Is adding solar power to a home in the Northeast financially sound?
Question:
Answer:
You need to learn a lot before you can obtain a valid answer.
First make an estimate of the total number of kilowatt hours you would use. This can come from a review of your average annual consumption.
Then determine size of a photovoltaic system that would supply that demand. You can find tables that show how big a system it would take to supply your needs. Be aware that the rating of a system is not what you will get out of it. Due to losses, the system will not be 100% efficient.
If you intend to be able to power the house at night and in cloudy weather, include the initial cost and maintenance cost for batteries.
Perhaps your area has incentivies that will reduce the final cost.
Determine the power company's procedures with regard to metering costs and the various possible arrangements. For instance my power company offers net metering and time of use metering. With net metering, I feed them power in the daytime, and can take it back at night. At the end of the year I pay them if I have used more than I generate. If I generate more than I use, they do not pay me for the amount I overgenerate. Time of use metering has higher rates during summer days. If I do not use much power during these days, I "sell" power to them at a high rate. I pay at a lower rate for power used during off hours.
Get a rough estimate of the installation cost for a system, and determine from your present bills if the system can pay for itself
Now learn all you can, including taking a seminar or class on the subject. This will enable you to refine your cost estimates, and make a determination.
You may conclude that you will not save enough to pay for the system, but might add enough to the value of the house to make a difference when the house is sold.
You can add free solar power to a home just by opening the drapes on a sunny day and closing them at night. So there is no simple answer. It may depend on what you want the solar energy to do. Heat water? Preheat water for a gas or electric water heater? Supplement a wood-burning stove? Do you expect it to help in summer or winter or both? Some rooftop units collect solar heat energy and others are photovoltaic. Newer and cheaper photovoltaic technology is on the way. But the sun must be shining unless you can store the energy, and that may cost a bit too.
I looked using solar panels for electricity in Pennsylvania. I'd never live long enough to recoup any savings. Here is how you decide for yourself...
Find two things about adding solar panels to your own place. First, find out the total installed cost of your solar system and divide it by the number of square feet of your panels. Next find the watts per square foot that you will likely generate where you live. Suppliers can give you all of this.
Now divide that total cost per square foot by the watts per square foot. That gives you a number that has units of dollars per watt. Compare that number to your electric bill. It will also state your utility's $ per watt number.
There are a few other things involved (like rate structures) but this quick calculation will get to within a few percent of the 'engineering' answer. It will certainly get you close enough to decide if it's worth pursuing.
In your area, they would not feasibly pay for themselves yet. As for reversing your meter, the electric company will buy you extra electricity, but they will only give you off hours rates - about 2 cents per killowatt. You are probably paying somewhere around 8 cents/kW. Also you would need to buy switching gear to hook up into the electric company's grid - very very expensive.
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