I am indeed considering getting solar for the house. Seeing your rate makes me glad that I am supplied by an electric co-operative. Looking at the bill that just arrived in the mail, I am paying 14.5 cents per kWh that I used.

Thank you Matt! Great video, especially the concerns. So many of us are running just to stand still these days. Issues like these get overlooked far too easily.

Thanks for the video, quite detailed and useful for some, however purely a curiosity as the money structure concerned in the video is completely absent form where I’m watching 😊 hello from the Levant, I’m of course very interested in the scientific side of your videos 😊😊😊

get polycrystaline panels ignore the normal monocrystaline panels ... the poly panels gather different wavelengths of light making them more efficient and a larger peak use period ...

republicans will destroy any program that makes solar viable and pays you back.

Great to hear. Looking at putting solar on a shed instead of my roof. That makes no sense whatsoever.

How much did you pay for the system?

Has there been any degradation in the panels ability to generate electricity over 11 years?

Have you considered a more efficient DC setup that isn't grid tied?

Small farm? 😳😳😳

Thanks for this information, its very practical and helpful!

Curious what you figured you paid for your diy ground mount? How did this compare with a commercial system?

ground mount rec solar 8kwh and on the annex lg 5kwh 340w ahas been flawless, south facing, due to local opposition, you can’t have any panels front facing to the street, which is nut’s but luckily my building was south westerly, connected to a 20kwh pylon tech each mounted system and 8kwh sma inverters , code required a 200amp circuit to be installed. That’s the expensive bit . The lg pannels do get grubby so it’s far easier to wash the ground mount for the rec solar due to shading from trees I opted to go down the tygo adapters route connected to another sma 3 phase 8kwh back to the annex, , so far 3 have failed but tygo were quick to replace and put it down to a batch issue , so replaced all of them . The solar day generation is key anything else is just a bonus and has seriously cut the cost of my 24kwh heat pump multi split so verily little goes back to the grid . I have found though on average two of 3 pannels of generation should be minus from your array for accurate energy output on a bright day , the batteries also suffer in the cold drawing a kw to keep warm that they don’t tell you about to keep them 20c

What kind of battery setup do you have? Do you backfeed the grid or does the solar only supply the house and battery?

@@daleatkin8927 bear in mind the power loss through excess cabling from ground mount to inverter and system or battery. It's quite a lot per metre.

most working-class people just dont have $50K laying around with nothing to do with it, to buy an array and a battery to 'invest' to only start saving a few hundred bucks a month after 10+ years so this is basically just toys for the already wealthy

That's why inspections and engineering analysis are important first steps.

Roof heaters.

Also to add, you have to remove all the panels before the roof can be shingled or tiled so if your going to put panels on your roof make sure you have a fresh roof that will last at least 20 years because you have to add the cost of removing them and putting them back on to redo the roof.

@@Luked0g440 Another expense and point of failure, which will reduce the effectiveness of the panels, that have to power the heaters.

"Why are we hitting it with a stick?, SCIENCE"

I would've failed based on the fact I wanted to be covered in snow...

I would’ve failed it because I’d be making snowmen.

And.........what does this have to do with the topic at hand?

Does the solar panels come with a mathematician? 🤔

Hi neighbour. How's your performance been in Ottawa? Would you do it again?

I’m also interested in knowing more about your setup

I had the same thing happen twice, destroyed a couple gazebo’s, had a snow guard put in this year.

@@SeanPoulter right now it's net metering and I have no storage yet. So I get paid for what I generate. We're told to expect next to nothing in the winter months. During the summer it generates a lot weather permitting. The last 2 years were a little lower but I generate about 8000kwh a year. When I joined the microfit program the guaranteed paying me 29 cents per kWh. Normal rate is lower. I'm on a tiered plan. The first 1000kwh/month is 8.7 cents/kwh and after that it goes up to 10.3 cents. I use about 1100/month. I run some servers. If I ignore the stupid extra fees I use roughly $100 is actual electricity/month. So roughly $1200/year actual use ($2160 after all the fees) . The payout I get from the hydro company has averaged about $2300/year. I plan to add significant storage in the next 5 years with the hope of still selling to the utility but also making sure I never cross in to the 2nd tier pricing by using stored power. I'm pretty much waiting in the hopes more pre made storage options come out with newer battery tech. I'd prefer more stable batteries than lithium ion in my garage even though I don't red about a lot of fires from things like power walls... But I haven't looked too hard.

