New questions Help with solar ?

[Orchidlandguy]

Ok, finally got enough savings amassed and want to take our 1500 sq. ft. Home in Orchidland from electric to solar.
We currently have solar panels for hot water only, the rest is electric.
We do not make enough for any tax credit, so no savings there.

How much does a good solar system cost installed for a 1500 sq ft house with a small ohana ?
I am not able to do this myself and am not handy with electrical.

Any good recommendations about what type of EASY system to get?
Any recommendations about who to install it?

I am now working a job in Japan for 4 months on and 3 months off, so the solar system will need to be run by my wife who wants it to be "idiot proof" (her words, not mine).

Any help?
Mahalo.

[tada]

I think the cheapest way is to go feed in tariff which means u connect back into the grid so don't have to get batteries. as one of your semiprepper types i plan an offgrid system but i'm thinking of going slow and hooking up the system without the batts first because i'm afraid of the maintanence requirements of the batteries. of course the power going out as soon as the sun go down but i want to see how it works first.

[birdmove]

A person I know from playing chess at the Pahoa Museum, and Big Island Chess Club had told me he recently had his house converted to solar. Didn't ask the size of his house, but did ask what the cost was. He told me about $26,000. That pretty much leaves me out.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Bill]

Orchidlandguy,

I went with Sunrun/ Revolsun. We also, could not take the tax credits, but Sunrun can. This would be a net metering system.

We leased the equipment from Sunrun. We paid the lease up front for 20 years. Cost was about $10,400. They warranty, insure,and repair any damage for the 20 years. My Helco Bill runs $20.50/month. There are no other costs. We own the system after the lease expires, and it is transferrable.

I think the State credit may go away after the first of the year.

I should add that we have (16) 230 watt panels.

Bill

[Big_Island]

Im on the otherside of the fence...
I would never recommend a grid tie system.
When the grid goes down, you got no-power.
I like being independent.

I would never rent or lease a system. For the same reasons I would never rent or lease a car or a home. I dont live on credit either, so go figure. I'm very familiar with sunrun/revolusun and don't have a lot of faith in them being around very long. Some real nightmare stories out there. http://m.yelp.com/biz/revolusun-honolulu some of the comments are from here on the Big Island. On the other hand I do know of a nice couple in Seaview who are very pleased with their Revolusun grid-tie system and use it to supply their vacation rental. Do your homework and make an informed decision, that's all I'm saying... [B)]

I would Highly recommend you call Paul Moore aka The Solarman and ask for an evaluation of you current electric bill and take it from there. He is located in HPP. Very professional and knows his stuff. I've seen his installation team do a few installs and was very impressed.

It's just my personal opinion but I would call Paul Moore "The Solarman" @ 982-5708 []
http://www.solarmanhawaii.com/

[tada]

The Kyocera multicrystallines was almost as efficient in cloudy conditions as the highest effiency HIT panels in the study I posted last month.

[rainshadow]

I'm in full agreement with Big Island - leasing a system is in the same boat as paying a bill, something I'm not all that fond of - especially to helco, frankly.

I recently had Paul (Solarman) set me up with an off grid system for our ohana (500sq ft). I chose the Outback pre-wired setup (48v, 3000w). In addition I installed 6 255w panels. (And AC. Daytimes, the system totally balances out and it is heaven!)

And yes batteries. They are the weak link in the system, requiring a little love. Hey, no pain no gain. But look, if you just want solar and don't want to maintain it, then you're [still] paying someone, whether revolusun or helco... your choice.

My advice is bite the bullet, learn the maintenance stuff (seriously, it's not that hard, is fairly hands off), and celebrate the fact that you've checked out of the corporate electrical shortout. When the excrement hits the ventilator, you'll be very happy you're not grid-tied.

My cost was about12k+, worth every penny. We'll be moving our main house over in the coming years. Call Paul. Stop writing checks every month to anyone, for 20 years.

-- rainshadow

[pahoated]

Huge subsidies were put in place for the solar PV industry to make the equivalent rate cost competitive with grid rate pricing. Every government that has solar PV cell manufacturers provides massive subsidies to the corporations manufacturing them. This subsidy comes from taxes, a general tax applied to the majority of the population to provide cost relief to the minority making, installing and buying solar PV systems. With utilities, their share of the subsidy is financed by additional fees to the rest of the customers without solar PV. If solar PV equivalent rate costs were allowed to float to their actual price level, a solar PV system rate pricing would be around 80 cents per kw-hr, compared to 42 cents per kw-hr with HELCO right now.

The time is approaching where adoption of solar PV has grown so much that governments are faced with eliminating the subsidies. If solar PV is actually competitive, it should survive the removal of all subsidies. This is the direction the industry is moving towards, facing an economic environment where solar PV has to compete without big tax breaks. There is going to be a large scale shake out from this, becoming apparent to the public next year. It is interesting that many people think going "off grid" is some kind of anti-tax, anti-government statement, then conversely, go completely off kilter when they hear the government subsidies are gradually disappearing, extremely hypocritical.

Here is an article detailing the changes that are happening. One is that the individual might not qualify for the tax break but the installer still could. That is probably going to disappear next year. Solar PV is just like any other economic bubble, there is nothing to sustain it but the public ideasphere, and when that perception changes, the bubble pops. The news about the Hilo installer that was hit with a 256% tariff retroactively on Chinese panels should have been bigger news. Yeah, get it while you can.

http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/1...dit-rules/
Hawaii's Booming Solar Industry In Uproar Over New Tax Credit Rules

[solarrayes]

You can try us, Solar Rayes Services, LLC 968-1484.

We can install both grid-tie (connected to HELCO) and stand alone systems.

Please call or email solarrayes@gmail.com
or Like our FB page https://www.facebook.com/SolarRayesServicesLlc

Mahalo

**edited to add FB info **

[kalakoa]

I cringe every time I see the "PV is heavily/artificially subsidized" argument brought up.

ALL energy is artificially priced, subsidized, and laden with "policy taxation". There is no "PV equivalent rate cost" unless all sources are subsidized to the same degree. Ideally, eliminate both the artificial subsidies and the taxes that fund them; let the market decide.

"Get it while you can" is 110% accurate. At $1/W, panels for a small off-grid system often cost less than the SSPP fees. Yes, batteries cost money and require maintenance, but it's still cheaper than grid power, even without the next rate hike. (As an extra added bonus: no blackouts, no shutoff for late pay, and no mysterious "surges in the line" that fry your appliances.)