Does going solar pay off for homeowners?

MarketWatch: Does going solar pay off for homeowners?

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The race is on to install solar panels in American homes thanks to generous government incentives such as California's $3.2 billion solar initiative launched in January.

Despite the Analysts say they are still crunching the numbers when it comes to deciding whether residential solar systems, also referred to as photovoltaic or PV, make economic sense. The answer hinges on how much and how fast solar can cut a homeowner's utility bills and how long it takes to pay off the initial investment to add solar panels to a home.

Analysts say they are still crunching the numbers when it comes to deciding whether residential solar systems, also referred to as photovoltaic or PV, make economic sense. The answer hinges on how much and how fast solar can cut a homeowner's utility bills and how long it takes to pay off the initial investment to add solar panels to a home.

"When consumers contemplate the purchase of a [photovoltaic] system for their home, they approach it like any other financial investment and examine the set cash flows and expected return," according to a new report from CIBC World Markets on residential solar.

Like any large-scale purchase, consumers considering solar tend to initially focus on the upfront costs. Solar systems for homes begin around $25,000 but can easily go higher depending on the size of a house and the amount of power they generate, said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association.  …


Comments

4 responses to “Does going solar pay off for homeowners?”

  1. The manufacturing of cells is still extremely expensive and until initial investment cost comes down, there is no way solar will catch on. Only environmentalist devotees, wealthy and off the grid people will buy into it for now. Also, maintenance is expensive. It makes no financial sense for anyone right now to invest in it.

  2. I helped my Dad build his house in the summer of 1978 while in college. He built it passive solar with all the infrastructure to later add solar panels. The technology would not yet pay for itself then and still doesn’t to the best of my knowledge.
    I still think solar power aided by other power sources would be a wonderful world but it still remains to be seen if the that is just utopianism.

  3. Michael, I would love to have my house covered in solar panels, but the cost is ridiculous. I didn’t realize (or maybe didn’t think about it) that you could build a house “solar ready.” That’s a good idea I guess! I am sure an enterprising person could buy the parts and build/install the whole thing yourself if you had to, but that would take a lot of expertise and know-how, and maybe would save 50% of the cost.

  4. Well, my Dad is chemist and a bit of an amateur engineer (None of those genes were passed to me.) They actually sold their house in Illinois to move back to the Kansas City area about eleven years ago. He had the water tank installed and made provisions for later installment but the cost savings just never materialized. My understanding is that apart from installation there can be significant maintenance costs as well.
    Maybe someday.

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