Make the switch to solar?

[slinthicum]

The chart below reflects the reason so many SDGE customers are upset with their energy costs. What concerns me is the result for those neighbors who do not have the financial means to afford the installation of a solar system and the negative consequences they face in terms of carrying the results of higher energy costs because people like me, no longer have that expense. That unfairness I suspect will ultimately result in a NEM 4.0 designed to level the playing field for all. Hence my belief that things will change in the not-too-distant future. Thoughts?

SMUD Comparison.png

[J.P.M.]

BTW, 8,046 kWh yearly production is a little ahead of the previous 4-year production numbers. I guess that means not cleaning the panels is OK.

Perhaps, but it more likely and also means your site had more irradiance for that period than might be expected.
My 365 day running total site irradiance is up a bit from prior years. I'm not at my n. county residence (zip 92026) just now, but if memory serves, the 365 day running total array production at that site is also up by ~ 2% or so. I've hosed the array about every 4 weeks or so since I stopped taking daily fouling measurements and accept an average fouling rate of something like maybe 2% - 3 %.

Also, and a bit further off topic, if I don't hose the array, my experience and measurement has led me to conclude that my array's fouling rate is roughly ~ 0.75%/week depending on weather conditions if it doesn't rain but that fouling rate/pattern tends to be somewhat asymptotic, leveling off at about an 8% production penalty +/- some during the long summer rainless periods.
A decent rain - maybe 1/4" or more of precip. tends to restore about 2/3 - 3/4 of the performance that was lost to fouling.
Your array's fouling trend/pattern may be similar.

My results seem to have reasonable agreement (IMO only) with other open-source data on array fouling. This is not an exact science.

[slinthicum]

BTW, another key approach that has enabled me to manage electric power consumption is detailed in a "guest blog post" I wrote for Emporia Energy's blog titled "Making Data Driven Decisions on Time-of-Use Electrical Consumption".

[slinthicum]

My system was designed to meet our estimated electrical consumption. With a "true-up date" of January 19th, I closely monitor for excess production. This year I turned on the electric fireplace and a space heater for warmth production, reducing natural gas consumption. This was a wise decision with the cost of natural gas for heating at an all-time high. BTW, 8,046 kWh yearly production is a little ahead of the previous 4-year production numbers. I guess that means not cleaning the panels is OK.

[J.P.M.]

Northern Illinois presents challenges. Here in San Diego, it is a different story. Our system produced 8,046 kWh of electricity for 2022. The average cost of electricity in San Diego for 2022 was $0.37/kWh. Based on this information, our system produced $2,977.02 of electricity for the year ($284/mo). When you consider that our out-of-pocket expense for the system was $10,575 after the 30% Federal tax credit (.70 * $15,107), it is not unrealistic for our payback period to be around 3.5 years. So, we've earned around $4,500 in the 1.5 years since the system cost was recovered. Not a bad investment.

Thank you for keeping your average cost of a kWh of electricity in perspective and context.

Q: Did your system produce more or less electricity than your residence consumed for 2022 ?

Reason for asking: Just pointing out that over production by oversizing an array or for that matter any excess generation by an array reduces the value of the array produced energy.

[slinthicum]

Northern Illinois presents challenges. Here in San Diego, it is a different story. Our system produced 8,046 kWh of electricity for 2022. The average cost of electricity in San Diego for 2022 was $0.37/kWh. Based on this information, our system produced $2,977.02 of electricity for the year ($284/mo). When you consider that our out-of-pocket expense for the system was $10,575 after the 30% Federal tax credit (.70 * $15,107), it is not unrealistic for our payback period to be around 3.5 years. So, we've earned around $4,500 in the 1.5 years since the system cost was recovered. Not a bad investment.

[Mike 134]

Btw, ComEd is at 0.96

Com Ed Charges
Supply charge			0.08333
Trans charge			0.01332
dist charge			0.04065
IL dist Charge			0.00132
environmental costs			0.00029
Renewable portfolio			0.00502
Zero Emission			0.00195
Energy Efficiency			0.00276
Energy Transition			0.00072
	Total		0.14936

[Shemp]

I'm in northern Illinois also and if I couldn't have done it myself it would not have been worthwhile. Your utility ComEd? At $0.15 per KWH takes to long to pay off in my opinion. How much is the cost per watt for the install? Just an FYI if you have solar you cannot apply for time-of-day pricing with Comed. Did they tell you how many RECs you'll get credit for over the 15 years?