We are in ottawa also and have been looking at doing solar panels with storage. I would love to hear more information. ❤

The utility company still charge for service fees whether you are using power from them or not. In my area, I pay $16/month. Additionally, if you paid out of pocket, then good for you.

Yeah, until it’s time for a new roof.

If you had invested that money you spent on solar panels in 2008, you would be far better off today than the small amount of money you made by saving on your energy bill.

Exactly 👍

@@ClarkMercer Ok, what if his investment strategy turned out to be disastrous and significantly damaged him financially?

Lol

This is the perfect comment.

That was my takeaway as well. 7+ year breakeven point and it sounds like he got massive credits, rebates and freebies. When you factor in your time and energy it's just not worth it right now.

@@disc2120 even better... buy a house during a down market with all the heavy lifting done and costed in. Cheap energy subsidy with no hassle 😊 just watch for avalanches...

@@disc2120 oh yea it's definitely better to let 7 years go by and not save any money. It's better to stay with your utility and pay more year after year and never even break even. It's better to rent power from the utility and never own it lmao

Isn't it great?! Up here in SE Michigan we had ice accumulation and last Wednesday most of the area lost power but I have the same thing installed. I ran off the battery for the 20 hours it was off. I turned the furnace off and used the gas fireplace.

I'm in Austin Tx as well and considering getting solar. Who did you end up using if you don't mind me asking?

@@MrMoxy76 We went through Costco and the company that they used was Sunrun who we thought took a long time to get things going and had some snags along the way. However, the company that did the actual install for them was called Axis solar and we thought they were excellent.

@@veganpeace_ATX North Austin here. We actually got our just before the big freeze a few years ago. While most of the state was down we had emergency power to our home. Even now in the coldest runs in winter we may have to pay 20 bucks in a month for heating. We used Trismart Solar and we have Green Mountain Energy for a provider. I won't live in a home without a solar system any more.

Yes it was a horrible winter in 2021, the grid was down 55 hours. We lost power again this year. My old gas generator worked just fine. I had plenty of power and didn't have to spend a fortune. Solar panels are good for some, but I'll pass.

If you do your connections right, you'll be fine.

I'm in the planning stages of our next home and seriously considering going with geothermal. Anything you wish you had known beforehand? Did you do vertical loops or horizontal? What would you say to those that say a modern air to air is nearly as efficient as geothermal for a much lower cost?

@@dreednlb : We did vertical loops because we have sandy soil here in Delaware. If we still lived in Ohio we wouldn't have been able to do that due to rock layers underground. We have three closed-loop wells side by side hooked up in series. Closed loop is the way to go, not "pump-and-dump." I have an air-to-air heat pump in my shop. It can't handle the cold winter nights like the geothermal can, which means that I need supplemental heat out there in the winter.

@@billmanzke758 Thank you for your response.

Hi Bill thats a great diy system, I be honest why pay for roof mounted panels with ample South facing garden it's the way to go 👍 have you ever thought of collecting rain water off the roof in a underground tank & pass through a filter & say use that for flushing toilets etc

@@CoolMusicToMyEars : We collect rainwater in three rain barrels for use in the garden. The house itself is hooked up to public water and sewer. We considered a graywater system when we built the house in 2020, but the county code does not permit it when public water is available.

I commend you for your frugal energy use. That is a small system to run a home, especially the relatively small battery capacity. We all could live with a lot less and live just fine.

@@michaeldoherty2289 Thank you MD2289. Going on our 5th year here come April. We can go 2 days on a full charge with no light. Typically only having to run a generator for 20-30hrs all year and this is Upstate NY. It can be done! 🙏

Hopefully your system will last long enough to see realized cost savings.

@@macfady2181 thanks. So far its looking good. In the 3 months I have had the system it has saved me over €1700. We are only currently using 30% of our capacity.

@@macfady2181 Our electricity and natural gas averages $200.00 US dollars a month or less with a 4 bedroom house and we use AC all summer long and keep our home comfortably warm all winter .... it would take a lot of years to pay that off....

Whoa....

What type of batteries? What usage pattern?

That's insane! I'm looking at picking up used 250w panels for $55 each for my off grid system. Going with a 7000w system for $2100 shipped.

@Mr Techie Rolls/Surrette s-460, flooded lead acid. Bank of 4 6v creating 24v dc to the inverter. We average about 50 days/year at the cottage. Equalized every year, watered, and hydrocaps..

