I recently checked into solar buy vs lease (monthly and pre-pay). I end up going with buying. I ruled out monthly leasing early on, because it’s super expensive when you add it all up. It’s only good if you have no cash. If you do have cash, I would suggest one of the other two options. The reason I buy is because:
1) it’s mine, so after 20 years, I don’t have to give it back or buy it out (who knows what the price they set then). So, if the system actually stay functioning well past 25 years (since that’s when its warranty ends), then your average monthly cost would be lower.
2) flexibility. If you sell the house, you don’t have to worry about buying out the system. If you don’t have the money to buy out the system, you’d have to make sure the buyer would want to take over your lease and is qualified (credit wise) to take over the lease. I don’t think you can buy out the system early. IIRC, you have two times to buy it out, either at 7 years or 20 years. You have to pick that date ahead of time.
3) you’re locked into the current technology. Solar, like any other technology, I expect to improve over time and get cheaper. If this holds true, 10 years from now, I can sell my panel on craigslist and buy new, more efficient panel. Especially if my usage goes up. You can’t do this with leasing.

Now, the pro for leasing are:
1) no worry about maintenance (although I’ve talked to a couple honest sales guy and they said they haven’t had a service call ever).
2) no up front cost for monthly lease and lower than buy price (after all rebate) if you do prepay. Prepay was around $1-2k cheaper. However, you still have to buy out the system at a later date. So, the total cost would most likely be more expensive than buy.

AN,

Did you already get the panels installed? If so, what did you think of the installer, installation process, and the system, in general?

Would you mind providing details as to the size, type of inverter, price, etc.?

We would really LOVE to get solar panels, but are worried about the manufacturer/installer going out of business well before the 25 year warranty runs out (did you get insurance to cover this event, or just not worried about it?).

Thanks in advance! 🙂

I didn’t get it installed yet. We’re waiting for permits from the city. Should have it install in the next couple of weeks though (hoping). So, I can’t speak about the installer’s quality. Although, they’re not your fly by night shop. They actually did large jobs for SDG&E and the city. So, I’m hoping they’ll be around. Their workmanship warranty is 10 years, while the manufacture warranty is 25 years. I pick brand name panels (Sharp), so, it’s not likely that Sharp will go out of business. They’re too diverse to sink like other solar only companies.

Their price is also the lowest, without ANY haggling. So, if you want this contact, I’d gladly give it to you. The system I got is 15 x 240W panels. So, it’s a 3.6kWh system. I would get bigger, but the way my roof is, I can only fit 15 panels. I went with the Enphase micro-inverter because if I don’t, then I won’t be able to have 15 panels. IIRC, the max I could have w/out micro-inverter is 12 (they go in sets of 4). Price wise, it will be around $10.8k after all the credits. It “should” produce about 430kWh a month. I’m currently using between 700-1100kWh a month, so it would put me mostly in tier 1 and 2 and during the summer months, tier 3. I did a rough estimate of how much my bill would be w/ solar and I’m seeing myself saving between 100-200/month. So, assuming SDG&E doesn’t increase their rates, my saving is ~$1800/year. So, it would take 6 years to break even. Then everything after that is gravy. Now, if SDG&E raise their rate, my break even will come even faster.

Due to my roof position and the max 15 panels, buying makes more sense. If, 10 years from now, they come up with panels that are 2x as efficient, then I can just buy the panel, have some electrician to come out and replace it. Then sell the old one. I wouldn’t really need to pull permits, since it’s just swapping one for another. That would allow solar to cover even more of my bills. Leasing would not give me that option.

I agree with AN’s recommendation to use a brand name manufacturer like Sharp that has a track record. Some of the school districts have had to have Chinese made panels removed due to defects: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/14/tp-flawed-solar-panels-removed-at-schools/

As always do your due dilligence.

Our roof leaked and they blamed the roof. Not kidding, but the bottom line is they have to fix it because they signed a 10 year warranty on workmanship and you can always go after them to the Contractors’ License Board. However, if they go out of business, I guess that is another problem, so pick a reputable company and make sure you ask for references where you can talk to the people where they did the installation.

Trying to figure out if it is worth it. We are in process of researching a pool, but not sure how the solar helps off-set the cost if the pool/spa heater is gas? From what everyone we have talked with says the new pumps are so efficient they don’t use a lot of electricity. I had thought a pool was expensive, but apparently only if I heat it?

I would really love to embrace alternative energy and think everyone in sunny places should have solar, eventually the economy of scale would make them as realistic for everyone as a normal roof. Unfortunately, it seems it is just some scheme to make money and the installation companies are not out to help me and the environment. Whatever, I am fine with making a buck, but have been unable to really understand the details.

Can anyone explain how it will help off-set the cost of a pool?

[quote=UCGal][quote=treehugger]Trying to figure out if it is worth it. We are in process of researching a pool, but not sure how the solar helps off-set the cost if the pool/spa heater is gas? From what everyone we have talked with says the new pumps are so efficient they don’t use a lot of electricity. I had thought a pool was expensive, but apparently only if I heat it?
[/quote]

Maybe all my friends have older pump systems… It’s the pump costs that are the issue.[/quote]
Yep, it’s the pump that matter. When we first bought the house, it came with a 1.5HP single speed pump. So it always run at full power. During the summer, you don’t really want the water to sit idle mid-day. That’s just asking for algae to grow. So, you use a lot of power when you have to run ~6 hrs. durning the summer months. My first 2 months electricity bill was HUGE. I then immediately bought a variable speed pump. Now, I run my pump at slow speed (I think it comes out to be about 1/2HP) for 12 hrs. and I just A LOT less electricity. It’s only when I want to use to pool (heating it up to 90-93 degrees) where the bill went up. Not only because of the gas that’s needed to run the pool heater, but I need to turn on pool pump to Max power, so the water would turn over much quicker and the entire pool would be at the desirable temperature quicker.

To show you how little the new variable speed pool pump uses, during the months where I don’t use AC and have no Christmas lights, my usage is around mid 600kWh/month. With Christmas light, it jumps to 800kWh and during the summer where my AC runs 24/7 at 73 degrees, it gets to about 1100 kWh. Keep in mind that I have people home all day long and my computer is on 24/7 and my TV is on a lot too. I’m not sure how much you use, but my parents’ usage is in the mid 400kWh, and they only use power 3-5 hrs. during the weekday.