What range would make you plug in less or not at all?

Solar City has something like 5 different plans, - from pay as you go, to outright purchase. I chose the pre-paid 20 year lease option with 100% lifetime warranty and maintenance. I paid Solar City upfront and everything I generate is mine. Right now I am generating about twice as much electricity as I am using. Edison will send out a rebate check to me once a year for excess production. I figure my system will pay for itself in about 5 to 7 years.

If you want a Solar City system let me know. I get a $500 rebate for every purchase referral and I will happily pass that on to you.

I love to screw the big monopolies.

 

I went with Petersen-Dean ("Solar for America") as a straight purchase. Like you, I love seeing the greedy SCE lose a bit of revenue as a result of solar.

Just a word of caution about that rebate check you're expecting: First, the hot summer months may chew up your net excess. But more important, that check won't be based on the credit that shows month-to-month (which is based on retail price). You'll get about 2 cents a kWh.

Moral of the story is, at least with SCE, don't generate more than you use over the course of a year.

 

Yes, I know. We are interested to see what our June bill looks like due to a.c. usage. Yes, SCE will not pay you full value for excess generation, something like 85%. Just waiting for Solar City to get on line with their residential battery pack, then we can go completely off grid.

 

Had Solarcity come out for a quote on Saturday. They calculated they could decrease my costs from $100 to $80 a month under the variable rate lease. Not sure $240 a year is worth the hassle. My usage may go up if I ever get a BEV and Solarcity will only size the panels so that you have net zero usage because PG&E buys back kWh at bulk price.

And if I ever do go BEV, the current system may not be large enough, they don't increase the size unless it's 6 panels or more.

 

The variable rate lease plan is one of the more expensive plans since Solar City is essentially financing the system for you. The prepaid lease or outright purchase are much less expensive plans if you can afford the upfront cost. BUT I would take a free $240 a year anytime. That more than buys enough gas for my PIP during the year. There is really no hassle in putting in the system. They take care of everything.

(no, I have no connection to Solar City other than being a VERY happy customer)

 

The problems crop up when you sell your home. If you have a leased PV solar system, you'll have to have the buyer agree to take over the lease or come up with cash to buy a partially used system. Purchase makes far more sense.

 

I'm looking forward to the Tesla power wall - and hope to do the same thing

.

 

Yes, that is what I am talking about.

 

Uh, I don't think it's intended to take you off the grid. It's intended to balance your load/generation to pull more off the grid in low demand time periods and run off the battery and solar during peak times.

Like most grid-tied systems, loss of the grid shuts the inverter down. I suppose there are isolation systems that can ensure no solar/Tesla Powerwall AC feeds back on the grid during grid outages, but those are not common.

Looking at Tesla's announcements, they intimate that the 10kWh version is supposed to allow you to go "off the grid" or be used in power outages. But since Tesla's only concerned with the DC that feeds the inverter, it seems to me it's totally dependent on the inverter as to whether it shuts down on grid loss.

 

My EV estimate is almost 14 miles. I just charged it with my PV panels. Looking forward to use it up tomorrow.

 

jealous. i'm paying .75/drive these days.

 

My pv system cost $25k + $6k to resurface the roof. If not for gov incentives, I wouldn't have done it.

 

understood, same reason i file tax returns.

 

Eyeballing the 30% tax credit for the PV system, you got your roof resurfaced for FREE!

 

I think I misunderstood you point.

To me, as long as US is not importing from OPEC countries, I don't care the global price of oil and who is profiting from who.

 

Importing OPEC isn't what makes some of those countries a threat to national security. It is the profits from selling their oil to who ever that gives them the power to be a threat. (Anymore discussion on this should probably move to the Politics House.)

On the flip side, if GHG emissions are a person's concern, Middle Eastern crude is cleaner than Canadian tar sand bitumen and US oil shale kerogen. Extracting and refining those two can emit 75% to 80% more carbon dioxide.

PS - Just looked at the site, How Americans Can Buy American, and it is just listing the companies by home office location. The domain linked from there stating which import crude from the Middle East is for sale. Chevron has fields in the Partitioned Zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Exploration and Production | About Chevron | Chevron

 

BTW, I signed up for more information on the Tesla Powerwall on the Tesla website. Got a call from Solarcity asking what time to make an appointment for solar. I said I wanted the Powerwall, not solar. They said it works in conjunction with solar. Estimator came out on Saturday and said he doesn't recommend the Powerwall and to get straight solar instead. It is not designed for people to go off grid. It is designed to provide power during outages. ???

 

and cloudy weather.

 

It can be used for time shifting, or peak shaving, and SolarCity already installs commercial units for this.
PV system output peaks in the middle of the day. Most people are active in their during the early morning, late afternoon, and into the evening though. Which also happen to be times of peak rates. The PowerWall stores the PV generated electric for use during those times when PV output too low to meet the household demand, whether from clouds or time of day. It can also be used for emergency back up.

If the local grid tie regulations don't stiff the home owner for excess kW they supply to the grid, and/or the peak rates are reasonable, the financial reasons for a PowerWall are small, and then it is mostly for emergency power.

 

I already know this and I am onboard. That's why I signed up to get more information and hopefully purchase it. My issue is a sister company contacted me instead to sell me another product and the estimator more or less discredited the item I was interested in, in the first place.