I think it makes little sense to have any east facing panels. Power company would only pay $0.12 or $0.24 kWhr. West facing would pay $0.24 or $0.45 when the sun is at the same angle.
This whole thing of over producing to earn energy credits in $$$ and then using those credits to buy the electricity back makes this complicated.You also need to factor in some change risk. You’re installing panels for 25+ years. The sun will keep following the same path in the sky that whole time. The billing and credit arrangements with your local power company are not nearly as stable.
The billing and credit arrangements with your local power company are not nearly as stable.
May be you have to decide if you are doing this as a money making excercise or not. In the UK you only get subsidy if the whole installation is done by a "professional installer" and of course that get's you involved in all sorts of crazy calculations as well as crystal ball gazing.
Personally I installed my subsidy free DIY system in part to help the enviroment, in part to further reduce my "grid" dependancy and in my case to reduce both my oil and electricity bills. I don't have to fret whatever about subsidy rates and I already know my payback times worst case
I would be very wary of spending a lot of money and expecting to get it back again in a hurry!
One can not make money selling electricty to PG&E. But what we all have to do is “sell” the excess we produce at market rate to PG&E to receive energy credits which are measured in dollars.
At the end of 12 month any energy credits dollars are given to PG&E for free.
May be you have to decide if you are doing this as a money making excercise or not. In the UK you only get subsidy if the whole installation is done by a "professional installer" and of course that get's you involved in all sorts of crazy calculations as well as crystal ball gazing.
Personally I installed my subsidy free DIY system in part to help the enviroment, in part to further reduce my "grid" dependancy and in my case to reduce both my oil and electricity bills. I don't have to fret whatever about subsidy rates and I already know my payback times worst case
I would be very wary of spending a lot of money and expecting to get it back again in a hurry!The panels themselves aren't even that expensive nowadays. Hence why DIY easily ends up cheaper even if that means giving up any subsidies. Also far more educational and fun! I will always remember the experience of putting together my first solar power system, from designing the system, assembling the electronics, sharing with friends what I did with it, and as an Eta Kappa Nu member, living up to the IEEE slogan "advancing technology for humanity".
A few points:
1) It is unlikely that 10 300 +/- watt panels would provide for 100% of your electricity on anything but sunny days. I know the SF Bay area gets lots of sun (I lived their for 7 years) but it is not sunny every day. On a yearly basis 3000 watts nominal of installed PV will be unlikely to cover all the electricity use of a typical small household (especially if any heating or cooling is done with electricity). If you live alone and are frugal with your power usage - then yes, it could.
2) Solar installation companies mark up panels quite a bit to pad their profits - so they have an incentive to "upsell" - which should not be surprising.
3) DIY does allow you to customize and upgrade your system in stages. I'm in the planning process for doing my 3rd expansion of my system
4) What is wrong with producing excess power? Panels are very cheap and IME it's better to "over panel" than under panel. The BOS component cost will generally not go up much at all with increased installed wattage.
I recall that something went into the NEC recently which no longer allows non-licensed electricians to do PV installs. That would make it one of the only residential things you can't do according to NEC -- most of the other things are industrial. Dunno if that filtered down to the California electric code yet...
Nice part of DIY is that you can start very small and expand as you see fit.
If homeowners ending up with a surplus of electricity they can't sell becomes commonplace, I would expect a great increase in the popularity of solar powered crypto mining. And marijuana growing, in areas where it's legal.
FYI
https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/Engineering/Solar/Fall2013/about
While I'm sure all of the principals have remained the same, is there anything new?
While I'm sure all of the principals have remained the same, is there anything new?
Take a look at Udemy:
https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=solar&src=ukw
This thread is a good illustration of why some people (me included) want to simply stop having anything to do with the State-ruined grid. Life's too short to waste time on such a ridiculous maze of requirements and rates. Not to mention the grids becoming ever more unreliable as intermittent 'green' energy sources replace dependable and cheap massive spinning turbines.
It's not just homeowners wanting to get off the 'green grid' bullshit train. Here's an industry buying their own coal-fired plant:
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/05/gamechanger-chinese-crypto-miners-can-get-8c-cheap-electricity-in-australia-using-old-coal/
Btw OP, are you consuming single phase or three phase power?
With the power compnay paying me $0.45 for every kWhr I sell to them I would be a fool not to.
With the power compnay paying me $0.45 for every kWhr I sell to them I would be a fool not to.
I don't even pay PG&E half that much for my electric.
Single phase.
I attended a workshop given by our local power compnay, PG&E about going solar. It was an excellent presentation and they even had Cisco there to talk about Smartmeters and Smart Grid. They did a fantastic job in explaining the history of the power companies and the creation of the grid.
Once one understands the history of power compnaies, the creation of the grid and how the grid works, it's no wonder were are in the mess we are now. Cisco estimates it will take well over 100 years to implement a Smartgrid. Why, no one want's to pay for it.
I'm all for solar..... But the residential solar industry is filled with thousands of people trying to make a quick fast buck. They don't understand solar and are excellent liars.
I still plan to install solar on my home. With the power compnay paying me $0.45 for every kWhr I sell to them I would be a fool not to.
Assuming that rebate continues to exist. It's unlikely to for long.
But go ahead anyway if you can. It's not about the money, it will become about actually having reliable electric power at all. You'll come to realize that eventually, if things don't change course.