I pay 2000.00 dollars for 2 140 watts panels in 2000 big difference know

They save you a lot because you have the most expensive electricity in the world, by a HUGE margin. The electricity in Denmark is nearly three times more expensive than the electricity in the US.

@@PistonAvatarGuy yikes, but helpful to know

In DK every hours of the day is different if you chose to be on a spot price tracker. So sometimes the price is what mentioned is this video. $0.37, or perhaps a tad higher at times as the post above mentions. Other times when there is a lot of wind and sun, it's very close to $0. So I wouldn't say it's the most expensive in the world. Plus if you have a heat pump or similar green heat source installed after 12.000 kWh, the price on all electricity becomes slot cheaper to purchase from the grid. Have a look at the UK where I currently are. Prices are up between 400% to 500% on gas and electric since 2019. Or at least our bills are that high, and no increase in usage.

@@martinandersen6698 Averaged, Denmark has the most expensive energy in the world. Edit: Sometimes, the price is up around $1.00/kWh!

@@PistonAvatarGuy Where do you get that 3 times number from? According to Eurostat it was 0.28€/kwh in 2020 and 0.29€/kwh in 2021. I don't have up-to-date numbers for Denmark, but usually their electricity cost is similar to Germany's which currently sits at 0.35€/kwh. That's exactly the same as the 0.37$ shown at 7:51

hey I hope you are having a wonderful day today Do you want to install solar panels or anyone in your Circle area who wants to Go Solar? Reply must please

You mean kW, not kWh? Or are you talking about the battery?

@@pietheijn-vo1gt what you need?

@@hiraonlineahop_pk kW is power, kWh is energy... im asking if you are talking about the battery (energy) or power (PV?)

@@pietheijn-vo1gt Actually I work with American Company which provide solar panels installation to USA based homeowners and companies Company contains solar energy system design and products also

PLEASE TELL ME THE BATTERIES ARE NOT CHINESE?

@@GBS1043 DiscoverBattery is a massive company, I've no doubt they do business with/in China, but their product has an excellent service history and has worked fantastic in our location. Very satisfied customer.

Supposedly my installer offers one free removal within ten years, my roof is at 15 years so I have it in the plan to replace by 25. Likely I’ll be dead or moved away for the roofing job after that.. We’ll see how it goes, panels are to be installed later this year.

The bigger problem was that I was too ignorant that I would need them removed within a year of install to do exactly that and then actually getting that done took me over 8 months. I'm sure my ROI is already shot.

This is why I plan on having the roof redone at about the same time. Figure it might be more expensive. But in the long term the roofer can plan for this as it is being done and I won't have to worry about the replacement after they are done.

Neat to see this comment because I was driving the other day, saw some panels on an older roof, and was wondering how expensive it was to have said panels removed when the roof was replaced.

A good solar salesman should mention this and suggest you replace your roof before the solar panels go on. On the plus side, the panels can add a bit of longevity to your roofing (as you are covering that roofing).

Sounds like a Communist town that yells you what to do on your own land!

Solar panels operate only on the amount of light available, despite wind and temperature.

@@TerryD15 you need look into it further. Temp has a lot to do with the amount of power solar panels make. Our highest out out month here is May. The sun is much kore favorably positioned in June and July but the heat here reduces output considerably. Of course cloudy days affect output but so does temp.

@@zjan4me Sorry but you are wrong. Solar panels respond to light, not temperature, despite your local experience. Facts are facts, science is science, engineering is engineering.

@@TerryD15 So, the laws of physics are ignored in a city with 115 degree temps. Too funny. Do your research. Temp doesn't provide the power itself but temps do affect how much power a panel will produce. All things being equal a panel in full sun on a cold (or windy) day will produce more power per square centimeter (power density) than in a hotter calm day. Even new bifacial panels are being being arranged vertically (facing east and west) so as to reap the benefits of cooler panel temps at mid day. This creats a double hump power curve but yields more power by avoiding the mid day added heat full sun creates. We may be arguing symantics here but please research tempurature effects on solar panels. It's usually even stated as part of the power specs on panels.

Thanks for promoting a sensible way to reduce green house gases. As a full-time RV dweller I think you should incorporate more energy conservation strategies into your house and provide video guidance on them.

Nice advert.

What do you think of freedom forever?

@@willyjordan8997 I would not necessarily want Freedom Forever to do work on my house or any of my friends houses. It is a national sales company that often uses subcontractors. A much better choice is to find a good local installer. The NABCEP Solar Professionals list for your state, is often one of the best starting points. Regards

In qld australia, we get charged 25c a kilowatt or up for grid usage and get credited 4c kw for feed in👎

Impressive, you might break even in 10 years.

