This is flat out wrong. You can take both the rebate and the tax credit. The subtlety is the tax credit is taken on the *NET* amount after the rebate. In most cases this is simplified because the installer takes the rebate so homeowner and purchaser takes the tax credit on what they paid.



Not entirely true, it is possible to apply for rebate for the expansion of a system. I just looked into this because I was considering expanding my system. The tax credit is indeed limited to once per property.




In PG&E land you can't $0.12/kWh unless you are on lifeline service. A consumer with significant usage ends up paying around $0.24/kWh for marginal power because of the surcharges.

With Time of Use metering it is possible to get almost $0.32/kWh for energy sold during peak while off peak power costs around $0.09/kWh.

So if your consumption is high enough you are likely to break even on a cash flow basis on day one (For example assuming you finance the system on 30 year home secured loan).

If your consumption is not very high but you can sell during peak (or buy very little), you can achieve the same thing using TOU metering. TOU can also benefit high energy consumers if you can shift their load.

arnold

PG&E Rates:

Are based on your monthly baseline quality: in my case my base line is 260Kwh @ $0.11589 + $0.01 surcharge - 0.011589 (legislated 10% surchage) = less than $0.12 per Kwh.


In any case, as much are we would like to see better results: The ROI is 10 to 20 years for a small 3000 panel watt fixed mount solar system.

Cars are very poor investments - as soon as you drive off the dealers lot your invertment has decresed by 10% or more.

I think the issue will be what Henry alluded to in an earlier post: availability. Not only of panels but of other forms of energy. I just locked-in next years heating oil at a fixed price because now I have guaranteed supply (at least for next year). Panels will be harder and harder to get; I heard the same thing right after I ordered my Shell SQ160's about 2 months ago. Cheap gas?! Those days are over and I'm more concerned about supply. People just don't get it - China is now starting to compete with us for these resources and they're just starting to have a real economy! A large percentage of our steel is now going to Japan and China (something about a huge bridge project) and copper prices have gone through the roof the last few months. We have been spoiled for years but now all those consumer dollars we've been sending overseas are going to come back to haunt us. {rant off}

I put in 16 schott 175's, (maybe they were sharps, but anyway) and a Xantrex 3.0
I don't often get involved in the money side, but the system appeared to be around 23,000 and the home owner coughed up a 15K check. The remainiing 7-8k were rebates. Didn't seem all that bad at all. The sales reps here are claiming 6-8 year payoff. Pictures below for anyone interested.

http://www.affordenergy.com/gallery/Tes ... robles_008
http://www.affordenergy.com/gallery/Tes ... robles_010

Why did you put in the SquareD disconnect?, the GT3.0 has this built in

In Calif, they insist on installing it, power companies claim they want to have their linemen be safe, and to be able to pull a plug. I had to install one too. They look like @$^, and the installer beat the *%# out of my stucco putting it in, and for the 7" of conduit, pounded a nail into the stucco to hold a clamp.

I sure hope this is still true in 2006, I'd love to take that too. The installer took the rebate off the top, I signed it over to them, so I did not take the income of it.

With all the talk about ROI, I'm wondering if anyone has factored in a possible property tax impact.

In Florida, I can't get a definitive answer about the implications, except that the appraiser might wait 3 years to add the system to the value of my house. I don't know if at that time the entire house would be recalculated, thus losing the benefit of the Florida Save Our Home amendment which caps property tax valuation increases at 3% maximum.

So it seems that the property tax may be the biggest negative factor for me, in fact it would probably prevent me from getting a PV system.

Calif Exempts solar installs from being taxed/assesed.

Now we are at the end of 2006. Behind very quiet hurricane season. Not much political tensions in Middle-East. Oil and gas prices are rather "cheap" and steady. Looks like the interest on the solar panels (or renewable energy) is rather weak right now. In other words: Great time to buy! (As long as you can find anything to buy?)

As it should not be news for anyone reading this forum this won't last. It is known that global oil supply is almost the same as global demand. No new significant oil wells have been discovered for many decades. Current oil wells are getting old and production have started to decline in majority of them. Once the tipping point is reached the oil (and energy) prices will skyrocket. Then all of us having any renewable energy systems in place can smile... Either our ROI time reduce significantly, or we can just sell our existing system with some good profit?

How do you other guys see the near future? What is your motivation on investing on renewable energy products?