DIY Transition to Solar for my Home

[Bryan]

Hi, I'm a newbie to Solar Panel Talk. I want to transition to solar for my house and I'm looking for the best/easiest way to do it. I'm comfortable with electronics and electrical, so I'm attempting to DIY it. For someone that doesn't have $20k right now, is there a way to progressively build a solar system for an average home?

[bcroe]

Start by putting numbers on your energy needs, and make a study of just how much of your wasted energy
can be saved. I started by tracking down 2600KWH a year going to vampire loads, eventually worked it
down to 520. Here heat, AC, and electric energy come from solar thanks to net metering, on a budget of
25,000 KWH a year. Check your local power co options. Bruce Roe

[Mike90250]

You need 4 skill sets for a DiY:

a) electrician & ability to understand and follow local solar electrical code)
b) structural engineer (solar support structure - may have to sub this out to a lic pro for code compliance & ink stamp )
c) roofer/carpenter/mechanic
d) engineering / planning the system before you spend a dime on any parts, no matter how good the deal is.

This is all assuming your electric utility and building department allow Grid Abandonment, otherwise, it's Grid Intertie or Zero export (in decreasing favorability)

[peakbagger]

If you are sticking to grid tie its a lot easier. The big problem you face with a slow transition is equipment changes and so do the codes. Manufacturer's are always coming out with new models of racking and panels. If you dont buy the racking and the panels at the same time, you may end up with a decidedly patchwork installation. I do see them on occasion in rural areas where there is hodgepodge of different sizes makes and models of panels. My guess is the racking is a bit less of an issue as its likely you may be able to adapt one system to another but then again if you do its likely its no longer a listed system. The other thing to consider is the Federal 22% solar tax credit is gone 2021 unless extended. Its a credit not a deduction so if you know you are putting a system in you can adjust your federal tax exemptions to decrease your withholding on your weekly paychecks to account for the solar tax credit when you do your 2021 taxes. Interest rates are at record lows you can get money at very low rates and one of these days that will change.

As usual buy or search for an older version of Solar Power Your Home for Dummies. Read it, understand it and then ask questions before you spend another dime.

I am not advocating for this approach but you asked. .- One potential way to save in the short term is go with microinverter based system and buy the panels and racking but dont buy all the microinverters. They are around $100 plus or minus per panel and usually back compatible so it may be a reasonable stretch. You can permit it for a full complement of them but only initially install what you can afford and add them as you go.(note this requires messing around on the roof or where ever the panels are installed each time you add one) I am unsure if you can still skip the monitoring and communications box mounted next to the main panel but that adds dollars and a "gee whiz" factor but on the older Enphase systems its optional and you can just tie the trunk cable directly into you main panel as long as your main electrical panel has enough capacity. I hear far more complaints about the Enphase Envoys than I do about the microinverters they are attached to but be aware microinverters do fail at a rate higher than string inverters. There is LED that blinks on the inverter if its working but the only way to see its is under the panel so if you do lose a microinverter its PITA to track it down without an Envoy. I think I heard someone claim that a thermal camera should be able to "see" the difference between a live and dead panel but never tried it.

[bob-n]

Bryan,

Bruce, Mike and Peakbagger have already given you a lot of good advice.

You didn't mention where you live. Each state seems to have very different energy issues: permitting requirements, availability of netmetering, power costs, local rebates, RECs, etc. Either tell us your state or do some research on the web about the particular situation in your state.

You didn't mention how much energy you use per year. It varies widely from family to family. That also matters. Although netmetering allows you to sell energy back to the grid, they don't pay as much as you would like. The shortest time to break-even comes when you install just a bit more than you use. If you're thinking long term and staying in your home a long time, however, many of us think that large home solar is a good investment.

What follows are very general assumptions, to give you a head start. Please check all of them before going too far.

A "typical" energy-efficient home may use 8,000 kWh of energy per year, although according to one report, the national average is 10,649 kWh per year. You may get that much energy from a typical 9kW solar array. The total cost for a grid-tie, roof-mount, DIY solar array without batteries is roughly $1.20 per watt. There are also government rebates which reduce the cost. So although there is no limit on what you can spend, you may find that the cost for your particular situation is far under the $20K that you mention.

As I said, these are very rough numbers. Your usage may be more or less. Your cost for hardware is more with microinverters, less with string inverters. There are premium brands, mainstream brands, and budget brands, with different price points. There are also people selling trash. You may be in a situation where a professional electrician or professional structural engineer is required. Adding energy storage (batteries) greatly increases the cost, so most people don't install batteries. To make things worse, many say that batteries wear out in under 10 years, so they are not a good investment. Ground-mounted solar is often more expensive than roof-mounted solar. Government rebates are decreasing, but still significant. Not everyone is in a position to take advantage of the rebates. Some people are fortunate to have a roof that faces true south. If you have to position off angle, you get slightly less energy. For example: facing due east or west will produce roughly 80% of the energy as facing south. If you have large trees in your area, you may also lose production due to shading, especially in the winter months when the sun is low.

I hope this is helpful.

[J.P.M.]

As others have written so far with added emphasis on education starting w/ the Dummies book as Peakbagger writes and particularly on ALL the 4 items Mike mentions, I'd respectfully suggest you begin by getting knowledgeable about your loads as Bruce alludes, including where/how they are incurred, how to reduce them as much as your lifestyle permits and about equally importantly, how you are charged for electricity. BTW, if you're on grid now, stay that way unless you want another near full time job maintaining an off grid system.

FWIW, you'll find that most energy conservation measures you can easily do will be more cost effective than PV and will make any subsequent PV system smaller (read less $$). If you're on a budget or concerned w/cost effectiveness, use reduction by simply turning stuff off then conservation measures to reduce consumption even more are almost always more cost effective than PV generation.

FWIW, at this time, residential PV does not lend itself to piecemeal construction.

Education is an essential part of safe, fit for purpose and cost effective PV, but don't be surprised if you find that as your knowledge of what your considering improves, some of your enthusiasm wanes as requirements float to the top that you hadn't known about.

Get the dummies book and while reading/learning from it find out how much electricity you use and about equally importantly, how you're charged for it. Then, decide how much of your load you want to offset w/conservation and how much of the remaining load you want to offset w/PV (if any).

Welcome to the neighborhood and the forum of fewer illusions.

[khanh dam]

first off it doesn't cost $20,000 for a DIY system, more like $1 per watt plus labor which is substantial. If you live in the country side sometimes local AHJ will let you get away with a DIY ground racking solution made of treated wood which would be ideal and allow for easy future expansion. if you live in a big city you are probably stuck with more strick racking ( my expereince at least) Solar panels are 40-50 cents a watt, APsystems micro inverters are 33cents/watt and racking and balance of materials like wiring might be another 30 cents/watt. Ap-systems is a chinese made micro inverter that is much cheaper than enphase. Micro inverters are easier for DIY home installs then string inverters IMHO and cost about the same if mounted on roof because rapid shut down is needed. if ground mounted string inverters can save a little money. Buy all the panels at once. Shipping one panel or 30 panels will cost you about $250 or more. good luck. if you post back with more questions I'd be glad to follow up, but a lot of people post and never reply back so feel like I am wasting my time. Personally I would start with 5kw ground mount array and add more latter on. if you get lucky you can also buy a used system for a few thousand. like this guy did : I could never get away with that racking where I live with my AHJ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wApxkcr_gX8&t=1s