@@eustacemcgoodboy9702 Singapore is a Country about the Equator = Lot of Sunlight, so is Malaysia and Vietnam; but those Solar Panels = were they China Made from Xinjiang Autonomy Region = Where labours are cheap and some are Forced Labours? Is it Human costs to pay for some Singaporeans benefit? [ While there are many types of PV systems known to be effective, crystalline silicon PV accounted for around 90% of the worldwide production of PV in 2013. To reduce energy losses, an anti-reflective coating is added to the surface, along with electrical contacts. After finishing the cell, cells are connected via electrical circuit according to the specific application and prepared for shipping and installation.[47] Environmental costs of manufacture: 😂 😂 (Just shifted the 😰 😰 Sweatshops to Xinjiang and our Conscience is clear) 😍 😍 They, China Manufacturer used Coals to fire up these Intensive Powers Demands Plants (Coals from where = including Indonesia. Where at some point, Smoky Air reach to other Countries across the vast Pacific Ocean! Solar photovoltaic power is not entirely "clean energy": production produces greenhouse gas emissions, materials used to build the cells are potentially unsustainable and will run out eventually, the technology uses toxic substances which cause pollution, and there are no viable technologies for recycling solar waste.[48] Data required to investigate their impact are sometimes affected by a rather large amount of uncertainty. The values of human labor and water consumption, for example, are not precisely assessed due to the lack of systematic and accurate analyses in the scientific literature.[1] One difficulty in determining impacts due to PV is to determine if the wastes are released to the air, water, or soil during the manufacturing phase.[49] Life-cycle assessments, which look at all different environment impacts ranging from global warming potential, pollution, water depletion and others, are unavailable for PV. Instead, studies have tried to estimate the impact and potential impacts of various types of PV, but these estimates are usually restricted to simply assessing energy costs of the manufacture and/or transport, because these are new technologies and the total environmental impacts of their components and disposal methods are unknown, even for commercially available first generation solar cells, let alone experimental prototypes with no commercial viability.[50] ]

so many hustlers. its a couple of bolts for the panels and a couple of wires on the inverter i agree dont pays 5-10 times more then needed for that work many comapanys make over 10000 dollars on half days work for 1 man job, and sell the equitment very expensive

@@eustacemcgoodboy9702 i will break even in 3 years and im able able to sell my house and get a value for the system that is more then i gave by choosing the right installer and looking into the prices (and i live in scandinavia) i had no need to look into tax credits, but in germany a project like i did is tax free

Not every place in the states gaves you a credit back, it totally depends on the state or the location

Your warranty is 50 years, or 5 years when the company goes out of business, whichever comes first.

@@jeffro221My first computer had a long warranty and the company only lasted 2 years after I bought it... also you need to look at the fine print, businesses usually put a lot of wiggle room into warranties so they don't lose much money.

It makes much more sense to put the panels on the ground if you have the land. The roof is really just for the city and business districts.

My father tried wind in Ohio. A small system with a brake that would apply itself if the wind was to strong. One night it was so windy the brake blew apart and the blades spun so fast they ripped off the center mount launching one through the siding, outside wood, and inside wood of the of the garage. The blade was stuck into his house, halfway inside and halfway outside. He tore it all down at that time. An expensive mess..

Sound advice @b hendrick. 🕶👍

If you have a metal or solar roof, or heavy snows in general with a high angled roof you should be getting everything cleared from where it could land. Last year my company plant was closed because a snow avalanche off the metal roof hit the natural gas meter and ripped it off the wall. The gas found the path of least resistance...into the building. People walked into the plant in the morning and there was the smell of gas throughout the building. Happened once in like 40 years, but still potentially catastrophic.

Not getting on a roof especially snow filled. In my 60s and you too, Lord willing will get older and unable to do any of this kind of stuff or risk breaking your neck. Come up with some other arrangement as one fall and health gone makes no sense to save money if jacked up and now unable to do anything because you fell off the roof cleaning panels

@@billbirch3748 I made the same comments. But adding to that there is just too many Americans that couldn't possibly afford any of this but those that can are being heavily subsidies in all aspects that push higher rates to those that couldn't afford it in the first place. I don't see solar as practical, even for those that now can afford surely the future is unknown, subsidies and mandated buy back most likely will disappear and eventually total replacement of solar. To me nuclear and constant power plants benefit all. To me we are moving away from the logical to the illogical and eventually the logical will prevail.

