Anyone using solar panels for their house?

[rhody605]

Enmax has a program now where you pay a down payment and then pay monthly for the next 15 years at zero percent interest. But their price seemed very inflated. But worth a look.

[mike31154]

Upfront cost has been what's keeping me out of the solar power game as well, plus the fact that BC is among the least expensive provinces for hydro. As mentioned, getting a solar array up & running is more about the 'green' factor and a little bit of independence rather than savings, or recouping installation costs. I purchased a small wind generator on sale a few years ago & have yet to set that up!

I'm still considering at least starting a system with maybe 2 to 4 large solar panels, for backup power if nothing else. You don't necessarily have to go huge right away. You can start with a couple of panels, batteries & keep adding to the system over time to minimize the inital $$$ hit. Seems solar panels, like LED lighting can still come down in price, but the pricing appears to have levelled out of late, not getting that much cheaper.

The technology contiues to improve though and with the newer MPPT solar controllers, you can get much better efficiency out of solar panels, even on duller days. A neighbour a couple of blocks down the road has covered his roof with panels, I'll have to take a walk down there some time soon & hit him up for info.

If you can swing a hybrid system by combining, wind, solar even micro hydro, you'd have the advantages of different technology, but it gets complicated & who has a creek with an elevation drop of 100' running through their property? I've been to a few backcountry lodges in recent years & most of them rely on solar and/or micro hydro power. It's cost effective for them since the cost to fly in fuel for a diesel or gas powered generator is prohibitive.

Anyhow, I wouldn't necessarily give up on the idea, start small & build on the system as funds permit.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by mike31154

If you can swing a hybrid system by combining, wind, solar even micro hydro, you'd have the advantages of different technology, but it gets complicated & who has a creek with an elevation drop of 100' running through their property? I've been to a few backcountry lodges in recent years & most of them rely on solar and/or micro hydro power. It's cost effective for them since the cost to fly in fuel for a diesel or gas powered generator is prohibitive.

There are a few cabins at our lake that are lucky enough to be near a mountain stream, and have employed small water turbines. Those are by far the most economical, and don't need as many batteries either because of the steady supply of power.

[KevinK]

we are locking into a panel bank as well.

what is shocking is the prices thy ask for them

locking at Canadian online stores, the price for a panel is about $ 1.40 to $ 1.50 per W.

now my dad had 4.6 KW installed last January, he send me the quote breakdown as I could not believe it.

he spend 6400 euro on 4.6 KW, of that the panels itself came down to 57 euro cents, that's only $ 0.77 CND/per watt tax (21% tax included).


now the funny thing is, a other family member had a setup installed as well.

thy had panels installed from Canadian solar, thy where 5% more expensive, but than still, that is almost 1/2 of what we pay here.

[rhody605]

I was pricing a system out of the states and I was shocked at the price. Cheaper that is. Lol

http://www.mrsolar.com/page/MSOS/PROD/ce/OLS-GTS-40

[rhody605]

I was pricing a system out of the states and I was shocked at the price. Cheaper that is. Lol

http://www.mrsolar.com/page/MSOS/PROD/ce/OLS-GTS-40
Wouldn't include installation but with cost of an electrician. And getting a two way power meter would still be way cheaper.

[rhody605]

I was pricing a system out of the states and I was shocked at the price. Cheaper that is. Lol

http://www.mrsolar.com/page/MSOS/PROD/ce/OLS-GTS-40
Wouldn't include installation but with cost of an electrician. And getting a two way power meter would still be way cheaper.
Reliability is a big unknown though.

[rhody605]

Wow sorry for the triple post there. Tapatalk must be on the fritz. Lol

[Scythanith]

A friend of ours is co-owner of Solar Outpost in Saskatoon. They do wind, solar and thermal projects. When we built out new house I debated putting a system on the house and garage and he said I shouldn't. Unless we were living in the place for 20 years it would never pay for itself.

And unless I am not mistaken, SaskPower will allow you to feed back into the grid through the smart meter and reimburse you up until your bill is $0. But they will not pay you for any extra power. Silly.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

This is the local pricing from the Solar shop near my house.

