Solar Panels for my home

That’s sound great.

I calculated we’d have ours paid off in 7-8 years, so the economics sounded reasonable to me.

And that’s at current pg&e costs which have proven to not be stable.

So it might be sooner.

 

Reasonable ? How about fantastic ?

 

I should have said we wanted to pay them off instead of financing them, so it required saving for a couple of years to do that.

Otherwise we would have bought them when we bought our house in 2014.

Cost of living can be a bit pricey out here.

 

I understand. I was commenting on the oft repeated opinion that pay-off in 7 years is reasonable.
Imagine if the utility gave the following offer:

"pay market rates for 7 years, then your electricity will be free for the next 25 years."
Would people say "hmmm ... sounds reasonable." Or would they kill each other to be first in line ?

 

While we aren’t killing one another out here, we still had to wait 6 weeks for the install o happen based on available labor.

But well worth the wait.

 

If I lived in an area of the country that had lots of clouds and rain or low power costs or no net metering, I wouldn't have solar. Just not economic/too long a payback period. It's all about saving money for me.

I'm not sure what you're talking about fuzzy. You live in Fairfield CA, right? Lots of sunny days. PG&E land (high power costs). Net metering. Perfect environment for solar. Image if your solar production in December-January continued that way for the whole year.

 

That is a very different statement from your earlier one:

However, when you add a whole slew of additional qualifiers, you can make the case solar doesn't work for some.
If I take my full install price and divide by the expected lifetime production. I get a cost per kWh only one half cent more than our current cost. It is actually less than our current cost if you include delivery fees and other per kWh costs.
That is without taking into account ANY incentives or net metering agreements.

Over the next 30-35 years, that /kWh cost remains the same for me, regardless of what happens to utility prices.

 

I live in fairfield and fuzzy is up in Washington .

 

How are you figuring what your system puts out over its lifetime? What about maintenance costs (probably low but not 0)?

iPhone ? Pro

 

That is not a question someone with a strong opinion like yours regarding the economics of home PV should be asking.

 

OK, but it makes sense to engage in accurate accounting. What is the cost to your health from pollution, for example ?
How much more will you pay for food as AGW progresses ?

 

Conservative estimates are that the panels will have a 35 year life.
I take the annual expected production X 30 to account for degradation.
I’ve also added in replacement inverter costs at current inverter prices. Although I expect inverters with the same capability will be less expensive in the future.

In my case, in the first year we beat our expected production. We still use the baseline as I am sure there will be up and down years. It’s nice to have a cushion though

 

Wth are you talking about?

 

Indeed

 

I guess you're right. Everyone should buy a solar system even if it makes no economic sense to do so.


iPhone ? Pro

 

That is pretty much the opposite of what he said.

 

This issue is probably a function of cell chemistry. I'd think that the Silicon family of products would be comparatively low risk. But Gallium-arsenide? Not so sure. Cadmium family (cadmium-telluride and -sulfide), those are likely a problem.

 

I have broader goals and a longer term planning horizon.

I've been in this house nearly three decades, and am setting up to keep it economical and operational for a similar additional period as aging renders me unable to do my own home improvement and maintenance work.

If that is how you interpret the very clearly labeled 'Location:' field of my profile, then I decline to take any effort to elaborate.

I do have net metering, but am hampered by significant environmental impairments, particularly many rainy and solid overcast days and a higher latitude geography that produce an 80% drop-off in winter. And some tree shading. And comparatively low electric utility rates. But despite this far-from-perfect solar environment, IT STILL WORKS WELL!

 

I actually don't care what he's saying as he seems to go out of his way to insult people that don't agree with his point of view.

 

That is fine if you hold that opinion. However, the text you quoted was not insulting in any way.
Your snide reply simply denigrates the conversation.

If you believe the externalities are irrelevant, simply say as such. Solar, for many people, works well without considering them.
Does it work for everyone? No, of course not. But many people are surprised when they find out how many people it does work for.