http://www.solarcity.com/campaigns/2011/season/july-1000.aspx?thankyou=1&cm_mmc=SEM-_-Google-_-MD-GreenEnergy-_-covsolggl88100000004300s&
I’ve heard that solar panels are extremely expensive, and they take decades to finally pay for themselves in $ energy savings. Well, how much do you think those panels cost for that house pictured?
More Pages:
- Solar Energy: How Much Would It Cost To Set Up Solar Panels To Provide Energy For Your Whole House? (8/29/2011)
- Solar Power: Are There Alternatives To Electricity To Power Your House Primarily Im Curious About Propane, Not Solar? (9/10/2011)
- Solar Products: How Much Would One Approximately Pay For Solar Panels For A House? (7/7/2011)
- Solar Turbines: What Is The Most Cost-effective Place To Buy Large Solar Electric Panels? (8/19/2011)
- Solar Lights: How Much Solar Panels Would I Need To Power Up Our Whole House? (7/25/2011)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
would say about $ 1million solar panels are expensive and there is now way that person id gonna reclaim their cost over their lifetime
You can’t go by that picture, you don’t know if there is panels on both sids of the roof, some people put them on one side, Just to give you somewhat of a idea on cost, if you have a 2000 square foot house and you want a Enough panels so you have no Electric bill, then you will need about 40 to 42 solar panels, and that depends on what State you live in, if you live in a Sunny State like Arizona then 40 panels should do it, and that’s with No kids in the house, 39 to 40 panels is a 10k solar system, now for the cost, that will depend on what State you live in, if you live in Arizona, after all rebates the last time I checked it out, its about $ 30 thousand dollars $ 61 thousand before rebates, the rebates are getting less every year, as the cost of the panels get cheaper the less of a rebate you get back, so the big question is, how long will it take to recoup your cost of the solar panels, There is no simple answer, again if you live in Arizona and have a 2000 square foot home, and if you have SRP power company, your average Electric bill would be about Three Hundred to Three Hundred and fifty dollars, so take that and do the math, like I said, there is no simple answer because everyones Electric bill is different. hope that helps.
I can’t tell whether there are more panels in the system than shown in the picture, but I can see 27 of them.
To get a ballpark figure, I’ll assume the panels are this type http://www.sunelec.com/suntech-solar-panel-190-watts-2600-vmp-p-1668.html at $ 320 each. This is not at all an unusual price. That’s $ 8640 for the panels alone (retail price). I would add another $ 3k for the balance of system, so that’s $ 12k or so. Labor to install would vary by location. Let’s say $ 4k. It would be more where prevailing wages or demand are higher, less elsewhere. So that’s $ 16k.
If in the US, there is a 30% tax credit, so that knocks the price back down to $ 11k. If you’re lucky enough to live a place like Honolulu, you get an additional 35% incentive, so the net price would be more like $ 6k.
How long it takes to pay back especially depends on location. In a place where the payback is 20 years or more, a person typically wouldn’t install solar electric. In the Honolulu case, it’s about a 4-year payback.
You would never live long enough to get your money back. If you think that will take care of all your electric bill you are fooled. You will also need a bunch of batteries to store the power in and also a inverter to change the dc to ac so the house can use it.So its not just buying solar panels. Then what do you do at night when they don’t work or when the sun don’t shine.