Homeowners and business owners have been taking advantage of solar incentives for solar panels in recent years, but the popularity of the programs recently has gone main stream. While the early participants in the program saw the value in such programs, many owners were skeptical. As more people report their savings from getting involved with the programs, the solar panel incentives and the potential ending of solar incentives has created an influx of customers to the program.
SOLAR SAVINGS
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CUT IN HALF
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OF LESS
THAN $2,500
CUT IN HALF
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INVESTMENT
OF LESS
THAN $2,500
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Incentives Across The Country
The Federal government has maintained a 30% tax credit on solar energy system installations which will last through the end of 2019. After that point the program will offer less of a credit the next year. The following year the credit will drop to 22% and then will expire at the end of 2021. The way the tax credit works is that it is tallied off of the total amount of the system. For example, if the total contract price is $25,000 the tax credit would be $7,500. This represents a substantial savings towards the investment in solar panels.
Certain states, such as South Carolina, offer additional incentives. South Carolina (as of 2018) offers a 25% tax credit for the purchase of qualified solar energy systems. As with the federal credit, the tax credit applies to the total price of the system. There are some parameters as to how the tax credit is collected, but with a total of up to 10 years to collect the tax credit a high percentage of owners will be able to take advantage of the credit.
Utility Company Incentives
Many utility companies offer incentives for adding solar to houses and businesses. Among the incentives are:
Rebate programs - for example Santee Cooper in North Eastern South Carolina offers a rebate for qualified installations of solar energy systems. The rebate is based upon the size of the system and the type of property. Property owners will appreciate that the rebate comes in the form of a check given to the customer within weeks of the solar completion.
Power buyback- for customers that have systems producing more power than they need, certain power companies will buy back the extra power. This is an excellent incentive to add solar. See the section where we address "How solar saves you money".
For those that can take advantage of these tax and utility incentives, the investment in solar energy goes from good to great given that the net cost of the systems is often a few thousand dollars or less.
The Federal government has maintained a 30% tax credit on solar energy system installations which will last through the end of 2019. After that point the program will offer less of a credit the next year. The following year the credit will drop to 22% and then will expire at the end of 2021. The way the tax credit works is that it is tallied off of the total amount of the system. For example, if the total contract price is $25,000 the tax credit would be $7,500. This represents a substantial savings towards the investment in solar panels.
Certain states, such as South Carolina, offer additional incentives. South Carolina (as of 2018) offers a 25% tax credit for the purchase of qualified solar energy systems. As with the federal credit, the tax credit applies to the total price of the system. There are some parameters as to how the tax credit is collected, but with a total of up to 10 years to collect the tax credit a high percentage of owners will be able to take advantage of the credit.
Utility Company Incentives
Many utility companies offer incentives for adding solar to houses and businesses. Among the incentives are:
Rebate programs - for example Santee Cooper in North Eastern South Carolina offers a rebate for qualified installations of solar energy systems. The rebate is based upon the size of the system and the type of property. Property owners will appreciate that the rebate comes in the form of a check given to the customer within weeks of the solar completion.
Power buyback- for customers that have systems producing more power than they need, certain power companies will buy back the extra power. This is an excellent incentive to add solar. See the section where we address "How solar saves you money".
For those that can take advantage of these tax and utility incentives, the investment in solar energy goes from good to great given that the net cost of the systems is often a few thousand dollars or less.
This Is How Solar Saves People Money
There are some misconceptions regarding how solar power saves people money. We will outline some of these in this section.
The first method of saving people money is through producing their own power and using that power instead of buying the power from the utility company.
The second method of saving people money is through sending power back to the utility company (if the utility company offers a buy back program) for a grid-tied system . For example, assume that you produce 10 hours of power (kilowatt hours) from your solar panels, but you only use 5 hours of that power. The additional 5 may be sent back to the power company and credited to the owner.
Batteries For Your Solar?
For customers in areas where the power company does not buy back power, a battery may be a good investment. A battery will take the excess power produced during the day and store it in a battery for usage when the sun is down. This is actually useful for grid tied systems as well. A battery will allow people to use solar power when the grid goes down and at night time. If the power company does not buy back power at the same rate they sell it to you for, using your own power at night time is a particularly good scenario.
