[icefox]

Getting solar this summer (live in MA which has very nice tax deals) and one of the interesting things I noticed in the process was how much of the cost is the install. Saw one company that is making the install process significantly cheaper which results in a better win overall than if the cost of the cells were dropped by half. Same goes with the idea of transparent cells. Even if they have a very low rating they can go in every window and get installed for "free" when the new windows are installed making the payback much faster.

[brg]

Do you have a breakdown of your own costs? Even in percentiles that would be interesting.

[icefox]

Yah I did a full breakdown and worked out all the numbers* to calculate the time period till payback (4-6 years) after which there will be some end large profit from the tail end of the MA SREC's and then small but continuous "profit" from very little to no electric bill (depending on my AC usage). After all the work I did my numbers were very close to the quotes I got.

After the immediate state rebase + fed and state tax rebate I am only paying ~3cents/Watt

Any particular number you want to know? Say the system costs 24K, MA does a straight rebate to the installer so you would only have to write a check for say 18K, and come next tax year get 6K from the fed and 1K from MA back so the 24K system would cost you ~12K. The SRECS pay that back between 3-7 years and that is guaranteed $300/MW till 2020 so by doing the install this summer I should pay it off around 2018 and have extra income until 2020. Oh and it doesn't count against property tax for 20 or 40 years (forget which).

The main reason I am doing the switch is that it is a small investment that is _extremely_ stable with 1) a 100% return with interest in ~6 years on the electricity 2) increasing the value of the house by ~20K (more than post tax check!) and 3) will continue to generate electricity/tax free income for as long as I live in the house potentially the equivalent to the initial cost several times over. Not a bad small investment.

* Electric usage est, electric cost growth est (power costs more every year in MA), sun hours (obtained from various government sites) est, SREC payback est, power est, angle of house and roof.

[brg]

Thanks for the detailed response. I'm surprised by how much of the cost is being deferred by subsidies, but maybe that will pay back in terms of spurring innovation.

[roel_v]

2675 kWh system (about 3/4 of the yearly use of a regular family in the Netherlands) costs 6379 euros (9346 USD as of now) + 1498 euros (2194 USD) for installation. The system is sold as 'DIY' though so it should be possible to install it yourself.

Where I live there is a 1500 euro subsidy for the installation, putting the payback time (assuming constant energy costs) at around 7 years; with opportunity costs accounted at deposit account rates around 11.

I haven't decided yet but I think it's already an OK investment (not great but OK), mostly because of the subsidy; without that it would require significant increases in energy costs over the next couple of years to make it attractive.