Solar upgrade to house?

Question

How much does it cost to convert an existing house to solar? That is, how much does it cost for the solar panels, batteries, etc. to make the power and heat of the house derived primarily, if not entirely, from solar energy?

Answer 1

This isn't a direct answer to your question, but it is an important factor to consider:

Given that your house is already connected to the utility grid, you should keep that connection and skip the batteries. In most states utilities are required to buy any excess power that you produce. This means that you can essentially use the grid as a big battery of sorts -- feeding into it on sunny days when you are producing power and taking it back when you need it.

This approach can save you a bunch of money (since you don't have to buy batteries). It also makes the most sense environmentally. Storing and retrieving electricity from batteries is a relatively inefficient process -- so it is better to let others on the grid use the power as soon as it is generated. Also, batteries have a lot of nasty chemical, so their manufacture and disposal involves some real environmental problems.

One other thing for you to consider: if you have to choose between electric system or solar hot water/heat system (or you are deciding which to do first) -- go for the hot water/heat. The electric systems are sexier, but in most cases the hot water/heat system will give you more bang for the buck. This is especially true if you have (or are considering installing) a radiant heating system.

Answer 2

I agree with most everything Don K says, but not his advice on connection to the grid.

My PV system is connected to the grid on net metering. That is, if I am makiing more than I am using, it goes into the grid. If I am using more than I am making, I draw from the grid. At the end of the year I get a bill for any excess over what I have generated. As Don says, if I generate an excess, that becomes a gift to the utility.

My system is rated at 6 kW, or about 4.5 effectively. The house is about 2200 sq ft in Martinez CA. I live alone. I have an electric range, and gas water heater. Burning a fair amount of wood, and being very frugal with heating and AC, I manage to zero out at the end of the year.

A 6kW system is bigger than most of the residential PV systems I have seen. It is unlikely that you would install a system so large that you would not use all you generated.

If having power during outages is important to you, batteries should be considered. Be prepared to reconfigure your house wiring to be able to shed load by nonessential appliances, lose some of your solar output to keep batteries happy, maintain the batteries, replace them occasionally, and to pay a big premium for the pleasure. It would have cost me about $8,000 to have batteries. I have a small gasoline powered generator to carry me over extended outages.

A bit of information. I decided that there would be no modules (panels) over the attic. They are on a porch-like overhang and the garage. I didn't want to comtemplate a leak over the attic. Put enough holes in a roof, and you are almost guaranteed a leak. I had a small leak in the garage, and was glad of my decision.








w

Answer 3

I am not much for grid tie. And I do have solar electric and grid power at my home. I deal in solar products and grid tie is a good thing but not for most areas. At this minute there is no pay back for solar if you are just simply thinking in money matters.

Where I live the cost of a kWh is under 7 cents. The life of any solar electric system is about 25 years with replacement inverters every few years and batteries if you go that way about every 7 to 10 years. You end up paying about 20 to 25 cents per kWh over the life time of the system. It even cost more when grid tied because you can only sell back what you used. Anything over what you used of their electric you give to them for free. There is as well the grid tie hookup fees and then a monthly net metering service charge and then your point of use monthly service charge. Along with taxes and franchisee fees.

It is by far best to go solar battery backup and use it for full time electric and then use the grid as a back up system for your solar.

Now to answer your question.

You need a copy of your last 12 electric bills. Total them all and divide by 12. that is your monthly usage. To make it all simple to understand you divide that one months usage by 30 days to get one full days usage. So if you use 20 kWh per day and you live in an area that has 4 hours of peak sun you will need around a 5 kWh (5000 watt) system to run your home. If you bought them in 100 watt panels you would need 50. Solar panels are selling for under 6 dollars per watt so you have $30,000 in just solar panels. You can get a discount if you buy that many panels. The inverter you pick will be depending if you go grid tie or battery backup from $4000 to $5000. There is no charge controller for that size of a system you will need about 5 of them at $600 each $3000. Then the batteries you will need (wild guessing on all this stuff) 2600 ah. About 2 grand more.

So your cost will be around $45,000 by the time you finish paying everyone for labor and parts and all.

You do not want to heat or cook with solar electric. Switching that to gas might bring the cost of your system down by as much as half. By installing gas heating or solar heat backed up by gas you can save a lot on your system size.

Read up on it at the link below.

Answer 4

I'm confident that you might pick up everything that has to do with solar power at: leafysolarwho.info You will find habitual products to updated solar energy data and related media.

Answer 5

My guess is that you might find everything concerning solar power at www.leafysolarwho.info.

Answer 6

It's like buying a Rolls Roice. If you have to ask the price you can't afford it.

Answer 7

A lot! It would take you at least 8 years to recoup your expenses.