Free Solar Panel Installation for Honda owners if you buy the electricity they generate

Initial cost - incentives at the time/(current rate)/(current monthly usage) = # months until break even.

I'm not the only one that checked into solar vs wind and found wind to have a much faster break even (again in IA). I had several greenie friends that came to the same conclusion.

Actually, National Electric Code requires that all inverters be UL listed. The listing requires that the inverters shut off when the grid is down, so that happens already. If the grid is down, and you don't have batteries, then you don't have power like everyone else.

Say Thanx to OBIE (if u voted for his re election) for scam pulled by this company on our TAX PAYERS money courtesy of Mr. OBIE

The Faux News type like to forget everything that preceded Obama.

What happens after your lease is up? Do you keep it or do they come ripe it out?

I have a residential solar panel system on my home in NJ. I would like to share whatever knowledge I have accumulated so far.

It is best if the roof on your home is;
-facing south to maximize generation of solar power (Solar companies will Google map your home to check before even discussing system with you)
-not surrounded by trees to shade the panels
-is a fairly new roof (You do not want to remove the solar panels to replace the roof. It is best if your roof has at least 20 years or more left on its useful life. If not you should be prepared to re-roof before installing panels)


There are 2 ways to be in the solar game. Own or lease them.

Buying/Owning Residential Solar Panel Systems

When folks Buy/own the panels;
-they get to use all the solar power they can generate eliminating their electric bill. (You want to eventually convert all of your gas appliances to electric eliminating/reducing your gas bill, plug in your electric car - buy a Tesla ;-)
-sell the excess solar power as "SRECs" (Solar Renewable Energy Certificates) [wikipedia.org] to the utility companies.
-get some government rebates [cleanenergyauthority.com] on the purchase price to offset the purchase
-are responsible for all the components of the system including replacement of any damaged parts.
-If located on business/rental property tax write offs come into play.

As previously mentioned "SRECs" used to sell for $600+ in NJ. So initial purchasers of solar panels who financed their purchase used this $600+ amount to calculate their breakeven point in terms # of years. When it was $600+ that breakeven was 3-5 years. Now that more folks have panels the supply of "SRECs" [srectrade.com] has increased thereby reducing their demand. This resulted in the revenue generated by the SRECs, which now sell for $100+, to drop substantially. So their breakeven has now been stretched out to 7-15 years. As the amount of panels generating SRECs increases I anticipate SRECs resales will continue to drop.

Leasing a Residential Solar Panel System

I leased a solar panel system from NJR. Here is the Linky to their CURRENT program [njrcleanenergyventures.com].

Our monthly electric bill paid on a budget plan was $225. To wipe out that bill I needed a 10KW system. To purchase that would have cost $30-$40k OR, to lease them was a FIXED RATE of $9.50 per KW per month (or $95) for 240 months ($95 x 240 = $22,800).

By leasing them;
-the panels are installed at absolutely no cost to me. Not a penny.
-my electric bill for 20 years is fixed at $95 per month. (What is the value of $95 15 years from now? $30?)
-I get to use all the solar power the panels generate for free. Whatever I don't use goes to the lease holding utility company for them to resell in their grid. So a lessor, me, wants to use as much as I can consume by converting gas appliances to electric eliminating gas bills, plug in a car, and am not so concerned running my a/c during the summer all day, running my outdoor pool, etc. I am also not concerned with the resale value of SRECs.
-I am not responsible for the repair or maintenance of the whole system. I don't own it. Unless the damage is from my own negligence everything else is covered by the utility company.
-after 20 years I can purchase the system at whatever remaining value it has at that point or the utility company removes it from my roof.
-the system is transferrable to ANY new homeowners through the life of the lease
-the flip side of that coin is if I/future owner wants to permanently remove the system I/they owe the remaining lease payments on the lease.
-since my roof faces south the panels shade my roof thereby keeping my attic cooler in the summer.

(So why would a utility company do this? They are required to have at least 20% of their energy generated by renewable sources by 2020, plus they hope you don't use all the solar power up.)

