Re: Solar tractor barn - NY when it's actually nic

Posted by jdemaris on May 30, 2007 at 06:13:14 from (66.218.18.90):

In Reply to: Re: Solar tractor barn - NY when it's actually nic posted by rodgernbama on May 29, 2007 at 17:55:03:

I've got local electric service - otherwise I couldn't call it a "grid-tie" system. Installing a system of this size without being hooked to the grid would not make much sense in my situation. There will be times when the system is making much more power that I can use, and others when it doesn't make half what I need - or at night - none at all. By being tied to the grid - they have to buy back all the power I make that I cannot use at the time - and then let me have it back when I'm ready for it. Anything above what I don't use, they pay me for it. This way, the power company becomes my personal power-storage facility.
In regard to why I did it and the expense? I'm trying to look ahead - and do something on my own - instead of hoping the government is somehow going to fix everything. I hear all this crap about energy problems and expense, yet see very few people doing anything about it on their own. Total rates for electricity have doubled here in 10 years. Most of the large grid-companies now in the U.S. are foreign owned by British companies - maybe it's payback for the Revolution. The vast majority of all electricity made in the U.S. is from burning coal - which can't last. 2nd largest source is Canadian hyro which also has a questionable future. At present, in New York, New Jersey, and California (and maybe a few more states), you can get half the cost of a new solar-electric system paid for - if done right and grid-tied. Most of us taxpayers all ready pay into the fund - that subsidizes this. So, I'm getting some of my tax dollars back - for once.
And, for people living in the southwest - even if they do NOT get money back, solar equipment out there is yield twice the power as it does here in NY - so only half as much is needed.
This system has a total price-tag of $54,000. We wound up paying, out-of-pocket, $23,000. Once it's been operated for two years, we own it. I can take it down, take it with me and move somewhere else if I choose. So, for $23,000 we've got a system that provides more than all our electric needs, and I know that most of the system will still be working after I'm dead and buried. The panels have a 25 year warranty. I also know, that regardless of what happens in this country - in regard to grid-prices going up, or - some sort of disaster with NO power available, I can keep making all the power I want.
So, you might regard it as extravagant - I see it as a good long-term investment for many reasons. Considering my neighbor just bought a new pickup truck for $42,000 - and it will be sitting in a junkyard in 20 years - or sitting in my driveway after I buy it for $500 - the electric system seems like a pretty good deal.

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