Community Chat

[Kalli]

We got a quote today of $48,000 for solar panels that would be placed in our back pasture. With the discount, it would be $34,000.

Turns out our south facing roof , well we have one on the barn and one on the garage, are not enough to completely cover our bill. So they recommended installation in the ground and that's much more expensive than roof panels.

Yikes! So much for that.

Just wondered if anyone has these panels and would like to share your experiences?

-Kalli

[raven-blackbird]

IF there is a Solar City in your area, you might want to check with them and they give a free estimate.............................raven

[EmmaBunting]

I have solar power in my beach house. Just enough to draw water from the well and give us a few lights and outlets for toaster, coffee maker etc. So not a regular house solar system with washer, dryer, stove, refrigerator, etc. We have gas stove and even a couple of gas refrigerators. In other words....we have a minimal system....and it cost us close to 20 grand about 5 years or so ago. So 48 grand doesn't sound out of the question. Of course...our 20 grand included not just the solar panels...but the inverter....abuot 16 batteries..... and wiring a few things for us. (My husband had already done most of the wiring)

It's expensive.....but so awesome to be self sufficient.

By installation in the ground......do you mean they'll set the panels on poles? I've seen that done before. How many solar panels are we talking about here?

[Kalli]

EmmaBunting, yes the installation would be in the ground behind the house. We first asked about putting panels on the roof of our garage and on our small barn, both of these face south, but the guy told us those 2 rooftops wouldn't yield enough power to cover our electric bills completely. That's what we'd asked...how much would it cost to cover our entire electric bill.

-Kalli

[Irshgrl31201]

Kali we put in solar powers about 18 months ago I think. We decided to get these because my brother in law owns a back up power engineering firm. He usually uses generators and does FAA airports in case they lose power but he does solar too and offered us a good deal on it. I will have to talk to my husband to get all the particulars because honestly, he handled most of it. I do know we paid a little over $40k for the solar panels and we got the 30% back deal (tax credit) with the govt.

It is important that you get AT LEAST 5 hrs of sunshine a day to make these worthwhile, which we do. We have a big house. It is over 6,000 sq ft a little over 2,000 for each floor and we have 3 floors. We had to have HVAC for each floor so our bills were high, super high. One summer when we had guest staying with us and had to cool all the floors our electric bill was over $1,000 and that is why we decided to do this. It has saved us over 50% on our electric bills easily. This is different for everyone though and the amount of sun you get really does determine this.

My husband went out of town today on business but I will ask him the particulars and get back to you.

[kdgn]

I don't know if it has to do with location, but in this area solar panels are put on the south AND west facing roofs. We don't have solar, we don't "qualify", but several homes in my area do have them.

Make sure it's a well-known and reputable company. The next door neighbors had a company do theirs and I didn't recognize the name from any of our multitude of telemarketers. The panels were installed for over a month before they were activated. The electric company and the solar company had issues-rather, the electric company had issues with the solar company.

[Kalli]

irshgrl, we live in central PA. So not as much sun as we'd like. It's usually pretty nice from late spring until November. After that, all bets are off.

-Kalli