Discussing Pain Points In Building Your Own Solar System

[jameswong]

Hello everyone, great to be new here! As we all navigate the world of solar photovoltaic and energy storage, I'm curious about the challenges you've faced.
What obstacles have you encountered in researching, purchasing, installing, and using these systems? Your experiences could help others facing similar issues. Looking forward to hearing from you!

One challenge I'm wrestling with is finding a balance between cost-effectiveness and quality, especially when considering the return on investment. The transparency of information often leaves much to be desired. I've heard that the factory price of storage batteries can be as low as $0.14/w.

[Mike 134]

Hello everyone, great to be new here! As we all navigate the world of solar photovoltaic and energy storage, I'm curious about the challenges you've faced.
What obstacles have you encountered in researching, purchasing, installing, and using these systems? Your experiences could help others facing similar issues. Looking forward to hearing from you!

One challenge I'm wrestling with is finding a balance between cost-effectiveness and quality, especially when considering the return on investment. The transparency of information often leaves much to be desired. I've heard that the factory price of storage batteries can be as low as $0.14/w.

First and foremost in my opinion understand how your utility currently bills you, how do they pay you for any excess power you generate, will they pay you for your RECs?
Using a free program called Pvwatts determine for yourself how much your proposed system will generate. Take time to understand everything about solar because then you'll know more than the saleman.

My utility buys my KWHs at the same price they sell them to me, so batteries do not make financial sense, the utility serves as my storage of excess production.

To be honest if I had not been eligible to get paid for my RECs I would not have installed solar on my house. That 10K would have been better left in a S&P500 index fund.

Good luck

[J.P.M.]

First and foremost in my opinion understand how your utility currently bills you, how do they pay you for any excess power you generate, will they pay you for your RECs?
Using a free program called Pvwatts determine for yourself how much your proposed system will generate. Take time to understand everything about solar because then you'll know more than the saleman.

My utility buys my KWHs at the same price they sell them to me, so batteries do not make financial sense, the utility serves as my storage of excess production.

To be honest if I had not been eligible to get paid for my RECs I would not have installed solar on my house. That 10K would have been better left in a S&P500 index fund.

Good luck

What Mike writes looks to me like an uncommon voice of common sense and reason.

At this point in your quest, I'd only add a couple of things.
1.) Before you start, take some serious time to really think about your goals and refine them through a couple of iterations before you do anything else and know that if cost effectiveness is one of your goals, and in spite of what the PV peddlers and their media shills would try to have you believe, residential PV is not always the most cost effective way to go.
2.) Download and read a free PDF of "Solar Power Your Home for Dummies" before you do the PVWatts runs and read ALL the PVWatts model's help screens before you do any runs.

The dummies book is a bit dated in some areas, but the basics of PV and solar energy in general have not changed in a long time. Most of the stuff in the book is still relevant, particularly the stuff about reducing your electrical loads via conservation and reasonable lifestyle adjustments.

Come back here and ask questions raised by your self-education.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Good luck.

[darkskies]

Some things to consider...

It's great if you have a few years of power consumption currently for your home, to get an idea of the size of system you'll need.

Definitely understand the tariff that you have with your utility company. My old home was 1:1, but with new home, I have to export about 30% more to break even with import.

PVWatts is a good guide, but was very optimistic in my situation (by about 14% in my case).

Find out what the RECs are in your area (roughly). For me, they are only $27/REC. Some places are much higher.

Be aware that installers may use very optimistic values from PVWatts for generation, energy costs from providers, and for RECs, and show a shorter ROI. In my case they claimed under 8 years ROI, but by my calculations using actual production and actual rates from my provider, are showing about 11.5 years. This was over a two year period, however, the battery has been active for less than a year, and we've increased the inverter size a month ago to have less over-subscription and hopefully boost production.

For me, one goal was to have zero electrical costs each year. Granted, I'm still tweaking system with installer's help to reach that goal on this system.

I'm really torn on batteries (this is first time I tried).

On one hand, it does give a great way to self-consume more, which, with my tariff, that is a big plus. I'm still analyzing, but in many cases it lasts through the night. It looks like I'm getting about 2MWh a year as well, so a good way to boost performance. Finally, on outages, having the battery helps over using costly propane for the generator (another goal was backup during winter storms).

On the other hand, they are really expensive and the (warranted) lifetime is less. Jury is out on whether it is a positive, but I think it will be.

Lastly, be sure that all the components work together. In my case, the inverter said that it supported a generator, but had an asterisk with fine print saying "with required firmware update". The bad news was that we are two years from install, and the firmware is not 100% there yet. Both the installers and I were unaware that it did not work. I found out after the fact by looking at the data sheet on the inverter. Check all the documents for the proposed devices!

[MGE]

Building your own solar system isn’t for everybody that’s for sure.
I was extremely fortunate to allready be a C10 Electrical contractor and when I retired back in 2012 I designed and installed my own system in May of 2013.
Knowing the ins and outs on pulling permits as well as working with SDGE ( did a lot of HV splicing for them ) it was a cakewalk for me. ROI for me was about 3 1/2 yrs.
I ended up helping most of my close friends do their install as well.
FWIW no issues at all on failures or faulty equipment.

Understanding how your billed and the rate structure is extremely helpful in making any decisions on a potential system.
Most of the guys on her are VERY knowledgeable on every aspect of this process.
Get educated and then ask away, everyone is here to help, well most everyone.

[DanS26]

Before you buy one single thing or contract for any amount of outside labor......get at least 4 quotes, then after your get those quotes get some more. It's a pain in the a$$ but well worth your effort. The more time you spend on the quoting process the more you will save on project cost and thus higher ROI.

