They are manufactured to withstand most of the hail around here. If we get crazy hail the homeowner's insurance will take care of it.
Solar Panels for the home - school me - why isn't everyone doing it?
- Thread starter Snattlerake
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Snooty power company, my homemade electricity not good enough for them?
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…of course this was verified by a report from a licensed real estate appraiser…hm?
What's the logic of that? Seems like if the government really wants us all to kick fossil they wouldn't allow the power company to disincentivize us going green. Hmm.
The micro inverter approach is a good 80% plan. Each panel & micro inverter acts independently from the other panels. This is good if you have any shade on any of the panels. The individual shaded panels loose production, but the adjacent panels (full sun) still operate at full capacity.
The micro-inverters will first check to see if there is grid AC power before putting the solar power into the electrical system. During a power outage there is no grid AC power, so the micro inverters will turn off - to avoid back-feeding into the grid.
Power outage work-around:
Just like adding a gas-generator to power your house - Turn off the main breaker (disconnect from the grid), add the gas-generator, and once the gas-generator applies AC power to the house, the micro-inverters will see AC power and turn back on for more KW capacity (generator + solar).
...If you don't want to mess with a gas generator, I wonder if a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) battery-backup unit would provide enough AC power to turn on the micro-inverters. Not sure....
I don't think I would want solar panels, especially so on the roof. What is hail going to do to the solar panels and what to the exposed shingles. If one has to replace shingles, is a roofing company going to be able to remove the solar panels and then reinstall them CORRECTLY after the shingles are replaced?
They say they have new technology for batteries but from what i have experienced in the past they are lying, years ago you bought a battery with a 10 yr warranty and it lasted longer now you lucky to find a battery with a 3 year warranty that will only last 3 years and 1 day if your lucky.
Figures lie and liars figure.
I don’t have any panels on my roof but I do have 1,000 watts worth of panels and a solar power generator. If needed I can put it in the yard and power the basic needs. Did it when we lost power a few times. Also time half the system with me when remote camping and have some comforts of home. (One day I’ll just buy an RV)
What you're describing is what OEC calls Net Metering, and it's only "cents per KWhr" because that's what their retail rates are. Under Net Metering, they're buying your excess electricity at the same price they would've charged you for it--unless the amount you generate exceeds the amount you consume for the billing cycle. In that case, the excess is credited to you at the "avoided energy cost" rate, which is set by the Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (OEC's electricity supplier).
So, basically, if you use 1000kWh in April, but you generate 1200kWh in that same month, you'll get charged $0 for the electricity, and they'll credit you the avoided energy rate for the extra 200kWh.
ETA: according to WFEC, the avoided energy cost is currently $0.02327/kWh, so they'd credit you with $4.65 for that extra 200kWh.
If your system exceeds 300kW of generation, or you're generating more than 125% of your peak load, they'll install a second meter and buy your excess at wholesale prices. I think their reasoning is that anyone who's generating that much excess is trying to be in the business of selling electricity, and they're not going to buy something at retail when they normally buy it wholesale (and, as a coop member, I agree with that).
FWIW, here's OEC's FAQ on the subject:
https://okcoop.org/renewable-energy-faqs/
Also FWIW, my late father had solar installed not long before he passed. I don't know the name of the company he used, but I would tell you to avoid them like the plague if I knew who they were. I don't know what possessed him to make that deal, but they were some slimy sonsabeeches. They were supposed to give him some kind of rebate (my dad was an engineer, and very good with numbers and finances), and he had to hound them over it--and when they finally sent him a check, it bounced. The sales rep did finally make it right, but it was far more trouble than it should've been.
It is nice to look at the graphs on a sunny day and see that the system is generating more electricity than it's drawing from OEC, but I just don't see how the economics of it could possibly have worked, other than for the installers...
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