Anyone have solar panels?

Have you seen a big difference in your electrical bill? Was it worth the expense?

TIA!

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

My neighbor has them. He said that you won't see the full cost of it right away, but that he has saved a lot of money every month.
We are looking into them as well - I think the cost is somewhere around 60K - You get 30K back right away. LIPA comes to his house every so often to check on them.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

$30-60k?!? We didn't think it would be that much. Oh well.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Posted by CathyB

$30-60k?!? We didn't think it would be that much. Oh well.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

my neighbor and I are looking into it...there is an open house at the solar center in march:

the solar center

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

We have solar panels for our hot water. In the summer we save a lot because our boiler only kicks on once a day to regulate temp but we never need it other wise so we spend nothing in oil. We get our first fill up for the year about Nov and we stop around april or may. I can't tell you how much they cost they were here when we bought the house but we will be looking into extending them for electric after we do some other things. I do know they are very expensive

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Don't get too discouraged! If you go to LIPA's website, they have an estimator there. I put in some numbers and it came out to a total of $11,000 for us after all the rebates from LIPA and NY State.

We have plans to put the solar panels on once we dormer our house.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

we have attended the LI solar power tour the last two years, its in october & you go to actual homes that have various solar power systems & the homeowners show you what they paid, what their rebates were & whate their LIPA bills are. Its awesome.
We already got two estimates, but in order for us to get the most power we need to cut down a few of my neighbors trees(she agreed), then we will plant new smaller trees on the other side of her property & we need a new roof, I think we are doing a metal roof but DH wants to change the pitch & stuff so this whole project won't start till next Spring.
We are also in the process of getting estimates for geo-thermal heat & air conditioning.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Make sure you talk to someone about what it's like having solar power. We have it at our vacation house and it can be problematic. But we are not there too often, so that could play a role.


Even with that, we are interested in getting panels when we know we will be in a house for at least 10 years. The initial cost is super expensive, but we got a lot of government kickbacks for getting them.


My friend is a sustainable products architect and he told me there are companies that will find government grants to get sustainable energy for your home and you pay them ~$2K and supposedly grants pay for everything else. I haven't looked into it yet, but will.

Message edited 2/27/2008 8:39:42 AM.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Shawn - I can't find it now on their website, so maybe I got it from somewhere else and I thought it was LIPA. Here's a link to their Solar Program though. I'll keep looking for that estimator though. It has to exist because I know that I thought "Hmmm, $11,000 doesn't seem too bad."

LIPA Solar Program

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Posted by GoldenRod

Posted by VickiC

Don't get too discouraged! If you go to LIPA's website, they have an estimator there. I put in some numbers and it came out to a total of $11,000 for us after all the rebates from LIPA and NY State.

We have plans to put the solar panels on once we dormer our house.

Do you have the link to the LIPA page that has the estimator? I'll look around in the meantime and I'll post it if I find it first. Thanks for the heads-up about the estimator! DW and I are thinking about solar, put it depends heavily on the costs, so an estimator like this would be very handy.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Thank you Kelly! That's awesome! That is the website I found and forgot to bookmark. I will now though.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Wow! I didn't think it was anywhere
near 30-60k! DH had a quote done 3 years ago and after the rebates we were looking at $13k for everything - we're still thinking about doing it.

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

Re: Anyone have solar panels?

From LIPA's website - It breaks down estimates. My neighbor had to lay out 60K for the panels, but got 30K back in subsidies.

How much does a PV system cost?
The total cost of a PV system includes the PV system and installation. Your PV system’s cost will depend on a number of factors, including system size and the energy efficiency of your home, whether the home is under construction and whether the PV is integrated into the roof or mounted on top of an existing roof. The cost also varies depending on the PV system rating, size, manufacturer, retailer and installer. Small-scaled PV systems with built-in inverters that produce about 600 watts of power may cost about $10 per watt ($6,000). These small systems will offset only a small fraction of your electricity bill. A 2-kilowatt system that will offset the needs of a very energy-efficiency home may cost $8 to $10 per watt ($16,000-$20,000). At the high end, a 10-kilowatt system that will completely offset the energy needs of many conventional homes may cost $7 to $8 per watt ($70,000-$80,000). These prices of course, are just rough estimates, and your costs will depend on your system's configuration, your equipment options and other factors. back to top

Remember, LIPA’s current Solar Pioneer incentives can significantly reduce the cost of purchasing a PV system. In addition, New York State’s tax credit can reduce your overall costs much further.

LIPA’s Solar Pioneer Program offers you, direct incentives of $3.50 per watt towards the installation of a PV system up to 10kW, or a maximum rebate of $35,000.

In addition, you can take advantage of:

Net Metering. Homeowners can use solar power to run their LIPA meter backwards and sell excess energy production back to LIPA;
New York State’s 25% tax credit towards the total cost of a PV
system, with a maximum credit of $5,000. If your tax credit is
greater than the amount of tax you owe New York State, the balance will not be refunded to you. However, any credit amount in excess of the tax due can be carried over for a maximum of up to five years.
A 15-year real property tax exemption through New York State's Real Property Tax Law for solar systems installed in New York State.
The following is an example of what a 5 kW PV system would cost:

5 kW PV system including contractor installation at $7.50/watt: $37,500.00
LIPA's PV Rebate at $3.50/watt: 17,500.00
Cost to Customer: 20,000.00
New York State's Solar Tax 25% Credit (Capped at $5,000) 5,000.00
Net Cost to Customer 15,000.00
Federal Solar Tax 30% Credit (Capped at 2,000) 2,000.00
Final Net Cost to Customer: 13,000.00