I live in the Tampa Bay, FL area. I have plenty of roof space that gets strong sun all day/all seasons (the roof gables are oriented both west and east.) Because of the locale and exposure I suspect I am a good candidate for a solar array, but I have no idea where to start.
Some companies seem to sell the systems outright, and others seems to lease them with the electricity savings being split between the homeowner and the solar company under various plans.
Has anyone had any experience installing/using such a system? Any recommendations or pitfalls to avoid? I recognize it may take several years to recoup the cost, but I expect to live in this house for the foreseeable future. The roof will probably need to be replaced in 5 years, and that is giving me pause. I have no idea what it costs to install these things (and reinstall them with a new roof).
The house is approx 4000 sq ft, single story, and my power bill during the summer runs around $350/month.
Start with a solar water heating system. Hot water can be 30% of an electric bill! And it is inefficient to use solar electric panels to create electricity to power an electric water heater! Rather directly use the heat of the sun. Big savings on energy.
Net metering uses the electric company as a “battery” for a solar electric system. Spend several months reading all about that before deciding to do anything so far as solar electric is concerned.
Note the financial returns from net metering will depend on your state’s laws (Florida). Different for each state! So important to learn all you can first. But start with the water heater thing now. Buy, don’t rent or lease. Check around and ask for references.
Another vote for “Net Metering” or whatever term is current in FL.
Basically, the State sets rates for utilities.
Historically, residential solar was given best of both worlds: not only supply your own power, thereby reducing the Electric Company’s income, but also using the Electric Company’s grid to absorb any excess. And then required the ElCo to PAY you for the power you supplied.
Now the Utilities are getting rules which make the Residential Solar people pay a share of the expense of maintaining the grid.
All of that “easy money” from solar is/has been drying up. As long as you are connected to the grid, you WILL get charged (heh) for your grid connection.
Until PV panels and storage systems (and inverters to do the DC-to-AC thing) make a residence 100% grid-free, the cost/benefit calculation will be determined by Legislation, not technology.
And, in 5 years (probably) the panels you install now will not be worth salvaging and re-installing when you re-roof. Can you pay for the install before you need to re-roof? If not, either re-roof now (with a really good roof) or wait until the new roof is on before going solar.
This house was built in 1979. Built extremely cheaply in 1979. Mid-80’s, somebody pt iin a huge pool/spa with high-line equipment. They put the equipment 40’ from the pool so they could use solar panels for hot water.
They put 1000’s of dollars of solar over a junk roof.
Don’t repeat this mistake.
My sister and b.i.l. have been looking at solar for their house; they have a back field so it wouldn’t have to go on the roof. They’ve also looked at small wind generators, the kind that would slightly reduce their electricity costs, but not eliminate them.
With all of these, the start-up costs are prohibitive. It’s a big darn investment.
This may be of interest. Google unveiled a site called Project Sunroof that lets people Google their address and find how much sun their roof gets, as well as the options in their area for buying new solar panels. Here is the link. Good luck.
It looks like costs for solar hot water systems have crossed over. A direct-connect electric-thermal system would certainly be cheapest and most efficient, if available. Generally speaking, not yet available, so investigate / consider an inverter and heat pump system. Due to the dramatic drop in price in solar cells, it’s almost certainly better for you to use a space for solar cells rather than solar-water.
East/West is what you’ve got, and you can’t change it, and thermal stoarge is an efficient way of using that if you use hot water. But your use is probably highest in the afternoon, so West-Facing roofs are probably best now. The main reason for maximising your south-facing roof is to sell power when you don’t want it, not to use it yourself. And that depends on how much they are willing to pay you for it.
Historically, everyone (including solar folks) have paid for their connection to the grid. Your bill contains a portion for usage, and a fixed portion that doesn’t depend on usage. That fixed portion is what pays for the infrastructure.
What’s changed is that a lot of states are now allowing utilities to charge solar users an additional fee on top of that, for no particular reason, and/or allowing the utility to not pay for the power they get back.
The economics really depend on both tax breaks/subsidies and how net metering works in your area.
One thing that is pretty generally true is that it’s a minor to major pain taking panels off and replacing them when it’s time to replace the roof shingles (or whatever it’s made of). So if your roof is within five years of replacement, you should probably wait on rooftop solar panels until there’s a new roof.
Other than that, the people who will best know the deal with Florida incentives and local utility rules are the solar installation companies. I’d invite three of them to give you estimates of cost for installing panels; they’ll also lay out what all the subsidies are and should be able to explain the net metering rules well enough for you to figure out the economics. Around me, a couple years ago, they were so eager to give me free estimates the hardest part was convincing them I didn’t want a long on-site meeting, just give me the numbers, thanks.
(After two years, my panels are performing remarkably close to the estimates the installers made. I went with buying them outright using a home equity loan; don’t know if that’s an option for you).
There are some power companies that will chip in for you to install a solar array. They will have conditions your house has to meet, but they will have it installed and see that everything is set up. (My house doesn’t qualify, too many trees).
