My Solar PV Thread

[redpoint5]

Space is no issue at all on my parent's 30 acres.

My house has essentially no yard, so I'm confined to a few small sections of south facing roof and west facing that may be shaded in the late afternoon.

As it sits, the incentives will pay $14,000 on a 6 kWh ($2.34/watt) system at my parents, and that doesn't factor in the 26% federal tax credit on whatever amount over that it goes. It's a no-brainer to contract this out for my parents.

I'm getting a bid for an 8 kWh system at my house, which is the minimum size that maximizes the subsidies. I only qualify for $7,500 ($0.94/watt), but I can still deduct 26% of my cost from my federal tax liability.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Maybe that's why? All the 'mobile homes' around me have a structure like a carport roof over them, being RVs. Could the 'ground mount' be on 12ft columns?

I saw a mobile home off of the main road going through town several miles from here. It had a carport-style roof over it. We do not have Google Street View here, so I cannot try to find a picture of it. This is the best that I found easily, but the one that I saw did not look like a hat. The pictures that I found before this were entirely supported by the mobile home, not by posts.



A manufactured home is built to HUD standards on a chassis with wheels and a trailer arm and a modular home is transported on one or more trailers, moved via crane, permanently bolted to concrete, and must conform to all local, state or regional building codes.

Mobile homes have not been produced in over forty years. One standard was made in 1974 and another in 1976, requiring far higher quality, and they are called "Manufactured homes" to reflect that.

[redpoint5]

I don't recall ever seeing a roof over a roof of a house. Seems redundant. It's why I have a fundamental issue with the necessity to purchase a cover for the grill cover. Reminds me of the absurdity of having turtles all the way down to support the earth.

My parents manufactured home was built in the 90's to whatever housing codes existed then. The trailer components were removed and the house bolted to a concrete slab.

[oil pan 4]

Trailer home roofs have always sucked. Energy inefficient and prone to leaking after a mild hail storm or being walked on. Doing a roof over is normal most aren't that obvious.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Trailer home [*.*] have always sucked.

I know a family with two holes in their trailer floor. They fixed it by putting a piece of plywood over it. I wonder how often they stub their toe. I knew another family with three holes in the floor. I was too distracted by the crazy family, but there was definitely a board covering the seam between the two halves of their house.

They had at least three smart televisions, though.

Where are our priorities?! We have zero holes in the floor (or wall) and finally got our first smart television in December, which I am using to write this post. Someday I will figure out why it stopped connecting to the Internet. Oh well, I bought it for my computer anyway.

[freebeard]

Trailers are two layers of metal sandwiching a layer of some cardboard-like material.

Since the topic is Solar-something-something, I'll point to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w4rg3UcsgI

[redpoint5]

Here's the most recent solar bid for my parents:

7.8 kW Solar Proposal
Your Annual Electricity Use 10,680 kilowatt-hours
Annual Solar Production 9,693 kilowatt-hours
20 x Hanwha Q.cell 390-watt mono solar modules with SolarEdge (1) SE7600H-US w/ (20) P400 DC Optimizers

Total System Cost $23,450.00
Oregon Solar Rebate $5,000.00
Utility Incentives $9,000.00
Your Cost $9,450.00 = $1.21/watt

Bid from same company for my house:
7.02 kW Solar Proposal
Your Annual Electricity Use 7,089 kilowatt-hours
Annual Solar Production 7,101 kilowatt-hours
18 x Hanwha Q.cell 390-watt mono split cell solar modules with SolarEdge SE6,000H-US (18) P400 DC Optimizers

Total System Cost $17,306.00
Oregon Solar Rebate $1,404.00
Utility Incentives $2,106.00
Your Cost $13,796.00 = $1.97/watt

Note that my parents is ground mount, and my house is roof mount. Ground mount has higher associated cost due to more extensive racking and concrete pouring.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Here's the most recent solar bid for my parents:

7.8 kW Solar Proposal
Your Annual Electricity Use 10,680 kilowatt-hours
Annual Solar Production 9,693 kilowatt-hours
20 x Hanwha Q.cell 390-watt mono solar modules with SolarEdge (1) SE7600H-US w/ (20) P400 DC Optimizers

Total System Cost $23,450.00
Oregon Solar Rebate $5,000.00
Utility Incentives $9,000.00
Your Cost $9,450.00 = $1.21/watt

Bid from same company for my house:
7.02 kW Solar Proposal
Your Annual Electricity Use 7,089 kilowatt-hours
Annual Solar Production 7,101 kilowatt-hours
18 x Hanwha Q.cell 390-watt mono split cell solar modules with SolarEdge SE6,000H-US (18) P400 DC Optimizers

Total System Cost $17,306.00
Oregon Solar Rebate $1,404.00
Utility Incentives $2,106.00
Your Cost $13,796.00 = $1.97/watt

Note that my parents is ground mount, and my house is roof mount. Ground mount has higher associated cost due to more extensive racking and concrete pouring.

Do you have a break down on their hourly labor rates, inspections, permit fees, and what they are using for hourly production estimates?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by hayden55

Do you have a break down on their hourly labor rates, inspections, permit fees, and what they are using for hourly production estimates?

No to everything except they did evaluate hourly production percentage of nameplate capacity based on shading and roof angle, solar hours, etc.

I don't know why, but the industry insists on wrapping everything up into $/watt. It's like an auto manufacturer telling you the price of the car per mile based on an estimated 200k mile lifetime.

[oil pan 4]

The feds like to see that $ per watt number.

If they are a servicer and installer did you ask about a used inverter?