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Understood (I think).
On risk, one thing potential PV users often overlook is the risk associated with ROI deterioration on PV in any net metering scheme by the POCO. That risk is, in the eyes of some, greater than in the past.
Example: in CA about 2 or so years ago, Net Energy Metering ("NEM") and how folks are charged for electricity in terms of rates and effective tariffs/schedules got changed/rearranged. Fairness (or not) aside, the bottom line for many if not most residential customers of the big 3 Investor Owned Utilities - IOU's (and often other POCOs by choice or chance) was to lower the bill offset that a PV system would accomplish, not in terms of how much power a PV system would generate over the course of a year, but how much of an electric bill a PV system would offset both in terms of total $$'s and % of the bill. For SDG & E for example, and depending somewhat on usage quantity and time of that usage, a PV system's ROI was reduced from what it was before rate restructuring to after rate restructuring by something like ~~ 20-25 %. With NEM being on the decline in terms of not being as sweet a deal as it was a year or two ago, and that being a seemingly common trend, at least in the U.S., it might be a good idea to add that to the future uncertainty of the economics of PV.
On DIY, I'd suggest that DIY posters make up a larger %age of posters on this forum than the %age of DIYers in the general population. I appreciate their sensibilities and point of view, but I'm not sure their confidence in their abilities is always justified. From a lot of DIY stuff I've seen, it seems to me that if all the world's infrastructure was done the way most DIYers do projects, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. Not everyone has the skills necessary in spite of what they may think to pull off a safe and well designed project. I wouldn't feel bad about not undertaking a DIY project.
$ 2.75/STC Watt may or may not be a good price - it depends on where you are. I'd still caution about getting stuck in the first cost syndrome. It's certainly terrible to pay too much for something, but it's worse to pay too little.
In the end, you will get what you pay for (or less). Negotiate tough but fair (whether you know it, or believe it, or not, everything is negotiable). But, vendors being in business to make money as they usually are, squeeze a vendor too hard and the vendor will make up more than (s)he gives up in ways you will be completely unaware of but will nonetheless pay for perhaps several times over, depending on how much you piss them off by being a badass negotiator/gonad crusher.
Lastly, in your deliberations on possible choices and how PV may fit into a financial picture, you may benefit from being aware (or maybe just beware) of what you hear/read about what a PV system will do to the resale value of a home. It seems that the effects of PV on resale value, whatever they are, may be quite local, and not always positive, at least not at this time. Also, it seems to me anyway, those who claim PV will always and without fail increase the probability of a higher resale price than comparable homes without PV: #1, don't understand how PV works including some of the potential liabilities, and #2, usually have skin in the game. To their ends, such folks usually conjure up/resurrect some B.S. stats from some real estate slug who knows less than they do about it and trot out some numbers may or may not be valid or meaningful. Bottom line, at this time, a lot of the informed money is assuming PV neither increases or decreases selling prices. Whether that's true or not, those saying PV always increases a home's resale value may not have the tightest grasp on reality.
You probably won't go bust on PV. On the other hand, there any be any number of other places where the $, if not spent on PV, will perhaps work as hard for equal or lower risk. Absolutely NOMB, but, as a possible suggestion and example of one of several possible alternate investments and depending on your mortgage interest rate and tax situation etc., one possible alternate and pretty safe investment to PV might be something as simple as a lump sum payment for mortgage reduction. In effect a form of risk free return. That's all about comparison of alternatives. Just sayin'.
On risk, one thing potential PV users often overlook is the risk associated with ROI deterioration on PV in any net metering scheme by the POCO. That risk is, in the eyes of some, greater than in the past.
Example: in CA about 2 or so years ago, Net Energy Metering ("NEM") and how folks are charged for electricity in terms of rates and effective tariffs/schedules got changed/rearranged. Fairness (or not) aside, the bottom line for many if not most residential customers of the big 3 Investor Owned Utilities - IOU's (and often other POCOs by choice or chance) was to lower the bill offset that a PV system would accomplish, not in terms of how much power a PV system would generate over the course of a year, but how much of an electric bill a PV system would offset both in terms of total $$'s and % of the bill. For SDG & E for example, and depending somewhat on usage quantity and time of that usage, a PV system's ROI was reduced from what it was before rate restructuring to after rate restructuring by something like ~~ 20-25 %. With NEM being on the decline in terms of not being as sweet a deal as it was a year or two ago, and that being a seemingly common trend, at least in the U.S., it might be a good idea to add that to the future uncertainty of the economics of PV.
On DIY, I'd suggest that DIY posters make up a larger %age of posters on this forum than the %age of DIYers in the general population. I appreciate their sensibilities and point of view, but I'm not sure their confidence in their abilities is always justified. From a lot of DIY stuff I've seen, it seems to me that if all the world's infrastructure was done the way most DIYers do projects, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. Not everyone has the skills necessary in spite of what they may think to pull off a safe and well designed project. I wouldn't feel bad about not undertaking a DIY project.
$ 2.75/STC Watt may or may not be a good price - it depends on where you are. I'd still caution about getting stuck in the first cost syndrome. It's certainly terrible to pay too much for something, but it's worse to pay too little.
In the end, you will get what you pay for (or less). Negotiate tough but fair (whether you know it, or believe it, or not, everything is negotiable). But, vendors being in business to make money as they usually are, squeeze a vendor too hard and the vendor will make up more than (s)he gives up in ways you will be completely unaware of but will nonetheless pay for perhaps several times over, depending on how much you piss them off by being a badass negotiator/gonad crusher.
Lastly, in your deliberations on possible choices and how PV may fit into a financial picture, you may benefit from being aware (or maybe just beware) of what you hear/read about what a PV system will do to the resale value of a home. It seems that the effects of PV on resale value, whatever they are, may be quite local, and not always positive, at least not at this time. Also, it seems to me anyway, those who claim PV will always and without fail increase the probability of a higher resale price than comparable homes without PV: #1, don't understand how PV works including some of the potential liabilities, and #2, usually have skin in the game. To their ends, such folks usually conjure up/resurrect some B.S. stats from some real estate slug who knows less than they do about it and trot out some numbers may or may not be valid or meaningful. Bottom line, at this time, a lot of the informed money is assuming PV neither increases or decreases selling prices. Whether that's true or not, those saying PV always increases a home's resale value may not have the tightest grasp on reality.
You probably won't go bust on PV. On the other hand, there any be any number of other places where the $, if not spent on PV, will perhaps work as hard for equal or lower risk. Absolutely NOMB, but, as a possible suggestion and example of one of several possible alternate investments and depending on your mortgage interest rate and tax situation etc., one possible alternate and pretty safe investment to PV might be something as simple as a lump sum payment for mortgage reduction. In effect a form of risk free return. That's all about comparison of alternatives. Just sayin'.
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