Kessil

8 months with solar.

13 MW generated averaging 1.6 mega watt a month. Pretty happy with the LG panels performance so far. My true up bill so far is 8$ expecting to be in the negative soon... shame PGE no longer credit over generation. But am getting the most out of the system. Turned my dryer and most of the heat in the house to electric.
Am so glad I did not go with tesla solar city thu.
Now adding some sonnen batteries and EV charging station, am planning on changing one of the cars to an EV but have not decided which one yet.
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Can I ask how much this lg panel and inverter system installed ran you? I’ve been debating solar but I don’t see a cost saving unless I stay in my home for 20 years. By then I’ll probably have to replace everything....
 
Can I ask how much this lg panel and inverter system installed ran you? I’ve been debating solar but I don’t see a cost saving unless I stay in my home for 20 years. By then I’ll probably have to replace everything....
My system has an ROI of around 7 years. It brought down my bill from ~200 to 270$ to basically 10$. Pge will charge 10$ a month for power distribution even if you generation is equal or greater than your consumption.
My system is 29 panel, 9.3kw (stc/dc) which generate around 14.2 kwh. The inverter and optimizer(if you buy a system make sure it have an optimizer) are solar edge.
The system is around 10% more than my consumption(monthly or yearly avrage). Installation was done in one day, solar system turned on withen a week.

I went with LG cause they have bit better efficiency compared to other panels(efficiency will determine how much power you generate during peak sunlight) and their reliability and warranty (25 years).

System including electric panel upgrade, permit and installation costed around $29k+1k for some extra stuff I wanted like detailed online monitoring.

After tax credit it was around $20k.

I went with clean solar cause contrary to many other vendors, they do everything themself including the installation and maintenance. They are the one and only contact I need to deal with from day one through the 25 years of warranty. Thwy basically a ine stop shop.

Many other sources will buy the panel from somehwere, then contract someone to install then down the line if you have a queation they send you either to the contractor if the issue is none panel related, or ask you to contact the panel manufacturer if the issue is panels which is pain. Clean solar own everything end to end.

If you thinking of installing a system do before the tax credit reduce or end next year. 30% tax credit is not bad at all...

Hope that help.
 
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Make sure you calculate your roi correctly then decide.
I will say this, have seen solar system improve the home value at time of sale to 10 to 20% depend on the home value...
 
I think break-even at 7 years is pretty typical now with the decreased cost of quality panels, tax credit, and California electricity rates. That doesn’t count how much it increases your home value, which would only decrease the break-even period.

You can also rent/lease solar which gives you a break-even day 1 or at least very soon (if you have a down payment or other upfront fee), but saves you significantly less over the lifetime of the panels. And can be a hassle when you sell (I’ve heard).
 
I think break-even at 7 years is pretty typical now with the decreased cost of quality panels, tax credit, and California electricity rates. That doesn’t count how much it increases your home value, which would only decrease the break-even period.

You can also rent/lease solar which gives you a break-even day 1 or at least very soon (if you have a down payment or other upfront fee), but saves you significantly less over the lifetime of the panels. And can be a hassle when you sell (I’ve heard).
I wouldn't leas. I feel with solar getting so commoditized its Better own the system improve home value and reduce your bill to zero.
California have special solar loans called green loans that also offer good value for finances.
 
So how bigs your house? How many panels? Etc? Just curious if I can get a rough estimate of what my cost would be.
The system details are in my earlier post.
It's not a matter of home size rather power consumption. The company you go with (if they are ligit) will calculate what's your avrage consumption and plan the system appropriately.
 
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Well home size matters if you want to determine your maximum usable roof area to put the panels. If you have an east/west roof slope that's pretty brutal to effectively lose all early sun, and my roof footprint is roughly 1200 sqft, unfortunately due to set back rules and other stuff on the roof I have a limit to how many panels can go up as well. I have about 3.3 kW worth of panels, and I may be able to add an extra 1.5kW or so, or more but there is a hard limit I can have and still be legal.
 
