"Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)" wrote:
Hi... I'm really tired of being fleeced by my electric company (the
house is all electric), and have reached the point where I'm ready to
take serious "fight back" action. I'm checking into geothermal heat
and air (retro-fit), and also seiously considering solar electricity
(photo voltaics).
Any thoughts will be appreciated. I'm expecially interested in
hearing from anyone with first hand experience.
Take a look at
http://www.solar-electric.com/solar_system_costs.htm which says
How to figure the cost for 100% solar power
* First, take number of KWH shown on your bill. Divide that by 30.
That gives you your average daily usage. So if you use 700 KWH, that
is 23.3 KWH per day.
* Take that number. Divide it by the number of full sun hours you get
per day on a yearly average. Multiply it by 1.15. That will give you a
pretty close estimate of how many watts of solar panel you need. So if
you get 5 hours per day, divide 23.3 by 5 - that gives you 4.66 KW, or
4,666 watts. Multiply that by 1.15, which gives you 5,360 watts of
solar panel needed.
* Average installed cost of solar electric if you do it yourself is
around $7 per watt, or $9 if you have it installed by a licensed
contractor. That includes the cost of the panels, inverters, wire,
mounts, and other hardware. It does NOT include anything else you
might need to pay for, like inspections or extra watt meters by the
electric company. So that system will cost you around $37,500.
Also see the location/cost calculator they refer you to at
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/calculat...ATTS/version1/
And
http://www.solarexpert.com/grid-tie/FAQs.html says
Improved manufacturing has reduced the cost to less than 5% of what it
cost in the 1970's, but the cost (amortized over the 30 expected life
of the system) is about 25 cents per kilowatt-hour. Solar rebates and
incentives can help make solar electricity more affordable and
practical.
....Typically a 2kw solar electric system will power a house in the
daytime, send excess power back into the grid and this excess is used
at night. In effect the utility grid is an infinitely sized free
battery. In Los Angeles a 2 kw system will provide about 20 to 50% of
the power needs of an average home.
HellT