June 6, 20223 yr On 6/1/2022 at 12:10 PM, DEagle7 said: Neighbor just put on a Tesla solar roof. Don't love the way it looks, especially contrasted against the older new England cottage vibe his house has. They'd look real dumb on my cedar shake house. Still compared to raised panels I see the appeal. Would fit a more modern home with light siding well i suppose. I'll have to ask him how he likes em after he goes through a whole season. A buddy of mine has had the Tesla shingles up for about 4 months. It delayed his house build for an insane amount of time but once it was finally installed he really liked it. He’s produced more power than he uses every month with the AC blasting in the Florida summer heat.
June 6, 20223 yr Author 20 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said: That's obviously just the pool house. When house shopping, schmoopie wanted a pool, I did not. This place was a good compromise because the development has a really nice pool area that is easily walkable from our house.
June 6, 20223 yr Author 6 hours ago, Jsvand12 said: A buddy of mine has had the Tesla shingles up for about 4 months. It delayed his house build for an insane amount of time but once it was finally installed he really liked it. He’s produced more power than he uses every month with the AC blasting in the Florida summer heat. That’s the dream. But I don’t have @vikas83 polo money so I got the old fashion panels. Our project has been delayed, but not because of the physical install or lack of materials. Peco has been dragging their feet.
June 6, 20223 yr Author 33 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: White House Set to Pause New Tariffs on Solar Imports for Two Years Why does Biden hate companies?
June 6, 20223 yr Author It desperately needs trimming This weekend Schmoopie did a lot of rose bush pruning on the one side (away from the camera), still have to prune the other side.
June 6, 20223 yr 5 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said: White House Set to Pause New Tariffs on Solar Imports for Two Years This is HUGE! Especially for renewable energy developers like me! Gonna need some subsidies though to get domestic panels to a reasonable price, but I am all for domestic production if we can make it work.
June 6, 20223 yr 8 hours ago, paco said: That’s the dream. But I don’t have @vikas83 polo money so I got the old fashion panels. Our project has been delayed, but not because of the physical install or lack of materials. Peco has been dragging their feet. Personally I don't think the Tesla panels would look good on your house anyway.
June 14, 20223 yr https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/14/ford-issues-stop-sale-of-mustang-mach-es-due-to-potential-safety-defect.html
June 14, 20223 yr 31 minutes ago, vikas83 said: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/14/ford-issues-stop-sale-of-mustang-mach-es-due-to-potential-safety-defect.html That's going to piss off the awful Ford dealers marking these things up $10k-$12K
June 14, 20223 yr Author On 6/14/2022 at 10:36 AM, vikas83 said: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/14/ford-issues-stop-sale-of-mustang-mach-es-due-to-potential-safety-defect.html Great. My theoretical car can theoretically kill me. So glad we are down to one gas guzzling car these days.
June 15, 20223 yr On 6/6/2022 at 5:52 PM, paco said: A few inverters short of being done: Storing on site and/or dumping into the system?
June 15, 20223 yr Author 10 minutes ago, lynched1 said: Storing on site and/or dumping into the system? It’s primarily a backup battery and we are putting excess back on the grid. However, there is a way to set it up so if you are on an interval billing\dynamic pricing rate plan, you could draw from the battery when rates are highest and the grid when they are lower (for the house and recharging the battery). But since it looks like I’ll be generating a surplus, it doesn’t make sense to do that. It actually makes sense for people who aren’t generating electricity since they are the ones who are subjected to the utilities rates.
June 15, 20223 yr 33 minutes ago, paco said: It’s primarily a backup battery and we are putting excess back on the grid. However, there is a way to set it up so if you are on an interval billing\dynamic pricing rate plan, you could draw from the battery when rates are highest and the grid when they are lower (for the house and recharging the battery). But since it looks like I’ll be generating a surplus, it doesn’t make sense to do that. It actually makes sense for people who aren’t generating electricity since they are the ones who are subjected to the utilities rates. Figure out what your reserve will be in an outage? Is there a hard disconnect from your storage to the system? Could they tap your storage at will?
June 15, 20223 yr Author 6 minutes ago, lynched1 said: Figure out what your reserve will be in an outage? Ask me after Thursday Is there a hard disconnect from your storage to the system? For me? Yes. For an electrician, maybe. Could they tap your storage at will? The electric company? I haven’t seen anything in a net meter program that makes me think they can
June 15, 20223 yr 20 hours ago, paco said: Great. My theoretical car my theoretically kill me. So glad we are down to one gas guzzling car these days. Pretty sure Ford is not taking any orders for the hybrid pickup I was looking into either.
June 15, 20223 yr Author 12 minutes ago, Boogyman said: Pretty sure Ford is not taking any orders for the hybrid pickup I was looking into either. We got our order in just before they shut down taking them for the premium model. (Mid Feb, a week later they paused orders, opened them back up in March but excluded the Premium and California models) Problem is, it hasn't been scheduled for production yet and a manager I talked to said we are in danger of converting over to 2023 model. My concerns with that are 1) price hikes 2) Not getting the Ice White package which we kind of fell in love with.
