Anyone using solar panels for their house?

[Myka]

Seeing as we live in one of the sunniest provinces in Canada, we have been considering installing some solar panels on our house roof to at least partially power our house. We have no idea on the cost or how long it would take to recover that cost in saved electrical. Can anyone share some experiences?

[IanWR]

We looked at solar options when we bought our house about a year an a half ago. Using photovoltaic for power is an option, and saskpower has an option to tie your system into the grid so you don't have to use a battery bank (although if you don't you are as susceptible to power outages as anyone else). Unfortunately from a cost effective postion at current power rates it would take something like 15+ years to break even. The break even is less for wind, something like 8 or 9.

What is cost effective on a relatively short time is using solar to heat your water. The more hot water you use, the faster the system pays for itself. We chose not to add the system to our house yet, more out of inertia than anything else.

We looked at these options when checking out the Vereco house. They had a demo house set up at the WDM in 2011.

- Ian

[Reef Pilot]

Well, we have solar for our cabin at the lake. We went low cost (Crappy Tire variety), and have just enough to handle our lights and small appliances and tools. We use propane for the fridge, stove and hot water (very cheap), and still have a generator for heavier tools (even vacuuming).

The main reason we got the solar was for convenience, so we don't have to run the generator, which is noisy, too. But there is no way you can ever justify solar based based on costs. The batteries alone (which need regular replacement) will cost more over time than any cost you would save from the power company.

Most of the cabins at our lake do have solar and/or wind generators. I can't believe what some have paid for their set-ups,... could buy a nice car for that money. Then they have to pay more after a few years, for batteries, upgrades, and other maintenance. It is just simply very, very expensive for what you get.

But for us at the lake, it is a necessity, as we don't have a connection to power. For me, though, I went cheap with the solar, and more for convenience than any other reason. My diesel generator is still the cheapest by far, for out there, but just don't like the noise and inconvenience.

[Myka]

Thanks for the input! It really doesn't sound very economical! I knew it was pricey, but I didn't think it was that bad. Kinda kills that idea...

[reefermadness]

Here in Ontario they have a micro fit plan that used to pay 80c a kilowatt. I think they have dropped it to 60 or 50cents now. Basically you don't want to use the solar power as its much more lucrative to sell it back. It's a green incentive / subsidy.

[Dearth]

A friend of mine installed solar panels at his cabin (it is lived in yr round)at a huge cost but its what his wife wanted

Benefits he found
-even minimal light generates power even with the snow covering more than 70% of the panels
-his power costs are virtually nil now still has hydro hookup as well as generator backup hydro is only used for his outdoor plugs
-side benefit one of his solar panels is used to heat water during non winter months and does a great job of it
-relatively maintenance free(no need for tree removal or hydro maintenance all lines underground)

Downsides
-battery bank takes up fair amount of room in his basement
-snow load broke a solar panel even with insurance still cost him a pretty penny to replace
-ice buildup a major issue on one of his panels(close to chimney from fireplace)
-he will never ever get back what he put into it costwise

He likes the solar power but as he told his wife if you want solar power on another place she will have to find a way to pay for it as it cost him close to $70,000 to install what they have at the cabin and that was with all discounts too

He is all for green energy but the cost especially up north does not make it a viable attractive solution as everything has to come out of Hongcouver or Edmonton and cost of shipping and even repair costs a lot.

[toytech]

http://www.find-solar.org/index.php is a site that can tell you some costs , how long to recoup and so on . Ive been thinking about this for a while but is expensive .

[mark]

was looking into solar but seems Edmonton stopped their program a couple years back. Without an incentive program good luck getting a payback on a grid-tie before you'd need to be replacing panels etc. Batteries, seems even with a incentive program a money looser.

Found this thread on Digital Home quite interesting (real life experience with microFIT)

[Myka]

Thanks for the input everyone. I did find a reference where one of the local installed said it cost about $20,000 for a 10 kw(?) system. It should would be nice if they made green energy more affordable!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

My friend has his workshop where he uses powertools all the time completely off grid. He used to run a workshop to teach people how to make their own 64w solar panels for just over $100 worth of components/parts. Around here, good deep cycle batteries are not cheap. I was going to run my greenhouse and even my reef tanks off-grid but the economics of this "green" project didn't really work. I may still do it, as much for the "oooh, I'm off grid" factor as anything else. As others mentioned, the pay-back period is very long and so "economic-benefits" is not really a true consideration. If I'm lazy, there's a solar power store a few blocks away where I can buy the panels, batteries and everything else and the guy will give me the instructions for hooking it up (or I'll get my friend over to help). Still, not sure I want to spend $1200+ for a side project.

My friend's currently pricing out a system appropriate for my needs and designing something custom and then I'll make my final decision whether to go solar or not.

Anthony