Tell your vendors beforehand that you are getting multiple quotes but never tell them who their competitors are. Those hours you spend on this quoting process are worth many thousands of dollars.

Good luck.

[J.P.M.]

Before you buy one single thing or contract for any amount of outside labor......get at least 4 quotes, then after your get those quotes get some more. It's a pain in the a$$ but well worth your effort. The more time you spend on the quoting process the more you will save on project cost and thus higher ROI.

Tell your vendors beforehand that you are getting multiple quotes but never tell them who their competitors are. Those hours you spend on this quoting process are worth many thousands of dollars.

Good luck.

+1.

I'd also add the strong suggestion to NEVER, EVER share quotes or prices between vendors.
Once upon a time I was a commissioned peddler of industrial process equipment for about 10 years and made a good living at it and then took a pay cut by returning to school and switching careers to engineering, but it got a lot easier to look in the mirror.

"price matching" is a trap that's a dirty little secret hiding in plain sight that most all vendors use.
Marks (customers) who fall for it will do no more than lock in a price that's no more than minimally lower than the lowest quote you showed to the other vendors.

Look at it from the vendor's side of the table and think like the person you're negotiating with:
If you reveal other vendor's prices, any vendor who you share competitors' prices with has the one piece of knowledge that's considered golden in the sales game - the completion's pricing. Without it, they are shooting in the dark. With it, they have a road map to the end of a negotiation and you'll screw yourself by settling for possibly $1.00 off the revealed price. If you don't share prices, you'll take advantage of the vendor's uncertainly of the competition/s pricing and probably shoot low. That lack of knowledge of the competitions' prices and that uncertainty can work to any customer's benefit.
Think like the peddlers.

And while I'm at it, don't rely on vendors for technical knowledge. First of all, they probably don't have a lot of the basics of solar energy down. Second, they manipulate the realities of the PV process as necessary to close a sale. Read the "Dummies "

Get your own education and you'll be more knowledgeable than maybe 3/4 of the PV peddlers who show up. Then, like a trial lawyer, make sure you know the answers to your technical questions before you ask them to the peddlers.
Do that and you'll not only learn some useful technical stuff on your own (and probably remember it as well as learning things useful about residential PV design), but you'll also find out what the peddler knows (or more likely and more importantly doesn't know but tried to B.S. her/his way through).

All that helps with vendor selection.

I second Dan's Good Luck.

[J.P.M.]

Hello everyone, great to be new here! As we all navigate the world of solar photovoltaic and energy storage, I'm curious about the challenges you've faced.
What obstacles have you encountered in researching, purchasing, installing, and using these systems? Your experiences could help others facing similar issues. Looking forward to hearing from you!

One challenge I'm wrestling with is finding a balance between cost-effectiveness and quality, especially when considering the return on investment. The transparency of information often leaves much to be desired. I've heard that the factory price of storage batteries can be as low as $0.14/w.

How involved do you want to get in your quest to design a safe, well designed, serviceable and cost-effective system ?

However involved that might be, I'd suggest you start by defining what you want to accomplish in terms or goals and outcomes in ways specific enough to formulate a plan.
Seems to me that for most folks the function for residential PV acquisition is more like running away from perceived high electric bills rather than proactively educating themselves about ways to reduce those bills.

[Annlodge12]

Hello everyone, great to be new here! As we all navigate the world of solar photovoltaic and energy storage, I'm curious about the challenges you've faced.
What obstacles have you encountered in researching, purchasing, installing, and using these systems? Your experiences could help others facing similar issues. Looking forward to hearing from you!

One challenge I'm wrestling with is finding a balance between cost-effectiveness and quality, especially when considering the return on investment. The transparency of information often leaves much to be desired. I've heard that the factory price of storage batteries can be as low as $0.14/w.

Hey there!

I've had some interesting experiences with solar and energy storage, but I've also faced a few challenges along the way. For starters, there are so many options out there that it can be overwhelming to figure out which one is the best fit for your specific needs. Plus, there are often hidden costs that you need to keep in mind when purchasing and installing these systems. Another thing to consider is that some of the newer technologies require specialized knowledge and skills to operate and maintain, which can be tough to find in certain areas. And finally, integrating an energy storage system into an existing power grid can be a bit tricky. All of these factors require careful consideration before making any investments.

[J.P.M.]

Hey there!

I've had some interesting experiences with solar and energy storage, but I've also faced a few challenges along the way. For starters, there are so many options out there that it can be overwhelming to figure out which one is the best fit for your specific needs. Plus, there are often hidden costs that you need to keep in mind when purchasing and installing these systems. Another thing to consider is that some of the newer technologies require specialized knowledge and skills to operate and maintain, which can be tough to find in certain areas. And finally, integrating an energy storage system into an existing power grid can be a bit tricky. All of these factors require careful consideration before making any investments.

Hey there my ass.
This looks like more A.I. garbage as do the other prior posts from this account.
The account name is that of a website in the U.K.
Even if real, this post is still spam.

[sdold]

Same with the OP, I'm guessing...

[J.P.M.]

Same with the OP, I'm guessing...

Yea, except that even though I'm not new, it really is great to be here.

[Mike 134]

Hey there!

I've had some interesting experiences with solar and energy storage, but I've also faced a few challenges along the way. For starters, there are so many options out there that it can be overwhelming to figure out which one is the best fit for your specific needs. Plus, there are often hidden costs that you need to keep in mind when purchasing and installing these systems. Another thing to consider is that some of the newer technologies require specialized knowledge and skills to operate and maintain, which can be tough to find in certain areas. And finally, integrating an energy storage system into an existing power grid can be a bit tricky. All of these factors require careful consideration before making any investments.

This is an example of a "word salad".

[J.P.M.]

This is an example of a "word salad".

Kind of like what we get from politicians and peddlers ?