- Joined
- Dec 16, 2019
The answer is always hyper-local. You have to estimate how long the panels will last until destroyed - "about as long as a shingle roof" is a decent rough estimate.Well I do live in the sunshine state, so would it be worthwhile even with all the natural disasters? I heard Solar Panels weren't worth it due to the durability issues and the quality. That and the power companies charge a lot for maintenance and insurance fees per month.
Then you have to work out what kind of install - power companies that do net billing and will actually PAY YOU are vanishingly rare now. And some credits you can get for installs only apply to "professionally installed" product - though some apply to materials bought if you do it yourself.
Basically there's grid-tied, grid dependent - if the power goes out, your solar goes out. This only offsets your bill, no real durability. There's grid-tied, independent - this lets you power at least some of your load during the day when the grid is down, with a powerwall or similar batteries this can become a total solution. There's also grid-untied or loosely tied - think a bank of batteries that are charged by solar and then you draw from the batteries to run your shit; and there is also a plug-in charger for the batteries if you need it.
The last is almost always the cheapest if you want to be independent from the grid (or at least the possibility) because you can sidestep a ton of permits.
Anyway, long story short you gotta talk to niggers around you what done in and get a feel for it; find a group of locals doing solar shit, etc. If the payback is 20 years or less, it becomes "probably worthwhile" - under ten years "do it" - and under five, fucking do it today.