What’s the best deal going on companies leasing out Solar Panels in California?
Solar Power Purchase Agreements, or PPA, have historically been for large systems for commercial and municipal customers. However, they are starting to venture into the residential sector.
Buying the power from the panels instead of the panels itself can help with the upfront costs and lock you in to a lower per kwh cost than buying from the electric company. However, you would not qualify for the rebates available if you bought the equipment yourself, so you would continue to pay for electricity after the equipment was paid for if you bought it outright.
I don’t know anything about these companies, but a quick search for California Solar PPA turned up:
Heliomu PPA www.heliomu.com
Solar City Lease www.solarcity.com
SunRun PPA. www.sunrunhome.com
I am interested in building solar panels for my own use. I think an output of around 20 watts will be sufficient for my purpose if I can tie them together and charge deep cycle batteries. Need the plans for dummies as I know nothing about these things.Thanks for any help you can provide me!
If you want to make solar panels and get an energy rebate, this link will show you how.
http://solarpanels.infoworldhelp.com
good luck.
Chris Cordoba
have them on your home. my house is about 1700 square feet. About how much would it coast me to go completely solar? i have ac, water heater, couple of televisions,refrigerator and all that good stuff.
We looked into that about 6 yrs ago when we built our home. The cost was astronomical. If I recall, something in the order of $90,000 for our 2200 sq ft ranch to go 80% off-the-grid.
I like the idea of ‘going green’, but "green" often costs double, or even triple. You won’t be "saving money" for at least 30+ years, and that’s only if the costs of the panels remains stable. I would hope they would have declined by now, but they haven’t moved much in the last 10 years.
I read a report in Scientific American about a year or so ago that suggested the cost to produce panels now is less then $500 per panel. So why the 1000+% markup? Answer: Because it’s "green".
I was trying to look online for solar panels for my home to take some of the strain off of using oil and electricity but I find it very hard to understand exactly how they are used.
Like one that I looked up is 100 watts…..is that like a light bulb watt? How many things can that power?
Is it really cheaper in the long run because the panels are very expensive?
If anyone has web sites that can explain this to me I would appreciate a link, or anyone to answer part of my question.
Here’s an article that will give you an idea of what residential solar is all about:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,20152332,00.html?xid=yahoo-answers&partner=yes
Then you can followup with the sources below to get more info.
What are the drawbacks to using wind turbines or solar panels for providing all power to a home?
A. The wind and sun are not constant, so there would be times when no electricity would be generated.
B. The wind and sun are constant, so there would be plenty of electricity for the home.
C. Wind and solar power are inefficient and too expensive to use and maintain.
D. Wind and solar power are efficient, but they are not able to produce enough electricity for a single home.
again trying to help..again thnx 4 the previous………
nothing else…………but A.
NO COMMENTS ON THE OTHER OPTIONS….
except these there is another drawback…….its when your brother breaks the solar panel after quarrel with you……then no electricity will b produced………….hope this funny answer u liked……..its just to make yahhooooooooooo answer FUNNNNN…………
I need to know if it is possible to make a solar panel at home with simple things at home, I got power out of potato,,,,, it was possible,
Hello Mohammad Q I just found this cool link. "Making Cheap, Inexpensive DIY Solar Panels at Home". I have been looking for the same info over the past week or so.
Despite what many people say, you don’t need batteries for a solar system if you are going to also be connected to the electric company (grid). You just need the panels and an inverter (and mounting hardware and safety equipment like breakers and fuses).
Most people don’t generate all of the electricity they use. They offset some of their use with solar and buy the rest from the grid. You can get a very small grid-tied solar system for as little as $3000. However, it won’t generate much electricity at all. I’d say an average size system is around $10k - $20k. Here are some packages that show all of the components needed. http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Grid-Tied-Systems/Alt-E-Designed-Grid-Tie-Packages/c1087/
If you want to see how much you need, look at your electric bill and see how many kwh you buy each month. Put that number into a calculator like this one, and see how big of a system you need. http://www.altestore.com/store/calculators/on_grid_calculator/. Installed cost is about $8 per watt of solar panel.
Has anyone done this? Is it complicated? Are there websites with directions? And where do you recommend that I buy solar panels?
I don’t want to go crazy with it. Maybe just do a few for the smaller rooms in my house to conserve some energy.
They are expensive to purchase and install but, the real savings comes over a period of a few years. If you decide to install, make sure you install enough so that when you are not using any electricity, that you can sell the excess electricity back to the electric co. That way the system pays for itself.
always use less power than what the panels are generating, does the electric company pay you for the excess electricity you produced?
I live in California. I know it may be different in each state.
The 3 major suppliers in California do NOT pay you for excess generation - the best you can get is a credit on your bill up to the amount of your usage. This is true for the PG&E region, as well as SCE and SDG&E. Also there will be a minimum charge for staying connected to the grid, nominally $5-10 a month, which cannot be undone by generating credit.
This being true, if you get a solar electric system, you want to size it to not quite meet your electrical needs, averaged over the year. We made the mistake of over-sizing our system, so ended up with a net credit at the end of the 2007 period. At that time, the power company said "thank you for your donation" and zeroed out the credit.
See the California Solar Initiative site below for official information.
of these solar panels? i am talking about the feasability in India. please advice.
You can use passive solar energy without solar panels. Some of those are very low-tech - solar ovens, water heaters and the like can be constructed with dark plastic, tin foil and some ingenuity if you’ve got a good set of plans to work from.
For generating electricity though, it’s trickier - though there are some people who claim to have kits and plans available that are considerably cheaper than the $25,000 and up, up, up that a contractor will charge for professional installation. Most of those savings are in the labor, I’m sure.