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SolarCity

But north facing is apparently the best because rates change at 2pm. Not 7am. So my electric car rates go up and my solar doesn't kick in
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You mean west facing not north facing. North facing would not produce that much power. The solar modules produce peak power when the rays are perpendicular to the modules. Since the sun changes azimuth and elevation throughout the day and year you want to face the panels in a direction that you benefit from. South facing for our location on the earth puts the peak power production mid-day where west facing produces a peak in the afternoon when air conditioners kit in and energy demand for the grid is peaking. Because of time of use rates going up during the peak grid demand then there may be a benefit for west facing depending on how the rates work and how the you use power.
 
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I have nothing to do with the sales side of solar so I will not speak of exact pricing. That said, if comparing prices with other who have solar (from SolarCity or different providers) remember that the offered sales pricing changes over time.
The cost of solar panels has decreased significantly over the last 6 years and that has been what has enabled the massive growth of solar deployment and the viability of the lease.
And no, there is not another foreseeable massive step down in pricing coming so there is not much point in waiting for the next big thing in pricing or technological change. Panels are as cheap as they can be and while they are roadmapped to continue down, they will not see a $3-$4/watt drop like happened already. There will be slow decreases in pricing over time as economies of scale continue to work and installers reduce their overhead (as long a world silicon prices hold steady).

Try to find comps that have gone solar in the last 6 months or you will have somewhat irrelevant data.
People who talked to a solar company 2-10 years ago and say "it didn't make financial sense" are talking about very outdated pricing models.

Talk to the big 3:
- SolarCity
- Sungevity
- SunRun
and find a couple of small local shops in your area for comparison.
(edit, Petersen Dean roofing has been installing a lot of solar also)

- if in SF talk to Luminalt, Noel and crew have been around a long time and are only installing cash deals, no leases.
- Occidental power has been around SF a while also.

All sales people know their competitors pricing because all customers shop the companies against each other, you and anyone else should do the same.

Remember, you also want to choose a company that will be there in 20 years to service their warranty, replace the inverter when it goes out, etc. That is worth a few cents or dollars more per month IMHO. :thumbup
 
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Is this cost effective if I'm under $80 a month for electricity? I need to look into the rebates. I mainly want to do it so I can give the finger to my HOA board :laughing
 
I always wondered, if you need to replace your home's roof or shingles, and there are solar panels already covering your roof...what happens?
 
What has gone down is module cost which is ~$.70/Watt. Where the total installed cost is about $5.30/Watt. So, the hard part, the solar module is only a fraction of the cost, the rest is design, labor, racking, wiring, inverters, ect.

If anything, I would expect the module cost to go up now. The cost of the module went down because of heavy Chinese subsidies and what they call "dumping" of cheap Chinese modules. China has stopped subsiding the low efficiency module and Europe has started tariffs to combat Chinese dumping, so the price should rise, which a lot of solar companies are counting on to stay in business.
 
Zerox said:
I always wondered, if you need to replace your home's roof or shingles, and there are solar panels already covering your roof...what happens?
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You'd have to take down the panels to do the roof. It's a good idea to install panels on a roof with a lot of service life left. On the plus side, the panels can help protect the roof.
 
Ev- I signed up with Solar City and it was painless. Had to show a couple guys around the house a couple times and their monitoring device takes up a switch port :( but other than at I'm very happy with the whole deal. Ask specific questions and I'll try to answer.
 
Nucking Futs said:
Ev- I signed up with Solar City and it was painless. Had to show a couple guys around the house a couple times and their monitoring device takes up a switch port :( but other than at I'm very happy with the whole deal. Ask specific questions and I'll try to answer.
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Yup...Solar City is about as good as they get for leasing programs. I also like REC solar out of SLA. The most important factors are

Design-are you really getting a quality design that maximizes your potential or is some idiot sitting on google earth guessing what will fit on your roof. If they are already making a proposal before going on the roof and measuring than some potential could be left out.

