Posted by jdemaris on December 07, 2009 at 18:53:29 from (67.142.130.16):
In Reply to: Re: Not all the same posted by JayinNY on December 07, 2009 at 18:04:42:
I've got 120 VAC and 24O VAC, via twin inverters. 5400 watt solar bank. Is it cheap? No. Is it worth it? Well, that depends on why you do it. I got it as a lifetime investment. If I ever move, I can bring it with me, even to an area with no grid. Will it ever save me money? Maybe. That depends on how long I live and how high electric rates go. It will probably pay me back all my investment in less then 10 years.
Right now, if you're careful, you can get 1/2 to 2/3s of the system cost paid for, via NYS and Federal incentives. So, if you ever want to do it, now is the time.
My system on paper had a total cost of $54,000. I paid $18,000. The rest came from incentive money. Keep in mind you cannot get NYS incentive money unless you are hooked to the grid. But, to be honest, the system won't work in NY anyway unless you've got grid-tie. The problem here in New York (especially where I live) is the darkness in Jan, Feb, March, etc. So, some months you make next to nothing, and other months you make 3-4 times what you can use. If you weren't hooked to the grid, all that extra power would be wasted. With grid-tie they are legally required to buy it from you, and later sell it back at the same price. So, they become your virtual "huge battery" of unlimited capacity.
So, just to clarify my 100% solar statement, we make more power every year then we use, from solar. That being said, we are still hooked to the grid.
Also, my system cost was quite a bit higher then conventional setups. The law requires that a solar grid tie system NOT work when the grid is down. That made NO sense to me. So I custom designed my system so it CAN run when the grid is down. That with an automatic grid disconnect and a large expensive battery bank. The batteries alone cost over $5000. So, you could do a system much cheaper. To me, it makes no sense unless it can run stand-alone when needed.
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