I’ve had my system for 1.5 yrs now and it has been working very well for us.
From my research prior, this is not universally true. You have to be focus’d on the numbers to make this work, as it can turn into an expensive science experiment at best. Unless you’re a crunchy type that doesn’t put ROI above environmental issues.
Some considerations and lessons learned:
1) Understand the numbers game you’re playing. Especially if you have an electric car, and are on a time of use (TOU) rather than tiered rate plan. Offsetting gas expenses is considerably more worthwhile than even offsetting tier 3/4, where you may want to offset 100% of your use.
1a BONUS) You can compound the value of solar with an electric car with a TOU plan. Solar produces during the peak rate hours, whereas charging takes places during the lowest rate hours at night.
2) Don’t let the marketers confuse the priorities. Yes, it’s important to buy a quality system/components, but don’t forget ROI which is the whole reason for the investment.
3) Physical constraints of your installation may seriously compromise system efficiency (and potential ROI) – don’t force it to work for you if it won’t!
4) Microinverters!! Line inverters may be cheaper up front, but not when you consider they have to be typically replaced in ~10 yrs. Lots of companies don’t do microinverters and want to force old school line inverters on customers.
5) Don’t hire a 3rd party marketing only company. Cut out the middle man and go directly to the installers.
6) Many lease deals are shady. You may very likely wind up paying more for all the headaches all said and done than paying SDG&E directly.
7) FOCUS on price/watt produced to compare apples to apples and remember…ROI! So what if you have top of the line panels. It’s not an investment if there’s no ROI.
