Community solar IS available. I'm planning on joining up.
Community solar IS available. I'm planning on joining up.
I just discovered a solar project run by my electrical provider, that allows me to pay for a number of grids, and will offset my usage and electric bills. This is a multi-state large publicly traded electric company, not a fly-by-night outfit. Essentially, this is similar to having my own panels, and being plugged in to sell excess kWs, but the panels are in their solar farm, managed, and maintained by the electric company. The break-even is 12 years, and the life is 20 years. The breakdown risks are insured by them. The negatives are that at exactly 20 years, I would have to do it again.
You are the experts. Are there other risks that I do not see?
I'm not an expert but I'd much rather have my own panels
I moved to high ground, and have undue wind damage risk at my site. I have always opted to having control in my past. I have some other plans in the near future, If I do it myself, solar will be shelved for a few years, realistically speaking.
Make sure to calculate potential net profit vs initial investment cost. The juice may not be worth the squeeze in the long run. Also, those estimations might be calculated based off lab conditions, the real world is not nearly as forgiving to solar panels. Expect not all of them to live full expected life. You are betting that they will last longer than initial investment cost, the electric company is betting that enough people will sign up to this with their own money so that they can lessen their own power consumption to save money (profit!). You are taking a mild risk for a very long term investment that may or may not pay out. They are taking zero risk beyond maintenance fees and making relatively instant profit.
Eleven panels are quoted as needed. I am buying 12, (if I buy in) and would get my fraction equiv to twelve panels in their total array farm. Their insurance, wear, and depreciation is not my problem, because it is priced into their panel array costs. $4800 is a one time cost. Payments are available, at 20% higher cost. (20% for financing is far more than I am willing to pay.)
Alliant (the company) wants to be "green", and are putting in wind farms and solar farms. They sold their nuclear plant and mothballed their coal plants, rebuilding to more efficient natural-gas turbines and co-gen facilities. (Elec and heat). They are putting in incentives for people to buy in to solar, in their pricing structure, IMO. More farms will be built. This will average out old array replacement and will presumably reduce their costs, as efficiencies increase.
I also get the satisfaction of getting my net energy to zero, and helping to fund an innovative energy initiative, while off-loading risk and another complex time suck. edited the company name. thx auto-correct for messing me up again, lol
This isn't inherently a bad idea, but this is imo no different then 'donating' money to a grocery store who is giving it to charity. It's only in place to promote the company, give them tax breaks and cut backs while you pay for their infastructure.
Is you contract set to change whenever they deem they want to change it ? What's your ROI if you don't use their stuff and have your own panels capable of handling just your property with a bit extra to feed into the grid?
I see it set up as a co-op, with the electricity generated to "my" panels being applied to my usage, for 20 years. The numbers in my particular case actually break even at 4 years, but I am checking the numbers carefully. This is close to the too-good-to-be-true category, so I am looking at it carefully. My wife worked at this company for years, from a meter reader up to an exec position in accounting. The numbers are based on kW, not dollars. If I use more, I pay more, and less usage means refunds. This leans to their favor. They use rates that are low for their refunds. If I did it myself, there are added costs of batteries, an electrical shed, separate from my home, using land that I can use for other purposes, and my time, which has value. If I built this, it would come in at about the same cost for materials alone. I purposely overengineer my stuff. TMI alert. Climate change caused disasters has cost me two homes. (flood, then wind) My house "codes" are aimed to European standards, and intended to last for lifetimes. I am a natural disaster prepper. edited a phrase to make it cleared to understand.
We had our questions answered, and decided to go ahead with the deal.
I doubt that I can build a 12 panel solar collector, the inverter, the tie-ins and electrical panel upgrades, the batteries, the mounting structure, and wiring for $3200, which is 10% electrical capacity above our highest usage to offset the inevitable loss of efficiency by aging equipment. It will pay for our $1100 yearly electric bill and an additional return of $350 as a yearly rebate together, which adds to $1450 yearly return for 20 years (in today's' dollars). The payback is an estimated 45% declining to 40% every year over 20 years.
I also do not have to tie up land, nor maintain the collector, nor worry about vandalism, nor accidental damage. Edit add: An additional government rebate dropped my cost from $4800 to $3200. This swung the offer to be so convincingly enticing.
Thanks for chiming in. I will need to dig in on how the electricity generated is calculated out per customer. I ASSUMED that panels will be replaced as they lose efficiency, and added as their farms grow, getting new panels and new members over time. New panels, with far better efficiencies, will reduce costs. Time is on their side. This is another Moore's law-Koomey's law coming into play. I see that I need more details to make a truly informed decision.