A SOLAR OWNER REPORTS IN
Benefits of solar panels clear after two years
Peter Murtha, Sept. 30, 2014 (Washington Post)
“…[G]iven our plan to stay in our home for the better part of a decade, we decided that it would be advantageous to purchase a system…The overall system size is 7.7 kilowatts…While we could have installed more panels, there would be diminishing returns, as they would have been placed in increasingly less productive positions on our roof…Our gross cost, including all equipment, electrical panel upgrades and installation, was $35,000, which includes a five-year warranty on workmanship and between 12 and 25 years warranty on the components…[T]he federal tax credit of 30 percent made it far more affordable, and Maryland chipped in another $1,000 as a (taxable) clean energy grant, bringing our net cost down to under $24K…With solar prices tumbling, a comparable system would cost 25 percent less today…Since our system went online in May 2012, we have averaged 8,860 kilowatt hours annually in production and have netted $2,319 in SREC income (an average of $122 per unit)…[I]t was estimated that we would recoup our investment in just over nine years. Because our production is not quite up to our projection (caused by an unanticipated shadow from our eaves and some down time due to inverter issues and snowfalls), it will probably take us closer to 10 years…[then] we will own a solar system providing us free electricity, with a projected useful life of an additional 15 years…” click here for more
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