On Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 16:19:20 UTC, John Colvin wrote:
Combine that with good government subsidies and a deal to sell the power back to the grid and it's more like 10 years, max
Aye, that's what I was hoping to get (New York State would have given like 50% money back).... but alas I went and bought a house with a west/east facing roof, and a gigantic tree due south from me.
The installer estimated I could still get maybe 70% of the system's capacity out of it, but the tax rebates get small fast if you go below 80%. My electric usage is small too, so the cost of installation adds up....
but still, it is virtually guaranteed to pay for itself over its lifetime and I have a good chance of turning a profit from it. That's so cool.
Only downside is the upfront cost, and that isn't even *that* bad. And I guess my equipment waiting to be installed uses a grid tie inverter, so if main power goes out, I'm still out, no independence there. But buying batteries and switches for that would just about double the cost, and 99% of the time, grid power is on anyway so just not worth it for me.