Two popular solar battery manufacturers are LG Chem and Sonnen.
One caution on batteries is that they are very expensive relative to the cost of the rest of the solar system.
There are some misconceptions regarding how solar power saves people money. We will outline some of these in this section.
The first method of saving people money is through producing their own power and using that power instead of buying the power from the utility company.
The second method of saving people money is through sending power back to the utility company (if the utility company offers a buy back program) for a grid-tied system . For example, assume that you produce 10 hours of power (kilowatt hours) from your solar panels, but you only use 5 hours of that power. The additional 5 may be sent back to the power company and credited to the owner.
Batteries For Your Solar?
For customers in areas where the power company does not buy back power, a battery may be a good investment. A battery will take the excess power produced during the day and store it in a battery for usage when the sun is down. This is actually useful for grid tied systems as well. A battery will allow people to use solar power when the grid goes down and at night time. If the power company does not buy back power at the same rate they sell it to you for, using your own power at night time is a particularly good scenario.
Two popular solar battery manufacturers are LG Chem and Sonnen.
One caution on batteries is that they are very expensive relative to the cost of the rest of the solar system.
Shown: LG Chem 10H Battery
You Need To Understand The Components of a Solar Energy System Before You Buy
When purchasing solar power, one of the first downfalls in comparing prices is not understanding the products. As with comparing the purchase of a BMW and a Ford (they both have cars with 4 wheels, 4 doors, and an engine) solar systems have the same variations in quality and performance. In other words, you might have two quotes for a 6 KW solar energy system, but only later realize that the performance and the warranty for each is very different.
The Primary Solar Panel Types
The two most common solar panel types are Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline. Your solar modules are made of solar cells and the composition of those is very important. The flow of electrons through the panels is a key to quality energy production. The monocrystalline types are made from a single crystal which creates a more efficient flow of electrons for maximum production. The polycrystalline cells are composed of melted crystal fragments and therefore have a variation from unit to unit which makes electron flow less efficient. The poly panels come at a lower price, but they will not look as uniform from cell to cell and will not produce as well as their monocrystalline counterparts.
Inverters Are The Key To Using The Power In Your House
Since your home and business use AC power and your solar panels produce DC power, it is important to convert that power from DC to AC. That is the job of the inverter.
Inverters come in different forms, so we will outline a few popular options below for a quick tutorial.
First up, there are the larger "string" inverters. These boxes sit on a wall of your home and take the power from the panels and convert it to AC. These inverters tend to be least expensive because they convert the power for multiple panels in one spot. The downside of a basic string inverter is that each individual solar module can affect the power of the others. For brevity, we will only tell the reader that shading of any individual panel becomes a problem for a string inverter because it will make any one shaded panel affect the others in its same line of wiring. This is the least expensive option, but it will have the least realiable performance.
Second up, their are microinverters. These microinverters will convert each panel's individual production to AC power. This is very efficient and let's each panel operate independently from the others. One concern is that having the extra electrical components of so many inverters could become an increased potential of warranty issues.
Third is the single inverter with optimizers (such as the SolarEdge inverter system). In this system there is a single inverter but each solar module has an optimizer on it. This optimizer will allow each panel to operate at maximum efficiency independent of the others. Therefore, shading of individual panels is not going to affect your production as badly.
Optimizers and Microinverters will cost more than the basic string inverter, but they are well worth the investment.
When purchasing solar power, one of the first downfalls in comparing prices is not understanding the products. As with comparing the purchase of a BMW and a Ford (they both have cars with 4 wheels, 4 doors, and an engine) solar systems have the same variations in quality and performance. In other words, you might have two quotes for a 6 KW solar energy system, but only later realize that the performance and the warranty for each is very different.
The Primary Solar Panel Types
The two most common solar panel types are Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline. Your solar modules are made of solar cells and the composition of those is very important. The flow of electrons through the panels is a key to quality energy production. The monocrystalline types are made from a single crystal which creates a more efficient flow of electrons for maximum production. The polycrystalline cells are composed of melted crystal fragments and therefore have a variation from unit to unit which makes electron flow less efficient. The poly panels come at a lower price, but they will not look as uniform from cell to cell and will not produce as well as their monocrystalline counterparts.
