Its Official.......Im solar powered

[badbones]

Well my new 7.5 kW system is online. Its all Sunpower equipment consisting of 36 210wt panels and 2 4000 inverters. I am pretty happy with the install company as they made it look very clean from the outside...All u see is the disconnect and the wire conduit and thats tucked up tight. They installed the subpanel and inverters in the garage. So I will soon see how well it really works... Today was a poor day as overcast and rainy.

Here are some pics. The roof before


Rails being installed

Panels going on


All Panels installed


Inverters in the garage


And the disconnect

[bergzy]

Welcome to the Solar Club!!!

[Brewen]

What are your forecasted savings in your monthly electricity bill? I know the up front cost is a bit stiff, not looking for the long term pay off. TIA

[cthetoy]

How much did it run after the rebates?

[coast2coast7390]

thats cool...i want to do that for my tanks

[badbones]

Dont want to get into the cost in the open forum. But this system is projected to reduce my bill about 300 a month from the 450-500 its now. And my second runs about 200 a month so I will be saving about 100. Take in mind that I own the system which adds value to the home and as rates increase...which we all know they will, my payback will be sooner. It estimated at 10years at current rates and realistically it will be closer to 7 as the rates go up.

[bergzy]

as of last month...my 6.2kw system has generated about 9,000kwh for the first 11 months in its operation. november was a very low sunlight month as dec will be as well. i am going to guesstimate that total annual production to be about 9600kwh...which will put me at about $3648 in savings this year.

every kwh of that is above the 200% tier...so...at about 38 cents per kwh on that (estimate)...it is about $3400 in savings so far.

i 'think' rates are going up 15% with the upcoming new year. brace for that new bill socal edison reef owners!!! yikes!!!

[ezcompany]

Very awesome Mike
If i visit one of my girl friends in Mission Viejo, I'm gonna come and check it out

[gcarroll]

Originally posted by badbones
Dont want to get into the cost in the open forum. But this system is projected to reduce my bill about 300 a month from the 450-500 its now.

That's great Tony! Finally we will have a simular electric bill.

[badbones]

Greg...

Its sad I had to go this route to compete. lol

Im just glad that the money I would have given to Edison, is going back to me as in paying for the equipment. And if I ever sell this home or get rid of the tanks, this system will power all my home needs with no problem.

[bergzy]

Originally posted by badbones
\ if I ever sell this home or get rid of the tanks, this system will power all my home needs with no problem.

yep!

if i decided to stop reefing, my electricity bill would be pretty close to zilch!

[coast2coast7390]

Originally posted by ezcompany
If i visit one of my girl friends

[xtm]

Very nice setup. I was wondering what is the average lifespan of those cells before they need to be replaced?

thanks

[WWodyz]

if you dont mind disclosing it BUT how much did it cost you?

[anthias_lover]

Look awesome Tony. I'm wondering how do you renew the roof with all panels on top?

[badbones]

Well its a brand new 30yr roof, or so they say. lol I hope not to have to worry about that one for years to come. But they can be removed, just will take time....and unfortunately money...but it can be done.

[gtrestoration]

Without the sun beating down on the roof you should at least come close to the rating on the roofing material. The ratings they apply to composition roofing don't seem to hold true.

SteveU

[d0cdave]

How's the heat on the inverters? I was considering installing our inverter inside the garage but Im worried that it will overheat.

Im only doing a 2.7kw system. Thanks for the progressive pics of the rails and panels. Helps illustrate to my family what's gonna happen on the garage roof next year.

[Kenfuzed]

I'm curious as to how much these systems cost as well, ballpark after rebates. The last time I called a company to inquire I got the run around about how a salesperson would need to meet with me first. Since I have a deep seated hatred for being sold to, that never happened. No offense to those out there making their living in sales

[badbones]

Negotiate is all I can say. I bid out the systems with several installers. I compared apples to apples and did my homework before calling in the wolves. With having all the facts up front and waiting for all bids to come in, I was in control. It was my money and they had to earn my business was my attitude. With that in mind, the final bids after rebates because the installers front that to you, were from 35 - 42K. Before rebates were 54 - 60K.

Hope that helps. Take in mind that these panels sell for about 1K each and I have 36. You can buy way cheaper panels to bring down the cost, but these are the newer technology.

[xtm]

Originally posted by xtm
I was wondering what is the average lifespan of those cells before they need to be replaced?

[NVTE]

very cool bro.

[badbones]

The panels have warranties for 25 or 30 years...cant remember which right now. The inverters are 10 years...So a lot of time to not have to worry about them. ANd by the time the panels fail, they will be cheaper, have a larger output and smaller in size I bet.

[ezcompany]

why did i think you were Mike......lol
sorry bout that Tony

[gtrestoration]

Originally posted by badbones
And by the time the panels fail, they will be cheaper, have a larger output and smaller in size I bet.

That's really so true IMO. The richest main in mainland China runs Suntech Power Holdings. They produce solar cells, panels and the related things used for this. Too bad we didn't spend our money on this technology instead of sinking nearly 2 billion into another coal burning plant.

SteveU