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How do people afford the upfront cost of solar? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I just got a DIY kit quote for solar and it's ~$18,000. That would mean a contractor installing is at least $25,000 if not more. That's a big chunk of change upfront.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Make sure to do the math if solar is even worth it for you. Electricity is relatively cheap in my area. When I did the math, it would take me at least 20 years to break even (that's if I paid cash, even longer if I finance). Considering 25 years is an average panels lifespan, it would not save me any money.

Being independent of the grid is the only selling point, but I haven't done enough research if that's even true with solar. If it's still connected to the grid, will I even be able to utilize my panels if there's an outage in the grid?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yes, your power will primarily come from your batteries. When your batteries are full, extra power generated is either sold back to the grid if you live in a nice place, or credited on your bill with some limited roll over system. When your batteries are empty, you buy power from the grid. If your batteries are empty when the grid is down, then you would indeed also experience the outage.

But you can get alerts when the grid is down and choose whether you want to conserve power to make sure you don't drain your batteries at that time. You can still gain panel power during a grid outage, you just won't have a back-up source of power or the ability to sell excess.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Piggybacking to also recommend realistically assessing if you might move prior to that breakeven point. I don't know if solar panels have good ROI for house selling or not.