Has anyone jumped on this "free" solar energy thing?

RobW said:
Bump- who took advantage of the free roof, free panel installs??
Lots of good information here to consider for my 110yr old roof trusses. I have a quote open right now. New roof, 26 panels and installed for $0.
Basically financing for 20 years at 0% giving me a payment of $168 to solar company. My pse&g bill drops to $2.26 for service fee.
Since i generate “about” 9000kwh a year, the system would generate all of my electricity needs. For every 1000kwh the panels generate I receive a $98 deposit to my bank account. This is a $69 monthly average credit, Bringing my monthly average cost for electric to $99 a month. I would still have the $168 monthly payment for 20 years but receive deposits as I generate, so after 20 years... I don’t have a payment and the system starts to make me money. I won’t be living in the house when it’s paid off. I question how this would go through with a real estate deal, what if they didn’t want that service? How binding Can this contract be?
I don’t think this house can handle the weight.. so I’m probably out... but I still need a roof.
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what happens if something goes wrong with some of the panels over the 20 years? what if the panels don't work as well over time, especially after 20 years of baking in the sun. What does a bunch of solar panels do to the look of a 110 year old house? I am skeptical of the longevity of these solar panels. I sure as hell wouldn't buy a house that has them installed.
 
The whole catch is they make their money up front, you own the panels so after <20 years, its your problem when they fail. Whats the value of the panel? $250-$500?

To me its all a huge scam that your "profits" are realized after the life expectancy of a panel. If it was a money maker they'd be installed in every square foot of sunshine.

The better use of solar is in a commercial setting where there is plenty of space on the roof and you can spend the money as a capital investment and work towards a net zero, no power in and no power out.

What happens when you sell the house and the possible owner doesn't want them? Rip them off and re-roof. No one will go through that hassle.
 
just a thought...been looking for a vacation/retirement home for a few years. The Mrs. frequently says - "I'm not buying a home with those ugly solar panels on it." So there is a contingent who will not even consider your otherwise perfect house due to the look.
 
bergsnj said:
what happens if something goes wrong with some of the panels over the 20 years? what if the panels don't work as well over time, especially after 20 years of baking in the sun. What does a bunch of solar panels do to the look of a 110 year old house? I am skeptical of the longevity of these solar panels. I sure as hell wouldn't buy a house that has them installed.
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When my wife and i were looking for a house to buy we found several homes that we fell in love with but they had solar panels and we too were skeptical of the longevity of them. We didn't want the headaches. deal breaker.
 
Looking out my window this morning: 4BE691C3-27EB-4692-BF3C-CFD6CA7B2100.png


When the Tesla roof was announced it looked really promising, I think they projected 20k price with a lifetime warranty, and a seamless design. Seems that was too optimistic, with too many design and production problems. A couple years later very few houses actually have them. And one guy paid 100k for it. Every time someone solicits me for solar and I tell them my electric bill rarely cracks $50 and they back away.
 
Such a shame and sorry to say, so typical American business, to take something that's obviously so much better for the world, climate change and certainly the future, and corrupt it like a sleazy used car salesman. The government, like it did when this started, should make this option easier, cheaper to encourage the inevitable switchover. Instead they try to restart coal?! I'll go one step further and base my opinion on what's going on here in my neighborhood. Modest sized, older homes on decent sized lots. Older residents pass away or move. Developer/flipper comes in. Clears lot of every living tree and plant life, then constructs a huge mega home with no yard! (Gonna need a ton of coal for utilities now!) OK, permanent damage done to our local ecosystem. SO, it should be mandated, when removing all trees, that solar is installed in all new construction. Lemonade out of lemons.

I know, I know. Don't tell me what to do on my property. Like it or not though, as climate change worsens, these regulations WILL be put in place. Maybe years and years until it's so bad and too late, but it is the future. Why not get ahead of the curve?

Our house has the highest tree density in our neighborhood. We looked into solar and would've had to clear almost all the trees. Adding up the cost, it seemed the trees saved us more by keeping our house cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. Trees work together supporting each other during big wind storms. A stand of trees is less likely to blow over than a few trees scattered around.

Our house, is a very very very fine house.....

Certified Wildlife Refuge.jpg
 
serviceguy said:
They stop me at Home Depot all the time, but then they go away as soon as they google map my address and can't see the house hidden under the oaks and sugar maples...
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yeah some of these guys are scammers. we got hounded constantly at our montgomery house. One honest guy looked at Google maps and immediately saw our roof wasn't facing the best direction and said it's not worth it. But plenty of others said yes go ahead.

Might do it in FL where it makes alot more sense.
 
