Who is installing solar as part of their Lightning purchase?

[Mr. Flibble]

Negative how?

I have 2 systems on my farm in Oregon, and a new one on my house in Snohomish County, WA. While the payoff is fairly long with our very low cost hydropower, they will pay for themselves. For the older WA house, the electrical upgrades were nearly worth it alone.

PV is what has pushed me to get an EV (gen 1 Volt is not enough), and without it, I may have stayed ICE. All I need now is an EV Tractor with 50HP at the PTO.

Negative in that the cost of power vs. the cost of the panels amortized over a long period of time won't really pay itself back until about 30 years.

Being in the PNW - we live in a forest. So we would get better solar panel performance - if we cut down all the trees around us. Plus, even after that, we are shaded by mountains. So for our location, solar does not really work.

Sponsored

 

[PV2EV]

Negative in that the cost of power vs. the cost of the panels amortized over a long period of time won't really pay itself back until about 30 years.

Being in the PNW - we live in a forest. So we would get better solar panel performance - if we cut down all the trees around us. Plus, even after that, we are shaded by mountains. So for our location, solar does not really work.

Our Edmonds house is in a forest, even having removed 53 large trees (for safety). The solar is not great as a result, however, the new system will pay off within its lifespan.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

Our Edmonds house is in a forest, even having removed 53 large trees (for safety). The solar is not great as a result, however, the new system will pay off within its lifespan.

Sure, it absolutely can work. Just not for our house. Our roof gets zero sun after noon or 1 pm depending on the time of year. This is because of a mountain.

Even if we wanted to cut the trees down, and we don’t, that would only give morning sun. (Plus, we are in a no cut zone).

 

[Joe]

Got 22 panels in 2019 which covers >100% of use. 30% federal rebate plus state rebate brought it from ~30k to ~12k.

We have a south-facing roof which gets sun all day, perfect for solar.

Our electric bill averaged around $93/month, which we replaced with ~$82/month loan payment. We don’t purchase electricity anymore, but our electric bill is still around $14/month for connection & fees.

So it’s slightly more expensive until the loan’s paid off, but yeah… In our situation it was a no-brainer.

Will look into more panels after a year with the lightning, and keeping an eye on batteries, but they are EXPENSIVE, and maybe the lightning can take their place? =)

 

[Pjlightning]

Everyone here seems to be going the purchase route.

any consideration of Leasing instead?

SunRun does the Ford deal As a lease arrangement, or at least that’s what they proposed to me.
At $35/month.
Plus they threw in the Ford Home Integration System for free.

 

[metroshot]

Everyone here seems to be going the purchase route.

any consideration of Leasing instead?

SunRun does the Ford deal As a lease arrangement, or at least that’s what they proposed to me.
At $35/month.
Plus they threw in the Ford Home Integration System for free.

Leasing used to be popular until the homeowner found out trying to sell the house with a leased solar is a nightmare.

Also, since you would not own the solar, you can't take the 26% tax credit.

Giving you $4K HIS is a drop in the bucket and they will make tons more money off you and the utility company.

 

[Theo1000]

BTW half my solar panels face N-NW and get no direct sun. EVER. They still generate about 90% of the inverter rated capacity. What I did was DC gear the ratio to the inverter. 355 w panels on 225 w inverter, works just fine, paid of in 4.5 years in my fairly mid range rate base area.

You don't need direct sun for solar to work. There are 450w panels available now.

 

[metroshot]

Just got some quotes for solar and settled on SunLux to do the sales, installation, service, and loan.

Due to roof sq. footage and angles to the sun, only 18 panels would fit for 67% reduction in electricity costs w/ EV truck figured in.

7.1kWh Tesla panels w/ Solar Edge Tech microinverters.
No batteries.

$24K cost and then 26% tax credit applied to the loan = $121 / month for 20 years.

 

[Roy2001]

Just got some quotes for solar and settled on SunLux to do the sales, installation, service, and loan.

Due to roof sq. footage and angles to the sun, only 18 panels would fit for 67% reduction in electricity costs w/ EV truck figured in.

7.1kWh Tesla panels w/ Solar Edge Tech microinverters.
No batteries.

$24K cost and then 26% tax credit applied to the loan = $121 / month for 20 years.

Looks like your panels are not facing south/west. My 6.5kW system targeted to generate 10500 kWh per year and acutally can generate 12000+ kWh per year. I am in Sacramento, southern CA should have even better yield.

BTW, can't you request to cover 100% usage?

I have a Prius Prime and I have about 2000 kWh unused. I was planning to add another 2-3kW panels, but looks like there is no need as we work from home.