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Converting our house to Solar/electric was surprisingly lucrative financially: Here are the numbers [1]
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Date: 2023-06-02
I started this as a comment on Bob Waterstripe’s diary, but as it grew in length I thought it might be useful to make a separate diary with detailed financials to help others considering converting to solar electric.
We recently installed solar and converted our home to (almost) all electric for heat/AC, hot water and stove, plus only EVs. I say “almost” because our home had a radiant hot water heating system, which we connected directly to an electric Air to Water heat pump so we didn’t have to change our existing nice radiant heating system. However in the coldest days (below 18 degrees or so) , we will likely need a boost from the existing propane boiler to stay warm.
I originally did this mainly because I wanted to personally stop using fossil fuels, I’m kind of a nerd who likes the superior EV, and induction tech, and I had the money to put up front so I thought it would be fun. I was hoping not to pay too much more than before in the long run, but wasn’t really worried about the exact savings and timeline to pay back the cost.
What’s been a real surprise to me is just how much money doing this saved us. Our panels are running everything in our home including our EV, and last month alone we generated over 2.6 MegaWatts, just from our modest sized roof (home is 1800 sf with 2 floors) — and this is in New England, not San Diego or Hawaii. We are covering 100% or more of our electric costs even in most of the winter months, and generating thousands of dollars a year overall in excess electricity back to the grid. We can’t get a check from the power company for our excess, but we can sell the excess to our neighbors. My neighbor next door has a large house with a high electric bill, so I directed the power company to send all our excess to him and I charge him 10% less than the power company rate (win-win) for all those clean, locally sourced electrons. With this high performing solar, and all the state and federal credits, plus the income stream from my neighbor, it’s ridiculously favorable financially. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Upfront all-in cost to install 16 KWh (annual) of solar panels: $50K
30% rebate from Federal solar tax credit (thank you Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell for Build Back Better!) : $15K
MA renewable tax credit: $1K
Future MA state credits for solar generation: $13K over 10 years
Net cost for install after tax credits and rebates: $21K
In 12 months our solar panels produced a whopping 18.2 Megawatts, which is worth over $6,850/year at current rates in our town!
So in only THREE years after install, I will have paid back the entire install cost! The panels are warranted for 20 years, so years 4-20 actually generate a net profit of over $116K! And inflation and electricity price increases are now our friend, since our profit goes up if the power company raises rates (last year they jumped 43% which would be really annoying if I had to buy their electrons rather than sell them at this rate). And with our EV, we pay nothing for gas, so any inflation of gas prices doesn’t directly affect our home budget.
Obviously these numbers are based on a combination of State, Federal, local factors and YMMV depending on your individual situation, but I’ve been gobsmacked by how profitable this was for our family and thought I’d share it as a reference for other considering doing the same.
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https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/6/2/2172904/-My-experience-converting-to-Solar-electric-was-a-surprisingly-financially-Here-are-the-numbers
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