Cost-of course, I already showed you how to analyze that.

Quality-Insist on American made panels(SolarWorld, Suniva, etc), California made racking system(Pro Solar), and Fronius or SMA string inverter. Stay away from micro inverters unless you have shading issues. I do 90% string inverters and 10% micros, never have I had to replace a string inverter in 6 years but last week I replaced 2 micros. GL
 
Why do I care what gear they use? I have zero ownership or liability and my rate is my rate. If their gear is down, I don't suffer, I pay the rate I am contracted to..?
 
Ducky_Fresh said:
Why do I care what gear they use? I have zero ownership or liability and my rate is my rate. If their gear is down, I don't suffer, I pay the rate I am contracted to..?
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That's true, but typically at the end of the term you do (or can) own it.
 
But, if I was buying, your advice seems solid!!! :thumbup

Also, I have concrete shingles on my house. They are lifetime.
 
Ducky_Fresh said:
But, if I was buying, your advice seems solid!!! :thumbup

Also, I have concrete shingles on my house. They are lifetime.
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We had SunRun do our installation on a Power Purchase Agreement, which is similar to a lease. We also have concrete tiles on the roof, so the lifespan of the roof isn't an issue.

At the end of our agreement, we have the option to "purchase" the system at market value, which is essentially nothing or to renew the PPA. I'd probably be inclined to own the system at that point, though renewing the agreement leaves SunRun responsible for system performance and maintenance, where owning it would make all that my problem. We'll see how the equipment has performed and held up when we get there.
 
Ducky_Fresh said:
But, if I was buying, your advice seems solid!!! :thumbup

Also, I have concrete shingles on my house. They are lifetime.
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I do not think your roof will be lifetime after a solar install, you had better confirm that. :)
 
Ducky_Fresh said:
Why do I care what gear they use? I have zero ownership or liability and my rate is my rate. If their gear is down, I don't suffer, I pay the rate I am contracted to..?
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This is what makes America great. I am out. :twofinger
 
Killroy1999 said:
What has gone down is module cost which is ~$.70/Watt. Where the total installed cost is about $5.30/Watt. So, the hard part, the solar module is only a fraction of the cost, the rest is design, labor, racking, wiring, inverters, ect.

If anything, I would expect the module cost to go up now. The cost of the module went down because of heavy Chinese subsidies and what they call "dumping" of cheap Chinese modules. China has stopped subsiding the low efficiency module and Europe has started tariffs to combat Chinese dumping, so the price should rise, which a lot of solar companies are counting on to stay in business.
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haha wtf, so that's over $9000 in installation costs for a small 2 kw system? What a rip off. Skilled labor for household improvements should be obtainable for $50/hr (and often lower), at that install cost you are buying the full time effort of a skilled laborer for over a month!! Aside from being generally handy, I don't have a clue about solar, and I'm pretty sure I could do the majority of the labor required in no more than a couple weeks. Seems to me like the installers are taking advantage of the precipitous decline in materials cost to artificially boost their labor margins.
 
Anyone have experience in commercial systems for a project/ concept? Consulting would apply.
 
Holeshot said:
Anyone have experience in commercial systems for a project/ concept? Consulting would apply.
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I guarantee I will install you a 100 kw system for no more than $400,000 in labor fees. That's a friend discount of only $4 per watt installed.
 
We had a guy come to the door a couple of weeks ago trying to get us to sign up for a system. I don't recall the name of the company off-hand, but they were offering free on-site design work, free installation, and a guarantee of $0.15 per kW for the life of the contract - which if I recall was 20 years. we declined the offer for a couple of reasons:

1. Our electrical usage never jumps up to the higher tier plans
2. They required a full-time broadband internet connection so their monitoring system could report back to them regularly.

Number 2 was the main issue - our broadband internet connection is mobile. When we're in our RV our internet goes with us so the house does not have a separate full-time connection.
 
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