Thinking of adding Solar, many Qs (1 Viewer)

So two things hit this weekend, one I was approached by door to door salesmen from what seems to be a legit company selling solar upgrades and then I saw this:
http://www.vox.com/2014/9/29/6849723/solar-power-net-metering-utilities-fight-states

I've been tempted to go solar for a while, my last bit of research showed that it seemed if you could wait a few years the prices were coming down and efficiency going up dramatically. And that you could either eat the cost of install yourself or go with a lease type system (solar City being the most well known) where you let one of these companies put the gear on your roof and you paid em off for it over 20 years. Neither one had any appeal.

These are the guys that came by the house, their twist is that it isn't a traditional lease but that you are buying the power the system produces and not the equipment per se. Still requires a lot of legal work and a contractual agreement, which again isn't all that appealing but there is no up front costs:
http://www.vivintsolar.com/en/how-it-works#the-process

Their website makes me want to strangle puppies tho. Using kids to teach dumb parents why this is a good idea turns me off big time since a reasonable homeowner is going to have a million legitimate Qs about how things work.

Anyone have experience with these guys or other systems? Any regrets? Concerns? Any idea if you still qualify for the federal tax break if you use one of these systems instead of a lease or private build out?

I'd check with your county reps.Where I live, you get a property tax abatement for 15 years, equal to 1/15 the install cost.And you are required to register it so your overage gets "bought"...

Solar. Power to the people and the finger to the power companies for screwing us with rip off rates. Damn right, buy less electric. The power companies are deluded thinking they can be powerful with all the money they make from us. We're all here for a past time. Let them leave is alone in peace without being hassled by telesales. Oh please join us, we have lower rates. (coughing BS).

The sun has well I don't like to go into all the details as I find it depressing but while its there and we have the mind and means to making a device to store energy cleaner and greener.

I'm still waiting day when solar panels will be fitted to the property where I live and the rest of the residents. Most of the other houses nearby have been fitted with solar panels 2 years ago.

The ISS International Space Station solar panels generate around 110kw. Its no wonder you can see it from the ground at night time passing over at 17.500mph.

The pentagon has been bitching how it spends a lot on its electrical bill. They want a space station solar array for themselves to provide power being beamed down to them? Well there just a bunch of greedy warmongers want the power for themselves to blow up people up to kingdom come.

I guess its finding a solar panel that draws in a lot and build an array on the roof so what if the house looks hideous if your doing your part for good who cares. I'd rather be happy that the whole planet was rigged with solar panels.

Electric lights LED have a good brightness and lower power costs to the run them and they have longer running time over the common light-blub.

I have no personal experience but I'm interested in reading about your journey

I suggest getting references and talking with current owners, to find out what their experience in your area has been.

The Vivint system, the lessors, I suggest scrutinizing. They're managing your initial cost risk: the buyer is uncertain if spending tens of thousands of dollars is a good idea, especially in this economy where you might find yourself moving next year and never recoup that installation cost.

The downside is you're now leasing a capital upgrade on your home. Presumably, if you don't pay, they can remove it. Or bill you for the full hardware cost (nicely uncharged, I assume).

And what happens if you do choose to move and sell your home? Does the lease transfer? Do they repo the solar cells? What's the cost of uninstallation if you terminate early?

This might be a good risk combination, I have no idea. But I'm betting it's new and you're an early adopter with it. So take all due care.

Yeah Dave my key initial strategy in researching new tech or home stuff is always to google 'X sucks'. Searching 'Vivint sucks' reveals a lot of happy customers, a lot of folks who are skeptical and a TON of people pissed at the company Vivint used to be: shady home alarm vendors. They are also Mormons and people get off on all kinds of rants about that too. So, a mixed bag. I am not set on using anything until I research it in depth.

Sam: I know we've got some good local incentives as they keep on building em around here. Will definitely investigate more.

Andy: Inserta generic "Fry can't tell if serious" picture here. I get that a lot of folks are suspicious of the power utilities and the power (heh) they wield, but going into crazy town politics is gonna make me ban my own thread and nobody wants that. So your position is noted and we'll leave it at that. =)

Im tempted to churn out the trifecta...Wind, solar and geo-thermal.Our next house upsize will require moving the septic and watershed field(where I live, we have both watershed and septic. Washer and kitchen go watershed)No biggy as no-one knows how old the septic is.If I add all three(like one of my neighbors did) I'll drop my property taxes by 65% till "cost is recuperated".This county is huge on geo- thermal anyway. The install(for a house this size, feeding 3 HVAC) is $35,000(doing septic/shed at the same time adds $7000. Septic/shed on its own is $20,000). The county will only rebate for 1 HVAC. So after everything removed...they rebate $18,000.That $18,000 is over 10 years. Solar and wind are both 15.Wind runs the gamut. $7000-$25,000. Here you are only allowed to out up enough wind power for 1/5 your usage(or people would put up enormous eyesores).For those that have driven I65 north of LaFayette(Purdue)...you see tons of windmills.

David offers some of the best advice regarding the precautions you should take and items to investigate before moving forward. I would look at multiple providers, too (I am always suspicious of any company selling door to door).

Do any of your neighbors have a solar system installed already? If so, I would ask them who they used and what local issues they had to deal with. We have a few homes in our neighborhood with panels on the roof, but I have never spoken with any of them about it.

How bad is the bird-strike issue with those?

Scott: no not yet, and our HOA isn't fully functioning yet either, we are a new community and it's still run by the property manager. Definitely not rushing into anything!

How bad is the bird-strike issue with those?

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Wind mill bird strike?They are still doing a tally on "the farm" north of LaFayette. So far not too bad. Although it gets shut down at night during migration.Home are usually the vertical spin type...not horizontal(like commercial). Vertical spin have almost no bird strike.

Sam Posten said:

How bad is the bird-strike issue with those?

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And what if the birds sit on the solar panels and crap all over it will reduce the intact of the light source for power. Got clean it regularly.

Solar panels get hot. If birds took up residence, I would hope for pheasant.But where I live..crow...

Sam, I installed solar panels on my house two years ago. I went with SolarCity.

At this point, I am so familiar with the process that I can answer any question you may have.

PM me if you want, and I can shoot you my home phone.

In short, don't go with Vivint.

I've got your number Brian, will give you a call/text down the road if I get any closer to final on this. Not rushing here, thanks!

How far north can you go where solar is still worthwhile? I'm in eastern Washington, almost 48 degrees north.

Hip roof as compared to many gable roofs in the neighborhood, so that limits the number of panels.Just curious if this is worth checking into.

My cousin in Enumclaw has solar.

schan1269 said:

My cousin in Enumclaw has solar.

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Well that's a good sign. I think we get even more sunshine days, approx. 50%, than they do west of the Cascades. Also only about 0.5 degrees further north, so not much of a difference.

Sold!

Why wouldn't you want a solar roof? Uh, because I wouldn't want to spend 50+ grand on a roof?

Haven't gone for it yet, still hovering in the back of my mind.

One thing I've discovered with recent info: Don't think it's happened yet, but in the future, the power companies buying back excess power for the "grid" may start to fade away along with many of the rebates/incentives to do the install. Plus we have plentiful, cheap hydroelectric in this area, I can't even imagine what the payback time would be since my electric bill was only $36 last month, maybe $50 in the summer with A/C. Not a huge house, about 2,000 SF. I'm guessing I could possibly get my bill to zero, but the lease/ownership payments would be huge.