Good comment. Have a 1970’s house in FL. Thinking about solar but much to take into consideration!

@@Dbb27 check hybrid hot water heaters. If you have a garage they're perfect in Florida. They use a heat pump rather than resistance coils to heat the water. Super efficient and they'll keep your garage 10-15 degrees cooler. Knocked $100 off of our electric bill when we lived there.

Also live in Florida and checked out solar; exactly the same experience.

​@@euphemiat7735 hey I hope you are having a wonderful day today Do you want to install solar panels or anyone in your Circle area who wants to Go Solar? Reply must please

hey I hope you are having a wonderful day today Do you want to install solar panels or anyone in your Circle area who wants to Go Solar? Reply must please

So you don't pay the electrical company but how much per month do you pay to finance the solar system?

Nothing, I paid for it outright

When companies do that to me the decision is easy - I don't sweat it. The answer is "No way."

@@stargazer7644 The answer is always no-way. If those panels were so wonderful they wouldnt need to come to your door.

you make a good point, it shouldn't just be people with money and own their home now that benefit, and the rest of us are left out just because we didn't own a house at the right time. Hopefully there are still programs later for eveyone to benefit from!

1. General inflation drives up costs that are unrelated to the primary energy production (like the wages of employees) 2. Rising fossil fuel costs, especially around the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine 3. Previously externalised costs of emissions (like lung disease and global warming) are now taxed in many jurisdictions to convert them into real costs. 4. Energy grids are in a transformation/expansion that adds additional costs for some years. The main issue here is NIMBYism and anti-renewable politicians making this process slow and expensive.

EFF OF THE PANELS IS A HUGE KEY.. THE LG PANELS ARE LOW EFF..

A lot easier and less dangerous to DYI, can save on changes, maintenance. Will be crazy to place them on a roof having good land available.

Putting solar panels on anything other than a new roof runs the same risk. To repair the roof properly will either require removal and reinstallation of the panels or extensive and unsightly patching. All that assumes that your roof trusses have/will not sustain damage during the process or due to water intrusion due to roof leaks. On the flip side, most quality architectural composite shingles these days have a rated service life of 30-40, or even 50 years depending on where you live and how well you maintain them. As another poster indicated his 1st generation panels are pretty much done after 15-17 years. Unless the replacement panels are the same size as the originals, or the mounts are very adjustable without adding or moving the stanchions you'll have to poke more holes in your old roof again. Bottom line, your panels and your roof are one system and need to be engineered as a single complementary unit.

As a solar installer myself, I have told companies I have contacted for that the roof is in no condition to have panels mounted. In my belief that should have been checked by the person who did the original site visit. As well, pigeons are a massive problem where I work as well and I agree with you, always get critter guard installed around your panels. Pigeons can be pests to deal with and affect your production of power due to their fecal matter😂. Lastly panel efficiency is said to drop about 1% a year. As long as you have a solid roof with metal or fairly new shingles when installed you should be good for 20-25 years with new systems. That being said micro inverters on the roof are known to fail after 8-10 years. Look into the type of system you are getting and make sure the installers are knowledgeable about the product they are putting on your roof. My apologies for miserable literacy.

Damn I never thought of hail in the equation

Across the country are PhD Electrical Engineering graduates that claim the CURRENT 2022/2023 SOLAR PANELS HAVE 22 PERCENT, OR LESS, EFFICIENCIES! I am NOT an engineer! But if I have 1000 square feet of Solar Panels, then I'll install 5000 square feet of panels to get that 100 percent efficiency! RIGHT? 😅 ( It does not work that way! Just because I increased the number of solar panels by an additional 4000 square feet, to 5000 square feet! The "efficiency rating" REMAINS at 20 percent, or LESS! 🌞

Difficult these days to do business with most as the quick dollar is paramount.

