How much money would I need in order to have solar energy in my home instead of local grid energy?
Answer:
Our system cost $40,000. The state (CA) reimbursed $20K.
If you want to cut the bills, get an XPower. We sized our load incorrectly and have been considering adding more solar panels to make up the difference... until we ran across the XPower a couple months ago.
It only cost $250 and all I had to do was plug it into a wall outlet & turn it on. No installer needed, no electrician, eg; no additional bills or hassles. A no-brainer.
It cut our electric bill by 50%, but the website advertises 25% reduction. We are thrilled with it.
This does not answer your qestion but i did look into getting independant using solar and wind. It is not practicle.yet
It depends hugely on exactly where you live and what tax breaks are available.
If you can connect the system to the grid and sell your excess power back to the electric company, that helps a lot. If you have to be "off-grid" the cost is substantially more because you'll also need batteries.
You need a local pro to walk you through the economics of this where you live, Look for someone like these guys (they're in Northern CA):
http://www.planitsolar.com/
Figure roughly $10,000-$40,000 upfront cost. What that buys you depends on the factors above.
EDIT - Off-grid costs more than on-grid of course, but mostly for running costs, only a small part of the cost is upfront. Unless you replace a lot of 110VAC stuff with 12/24 VDC stuff, which helps efficiency if you have battery backup.
I agree with Bob, but I think his estimated cost is a little low. A grid connected system can be installed for $10,000, but if you really want to be off grid, it will cost much more. A grid connected system uses grid power at night and supplements your solar power with grid power when it is cloudy or any time your use exceeds the capacity of the solar panels. It can also sell extra power back to the grid when (if) you make more than power than you are using. But to be truly off grid you need batteries with enough capacity to last at least all night and extra solar panels so you are always making more power than you use during the day so that the batteries can be charged for use at night. That will greatly increase the cost of your system. And it will require a lot of maintenance. Those batteries will need as much attention as you car battery, including replacing the batteries every few years.
More than you probably care to spend. Photovoltaic systems cost about $10 per watt of capacity, and can generate a maximum of 2 kWh per year per watt --- worth, at today's prices, around 25 cents. Your money would do better in a savings account. However, subsidies may reduce the cost to you; that does not eliminate the cost, of course, it just moves it around.
If you can be on the grid, it's definitely not worth it. We lived way out and were on solar. It's great when you have enough sun. But that's sparse in MT in the winter. Batteries, panels, transformers, upkeep, all is very expensive.
You have to look at a little more then just the upfront cost of the system.
How much money will it save you over the years? If your electric bill is 200 dollars a month you could end up saving up to $30,000 over thirty years. There are Taxes on every kWh you buy and it increases every year. Fuel inflation rate is 6.5% and going up. Some systems was put in use back in the 1960's and are still running.
If your electric usage is like mine around 500 to 600 kWh per month you will endup spending about 25K to 35K for a turn key system. Meaning they will help you pick the system and they will take care of everything for you.
For the same system but setup for off grid or Grid Tie with battery backup you can plan on about twice that.
A minimum of US$50,000 and you would probably still need to get some power from the grid.
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