Are Solar Panels good or not worth the money ?

Sassycakes

Sassycakes

SF VIP
Location
Pennsylvania
A company that installs solar panels called today and just my luck my husband answered the phone. So the agent is coming tomorrow to discuss it with us. We don't know anything about Solar Panels and whether they are worth the money or not. What is your opinion,
 

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Whole house one's are kind of expensive. Plus, your location doesn't allow maximum sun exposure. That said, depending on your electrical needs, they may be a worthwhile investment.
But, and it's a big but... pay close attention to what a salesman pitches to you and remember, his job is to get you signature. No more, no less. He will be your best friend until the ink dries, then he is no longer in the picture.
Myself, I've yet to see it as a good investment. Now, my buddy has installed them on his house here in Florida and they do a good job. He did learn however, that the power company here no longer buys back the excess power. It would pay to check with your power company about that as that is usually a big part of the sales pitch.
Also, keep in mind that the average lifespan of a panel is 20-25 years and some of the brands out there tend to lose some of their max power capabilities well before that.
 
Understanding solar power comes with understanding what impacts them. Didn't look up snow covered but imagine you would not get power from panels that were covered. Here are some references that should help with decision making.

https://www.solar.com/learn/how-man...m, a,deliver that quantity of kW to your home.


https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/i...ically used as emergency backup power for RVs.

https://www.sunrun.com/go-solar-cen...offer two indirect nighttime energy solutions.

https://news.energysage.com/solar-p...ls do,work as well in rainy or cloudy weather.
 

I went to a "Free" dinner to talk about Solar panels on house roofs. As Squatting Dog said, they are there to get you to sign on the dotted line. I did not go for it as it was too much of a pressure sale pitch. He kept saying you don't have to pay a thing "The first" year. That hit a bell in my head.

I called my electric Co. to see if they did the buyback excess power? They said no. The engineer I talked with said where I live, I would not get enough payback. Also, he said you got to remember where you're at; there are strong winds, so they could be torn off your roof which will damage your underlying roofing. He also said the expected life span of these new versions is 10 years for full output. So they will continue making about 50% power from then to 20 years when they are worthless.

He also told me that you do have to get up on the roof & "clean" the pannels where I live as I would get a lot of farm dust on them.

Best thing Tread lightly.
 
Solar panels are not cost effective unless (1) you use them off grid, and (2) you install them yourself.
Even then they are likely not cost effective. My electric use is less than 70 kwh per month, and PG&E gouges
people here with their exorbitant cost of electricity and even just them putting a meter on the outside of the house.

Thus I would love to install off grid solar panels myself, but even then the cost would not be worth it.
The same materials that we would have to pay high prices for, the giant corporations can get at a minimum cost.
 
@Sassycakes the same thing happened to me. The hubby got wind of having solar panels installed and before I could count to 3 the salesmen was sitting in our kitchen.
He went on and on about how wonderful the panels are and how it will slash our heating bill.
The hubby had all to do to contain himself. I hadn't seen him that lively in years.
I was totally against it from the beginning mainly because of our age. The hubby at that time was in his late 70's.

He left us a pile of crap to read and said he would be back.
This gave me time to talk to my son about the situation.
Now I was armed with questions.

A few days later he came again with his fancy little clip board and papers to sign. He even had 2 pens just in case one dried up while we were signing our savings away.
I asked how we would clean them when they got dirty. No problem he said, just wash them off. Hubby took the gutters off so he wouldn't have to climb 25 years ago.
How about snow and ice and leaves and bird poop?
No problem. There is a service for that. Is it free? Well no, there is an annual fee. How much? We will get into that later, said he.
What about the shade from our trees? Well, the trees will have to come down. Do you cut the trees? Well no, that's your responsibility, said he.
What if one breaks?
Again, our responsibility. But we do have insurance for that, said he. Is it free? No there is an annual fee.
By then the hubby seemed to be gasping for air.
I had heard enough and escorted the man to the door.
He never called back.
 
I believe that solar pannels are a break even deal at the best. What you save with solar pannels is about the same cost to maintain the system. Where I live in Colorado having a wood burning stove in the house is the better way to go. It is like having a well on your property and figuring out that is cheaper to buy city water than using the well.
 
In the UK, solar panels used to have a good return on excess energy fed back into the grid, but not so good now..
Some people who had PV panels fitted talked about how much money they were making. They were not - they were simply starting to recoup the initial outlay and the break even time was about 12-14 years. They also added very little value to their property.

