Who's gone Solar

[GAJ]

Sheesh.

At 669 kWh per month my average is $.36/kWh , (tier one is $.33, tier two is $.41 on my 2018 bill it was $.20/$.28).

https://solarrights.org/pge-to-do-list-harm-the-public-scapegoat-rooftop-solar-repeat/

 

[ThinkFast]

I'm definitely ready to go with Sunpower Direct as they are vertically integrated but Jay, the guy you dealt with, is a terrible communicator and just canceled our 45 minute noon zoom meeting today so I'm losing confidence as he's THE direct contact in the area.

Ugh.

As I use more electricity than you (8000 kWh/year my average cost per kWh is 36 cents as half is in Tier 2 so my ROI should look better than even your excellent results.

But that relies on Jay getting his shit together.

Huh - sorry to hear that. I suspect they're getting pretty slammed right now as everyone scrambles to get into NEM2 under the wire. Have you gotten anything from them? Proposal?

 

[GAJ]

Huh - sorry to hear that. I suspect they're getting pretty slammed right now as everyone scrambles to get into NEM2 under the wire. Have you gotten anything from them? Proposal?

Zip.

I've given them a ton of information.

It'll work out.

Nem 3 to pencil out means more up front cost as you need a battery to get a decent financial return on extra kWh as PGE with Nem 3 gives you next to nothing.

 

[kpke]

Here is my abbreviated solar story.

I mentioned earlier I had signed up with EnergySage and received many online quotes based on very little information I had given them. I looked up some of the companies and reviews. I did not spend much time with this but what I did see was that these can be teaser rates. One person stating that after having someone come out and do the site analysis the cost went up $5000 without changing anything. So I shied away from these companies.

I had a phone meeting with West Coast Solar (Ryan) last Friday. He was most excellent and it was very educational. We were on the phone for approximately one hour and I had contacted him twice subsequently to get more explanation and information.

Today I had a Zoom meeting with Sunpower. She was very nice but seemed to only know enough to sell a system and not able to provide nitty-gritty details. She laid out a similar output system. So very close to apples to apples comparison with West Coast Solar regarding system size and annual output or consumption. She made calculations and the price was very high. A few moments later she said to me “I’m not supposed to do this but are you an IKEA family member?”. What? You mean like a Costco member? Then there was an explanation that there is some collaboration with IKEA where they have set aside better panels for a much better price. Huh? Okay, I’m now an IKEA family member. Lay out this system please. The new system with the better panels had a much better price.

Next, I asked her why she did not use the South facing portions of the roof. “Oh, I was going to do that after our conversation and include it in the quote”. How about if you lay it out now and give me a price.

So, she did and it required fewer panels to get the same output. And the system price came down again. But the price is still more than West Coast Solar by almost $5000.

Time to end this conversation. I'll let you know what I decide.

A few minutes later I was on the phone with West Coast Solar. Ryan emailed me the documents and I am now signed up with them. It will be something like three months (maybe more) to installation. But the paper work part is supposed to be all within the time constraints of NEM2.

19 - Monocrystalline REC 410 Watt ALPHA Pure Black Solar panels = 7.79 kW system size producing 12,931 kWh annually
1 - SolarEdge SE6000H-US inverter
19 – SolarEdge S440 Optimzers

Gross System Price: $31,144
Federal Tax Credit: $9,343
Net System Price: $21,801

Yes I know there is a difference between the micro inverters and the optimizers. Hope it all works out!!!

Thanks again for this thread.

 

[mean dad]

Nice, Ken.


I just docu-signed PG&E's contract for NEM2 rates. The ball is rollin.

 

[TwistedGRAY]

Nice, Ken.


I just docu-signed PG&E's contract for NEM2 rates. The ball is rollin.

I literally just did the same, moments ago.

@bojangle It should be coming soon I got my PG&E notifications, signed the docs, etc.

The follow-up email from PG&E reads, "The Net Energy Metering Application (Form 79-1151B-02) with the information below has been received. This confirmation email verifies that the non-refundable interconnection fee of $145 has also been received for this interconnection request (not applicable to Applicants who selected "Single-family Affordable Solar Housing" (SASH) or "Disadvantaged Community - Single-Family Affordable Solar Housing" (DAC-SASH) as a rebate option below).

Thank you for completing all of the required steps: This project is now under review. Once this project has passed the Clerical, Engineering, and Field Inspection reviews, the Permission to Operate (PTO) letter will be sent via email (if provided) or mailed. [continued gibberish...]"

 

[bojangle]

I literally just did the same, moments ago.

@bojangle It should be coming soon I got my PG&E notifications, signed the docs, etc.

The follow-up email from PG&E reads, "The Net Energy Metering Application (Form 79-1151B-02) with the information below has been received. This confirmation email verifies that the non-refundable interconnection fee of $145 has also been received for this interconnection request (not applicable to Applicants who selected "Single-family Affordable Solar Housing" (SASH) or "Disadvantaged Community - Single-Family Affordable Solar Housing" (DAC-SASH) as a rebate option below).

Thank you for completing all of the required steps: This project is now under review. Once this project has passed the Clerical, Engineering, and Field Inspection reviews, the Permission to Operate (PTO) letter will be sent via email (if provided) or mailed. [continued gibberish...]"

Yeah, just got a text and emails about it today. I still have to take a look and sign.

 

[TwistedGRAY]

Yeah, just got a text and emails about it today. I still have to take a look and sign.

