Solar questions

[Darren Wright]

We're considering buying a house up in KC that we'll be renting out the main part of the house to our daughter and her family, and build ourselves an in-law suite in the basement. Her current place doesn't have enough room for us or guests and we'd like to split some time between the farm and there to help out more and spend time with the grandkids. We currently spend a fortune on hotel rooms for short visits and might as well put some of that cost towards a place we can share. Initially they would be renting, but long term they would take over the mortgage when they can afford the full payments. I know I need another project like you know what, but I like a good cause.

The house we're considering has existing solar setup with Net Metering. From the electric companies FAQ, explanation of Net Metering:

The electric company provides one-for-one net metering. At the end of each billing cycle, the electric company will look at the kWh delivered and received. They will then be subtracted from each other resulting in a charge (delivered > received) or a credit (delivered < received) for the difference. If the received kWh is higher, the excess is credited at the wholesale rate and appears as a dollar within the billing details section of your bill. If you have negative balance, that will roll over to the following month. Any balance that exists after 12 months, will expire. The electric company will not payout any leftover credit after 12 months.

Their explanation of Parallel Generation:
The other billing mechanism offered to customers is parallel generation. In this situation the delivered and received readings do not offset each other. All electricity delivered is charged at the customer rate and all electricity received is credited at the wholesale rate.

From my understanding, the Parallel Generation would be a direct month to month payout vs doing the 12 month credits. Is one preferred over the other? Or maybe the parallel is used when there is not a large enough surplus going back to the grid?

My second question. If I'm purchasing the home with it already installed, it looks like I can't deduct for existing equipment, but there is a Fuel cell property deduction, that is limited to $500 for each half kilowatt of capacity. Anyone know if this is in addition to the standard deduction or is only if you itemize the deductions?

From what I understand, we may need to re-apply for the net metering options once we purchase it. Not sure if there is a waiting period to start doing it. The explanation mentioned needing a year of usage data prior to installing a system, but not sure if that applies to existing installations.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

IDK on the tax implications. I think the Parallel Generation vs net metering depends on how close you are on generation vs usage. If you're generating WAY more than you're using the Parallel Generation might be worth it I think.. Otherwise the net metering is probably better ROI.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I don't know the differences in net vs parallel but this is my experience

When we installed solar we calculated existing usage and based the solar on about 125% of actual usage.
My meter does measuge net usage
I can see the flow of electricity. It shows when I am using porer from the grid and when I am generating more than I use.
In 10 years since I installed I paid to the electric company 2 times. Once was $18 and second time was $59
I don't skimp on a/c keep my house at 68 degrees
I sometimes use the heat pump to take the chill out in spring and fall.

I do have a very small house 3 bed 1 bath ranch with several outbuildings and a largeish shop.

I have a credit now and my monthly bill says "No Payment Due" each month - year after year with carryover each year.

I don't like either of your options.
Net works like mine - but - NO CARRYOVER. That is a HUGE issue.
I generate WAY more in the late spring to early fall than I use and save the credits to be used during winter when generation is the lowest and I use credits more than generation. If I didn't have that carryover - that would suck.

Parallel works like mine - but - no saved credits
Summer time would --- errrrr- sorta work OK but no saved credits. Great for the electric company, they get all your generated power and give back - NOTHING
In the low generation months YOU pay them full price for power with NO benefit for the power YOU generated in the high generation months.

If that was the deal 10 years ago when I calculated my installation, I seriously don't think I would have installed solar.

 

[Darren Wright]

I found the install plan for the house, looks like it’s sized for 6.41 kW. Other than the net metering bill, there’s no monitor on it. I do have a Sense energy monitor at the farm. I may steal it and buy the solar clamps to run on the house a while to see what it produces. The panels were paid off with the purchase of the house, so everything it produces will save money.


I do have to reapply for the net metering, which is really just a contract that I won’t alter the system or sell my credits in some way. They don’t have to come change out the meter or anything. I have 90 days to reapply.

 

[Darren Wright]

Still waiting on the solar clamps for monitoring the actual incoming lines from the inverter, but the Sense energy monitor somehow picked up the solar. I don't know if they are picking up the powerline communication the inverter uses to talk with the manufacturers network interface (which I don't have), or from the meter itself. It started showing up today automatically. The CT clamps for the solar will arrive tomorrow to see if it is accurate or if they are even needed. It is a cloudy rainy day here, so not getting a lot of output from the solar side, but I'll take it.

 

[Darren Wright]

It's mostly cloudy today, but get bursts of sunshine for bits at a time. Makes me happy to see it producing though.

 

[Darren Wright]

After digging into our equipment a bit more, it seems we do have a wifi connection and there is a free service to monitor both the usage and the actual hardware for failures/issues. In order to set up the wifi, I had to submit a request to assume ownership and pay a $199 warranty transfer fee.

It does have a 25 year warranty, so there is that, but being unable to change the wifi on equipment I own is a bit annoying.

They (Enphase) does have free training program to get certified on their equipment, which I may consider doing. It would give me technician access to the equipment's software and availability to additional resources. I'll have to see if it gives me any purchasing benefits for either expanding this system or adding a system at the farm.

Edit: Also rounding out our 2nd month of usage/production. It looks like my electric bill should be around $32 ($12 of which is a service charge), as we had the AC running and spent a good amount of time up there.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Yesterday's solar offset was the best we've seen since installing the system last October. We're on net metering with yearly rollover, so I see days like this as money in the bank. I was a little worried this past winter because we were using more than we generated, but now I'm seeing the long days of summer should cover any deficits next winter. Our last electric bill was $15 and change, which was just the service charge. I expect it to stay the same from here on out.

 

[David Johnson]

You know they will raise the service charge to recoup from your savings.
David

 

[Leo Voisine]

I always use more in winter than I generate. Since I went online in 2015, I have only had 2 times that I needed to actually pay an electric bill. Both times less than $100

With tax credits and solar renewable energy credits (SREC), the entire system cost me ZERO dollars.

Plus 10 years of no electric bills, except for the 2 bills, I paid zero for electricity.

I am fully a believer in solar energy!

 

[Darren Wright]

I did get this month's bill and it was $31.15, $15.05 of which was customer charge, fees, and taxes. I know each of us have different plans. On my plan I get credit 1:1 of what I use to what I produced, any extra produced I'm paid like $.0198 per Kwh per billing cycle. No credits are banked to use later.

They do make a battery system that I can store the excess power and use from it, but cost wise I'd have to be sending way more back to the grid than what I use to really recoup any costs for it. From what I understand, you can set how much to store, and how much to send back to the grid, or store until batteries are topped off, then to the grid.