RFI: Supplemental Home Solar Power

[rd62]

I don't know what I don't know regarding home solar power.

I'm not looking to take my home off-grid but would be interested in adding supplemental solar if that's possible.

I live in central SC and have significant square footage of south facing roof.

Ideally I'd be interested in a scalable system that could start small and potentially expand down the road.

I'm a bit leary of some of the solar companies around that finance systems for extended periods.

I'd be appreciative if you could share any pertinent info you may have or point me to some trustworthy reference websites.

Thanks!

[BN]

First, contact your power company. They should have information for you.

We recently got a solar power system through Pink Energy. It's only been working for a couple months now. So far it seems to be doing well. Our system puts power back on the grid and has reduced our power bill. There are all kind of stories floating around, both good and bad. We had an excellent installation crew. It took 2 days and I think there were 8-10 workers each day.

Tesla also has a web site where you can check on what is needed. Different companies service different areas. Tesla didn't come to our area. There are a lot of videos on YouTube.

Our system has solar panels on the roof with control panels and back up batteries in the basement. They rewire parts of your house to be backed up. We have 2 refrigerators, 1 freezer, the propane furnace but not the geothermal and AC, the kitchen area and a few outlets. They backup the WiFi so they can come in to make settings on the system. We have a propane range.

We live in the country. Our power grid has been very dependable, but many people around us have lost power for up to a week. If our grid goes down now we should have all life necessities taken care of with the solar backup. We were originally looking at a Generac whole house generator but we decided to go with the solar because we are actually reducing our power bill as well as having backup. A generator would just sit there until the grid goes down and you just hope it starts.

[Borderland]

A relative of mine works for a solar company here in the PNW. He does the customer contact and designs the systems for both residential and commercial customers. The trick, according to him, is what your local utility company will allow you to do with the the grid power you don't use when you install solar panels. They don't install batteries, the power generated by the solar panels is credited toward the utility grid bill. I've looked into this where we live and ask his advise. He said it generally takes 3-5 years to pay for an installation depending on the utility company and any incentives you might get from them. We won't be here for another 5 years and he advised against installing solar. They have it on their house but I think they're all electric and their utl company has great incentives to use solar.

Our eclectic bill is averages about $100 month. That's lights, HW heater and appliances. No big deal for us. If you lived in TX you might want a bank of panels in your back yard and some more on your roof.

[Hambo]

I'm a bit leary of some of the solar companies around that finance systems for extended periods.


And you should be. There are companies pushing solar hard down here in FL. It's a second hand story, but by the time the company reroofed the house and added panels, the elderly homeowner financed >$40k for 25years.

[314159]

I believe supplemental solar power is the correct way to view this option. Unless you live in a desert the number of batteries and panels you would need is... a lot.
I live in cloudy Michigan and the legislation here limits how many panels you are allowed to install anyway. Gotta protect the power company from competition perhaps.

I use my limit of panels and a couple of Tesla batteries here. It has been a great experience (2 years). Seamless transitions during the occasional power failures, no maintenance of generators, no loud operation of same, storage of dangerous fuels unnecessary, and so on. It's a viable solution.

Cost is a difficult metric. It all depends on how much electricity is going to cost down the line for break even. Nobody knows that, except: it will be more. If the up front costs don't creep you out too much I recommend it.
One tip, more batteries is better than more panels.

[HeavyDuty]

I’d like to assess my new house for solar potential once it’s done. The idea of a fairly modest system and a Powerwall is very appealing.

[BN]

Modern solar panels will produce energy from UV rays. They work on overcast, cloudy days and don't need sunny days to operate. This morning, an overcast day, our panels were running the whole house plus sending power out on the grid.

We were mostly going for backup power with solar. I don't trust generators to always work when they need to. I'm retired from the phone company. They have back up diesel generators for all the switching equipment offices plus small portable ones for remote cabinets. Many times the generator wouldn't start during a power outage and they would call me out in the middle of the night to go investigate. :(

[Borderland]

Modern solar panels will produce energy from UV rays. They work on overcast, cloudy days and don't need sunny days to operate. This morning, an overcast day, our panels were running the whole house plus sending power out on the grid.

We were mostly going for backup power with solar. I don't trust generators to always work when they need to. I'm retired from the phone company. They have back up diesel generators for all the switching equipment offices plus small portable ones for remote cabinets. Many times the generator wouldn't start during a power outage and they would call me out in the middle of the night to go investigate. :(

My neighbor works for the FAA. He got called out in the middle of the night because a backup generator failed at a small local airport. Took him all night and most or the next day to repair it. The generator powered some type of navigation beacon. I guess some small aircraft still don't have GPS or maybe it's an FAA safety measure. I'm not a pilot so IDK.

