THINKING OF SOLAR ELEC. ,OUR OWN HOME

Status
Not open for further replies.
toolaholic said:
Is Solar City Lease a bad option ? . We live about 25 miles north of S.F. Ca.Thanks Tool
Click to expand...
It could be a great option, or not. You have to do the math and see how it works for you.

If you lease a system, then the owner of the system (Solar City, in this case) gets some of the economic benefits from the system and you get some. If you buy it yourself, then you get all the benefits, but you don't have the advantages they get from buying in bulk. Also the up front money for a PV system is significant; if you buy a system you have to be playing the long game to see any benefit from it, whereas if you lease a system you have no initial outlay and the cash flow benefits to you are immediate.

Like most things in life, it's a tradeoff and you have to run the numbers to see what works for you. Obviously, over a year's time the lease payments plus your new electric bills should be less than your old electric bills for the lease to be to your benefit.

FWIW, Solar City is a very large (perhaps the largest) player in the leased PV system game. They have lots of customers.
 
Last edited:
toolaholic said:
That's great info ! I like buying N installing My self ! Tool
Click to expand...

You should find out what size system they plan on installing and what the SREC that the state pays for each MEG of power you produce. If your an electrician and can do the work yourself. I have a 9 KW dual access tracker system that produces about 12 Megs a year. Currently MA is paying about $280.00 per meg. So I get about 90% of my electricity for free and almost $3,400.00 a year in SREC money. A few years ago it was about $400 per srec. System will be paid for in a little over 6 years (only 2 years till its all paid for). SREC money will stop after 10 years and then its just the free electricity i will get. The price of panels and inverters has dropped down considerably over the past few years. Solar City will play with the numbers by selling you everything at cost to drive the price up in order to get the max on the federal rebate money.
 
69gp said:
You should find out what size system they plan on installing and what the SREC that the state pays for each MEG of power you produce. If your an electrician and can do the work yourself. I have a 9 KW dual access tracker system that produces about 12 Megs a year. Currently MA is paying about $280.00 per meg. So I get about 90% of my electricity for free and almost $3,400.00 a year in SREC money. A few years ago it was about $400 per srec. System will be paid for in a little over 6 years (only 2 years till its all paid for). SREC money will stop after 10 years and then its just the free electricity i will get. The price of panels and inverters has dropped down considerably over the past few years. Solar City will play with the numbers by selling you everything at cost to drive the price up in order to get the max on the federal rebate money.
Click to expand...

Thank You , That's all great Info. Any good books out there to help Me with this
 
69gp said:
You should find out what size system they plan on installing and what the SREC that the state pays for each MEG of power you produce.
Click to expand...

No SRECs in California. But electricity is pretty high priced especially if you use a lot. Much higher than the cost of solar.

If your an electrician and can do the work yourself.
Click to expand...

True that, especially if 'electrician' means C-10. Some jurisdictions will let you do it as a homeowner.
 
THANKS ALL

THANKS ALL

I am collecting info at this point. Mom want's a kitchen renovation first . Any good books out there on setting up a system on Your own ?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top