If anyone wants to experiment with solar on a very small scale, I have two extra 300W panels available for sale. I currently use solar to power outdoor lighting and a dehumidifier.
 
@serviceguy @rick81721 - I spoke with one of those guys at the big box store. I asked for a quote to pay upfront, full ownership out the door, and it was well over $30k. I said what do I get for that $, and the answer was no electricity bill. Given the payback, panel life, and hassle, $30k is a lot of electricity.

@MMuller - our local regulations make renewable sources very difficult (with exception for solar). If I were to build a barn/garage I'd like to put a combination of active solar, passive solar, and a small wind turbine, but I'd be better off doing this in another state altogether.
 
trailhead said:
If anyone wants to experiment with solar on a very small scale, I have two extra 300W panels available for sale. I currently use solar to power outdoor lighting and a dehumidifier.
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And this is a great option and something we'd like to do. We'd love to have even a small solar set up to power any little bit we can. They should sell small setups for homes that don't fit the criteria or can't afford.
 
I've had my solar panels for 9 years now- it may be different now, but this may interest you anyway.
At the time I had mine installed, financially it was a no-brainer.
I own my system, financed through PSE&G.
When I ran the numbers back then, it made no sense to lease.
I could have financed elsewhere, but financing through PSE&G provided a floor price on the SREC's.

Anyway, I net about $0 per year for the electricity, and the SREC's directly pay the loan.
The loan is over $25,000, yet I don't pay a penny of it- it gets paid directly from the SREC's.
Financing through PSE&G gave me a floor price of $450/credit. I think the market is below $200 now.

Long story short- system was effectively, FREE, plus FREE electricity.
$0 maintenance costs until 2 weeks ago due to tree rats.
These "costs" included paying for a new roof early- it had a few years left but I replaced it for the solar.
Win-Win-Win.
 
Dave02 said:
I've had my solar panels for 9 years now- it may be different now, but this may interest you anyway.
At the time I had mine installed, financially it was a no-brainer.
I own my system, financed through PSE&G.
When I ran the numbers back then, it made no sense to lease.
I could have financed elsewhere, but financing through PSE&G provided a floor price on the SREC's.

Anyway, I net about $0 per year for the electricity, and the SREC's directly pay the loan.
The loan is over $25,000, yet I don't pay a penny of it- it gets paid directly from the SREC's.
Financing through PSE&G gave me a floor price of $450/credit. I think the market is below $200 now.

Long story short- system was effectively, FREE, plus FREE electricity.
$0 maintenance costs until 2 weeks ago due to tree rats.
These "costs" included paying for a new roof early- it had a few years left but I replaced it for the solar.
Win-Win-Win.
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That was the way to do it. At one point the SRECs were trading at over $800 a credit, which is what peaked the solar market and every Tom Dick and Harry started installing panels. Hedging the price was only going to go up. Can't get that value now.
 
You may want to ask your mortgage company what happens when you want to sell the house or if you want to do a refi.
 
seanrunnette said:
Who are you using as your broker? We just set up our system (10 year loan, 30k all in through SunPower, 11k kwh per year)
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Are they still trading SREC's? What kind of value and will it pay off your loan?

We did a complete system at work, probably 10 years ago. We had a surprise when the SREC market crashed, but like @Dave02 above, we were lucky to have a floor value. Otherwise a complete waste...
 
one piece crank said:
Are they still trading SREC's? What kind of value and will it pay off your loan?

We did a complete system at work, probably 10 years ago. We had a surprise when the SREC market crashed, but like @Dave02 above, we were lucky to have a floor value. Otherwise a complete waste...
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They're trading at around 220 per right now. 10 year cap. It's a push on paper. (Our bill is close to 120 per month avg.) The next step is finding a good broker, which isn't too tough, but always curious to hear what folks say.
The SREC program is in the verge of being phased out and replaced by a new program as NJ is close to 5 percent residential solar generation, which was the goal.
 
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I spoke to my broker and gave him my concerns which were... structural integrity of house & if I move how it works.


Answers-
a study would be done and sent to engineering firm to determine if roof trusses can hold the weight.


Also, if say 5 years from now I sell the house, I could advertise the house as a home without a electric bill. I could pay off the loan early, then leaving me the 9 TREC’s I would own and earn back 828 annually.



To sum it up- not sure I want to go through all this because they are capping my generation based upon my consumption. I think if it was any benefit to the buyer, it would be to give them a system that generates more Than avg. consumption and allow a faster payoff. It just seems like a gimmick to me at this point. They suck you in thinking the roof is free but From 5th grade social studies class I learned this “there’s no such thing as a free meal”
 
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