[rd62]

My roof is only a couple of years old and I'm not looking to run the whole house just potentially reduce my seemingly ever increasing power bill and potentially be a little more eco-friendly.

The power company and solar companies all have a stake in the game and I was trying to find a more independent and unbiased information source.

[LittleLebowski]

Waiting on my solar panels to be delivered next week, I’m doing partial solar power to power some of my house using a portable Ecoflow Delta setup, stock photo, but it’s what I have (two Ecoflow Delta Pro solar generators and one extra battery unit per).

94134

[HeavyDuty]

Waiting on my solar panels to be delivered next week, I’m doing partial solar power to power some of my house using a portable Ecoflow Delta setup, stock photo, but it’s what I have (two Ecoflow Delta Pro solar generators and one extra battery unit per).

94134

When I did my almost daily drive-by of the new house yesterday I noticed one of the other new houses had solar installed sometime recently. I am very tempted to do something like this.

[BN]

Don't get your solar from Pink Energy, formerly Power Home Solar. Our system seems to be working OK but there are a lot of complaints on the internet. Do your homework before choosing a company.

[LittleLebowski]

Don't get your solar from Pink Energy, formerly Power Home Solar. Our system seems to be working OK but there are a lot of complaints on the internet. Do your homework before choosing a company.

Honestly, solar is getting very user friendly. There's no reason why a moderately technical homeowner can't do an install with a little help from an electrician.

[Oldherkpilot]

Waiting on my solar panels to be delivered next week, I’m doing partial solar power to power some of my house using a portable Ecoflow Delta setup, stock photo, but it’s what I have (two Ecoflow Delta Pro solar generators and one extra battery unit per).

94134

Could you expand on the solar panels you chose? Just ordered a solar generator and panels will be the next purchase. Thanks.

[LittleLebowski]

Could you expand on the solar panels you chose? Just ordered a solar generator and panels will be the next purchase. Thanks.

Well, that’s difficult. I originally ordered used 325w panels for $125 per, but SanTanSolar sold out of them and hooked me up with these (https://www.santansolar.com/product/new-risen-335w-solar-panel/) for the same price.

You have to move quick on solar panels and used/blemished are fine, panels last years and years. These are a generic good deal, given that I don’t know your requirements.

https://www.santansolar.com/product/scratch-vinyl-jinko-265w-solar-panel/

[Coyotesfan97]

Their west coast office is pretty close to me.

[DrkBlue]

So there is a storm a’coming in solar generation. ⛈

Last year Congress passed a law that sanctioned the Chinese use of slave labor.
The problem is effectively almost every solar panel in the world is built with Chinese components.
Earlier this year, Joe Biden took executive action to allow Chinese solar panels to be transshipped through Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.
Likely there will be trouble if the Republicans win the House in this general election. Also likely there will be eventual legal challenges that executive action will cause another major supply chain cut.

Recent discussion- Paywalled for some people…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-15/solar-panels-piling-up-at-us-border-on-xinjiang-forced-labor-law

Discussion of the Chinese market involvement…
https://www.csis.org/analysis/dark-spot-solar-energy-industry-forced-labor-xinjiang

In my area, we are about 50/50 on good versus bad solar installers. Lots of complaints and bankruptcies. As the cost has been rising for the last two years with inflation, I feel I waited too long. My utility kilowatt cost is $.11, which also made the payoff longer term.

[LittleLebowski]

Their west coast office is pretty close to me.

Saves you a lot on shipping.

[TGS]

Just wanted to reiterate to look into what your supplemental solar provider allow. Unless something has changed, they usually won't allow you to modify the system to run off the grid. If you get a supplemental solar plan where they own the gear, you'd have to ride out the contract and have them uninstall it before you could then install your own off the grid system.

So, if going off the grid is the goal, even if just for emergencies, its probably best you start preparing from the beginning to buy a system outright on your own like LittleLebowski

We had a system two houses ago that was through Vivent, I think it was. No issues, loved it, worked great.

[LittleLebowski]

Just wanted to reiterate to look into what your supplemental solar provider allow. Unless something has changed, they usually won't allow you to modify the system to run off the grid. If you get a supplemental solar plan where they own the gear, you'd have to ride out the contract and have them uninstall it before you could then install your own off the grid system.

So, if going off the grid is the goal, even if just for emergencies, its probably best you start preparing from the beginning to buy a system outright on your own like LittleLebowski

We had a system two houses ago that was through Vivent, I think it was. No issues, loved it, worked great.

Yeah, fuck that ("grid tie" is the official term). Offgrid only, thanks. The hardest thing about going solar nowadays is the red tape.