Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

mattbruenig.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 510 posts

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#381

Post by bjelkeman-again »

fleddr wrote: post #376

I wonder what causes this high electricity use. Not because it's any of my business, it's just genuine curiosity. He never reveals actual use, only savings. Still, at 0.25$ per kwh charged and an average monthly saving of 210$, we can work out that 860 kwh/month was saved, which amounts to 10,320 kwh per year. Actual use may be (far) higher, but we don't know. Just these savings alone is triple my total electricity c…

I have a house from 1909, with relatively poor insulation, by modern standards. We heat the house with a heat pump and a 100 m deep borehole. The heating of the house (180 m2 and a cellar) is the main energy consumption. The total was 22 000 kWh last year (including about 3 500 kWh for an electric car). An old house with electric heating and cooling could well be what he has.

When we moved in the electric consumption per year was way higher, 35 000 kWh. We have gone through and made the house more effective, better white goods, windows, better ventilation etc. We also sold about 2 000 kWh of excess production from our solar panels.

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#382

Post by bunabhucan »

dpierce9 wrote: post #350
praxulus wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Net metering just doesn't make sense though. Everyone who wants to rely on the grid for power availability ought to pay for grid upkeep costs. Net metering would make sense if it came on top of a baseline "connectivity fee" that covered grid maintenance, but that's not the current policy, would likely be politically infeasible, and would hurt rooftop solar customers financially anyway. Subsidizing solar is a perfectl…

Net metering means utilities sell the power your system produces at full price to your neighbor. They pocket the avoided cost of producing and delivering that power (and during price spikes the cost of fuel can be higher than the value of producing power). Net metering does create stranded assets if everyone does it. But not everyone does. Further, the idea that the utility gains NO benefit from net metering is wrong…

Example from Boulder: big houses near open space at the "end of the line" as far as the dendritic distribution grid is concerned install solar. On a cold sunny day those houses produce more than they need and more than the network leading to them was sized to deliver. Who pays to upgrade the transformers and switchgear upgrades? Should it be subsidized by all ratepayers?

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#383

Post by kenchan »

NotYourLawyer wrote: post #354
jefftk wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any sort of battery system that lets you keep running in an outage is going to be pretty expensive, unfortunately. But at that point your question isn't "what would be the payback period if I got solar" but "how much is it worth to me to have power when the grid is down". And so not surprisingly many people get solar but don't install a battery. (Systems that provide a small amount of best-effort when-the-sun-is-shin…

I get that it’s not gonna pay for itself any time soon, and I’m on board with paying for the privilege of keeping things running when the grid is down. But 50 grand? Come on.

Another benefit is you can use stored energy in your battery during utility peak hours. 4-9pm in California costs [a lot] more than any other time of day.

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#384

Post by fleddr »

kleton wrote: post #377
fleddr wrote: post #376

I wonder what causes this high electricity use. Not because it's any of my business, it's just genuine curiosity. He never reveals actual use, only savings. Still, at 0.25$ per kwh charged and an average monthly saving of 210$, we can work out that 860 kwh/month was saved, which amounts to 10,320 kwh per year. Actual use may be (far) higher, but we don't know. Just these savings alone is triple my total electricity c…

Could be electric car(s) and longish daily commutes

That sounds plausible and I had not even considered the possibility of multiple electric cars.

It frankly worries me. Heat pumps and EVs are going to spike consumption dramatically, where even smallish price and taxation movements will have an outsized impact. Not to mention the grid being able to handle it at all, as most people can't ever generate anything close to that level.

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#385

Post by fleddr »

Armisael16 wrote: post #380
fleddr wrote: post #376

I wonder what causes this high electricity use. Not because it's any of my business, it's just genuine curiosity. He never reveals actual use, only savings. Still, at 0.25$ per kwh charged and an average monthly saving of 210$, we can work out that 860 kwh/month was saved, which amounts to 10,320 kwh per year. Actual use may be (far) higher, but we don't know. Just these savings alone is triple my total electricity c…

The average New Englander uses between 567 kWh/month and 711 kWh/month (different values for different states - areas farther south generally use more). The answer is probably that you live 5-10 degrees north of him and don’t use as much air conditioning.

I don't use any AC at all, true. But would you say that explains triple the usage? New England isn't exactly in the desert.

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#387

Post by drdrey »

mesarvagya wrote: post #372
bushbaba wrote: post #13

I paid ~15k to install solar in 2019. After tax rebates it was ~11k. I’m generating ~12MWh per year. My break even period is less than 5 years. I’m based out of California, and generate excess energy. My electric bill is now just ~$100/year.

~12MWh or ~12KWh ?

12kWh is what a typical rooftop solar system can produce in a day

so OP's number of 12MWh checks out for a whole year

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#388

Post by fleddr »

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #381
fleddr wrote: post #376

I wonder what causes this high electricity use. Not because it's any of my business, it's just genuine curiosity. He never reveals actual use, only savings. Still, at 0.25$ per kwh charged and an average monthly saving of 210$, we can work out that 860 kwh/month was saved, which amounts to 10,320 kwh per year. Actual use may be (far) higher, but we don't know. Just these savings alone is triple my total electricity c…

I have a house from 1909, with relatively poor insulation, by modern standards. We heat the house with a heat pump and a 100 m deep borehole. The heating of the house (180 m2 and a cellar) is the main energy consumption. The total was 22 000 kWh last year (including about 3 500 kWh for an electric car). An old house with electric heating and cooling could well be what he has. When we moved in the electric consumption…

"An old house with electric heating and cooling could well be what he has."

Definitely could be the case. Your situation is interesting in that it is opposite to the order of transitioning towards a heat pump over here. Perhaps a heat pump was your starting point as there was no gas connection?

Over here we start with gas heating (almost every house) after which we try to transition towards a heat pump. They say you should first insulate your house to the maximum possible before even considering a heat pump. Fail to do this and the heat pump won't even be able to produce enough. This calculation is of course locally specific, unlikely to apply to you.

In fact, many houses will never be able to transition and will end up with a hybrid pump as the maximum achievable.

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#389

Post by jeffbee »

pokeymcsnatch wrote: post #203
lostlogin wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh? My crappy roof was installed in 1945 and has some life left. What sort of roofing lasts 25 years?

Afaik shingle roofs (common in US) need replacing every 10-20 years.

The president of the roofer's lobby has entered the chat!

Composition roofs need to be replaced when they are worn out and not before that. Good materials competently installed could last 50 years, more in mild climates. If you have the kind of weather that will wear down a roof in 10 years you probably cannot have solar panels.

Re: Solar panels reduced my electric bill in 2022

#390

Post by itake »

moffkalast wrote: post #253
isanengineer wrote: post #77

I worked in the solar industry for years and this is a very good summary of the residential install process from the customer side. I’ll also second one of the main points of the author: do NOT get a solar lease. Either finance it through a solar loan or pay cash. A good solar company will not push you into a lease. If they try, talk to someone else.

Why are the leases so problematic? If you don't have the funds nor credit score to finance it, why not just rent out the roof space so to speak? Any return you get from it is better than nothing.

My understanding is the leases are a challenge when you want to sell the house. New buyers would have to also agree to the lease's terms or you have to pay to break the lease and remove them.
Post reply on HN