Inverters Are The Key To Using The Power In Your House
Since your home and business use AC power and your solar panels produce DC power, it is important to convert that power from DC to AC. That is the job of the inverter.
Inverters come in different forms, so we will outline a few popular options below for a quick tutorial.
First up, there are the larger "string" inverters. These boxes sit on a wall of your home and take the power from the panels and convert it to AC. These inverters tend to be least expensive because they convert the power for multiple panels in one spot. The downside of a basic string inverter is that each individual solar module can affect the power of the others. For brevity, we will only tell the reader that shading of any individual panel becomes a problem for a string inverter because it will make any one shaded panel affect the others in its same line of wiring. This is the least expensive option, but it will have the least realiable performance.
Second up, their are microinverters. These microinverters will convert each panel's individual production to AC power. This is very efficient and let's each panel operate independently from the others. One concern is that having the extra electrical components of so many inverters could become an increased potential of warranty issues.
Third is the single inverter with optimizers (such as the SolarEdge inverter system). In this system there is a single inverter but each solar module has an optimizer on it. This optimizer will allow each panel to operate at maximum efficiency independent of the others. Therefore, shading of individual panels is not going to affect your production as badly.
Optimizers and Microinverters will cost more than the basic string inverter, but they are well worth the investment.
Monocrystalline
Panel
Panel
Polycrystalline
Panel
Panel
SOLAR
MANUFACTURERS
MANUFACTURERS
Solar Panel Manufacturers
There are many different manufacturers on the market. SolarWorld is a well known American manufacturer with many different product offerings. Other manufacturers include, but are not limited to: Panasonic solar, LG solar, Hanwha solar, Mission solar, Jinko solar, and Canadina Solar. Each manufacturer has different rules and lengths to their warranties, so it is important to explore the different companies.
Your Panels Will Last A Long Time - How Old Is Your Roof
The great thing about modern panels is that most quality panels come with a 25 year performance guarantee. In this guarantee, they state that the panels will perform to a certain standard of production through the entire period. This is great for buyers because it gives them an investment that will save extremely large numbers over such a long period.
Given that lifespan, it is important to consider the age of your roof. Surface mounted racking systems will need to be removed when reroofing is eventually performed. Therefore, if you have asphalt/fiberglass shingles that are older than 5-10 years, you might want to consider redoing that plane of shingles.
Another option might be a BIPV (building integrated photovoltaic) system. In these systems (such as the GAF DecoTech) the shingles are mounted against a solar module flashing system instead of under the solar array.
There are many different manufacturers on the market. SolarWorld is a well known American manufacturer with many different product offerings. Other manufacturers include, but are not limited to: Panasonic solar, LG solar, Hanwha solar, Mission solar, Jinko solar, and Canadina Solar. Each manufacturer has different rules and lengths to their warranties, so it is important to explore the different companies.
Your Panels Will Last A Long Time - How Old Is Your Roof
The great thing about modern panels is that most quality panels come with a 25 year performance guarantee. In this guarantee, they state that the panels will perform to a certain standard of production through the entire period. This is great for buyers because it gives them an investment that will save extremely large numbers over such a long period.
Given that lifespan, it is important to consider the age of your roof. Surface mounted racking systems will need to be removed when reroofing is eventually performed. Therefore, if you have asphalt/fiberglass shingles that are older than 5-10 years, you might want to consider redoing that plane of shingles.
Another option might be a BIPV (building integrated photovoltaic) system. In these systems (such as the GAF DecoTech) the shingles are mounted against a solar module flashing system instead of under the solar array.
Does Solar Make Sense?
If you have enough room for the solar array and you are not hampered by shading the solar investment should make sense. Property owners will be able to see a solid and consistent return on investment even without the incentives.
With the aforementioned incentives, the solar investment becomes extremely good. We recommend you explore options through a credible solar installer to make sure you get a fair anaylsis of your particular situation and to confirm if solar is right for you.
If you have enough room for the solar array and you are not hampered by shading the solar investment should make sense. Property owners will be able to see a solid and consistent return on investment even without the incentives.
With the aforementioned incentives, the solar investment becomes extremely good. We recommend you explore options through a credible solar installer to make sure you get a fair anaylsis of your particular situation and to confirm if solar is right for you.