My Solar Project

If you are looking for information on my solar panels on the roof of my house, you've found the right place.

First Electric Bill

Yes, my first electric bill after the panels were installed, was slightly over $11. I paid more for the following charges individually:

basic service charge (just the privilege of having an account with APS)
meter charge (the privilege of having an electric meter)
meter reading charge (the privilege of having APS read the meter)
taxes and other regulatory fees (the privilege of living in Arizona)

than I did in electrical generating costs. The cost of electricity was 85 cents for my November 2007 bill. Everything else above, was more than a dollar.

The project and how much did it cost

So what was installed and how much did it cost me?

I had 4.8kw system installed by American Solar Electric. It generates almost 38amps on a hot summer day. During the winter it generates less, and on cloudy days, about 90% less power than on a sunny day. No wonder the voice mail greeting of my sales rep says "Have a SUNNY day!". Thirty eight amps is enought to run forty-five 100w light bulbs, or enough to run my air conditioning unit.

Ideally, you want the peak line of your roof to go east-west so that you have a south facing roof. My house wasn't oriented that way, the peak of my roof runs north-south, so I have two sets of solar panels. One on east facing roof, and one on the west facing roof. This requires two inverters instead of just one for a south facing roof.

Solar panels generate DC or direct current (like a battery). An inverter changes DC power into AC power (alternating current). Because my east facing panels generate their peak in the late morning, while the west facing panels generate their max power in the early afternoon, each set of panels have there own inverter, in other words more cost.

The system, when installed will have another electric meter, showing you how much your solar panels have generated. The output from the second meter is then fed in to your circuilt breaker panel. There's also a shutoff switch that APS will throw if they are doing work at their nearby transformer. Since the solar panels are generating electricity, they could be shocked and injured. They placed sturdy lock on their switch and will turn off your solar system and lock it off, if they need to do work. (This is very rare, say a lightning strike directly to the transformer, causing a BIG boom!).

The installation itself took six visits by the installers and inspectors:

Installation of the supporting rods on the roof (half day)
Installation of the wiring and conduit (half day)
Installation of the solar panels themselves (half day)
Replacement of the main power meter with one that can run backwards (10 minutes)
Inspection by APS (30 minutes)
Inspection by City of Phoenix

So, you are asking, how much did it cost, and when will it pay for itself. I will be giving you two numbers, one is the total project cost, and the second is the how much I paid.

Total Project Cost	$34,100
APS rebate	$14,400
Federal Tax Credit	$2,000
Arizona Tax Credit	$1,000
Manufacturer's rebate	$400
My out of pocket	$16,300

The numbers are slightly rounded. Also the manufacturer's rebate, and the federal/state tax credits can change at any moment. Check with your tax advisor for the current tax credits.

When will this system pay for itself? I can't give you a firm date, because it depends on how fast APS and the Arizona State Corporation Commission (the rate setting agency) raise the rates. The faster the rates are raised, the more quickly my system pays for itself. My October bill was $140, my November bill was $11. Was all of the decrease attributable to the solar panels being installed. Definitely not. I could finally turn off the airconditioning systemi in October--we get 90F+ days in October, and 80F+ days in November. Also, I wasn't in this house a year ago (it wasn't even built yet), so I don't have a previous year's bill to compare this month's bill. I will be updating this page as I know more.

What about my Home Owner's Association?

My HOA agreed to the plan without any changes. However, there wasn't much they could object to.

The panels were on the roof, not on the ground.
The panels were parallel to the slope of the roof, so they are not visually jarring to the "look" of the roof.
The panels did not go above the peak of the roof or below the gutters, so they did not intrude on the skyline or the walls of the house.
The conduit was painted the same color as the stucco.

Finally, as of July 1, 2007 in Arizona, the HOA's must treat solar panels the same as they treat satellite TV dishes. They can request changes to the location, etc as long as the functionality is not impaired.

What were the questions that I did not ask before I signed on the contract?

I wish I had know about the following:

I wish I had asked questions about how efficient the inverters were, and whether or not it makes sense to get a more effiicient inverter. Mine are 95% efficient, which means that 5% is turned into heat. The inverters should not be in direct sunlight, so mine are inside the garage, on an outside wall near where the circuit breaker panel is. I will have to install a ventilation system to remove the extra heat from the garage. It will also remove the car fumes as well.
I wish I had know that my solar system would NOT function during a power outage. Sure, the panels will be generating power during the daylight even if Arizona Power System (APS) power dies, but the inverters require the APS power to be present before they convert the DC to AC. To be able to generate power while APS power isn't available requires a set of batteries. I don't know how much that would have increased my system costs. It may require a different (more expensive) inverter as well. After the APS power returns (after an outage), the inverters automatically kick in after about five minute to synchonize to the sine wave of the AC power.
I wish I had know how long the backlog was on solar panels. I signed my contract in June 2007, but the panels were not shipped to American Solar Electric until late September. The system was operational by mid October. Evidently the solar panel manufacturing plants are running full tilt, and two more are coming online in the upcoming months, one in Tijuana and one in Indonesia. Knowing this may make a difference in how much tax credit you receive, because I believe it is based on date of activtion, not when you place the order.