Btw, ComEd is at 0.96

[Mike 134]

I would like to hear how you get REC funds in IL. No one has yet
shown me how to do that, I might do 30 Million watthours a year.
Bruce Roe

Here you go latest version pricing, qualifications, etc. 134 pages of how to get REC funds in Illinois.
Program Guidebook – Illinois Adjustable Block Program (illinoisabp.com)

[bcroe]

Currently you get $82.26 per REC or Million watthours you generate.

I would like to hear how you get REC funds in IL. No one has yet
shown me how to do that, I might do 30 Million watthours a year.
Bruce Roe

[Mike 134]

I'm planning on buying outright.

My roof almost never has snow on it for long. It's over a tall hangar with lots of prevailing wind. We are NEM 1 currently. The salesman mentioned the adjustable block program and said those credits are built into the price to reach the minimum power requirement. Don't know how to quantify that. I'm pretty handy and know I can do the install but thought I might lose the 30% tax credit.
I'll start reading the dummies book.
Im not trying to do too much. Mostly just reduce my dependency on ComEd and eventually have a lower overall energy bill while helping the environment a little bit.

Thanks everyone.

Just remember knowledge is power. Have you seen this site and its links? Illinois Shines – Illinois Shines is a state-administered incentive program supporting the development of new solar energy generation in Illinois.

If you did the work yourself you'd still qualify for the federal 30% credit. Unless you have been through a US Dept of Labor apprenticeship program you would not be eligible for the adjustable block program if you do the work yourself. Currently you get $82.26 per REC or Million watthours you generate.
Run the PVWatts program for your system size to see what you generate yearly multiplied by 15 years to see how much he's "built in the price" or (look at it how much he's stealing from you).

Good luck

[Shemp]

I'm planning on buying outright.

My roof almost never has snow on it for long. It's over a tall hangar with lots of prevailing wind. We are NEM 1 currently. The salesman mentioned the adjustable block program and said those credits are built into the price to reach the minimum power requirement. Don't know how to quantify that. I'm pretty handy and know I can do the install but thought I might lose the 30% tax credit.
I'll start reading the dummies book.
Im not trying to do too much. Mostly just reduce my dependency on ComEd and eventually have a lower overall energy bill while helping the environment a little bit.

Thanks everyone.

[oregon_phil]

New guy. I just had my initial consultation with a solar installer (Costco affiliate) and think I should make the move to solar. I live in Northern IL and have a perfect roof for a large array. I have a new very efficient gas furnace and dryer. 11 year old gas water heater. 10 year old gas boiler and another small supplemental gas furnace for a bonus room above the garage. 1 central air and another for the bonus room. I was sized for a 1500 service and am allowed to double that. We are still on NEM 1. I'm planning on getting the Toyota Sienna hybrid and probably fairly soon replace the water heater to electric. I'm thinking about adding 30% to my current requirement.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Seems like a good time to switch.

Thanks Jeff

SunRun is the Costco Affiliate. If it was me, I wouldn't commit to anything. Continue your research and get additional quotes. You don't if you are going buy outright, borrow or lease. Buy outright is the way better solution with fewer strings attached. Real all warranty information.

[azdave]

My first advise to just about anyone who doesn't currently pay sky high electric rates is to only buy the system outright with cash or invest your money elsewhere. Too many other parties in the deal keep the majority of the benefits when you lease or take out a loan and you are stuck with a 20-25 year burden, especially if you ever move.

[J.P.M.]

Just an FYI this was the cloudiest January on record for the Chicagoland area. My output reflects that. I had 19 days of 5 KWHs or less per day of output from a 7.2KW size system. Just for reference today was mostly sunny and after clearing the snow in the morning I still made 26KWHs.

On the other side of the coin, when I lived in Buffalo, for the month of Feb. 1982, The Buffalo airport had more Global Horizontal Irradiance (G.H.I.) than San Diego.

Climate's what you expect. Weather's what you get.