longer than cheaper panels.

Of course, it depends on how long you plan to stay in your current house or premises, along with your budget. But if youre comfortable with a longer return on your money, choosing premium solar power panels is the best option. Thats why at Renew Energy, we offer access to the highest quality solar power systembecause choosing premium solar solutions pays off in the long run.

Tim Hawker From Ohariu:

“Previously, we were spending $3k on power and $7k on petrol for two cars per year. Now we’re spending $1.5k on power per year, including fuel for two EVs.

Living rural, we’ve had a few 6+ hour power cuts since install, and the system has backed up our essential loads perfectly. Even with 80% renewable power in NZ, the remaining 20% is quite dirty.

The environmental payback period compared to the grid is faster than initially expected “.

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