I've really wondered about the issue of roof replacement and hailstones. We had spiked hailstones a few years ago. That was something new to me. And it's rare, but golf ball to softball size hail are real things. But even without dramatic hail events, eventually roofs need to be replaced, and dismantling your solar panels to replace your roof will certainly add to the costs even if your solar equipment is still viable. You would probably have to hire people who work with solar outfitting to take down the panels and related components, and then have the roofing company come in behind them to do their part. But if parts of the solar equipment are worn out or damaged, you'll be looking at replacement and reinstallation costs to get back on solar power. I would think insurance premiums might be higher too just because of the fact that you're putting holes in your roof to anchor the solar equipment, and it's putting additional weight stress on your roof - so now your roof is going from being a cover to an additional support structure, and most roofs probably weren't constructed to perform as support structures. I guess my point is that there could be a lot of additional costs associated with solar power down the road that a lot of people may not be aware of, and it could be more than a lot of people could comfortably afford. If you could calculate what those costs might add up to, and you planned to stay in your home for a long time, you might conclude that you're just deferring what you would pay for electricity from the grid now, to be paid later in the form of additional costs for maintenance and replacement of solar equipment. It might make sense for some people. It's something that should be considered in relation to purchasing a home that's already equipped with solar panels too though. It might seem like a great thing, but the maintenance and replacement costs for the roof and managing the solar equipment part of that process might be an unpleasant surprise that a homebuyer may not be aware of and might be hit with dealing with sooner than they anticipate with existing solar structures. I think this is relatively new territory, and there are going to be more issues that crop up and have to get sorted out. Insurance-related issues could be a major issue.

​@EugeneSSmith Solar is just not very good. Imagine anything else you spent 10s of thousands of dollars on that only gave you 20 percent t of what you needed and still having to use what you already had like city supplied electricity for the other 80 percent. The problem with solar is the overall cost and the efficiency. I live in Phoenix and I get multiple companies every month knocking on my door all offering the same thing and stating that the other companies don't do it right. I also have many friends and colleagues who have regrets in the purchase of their panels.

YEP! typical

Kinda overpriced, the 8k tax credit is closer to what it should cost

@@TheNicog1 i mean if you think you can pull off designing budget solar panels and installation for that then go ahead and make bank.

@@TheNicog1 It should stand on its own without having to use other people's money

@@johnfromnj885”using other people’s money” loads of every industry are held up by government subsidies. Farming in the scale it is today isn’t profitable for a wide variety of reasons. But I don’t see people commenting this shit under those topics. What’s profitable and what’s necessary or “right” aren’t the same things. Profit shouldn’t be the only factor.

@@CrypticCabal Do you work for free? Taxpayer money shouldn't be used to push political agendas like solar and electric cars. If the tech can't stand on it's own it shouldn't exist. It's all a fraud anyway.

If you wanna go solar. Use it to power your light only. The rest is totally not worth it.

That makes no sense what-so-ever...

I have never thought about that being a problem before. Sure does make sense though, bloody things get everywhere!

It cost me a additional £400 to get bird proofing installed. Probably a bit of a rip off for just putting some mesh around the edges of the panels but it saved me from having to climb all over my roof so in general I am happy. I have seen pigeons land on my roof clearly eyeing it up as a potential nest then flying away disappointed so it is doing a good job.

David, you described my problem. I live in Dubai. Pigeons is enormous issue here. I installed proper ledder to the roof so I can easily climb there every other day to destroy nests but seems like they don't care. Now thinking about mesh and also traps 😕

Install a fake falcon or eagle bird, here in Scandinavia are common in many city buildings and from afar they do look like the real thing. I’ve never seen pigeons or smaller birds get anywhere near one of these.

@@11teenproductions That’s an interesting option. Thank you.

For me, I think I’m in my last house, my panels are ground mounted, the enphase 8 micro inverters can supply power during outages and my panels are covered by my home policy.

@hermancm That's great, but where I live if the area loses power you lose power. Moreover, with large panels on your roof I hope you live in an environmentally stable environment. Where I live, we have seasons of the year with high winds and the occasional tornado. Lastly, I where I live the panels would have to be on my roof so I don't really see an upside.

@Shane888 Davies oxygen compressor requires 110v AC. No tanks.

Also a generator would help with relatively short term power outages.

Will you have enough tax to write off to get the rebates?

@@richardpage2555 Good question, I didn't even think of that!

Or you get get a generator installed to your gas line for about $8k less.

Did they warn you? Maybe sue the solar panel company.

@@majorburke9735 Nah, s'not a solar panel problem. It's a "Roofs where I live are tall and steep to shed snow" problem and I happened to be underneath it at a bad time.

What inverter do you use? Assume hybrid but which one please?

I use a PowerDrive pure sine 1000 watt inverter. Handles everything in the cabin.

This is a major issue that gets glossed over or not mentioned and can actually affect the value of the house in a negative way.

The roof under the panels will last basically forever.

@@stargazer7644 Are you referring to a specialty roof installed specifically with the intention to put solar panels up? Because normal, everyday shingle roofs typically last 20-25 years and that's if the best shingling material are used.