We are on near identical timelines, so it'll be interesting to see if one of us gets anything that's substantially different than the other

 

[bojangle]

We are on near identical timelines, so it'll be interesting to see if one of us gets anything that's substantially different than the other

Yup!

And it is nice to see an update. Still no change in my Tesla account. I'm guessing that this step with PG&E was required before submitting to local authorities. Because I thought the local city/county approval was the next step.

 

[TwistedGRAY]

Yup!

And it is nice to see an update. Still no change in my Tesla account. I'm guessing that this step with PG&E was required before submitting to local authorities. Because I thought the local city/county approval was the next step.

Same here

 

[mean dad]

Yeah I had to sign something for my city a couple hours after the PG&E form.

 

[GAJ]

My Dental Tech today told me his solar goes in tomorrow with a company out of Sebastopol.

$27,000 for a 2000 sq/ft 2 story home sounds expensive with no battery back up.

I'm hoping for a lower quote for our one story 2000 sq/ft house tomorrow; we use 8000 kWh/year, not battery backup as we haven't had a power outage since well before the Tubb's fire in 2017 when virtually everyone else in Santa Rosa had power issues.

 

[kpke]

GAJ

The dental tech system 27K for a 2000 sq ft house seems high to me. But Sunpower was about that much for ours. See my post above. Talk to West Coast Solar and mention me for a referral like I did for Mean Dad

Our house is very similar in size to yours and also one story. Our actual electric consumption was the same as yours. I upped the size/output because currently...

1. I do not run the 2HP pool pump as much as it should be run.

2. We do not turn on the AC in the hot summer time until late evening for sleeping.

After solar...

Looking forward to freeish running of the AC in the hot summer time.

When the gas clothes dryer goes out will replace with electric. It's already wired.

Soon will be remodeling the kitchen so I suppose some sort of electric cooktop will replace the gas one.

Gas water heater (I made a thread on here about this) maybe will get replaced with electric or heat pump model.

Maybe in the winter we can run an electric space heater or two rather than the gas furnace unnecessarily heating the whole house.

Hope it all works out.

Good luck.

 

[mean dad]

A/C gonna be blastin this summer.

 

[GAJ]

GAJ

The dental tech system 27K for a 2000 sq ft house seems high to me. But Sunpower was about that much for ours. See my post above. Talk to West Coast Solar and mention me for a referral like I did for Mean Dad

Our house is very similar in size to yours and also one story. Our actual electric consumption was the same as yours. I upped the size/output because currently...

1. I do not run the 2HP pool pump as much as it should be run.

2. We do not turn on the AC in the hot summer time until late evening for sleeping.

After solar...

Looking forward to freeish running of the AC in the hot summer time.

When the gas clothes dryer goes out will replace with electric. It's already wired.

Soon will be remodeling the kitchen so I suppose some sort of electric cooktop will replace the gas one.

Gas water heater (I made a thread on here about this) maybe will get replaced with electric or heat pump model.

Maybe in the winter we can run an electric space heater or two rather than the gas furnace unnecessarily heating the whole house.

Hope it all works out.

Good luck.

I like the tech of Sunpower and the vertical integration so more than likely going with them.

We will give our very nice gas oven that my wife LOVES to our daughter; maybe when the time comes I'll start a "talk to me about induction cooktop ovens."

Just got the solar irradiance map for our house so shouldn't be a problem; we don't need panels on all the areas noted to achieve 110% of our current 8000 kWh usage...maybe we'll go even a bit higher as we do want electric underfloor heating in future.

Should have more info to pull the trigger after today's meeting.

 

[mercurial]

GAJ

1. I do not run the 2HP pool pump as much as it should be run.

Get a variable speed pump, the power usage difference is massive.

 

[kpke]

Get a variable speed pump, the power usage difference is massive.

Thanks. It's a 27 year old pool with in floor cleaning and rooftop solar heating (now dead). I'm not sure variable speed pump was available back then. If I recall the stuff needed the 2HP to operate the pop ups in the floor and to get the water up to the roof top solar.

A pool remodel is coming soon (yuk) $$$$$$ and "upgrades" like no in floor cleaning with variable speed pump and other stuff will be discussed.

Or better yet anyone interested in purchasing a used concrete in ground pool for cheap?

 

[mean dad]

I'll take it if you deliver.

 

[GAJ]

Pulled the trigger on a 9.5 kWh system (118% of current usage) for $24.6k.

8.4 year payback/13.5% ROI assuming no increase in PGE prices over that time!

 

[mercurial]

Thanks. It's a 27 year old pool with in floor cleaning and rooftop solar heating (now dead). I'm not sure variable speed pump was available back then. If I recall the stuff needed the 2HP to operate the pop ups in the floor and to get the water up to the roof top solar.

A pool remodel is coming soon (yuk) $$$$$$ and "upgrades" like no in floor cleaning with variable speed pump and other stuff will be discussed.

Or better yet anyone interested in purchasing a used concrete in ground pool for cheap?

what is in floor cleaning?

Definitely ditch the rooftop solar heating, those were like a 90s/00s thing, and are a huge liability. FWIW, moving to a variable speed pump reduced my daily pump power usage by 66% (24 hw/hr to ~8). You can also get cheap chinese pumps that are pretty decent, I own this one:

https://www.activepoolsupply.com/product/calimar-cmarvsp30-variable-speed-pool-pump/55079

the pool pros will hem and haw about how shitty they are, but at 30% the cost of a similar pentair unit, you can afford to replace it twice as often. It's basically almost the same as a pentair so will likely last a similar amount of time.