I think that unless you are off-grid, installing solar panels is little more than playing at being 'green'. Better spend your cash on insulation and energy efficient appliances.
 
Like Tish, we have saved a considerable amount of $$$ with rooftop solar. PG&E is now one of the highest-cost electricity providers in the US and our 14-panel system was installed when they were still offering Net Energy Metering (NEM), sometimes referred to as Net Zero Metering (the old name).

Thus PG&E is stuck buying energy FROM us at the same cost it provides electricity TO us, until the year 2035. They are trying very hard to terminate these contracts with the state energy commission's approval, however, so we'll see how things go.

We will be installing a battery wall next year for back-up purposes. Rotating power outages are always a threat these days, so we want to keep our Internet and our refrig/freezer running.

The system itself had a payback of 8 years, thanks to regular price increases granted to PG&E. Prior to our 2015 installation, our electricity costs were approx $110-135/monthly.

With solar the bill comes annually, not monthly. In 2016 we averaged $12/month. 2017-2019, $11/month. 2020 back down to $10/month.

We installed whole-house A/C this year. One good thing about drought: lots of sunny days. Our energy generation has been equal to our energy usage.

Solar panel technology is advancing steadily. Newer panels like ours do not fall off so much in efficiency; ours are forecasted to lose no more than 20% efficiency over their last decade.

Our neighbor just finished replacing their solar (installed 2014) with the newest panels - half the size and TWICE the energy generation.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area having solar is a HUGE selling point. Most people rent their systems, so fully-owned systems are considered a premium asset.
 
I don't no anything about solar panels. But I see you are also in Pennsylvania. It's has rained almost everyday for the last two months. PA is not known as the sunshine state. The solar system, which is cost effective for Southern California, may need to be beefed up, and be more expensive for PA. It gets damn cold in the winter., how do you heat your home, now? If it's gas, coal, or oil, you will have to convert to electricity, or it doesn't make sense to spend money for solar energy you aren't going to use. You are going to do a cost analysis of your energy usage to see which is cheaper, solar or what you have now. I'm 75, I'm not sure I would love to have my solar panels all paid off in 8-9 years, just in time to replace them all for my 85th birthday.. if I'm around.
 
One of our Son-in-Laws is a VP for a solar power company. Most of their installations are for business and industrial sites. A few years ago, we talked about going solar...off the grid. It would have cost us at least $18,000 (his cost) to do so. Then, we would have had to fill the basement with batteries due to the extended periods of cloudy weather in our area....especially in the Winter. Our place is total electric, and we have very reasonable electricity rates. It would take 7 or 8 years to "break even", and by then many of the batteries and solar panels would be wearing out. Needless to say, we stayed with what we have.
 
Sassycakes said:
A company that installs solar panels called today and just my luck my husband answered the phone. So the agent is coming tomorrow to discuss it with us. We don't know anything about Solar Panels and whether they are worth the money or not. What is your opinion,
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If you have lots of uninterrupted sunny days throughout the year, they are extremely good. Otherwise don't bother.
 
We put solar panels on our house about 10 years ago. It was the best thing that we did. Instead of putting that same money into the bank to earn a measly 1%, we were saving on electric bills. Our average bill before the solar panels was 450 - 515 dollars monthly. After the solar panels (yes they did cost money), the bill dropped to 5 dollars per month from April to November. Then it started inching up through the winter. We also got a grant at the time to help with the cost. Meanwhile, the electric power company, through SREC trade, buys back our electricity so every month I get a check in the bank from that.

Yes, there's a sizeable upfront cost for solar, but it has paid off - with the 5,000 dollars a year savings on electric bills. It also helps the environment, it helps our pocketbook, and it earns money (more than a CD does). It's a win-win situation.
 
Sassycakes said:
A company that installs solar panels called today and just my luck my husband answered the phone. So the agent is coming tomorrow to discuss it with us. We don't know anything about Solar Panels and whether they are worth the money or not. What is your opinion,
Click to expand...
Hi....we almost at one time we were going to get solar panels....We decided not to spend the money...
I'm glad we didn't buy.....Where I live I only see a
couple of Solar panels on homes....It is not popular in our area..... It is very expensive..
So far we are still in our home for 45 years and
nothing happened .....Good Luck
 

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