@@anthonyc1883 That's if they're exposed to sunlight for 20-25 years. Regular asphalt shingles last a very long time covered by solar panels.

@@stargazer7644 But I've never seen a solar panel installation that completely covers the entire roof, edge to edge, top/bottom/sides. There's always shingling visible above, below and on the sides of the panels. So those areas are getting normal, constant environmental wear even if what's directly underneath the panels is shielded from the sun.

How much did you pay for those many panels?

@Stephen Crowley And what general area are you located?

It does that without solar panels also. The snow started to melt and ripped off my gutter.

I could careless about going green or environmental bs. All i care i getting away from electric company gouging my wallet. With rough math, i could break even within 10yrs (approximately $300/month on bills =3.6k per year x10 =36k if they don’t have rate hike. System cost me 37k minus tax credits. So after 10 years I’ll lighten my electric cost. System is warranty for 25years, so I have 15yrs to rake in profits.

A thing that's a little frustrating is you hardly see anything that keeps the power DC for electronic equipment. When you want solar to run a bunch of computer/electronic equipment (and LED lights), the panels generate DC power, then it goes through an expensive component to invert that to AC power then you plug in your electronic equipment that converts the AC power back to DC. So much is unnecessarily lost in the conversions. I've seen some complicated DIY setups that use just DC, but I haven't seen much available to consumers.

@@brendancurtin679 Because DC in high amps is very dangerous.

@@muddyriverdogz sure, but so is AC at similar wattage. I'll address that, but also, I'm not talking about wiring up a whole home with DC power. I'm talking about near your battery bank or specific short runs. Why isn't there much, if any, "off the shelf" (so to speak) solutions for powering some DC equipment directly from the batteries/solar without inverting to AC and converting right back? Personally, I'd be interested in a small off-grid solar system at my house that would let me take my home network and some computer equipment off-grid and also have a little DC-DC charging station for other batteries (cordless tools, phones/tablets, etc.). It'd be nice to have that all functioning during a power outage. And I also would think it would use less energy with the conversion losses. Even for folks who want whole home solar, who then need an inverter, I feel like it would still be nice to have the option of some DC-DC uses. As an imperfect analogy, think of adding a water softener to your home. You want most of the water softened, but you might want to add a branch before the water softener to send un-softened water to your hoses and maybe fridge/kitchen (if you prefer the taste). Obviously, sending unsoftened water around your house doesn't require much larger pipes or whatever, so it's not exactly the same. But I think you get the point. As far as the higher danger, I don't think that's a big issue (especially for the use cases I'm talking about). DC is maybe slightly more dangerous than AC at the same wattage in two ways I can think of that can be accounted for to mitigate the danger. Because DC is lower voltage and higher amperage for the same wattage, you need to account for that with lower gauge (thicker) wire to handle the higher amperage at the same wattage to avoid overheating/fires (e.g., 12VDC will be 10x the amperage for the same wattage as 120VAC). (You'd also want shorter runs, but that's more about losses than danger). And for high amperage DC, you need disconnects (like the switches on UK outlets) to avoid dangerous arcing when "unplugging"' things drawing a load. Other than those two things that can be accounted for, I don't think it's really any more dangerous than AC. The big reason AC won out over DC was that AC can be transmitted at much higher voltage which results in more efficiency and significantly lower material cost for conductors and generation.

@@brendancurtin679 AC is not near as dangerous as DC. DC at 110 volts witch is most of your house wiring would kill you !

@@muddyriverdogz who said anything about DC at 110 volts?

Most installs don't include a battery and don't provide any emergency power. They shut down so as not to feed power back to the grid if it's down. I bought the battery first because battery backup is more important to me than solar collection. I want both but I want emergency backup more.

@@ghz24 That is a big problem, imho. We NEED to allow them as a default to have backup power for homes with them. It's absurd to have a power generating source on your home but having NO access to it when the power is out otherwise. At that point, they are just expensive shingles. It'd be nice if some sort of "backflow" circuit were in place to prevent backfeeding- b/c that IS a very serious concern and problem.... But I agree... solar to take some off the electric bill is WONDERFUL... but having power in the event of disaster or emergency is FAR more important.