Folks who run solar, have you noticed any change in your pge bills?
In the past my PGE electric bill used to be only the distribution charge of 9$, and there is a true up that accumulate and charged end of the fiscal year. My understanding was, this true up is the net of how much u generate-how much you consumed over a year.
This month I got the electric bill which included an extra 40$ marked as 3rd party electric. And marked ad silicon valley green energy
I called them to ask what this is about and I was told basically it's the diffrence between what i generated and consumed of the month of January.
I was told rhat starting last august every month the calculation is performed and either they will give you credit(if you generate more) or charge you if you generate less than what u needed...
Anyone experienced that yet? I am almost sure that this was not the case in the past but maybe I did not pay close attention to old bills...

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
My system has an ROI of around 7 years. It brought down my bill from ~200 to 270$ to basically 10$. Pge will charge 10$ a month for power distribution even if you generation is equal or greater than your consumption.
My system is 29 panel, 9.3kw (stc/dc) which generate around 14.2 kwh. The inverter and optimizer(if you buy a system make sure it have an optimizer) are solar edge.
The system is around 10% more than my consumption(monthly or yearly avrage). Installation was done in one day, solar system turned on withen a week.

I went with LG cause they have bit better efficiency compared to other panels(efficiency will determine how much power you generate during peak sunlight) and their reliability and warranty (25 years).

System including electric panel upgrade, permit and installation costed around $29k+1k for some extra stuff I wanted like detailed online monitoring.

After tax credit it was around $20k.

I went with clean solar cause contrary to many other vendors, they do everything themself including the installation and maintenance. They are the one and only contact I need to deal with from day one through the 25 years of warranty. Thwy basically a ine stop shop.

Many other sources will buy the panel from somehwere, then contract someone to install then down the line if you have a queation they send you either to the contractor if the issue is none panel related, or ask you to contact the panel manufacturer if the issue is panels which is pain. Clean solar own everything end to end.

If you thinking of installing a system do before the tax credit reduce or end next year. 30% tax credit is not bad at all...

Hope that help.
@Rostato LG panels are they way to go... there are 2 models in market. The latest version has highest production per panel than any others.

I threw 29 of them on my roof as well and pretty happy. I think my price was about $2.80 / kW for the setup before batteries. If you add batteries, or will later, make sure your inverter is battery capable.

I added 3 Tesla batteries to my setup and happy with those as well as they have higher capacity per battery. For whatever reason LG only offers 9 kWh batteries here in the US. 13 kWH ones are only in Europe atm.
 
@ofzakaria you must get a bit more sun then do... for fun, I matched my output date to yours for an apple to apple conpare. Though, I did make the installers put my panels flat against my roof versus a slight incline facing the sun (southern facing, btw) for aesthetics reason. :)

SmartSelect_20200114-043151_SolarEdge.jpg
 
I think break-even at 7 years is pretty typical now with the decreased cost of quality panels, tax credit, and California electricity rates. That doesn’t count how much it increases your home value, which would only decrease the break-even period.

You can also rent/lease solar which gives you a break-even day 1 or at least very soon (if you have a down payment or other upfront fee), but saves you significantly less over the lifetime of the panels. And can be a hassle when you sell (I’ve heard).
The hassle and subjugation of a solar leade is main reason I just paid out-of-pocket
 
Folks who run solar, have you noticed any change in your pge bills?
In the past my PGE electric bill used to be only the distribution charge of 9$, and there is a true up that accumulate and charged end of the fiscal year. My understanding was, this true up is the net of how much u generate-how much you consumed over a year.
This month I got the electric bill which included an extra 40$ marked as 3rd party electric. And marked ad silicon valley green energy
I called them to ask what this is about and I was told basically it's the diffrence between what i generated and consumed of the month of January.
I was told rhat starting last august every month the calculation is performed and either they will give you credit(if you generate more) or charge you if you generate less than what u needed...
Anyone experienced that yet? I am almost sure that this was not the case in the past but maybe I did not pay close attention to old bills...

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
I'll check my bill and let you know. I honestly just pay like an automaton
 
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