I am working on a project regarding solar panels for a small company and would like to hear professional comments about the time range that a solar panel can recover its cost..
Thanks
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
That would highly depend on the needs of the project.
For instance I don’t have AC in my house, so at roughtly 10 cents per KW hour, I only pay a monthly electrical bill of around $ 40 a month for my electricity use. At this kind of limited consumption, I would never recover the cost of solar panel use.
There is also a consideration if your planning on being 100% off the grid or one of those advertised systems that only supply power during the day and rely on the grid at night.
Using Air Conditioning obivously would be a cost intense savings for solar conversion, but considering you’d hve to buy enough solar panels to provide this power, a $ 2500 converter unit and battery back up if you go that route, payback is something that would take a years. IF That, because there wil be system break downs and maintenance will be a factor.
If its a retro-fit to a building, you can take a monthly wattage figure and determine how many panels it would take to supply that kind of power (with an added 10 to 15% to compensate for efficiency differences). High amp uses would be AC, microwave ovens, mercury vapor or sodium lighting, etc.
Depending on if your talking warehouse or individual home.
If its new construction, you can take the wattage ratings from appliances installed.
Wattage = voltage (120VAC) multiplied by current demand.
Alot of places don’t actually offer you the opportunity of recovering your costs because silicone panels are expensive. But there are new technologies in the wind currently. More efficient panels and improved technologies that produce more voltage per square inch of cell.
A rudimentary way to approach the issue, but easier to receive a right answer rather than relying on “estimates”. There are many out there only interested in selling thier products.
no
Solar power has become increasingly more cost effective to use, and homeowners have begun installing solar power panels on rooftops to generate electricity for personal use. Like all electricity, the electricity generated by solar power must be used immediately after its generation. There are two solutions to this: either connecting the solar modules to a battery so that any excess electricity produce is used to charge the battery or connecting the modules to the power grid. The advantage of connecting to the power grid is that many electric companies offer “net metering,” meaning that any electricity that flows back into the grid will decrease your energy bill.
The answer depends heavily on the geographic location of the panels, and the local price of electricity.
The fastest cost recovery would be someone who is already using the top tier of rates for electricity, and can knock that down to the next tier. That kind of system can pay for itself in as little as 3 years. A more typical payback time for someone who installs a system today would be more like 10-15 years, in good areas like California. In a cloudy and rainy climate like Seattle, WA, panels may never pay back, not at today’s prices.