July 25, 20223 yr On 8/18/2021 at 1:16 PM, paco said: Wasn't sure if I should post this here or WU. Anyway, has anyone here added solar to their house? If so, how did you find your panel supplier, were there loans you applied for or did you find some "no up front cost" option, etc. We are just starting the process and I'm trying to get input from anywhere I can get it, including you psychos. And of course, this is the dream but I don't think we can afford this at this time: Edit Lessons Learned: SRECs aka Solar Renewable energy credits. I had no idea this was a thing before, but apparently you can generate these and sell them on the open market if you own the panels. For our system we are estimating $400-$500 per year For most people, the two options that are most attractive are leasing them or financing them. If you lease them, you basically pay the solar company a much lower rate on electricity than what the power company offers. The companies are responsible for the life of the panels, so if one craps out, it’s all on them. If you finance, you put no money down and get everything you need installed. Panels come with warranties, but after that if one craps out, its on you. You WILL be quoted a monthly rate that is lower than your average electric bill (in most cases), HOWEVER there is some fine print you need to read (and some companies were not forthcoming about this until you go a bit further down the road). After 15 months, there is a large bubble payment due that is roughly equal to the 26% refund from the govt. If you pay it, your rate stays low, however if you do not pay it the rate will go up significantly. Roughly 40% in our case. Careful tax planning is extremely necessary to make sure you have the funds to make this payment. Either way you go, I found most companies offer apps to monitor the health of your solar system With most power companies, you can’t go and buy as many panels as you please. Why? I have no clue. For example, with PECO we are having to jump through some hoops to make a case to put more panels than what would be needed to cover our current usage by 110% (110% is the maximum amount they allow in their net metering program, so basically you can cover your electric and roll over an additional 10%). We have built into our proposal two future electric cars (which is why we are jumping on the Mustang now) as well as a tankless water heater. If you are thinking about saving a few bucks now and only getting enough to cover 100%, make sure you are aware that solar panels degrade over time (roughly 2% in efficiency the first year, 0.4% every year after that) so after 25 years they will only be operating at 86% Solar panels efficiency rating – This is one stat that’s fun to nerd out to but honestly, I believe is worthless. It’s great a more expensive panel is at 22% (which double where we were 10 years ago), but a panel that is 20% may be much more affordable and produces the same total output. Focus on the panels total output and its durability over efficiency. Shop around and don’t be afraid to look at smaller companies to do your install. I talked to about a dozen or so companies and we ended up narrowing it down to 2. One is a huge company that covers most of the US (Hint: they give you a $4000 Costco cash card if you are a Costco member) and the other is a much smaller company that only serves parts of PA, DE, MD and NJ. We haven’t signed anything yet but we are 99% going with the smaller company. They offered a better financing rate, better panels, and a better overall price. Plus I have been working with their VP directly which has been a huge advantage in terms of service and communication. Being that said, I also spoke with some mom and pop shops that were duds, so do your research. If you install a smart battery backup system, they can be configured to help lower your bill in a ToU (Time of Use) billing plan. ToU is basically interval billing, where your energy usage is broken down into chunks (usually 15 minute chunks). Your energy provider will determine different prices for different hours of eletric usage, so during peak usage hours they will charge you a higher rate than say energy usage at 2 am. You can configure your system with smart batteries so that if you are using energy during those peak hours above what you are generating, it can be configured to drain from the batteries instead of the grid. Then you recharge the batteries via your panels or during off hours at a cheaper rate. You have to find a reputable contractor. Do your research. If Costco backs a company, if the costs are not out of whack, it may make sense to go with them even if they are more money. Think of it as buying insurance. I am helping somebody in NY State deal with a scam contractor who was late with, and then screwed up building permits and misrepresented electrical output.
July 25, 20223 yr Author 1 hour ago, Procus said: You have to find a reputable contractor. Do your research. If Costco backs a company, if the costs are not out of whack, it may make sense to go with them even if they are more money. Think of it as buying insurance. I am helping somebody in NY State deal with a scam contractor who was late with, and then screwed up building permits and misrepresented electrical output. Sounds good, thank you!
July 26, 20223 yr 19 hours ago, Procus said: You have to find a reputable contractor. Do your research. If Costco backs a company, if the costs are not out of whack, it may make sense to go with them even if they are more money. Think of it as buying insurance. I am helping somebody in NY State deal with a scam contractor who was late with, and then screwed up building permits and misrepresented electrical output. Procus knows a guy.
July 28, 20223 yr Another 10 years (at least) for the solar ITC!!! Lets goooooooo!!!! Huge for anyone looking at solar for the next 10 years. https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/07/28/solar-investment-tax-credit-to-be-extended-10-years-at-30/
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