The one the owner recommended to me is highlighted in blue, but without the need for Inverter/remote & such, it would still be just under $2000 plus tax.



System MPPT .87 KWH FLOODED - 250 Peak Watts DC, 875WH/day
• (1) SL250-30MD 250-watt module
• Xantrex SW2000 Inverter
• Inverter remote on/off switch
• (4) 220ahr 6V Batteries
• MPPT 20A Controller, with remote display
• 30ft #10/2 cable, MC4 connectors
• 8ft #6 Controller Battery Cables and fuse
• 5’ 2/0 inverter cables, fuse & holder
• Battery Series and Parallel Cables -----$1950

System MPPT 1 KWH FLOODED - 300 Peak Watts DC, 1050WH/day
• (2) 150-18M 150-watt mono modules
• Xantrex SW2000 True Sine Wave Inverter
• Inverter remote on/off switch
• (4) US Battery US2200 6V Batteries
• MPPT 30A Controller, with remote display
• 30’ #10/2 cable, MC4 connectors
• 8ft #6 Controller Battery Cables and fuse
• 5’ 2/0 inverter cables, fuse & holder
• Battery Series and Parallel Cables --------$2065

System MPPT 1 KWH AGM - 300 Peak Watts DC, 1050WH/day
• (2) 150-18M 150-watt modules
• Xantrex SW1000 True Sine Wave Inverter
• Inverter remote on/off switch
• (2) MCA 310 AGM 6V Batteries
• MPPT 30A Controller and remote Display
• 30ft #10/2 cable, MC4 connectors
• 8ft #6 Controller Battery Cables and fuse
• 5’ 1/0 inverter cables, fuse & holder
• Battery Series Cable -------$1935

System MPPT 1.3KWH FLOODED - 380 Peak Watts DC, 1330WH/day
• (2) 190-36M 190-watt mono modules
• Xantrex SW2000 True Sine Wave Inverter
• Inverter remote on/off switch
• (6) US Battery US2200 Batteries
• MPPT 30A Controller with remote Display
• 40ft #10/2 cable, MC4 connectors
• Metal Combiner, 8A fuse
• 8ft #6 Controller Battery Cables and fuse
• 5’ 2/0 inverter cables, fuse & holder
• Battery Series and Parallel Cables --------$2625


System MPPT 1.75 KWH FLOODED - 500 Peak Watts DC, 1750 WH/day
• (2) 250-30M 250-watt module
• Xantrex SW2000 Inverter
• Inverter remote on/off switch
• (6) US Battery US2200 6V Batteries
• MPPT 40A Controller with display
• 40ft #10/2 cable, MC4 connectors
• Metal Combiner, 15A cct breaker
• 8ft #6 Controller Battery Cables and fuse
• 5’ 2/0 inverter cables, fuse & holder
• Battery Series Parallel Cables ----------2860

System MPPT 2 KWH FLOODED - 570 Peak Watts DC, 1995WH/day
• (3) 190-36M 190-watt mono modules
• Xantrex SW2000 True Sine Wave Inverter
• Inverter remote on/off switch
• (8) US Battery US2200 Batteries
• MPPT 45A Network Controller
• 40ft #10/2 cable, MC4 connectors
• Metal Combiner, 8A fuse
• 8ft #4 Controller Battery Cables and fuse
• 5’ 2/0 inverter cables, fuse & holder
• Battery Series and Parallel Cables -------$3245


System MPPT 2.6 KWH FLOODED - 750 Peak Watts DC, 2625 WH/day
• (3) 250-30M 250-watt module
• Xantrex SW2000 Inverter
• Inverter remote on/off switch
• (8) US Battery US2200 Batteries
• MPPT 60A Network Controller
• 40ft #10/2 cable, MC4 connectors
• Metal Combiner, 15A cct breaker
• 8ft #4 Controller Battery Cables and fuse
• 5’ 2/0 inverter cables and 250A fuse
• Battery Series and Parallel Cables ---$3605