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  • Author Author: ralphjy
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Solar System Performance - 4 year review

ralphjy

Another year in the books for my rooftop solar system and time for my annual review.  When I installed the system, the breakeven point for ROI was estimated at under 5 years.  At our current electricity cost the breakeven point occurs at about 25 MWhrs, so we're on track to get there by the end of this summer Smile.

Here are links to previous posts:

Solar System Description

Home Solar System Performance - Year 1

Solar System Performance - 2 year review

Solar System Performance - 3 year review

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This year turned out to be the best year so far for energy production, but the overall variance from year-to-year is fairly small - on the order of +/- 1%.  2019 was an exception because I had a panel malfunction and I was short a panel for most of the year waiting for a warranty replacement.

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It's amazing that the average is so steady as there has been lots of weather variance over the 4 years.  There was a extended period of smoky haze due to the terrible wildfires last year and this year we have had extreme heat in the summer and a very cloudy/rainy fall and winter.

21.6 MWhrs so far and hoping for another consistent year of solar production...

Parents

  • Great news on your solar performance.  I really need to follow your lead an add solar to our home/shop.  Thanks for sharing the data.

  • in reply to genebren

    Hi Gene,

    Happy New Year!

    I'll be interested in seeing what you end up installing.  I'm not sure what I would install if I were to do it today.  I went with a cost optimized system and so far it is meeting my goal of zero net grid consumption, so I'm happy.  I saw that the Federal Tax credit got extended for installations through 2023 (although it drops from 26% this year to 22% in 2023).

    Batteries have improved a lot and with the impetus to all electric vehicles, I think I would have added batteries.  A friend of mine included a Tesla PowerWall with his recent installation.  

    My solar panels may outlive me, but I may get a chance to tweak the installation when I need to replace the inverter which I think typically fails at about 10+ years.

    Ralph

  • in reply to ralphjy

    How does the current 26% Federal Tax credit compare to the incentives you got in 2018?  In a comment to your original blog, you wrote: "After solar incentives (rebates, tax credits), my installed cost was under $3k."  That installed cost seems on the low side, for an 18-panel installation, even at today's prices.

    It will be interesting to see what happens with net metering over time.  California is reportedly proposing stricter rules for home solar, called Net Metering 3.0, including a monthly "grid participation charge" of  $8 per kilowatt of installed solar, and a reduction in the grandfather period from 20 years to 15 for existing installations. 

  • in reply to HBridge

    In addition to the 30% Federal Tax credit, we received an Oregon tax credit that was payable over 4 years (just finished recovering the last of that) and also there was an Energy Trust of Oregon rebate that was paid directly to the installer.

    My wife was just remarking that the "grid participation charge" which had started at $12.02 per month has risen to $12.15 as of this month.  Not sure what future plans Oregon has in regards to Net Metering.

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  • in reply to HBridge

    In addition to the 30% Federal Tax credit, we received an Oregon tax credit that was payable over 4 years (just finished recovering the last of that) and also there was an Energy Trust of Oregon rebate that was paid directly to the installer.

    My wife was just remarking that the "grid participation charge" which had started at $12.02 per month has risen to $12.15 as of this month.  Not sure what future plans Oregon has in regards to Net Metering.

Children
  • in reply to ralphjy

    Do you know what the total savings was for all your incentives?   

    Google has a "Project Sunroof" sunroof.withgoogle.com that gives customized estimates of solar payback periods, but with only the 26% federal tax credit, the payback period for typical California addresses look to be about 10 years, and that's with higher electricity rates than Oregon, and more sunny days, and doesn't take into account the proposed stricter new rules.