So far;
-utility company replaced my old electric meter with a new digital meter (know as "Net Meter"). As I generate solar power during sunlight hours the meter goes backwards. When I use power at night it goes forward. As a result I have had no electric bill other than the $95 lase payment. As soon as my water heater and dryer go I convert them to electric. Prolly can just do it now anyway.

-they have withstood 2 hurricanes without any minor changes while my rain downspouts detached themselves from my house and reattached themselves to my neighbors roofs. :-)
-They self clean. Snow immediately melts off them as soon as sunlight hits the glass.
-they are not allowed to generate power during blackouts because if the power went back out on the grid it would electricute the linemen. (They can not rely on you turning off the main panel switch preventing this). So I have a 5800W generator with a transfer panel I had installed before I leased the panels.

Now their leases are only for 15 years instead of 20 and they are considering raising the monthly lease payments for new leases.

Some have said "How are you going to sell your house with those on your roof". My response is "An educated consumer will be my best prospective buyer". They will realize the savings as the price of electricity goes up while their monthly cost is fixed.

What if I want to add on to the house. What happens to the panels? It take them 4 hours to detach them from the system, 4 hours to reattach. Cost is approx $100 per hour in labor.

In conclusion, there are various leasing programs and you need to shop them around to look for the best terms. IMHO, a fixed cost system will probably cost less over time than one that has adjustable rates/costs.

It has more to do with the top rate being lowered. It used to be that people complained about people flying off in corporate jets to company retreats to play at their own beachfront country club. the catch was, you had to keep the company healthy.

Now days you can run the company into the ground while taking massive compensation and only paying capitol gains tax on the money. blow up the company but you get to keep the jet.


Like Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia...

The law states that HOAs cannot interfere with solar panels installation. At least in AZ.

-my electric bill for 20 years is fixed at $95 per month. (What is the value of $95 15 years from now? $30?)

-I get to use all the solar power the panels generate for free. Whatever I don't use goes to the lease holding utility company for them to resell in their grid. So a lessor, me, wants to use as much as I can consume by converting gas appliances to electric eliminating gas bills, plug in a car, and am not so concerned running my a/c during the summer all day, running my outdoor pool, etc. I am also not concerned with the resale value of SRECs.

-utility company replaced my old electric meter with a new digital meter (know as "Net Meter"). As I generate solar power during sunlight hours the meter goes backwards. When I use power at night it goes forward. As a result I have had no electric bill other than the $95 lase payment. As soon as my water heater and dryer go I convert them to electric. Prolly can just do it now anyway.

I'd rather subsidize renewable energy with my tax dollars than building billion dollar stadiums for a private company to play games in and then ask for a new stadium 20 years later.



By the way, this is an excellent business model for the company and consumer. I do agree that if you have the capital to do your own installation outright and start raking in the cash.

The break even point depends on the price point and the incentives available in your state. In MA, your payback is approx 4-5 years.



Compared to Solar, Wind turbines have a lot of mechanical parts and the likelyhood to require maintenance and repair is multiple times higher than panels that are sitting stagnant on a roof. Not to mention that efficient wind turbines are much more expensive than solar panels and many states do not offer incentives to Wind...

Can you tell us how you can break even with a Wind turbine in 3-7 years?

I've done the math on several times and the break even time period is like 10 years minimum in one case the solar break even point was 25 years. Who in their right mind thinks these things will last 10 years (or 25 years) and not need service/repairs that meet or exceed the total cost of the unit? If you have decent wind conditions wind can payback in 3-7 years depending on your velocity and consistency. Until they create cheaper, higher efficiency panels solar is just an expensive way to hug a tree.

My problem is that right now my monthly electric/gas bills are between $60 (summer) and $150 (winter) so paying $95/month would be a net wash to me, and might be higher than my current costs.

So for someone like me who doesn't use a lot of power leasing doesn't really make sense. I'd rather get solar to make money selling energy back to the grid. Is that even possible?

Dang. I live in North Carolina. We don't get solar power here. Why do they have this for Washington State and Oregon? Isn't it cloudy and rainy like 95% of the time up there?

solarcity is founded by elon musk of spacex and tesla. it's not a scam. solarcity is doing quite well actually based on their latest earnings.