I just saw in the news that the gov is giving out incentive to people that goes “green” in their home. My question is whats the incentive and how much does installing/ buying solar power in my house cost? (average cost for 2 story residential)
I live in CA and have a solar system. The state incentives are given through your utility. My utility has a cap of $10K, but I was told we had a higher rate per kwh. The next town over has PG&E and can get a more of a rebate if they got a larger system. Usage and percent of offset will determine how large of a system you will want to get. I have a 2 story 2000sf home, I had a 3.74 kwh dc system. It’s total cost was $26K, I got a $10K rebate and a $2K fed. tax credit (the fed. tax credit has increased to 30% of the total installed cost, so I would have received a $7800 tax credit if I waited till this year). I expect to break even in my 6th year. There are a number of factors that can affect the break even time, rates, usage net metering policies etc. This system produces close to 75% of my usage. My bills in the summer were under $25, my highest bill was $35 in Jan and last month it was $6.11. Part of my savings is energy efficiency and reduced waste.
My best advice is have a licensed contractor come to your home and give you a real quote. You can usually get your usage history from your utility so the contractor can give you advice on what size system would suit your needs.
I put a link to the CA solar initiative website. It is complicated but they have a chart that will tell you what the rates are. I think it would be easier to call your utility, I think they all have a designated solar person.
4 responses to Solar Power incentive in California?
Costs $40K+…………….Many power companies offer rebates & discounts
for switching over to solar. High cost in the beginning, but incentives on taxes & utility costs later. My neighbor had it done in 07 and it set them back $52K on their 2 story, but they had additional solar stuff installed for their pool heating.
References :
The site below tells all incentives for Federal and for states.
It is too lengthy to put here.
References :
http://www.dsireusa.org/
I have lived off the grid for 16 plus years now and love it. What you woud want or need to do is to install a grid-tie system, where you sell your unused power to the local power company and then at night you buy back what you need. You can reduce your bills by about 50% to 90% depending upon how much solar you install and how much you use at night. Building your own can result in many problems, such as fire and fire insurance. Since it all works on the principal of electricity, you would only want a licensed insured company to do all of the installation. Otherwise your home fire insurance most likely would not cover your house in the unhappy event of a fire. I have included a link to a simple layout to give you a visual idea of what solar does. There is no set amount as solar varies like a menu at a large restraunt. Everybodys needs are different with different values needed or not needed. The size of your house matters not, the demand or use of your needs for power make all the difference in the world as to your needs. This all needs to be configured to your particular needs , not a fixed price as nobody can begin to tell you what you need without coming over and really doing the research on your house, amount of appliances and people in your system. Check out the link below and just look at a basic system. Rock
References :
http://www.southwestjewelryatitsbest.com/BasicSolarSystem.html
I live in CA and have a solar system. The state incentives are given through your utility. My utility has a cap of $10K, but I was told we had a higher rate per kwh. The next town over has PG&E and can get a more of a rebate if they got a larger system. Usage and percent of offset will determine how large of a system you will want to get. I have a 2 story 2000sf home, I had a 3.74 kwh dc system. It’s total cost was $26K, I got a $10K rebate and a $2K fed. tax credit (the fed. tax credit has increased to 30% of the total installed cost, so I would have received a $7800 tax credit if I waited till this year). I expect to break even in my 6th year. There are a number of factors that can affect the break even time, rates, usage net metering policies etc. This system produces close to 75% of my usage. My bills in the summer were under $25, my highest bill was $35 in Jan and last month it was $6.11. Part of my savings is energy efficiency and reduced waste.
My best advice is have a licensed contractor come to your home and give you a real quote. You can usually get your usage history from your utility so the contractor can give you advice on what size system would suit your needs.
I put a link to the CA solar initiative website. It is complicated but they have a chart that will tell you what the rates are. I think it would be easier to call your utility, I think they all have a designated solar person.
References :
http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/csi/index.html
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