@@ghz24 Agreed. I've had solar installed on the new home I am building in the altiplano of Central America. We don't have need for HVAC, as the temperatures are not extreme at any time of year (Land of Eternal Spring). We installed a lithium battery that will store 2 days' worth of power, and in the event of a prolonged outage, should be able to generate enough to keep us going without interruption. Even in rainy season there are usually a few good hours of sun daily. I have a one-way system so I can't feed power back out to the grid, but I don't plan on using much grid power anyway. We average 240 kwh usage per month (where we are currently living) and the cost here is 18 cents per, which I thought was quite higher than in the US. I was shocked to learn how high the kwh cost is in some states now, as I moved down here 3 years ago from North Carolina. My son is contemplating solar for his home in VT, so I am passing this excellent video on to him. Thanks! 🙏

How much did it cost you?

Also live in Arkansas. After a year and a half,I still haven’t seen the benefit from my solar panels. The lifetime production of a year 1/2 is 13.7 MWH; however, I only receive a 60% production credit. It’s been one headache after another. Entergy is a nightmare to work with. That being said, I’ve read where if the installer omitted the RGM import/export setup, entergy only allows 60% of your production. It’s odd no one informed me about this issue. After speaking with the engineer of the company, he tried to add RGM virtually but there was an issue with my meter; therefore,one of their technicians will soon make the necessary upgrades. Will see if Entergy honors their agreement.

Be interesting seeing how home wind power would affect the equation.

I'd love to know any of the financial numbers you're working with. I'm also in Texas and couldn't find a quote for less than $60-80k for a smaller system than what was installed in the video, don't have net metering, and our cost for electricity is usually less than 15c/kWh on average (sometimes under 10c).

Thanks for sharing, MJ. Glad you've found these videos useful. Batteries can be a dicey proposition because the costs can sometimes be too far out of reach. I'm starting to work on a video exploring this exact topic (stay tuned).

A way to justify your battery purchase: Buying an EV that can utilize the battery to provide electricity. Our EV6 has this (Vehicle to Load), which can provide 1.9kw of power. Just had a 4 day power outage due to an ice storm, and was able to run my furnace, refrigerator & laptop, all from my car, without noise or fuel.

Home batteries will probably become significantly cheaper over the next few years. Sodium hydroxide (Na-OH) batteries are about to enter the market and these should be significantly cheaper than expensive lithium-ion batteries.

@@UndecidedMF I know you have the Tesla power wall, but I've been intrigued by the Generac PowrCell (sic). You have any thought on that system? It seems a bit more versatile and expandable than the Tesla product... Thanks !

PECO prices really haven't gone up in recent years like they have in other parts of PA and the rest of the country.

We went with Powur but we almost went with Pink solar or something and I think they also went bankrupt.

We had ours installed at the end of 2022, but werent "turned on" until after the 1st of the new year (2023), so we cant claim the tax credit until we do our taxes next year. My question is; what good is the tax credit? noone has really explained it to me in simple terms that someone like ME can understand! :D

this guy is doing some really shaky math here to get to his numbers like not factoring in the cost of his tesla so he could call the powerwall free.

@@BigDaddy_Jim - So the tax credit. Basically, it's going to reduce what you owe the federal government for income tax in 2023. They take 30% of the total cost (that's what it was for me, the number might be different for you) of your solar system and subtract that from what you owe on your income tax. Let's say that you make $100K a year, and the government has a 30% income tax (again, numbers just for illustration). That means you'll owe the government $30K at the end of the year. If you have kids or other dependents (or spent a lot of money on healthcare), you get "credits" for that - those just knock some off that $30K amount. So again for illustration, let's say you spent $25K on your solar power system - 30% (that's the 30% tax credit) of that is $7,500. The federal government is going to knock $7,500 off the amount you owe, so now instead of owing $30K in taxes in 2023, you'll owe $22,500. Now, the company you work for is probably withholding some of your paycheck to go toward your income tax (you set this up when you started your job, and usually you can adjust the amount they keep from your paycheck whenever you like). They give that money to the government, and the idea is that at the end of the year, the total amount that your company has taken from your paycheck to give to the government will be enough to cover what you owe for taxes - that's the $30K. Your employer doesn't know you put solar up, so they essentially gave the government $7,500 extra that the government will now have to pay you back in a tax return. Now, you are in a great position because you know your tax bill is going to be less, and you can calculate (based on the cost of your system and what percentage of that the government is offering in a credit) how much less your taxes are going to be. You can go to your HR department, tell them you've got this tax credit coming in 2023, and have them adjust your withholdings so you're essentially not paying the government money that you won't end up owing them - that means you'll take home more cash in your paycheck - or you can just leave it alone and you'll get a nice fat tax return.

@@heltoupee thanks! That is the BEST explanation i have received from anyone :)