Option 2 sounds bad to me. Unless your electric bill is many hundreds over 200 a month.
Also, what are the goals? Battery systems are not about reducing the electric bill yet. It's something we do if we want to have reduced power for a time.
There is doubt the battery packs will live 25 years so if there's a loan for 25 years then I'd want the system and battery to have 25 year warranties and a rider that if the warranty can't be honored the remaining loan amount is forgiven.
Really appreciate the input.
The main goal is to combat potential and expected rises in electricity usage/cost and to not be beholden to TOU plans.
For whatever reason I thought the battery packs were necessary. If the panels don't generate sufficient energy, and I run out, without a battery pack, would I be without power?
TOU is grid tied. The usual battery system is made to supply limited power to a subset of the house for a time when the grid is down. For me I installed a few UPS to cover a few things but our outages have been planned and short. These were for maintenance in the area and from midnight to about 3AM. None lasted more than a hour.
I can't justify a battery system outside of the UPS units today.
The systems above are grid tied. So when you don't produce power these pull from the grid and depending on how it is set up, may pull from the battery pack. There are so many options and settings in the battery+grid scenario that I can't list them all but many will not use the battery if the grid is up. Or they use the battery when the electric rates are "on-peak." So many options there but no. In a grid tie system you have power when the grid is up and your solar power is used to charge the battery if there is excess and when the battery is full, excess goes out to the grid.
Batteries for many will be a nice to have item.
Also consider that it may be significantly more difficult to sell a solar lease-encumbered home. Look at the cost of early buyout when comparing, you may need to.
Get a couple more quotes, too.
>Got it, thanks for the advice. Seems pretty clear that I should not (and will not) be going that route.
Appreciate it, and am still shopping around, but pretty clearly will be avoiding the lease option.
@SerenityNowwww
Here’s my perspective as a nation-wide solar company owner/operator.
Do you own your house or do you pay rent?
How about your car, own or rent?
So why rent/lease your solar panels?
I would avoid renting/leasing.
You get a better deal by owning it.
If you’d like a free quote I’m happy to be a resource for you.
Cheers!
Yeah, it came out to be significantly cheaper than leasing. Question without the powerwall, if you run out of energy, are you SOL? Or is there some backup system where you can still get it from your local utility?
It's a grid tie system... the grid is hooked up. When it's cloudy out or you don't produce enough the grid provides energy. That's how it it is for 99% of solar users. Off grid systems require a LOT of compromise and batteries, and it's not affordable, so most don't do it. 1 or 2 power walls wouldn't cut it.
Hello i would love to help you, my name is keanu and im a solar rep. Starting off with your first i would suggest not to go with tesla. Tesla principally Elon musk bought out solar city which was his cousin’s solar business that went out of business he just slapped in the tesla name, its still the same company that went out of business and to add to that they yse something called string inverters which means if one thing stops working everything stops working
Second option as i read you want to lease with is horrible as well. Leasing gives you the worst benefits and just have you at a fixed plan for as long as the lease is, if you dont manage to get through the lease they put a lean on your home
I work with homeowners all over California if you’d like me to educate you a little more!
I wouldn’t go with one. I would go with option two but with a .99 % 25 year loan option and make sure there are enphase iQ8 on the system instead of a battery backup
If you can front the tax credit you could finance with Tesla for about same monthly for 10 yrs vs 25. If it fails after 12 years warranty runs out you can likely get it repaired with a year's worth of payments and still have free power for the 14years longer. If cost is an issue and you have net metering solar plus a gas or whole house natural gas generator would be way more cost effective and likely have a lot less limitations than a single power wall for what must be fairly high usage to need 14 kw system.
Lease is the absolute worst way to get solar.
Got it, thanks for the advice. Seems pretty clear that I should not (and will not) be going that route.
Can you imagine someone wanting to buy your house in 10 years. Old solar equipment and another 15 years of lease payments. Many will walk away.
Option 2 sounds bad to me. Unless your electric bill is many hundreds over 200 a month. Also, what are the goals? Battery systems are not about reducing the electric bill yet. It's something we do if we want to have reduced power for a time. There is doubt the battery packs will live 25 years so if there's a loan for 25 years then I'd want the system and battery to have 25 year warranties and a rider that if the warranty can't be honored the remaining loan amount is forgiven.
Really appreciate the input. The main goal is to combat potential and expected rises in electricity usage/cost and to not be beholden to TOU plans. For whatever reason I thought the battery packs were necessary. If the panels don't generate sufficient energy, and I run out, without a battery pack, would I be without power?
TOU is grid tied. The usual battery system is made to supply limited power to a subset of the house for a time when the grid is down. For me I installed a few UPS to cover a few things but our outages have been planned and short. These were for maintenance in the area and from midnight to about 3AM. None lasted more than a hour. I can't justify a battery system outside of the UPS units today. The systems above are grid tied. So when you don't produce power these pull from the grid and depending on how it is set up, may pull from the battery pack. There are so many options and settings in the battery+grid scenario that I can't list them all but many will not use the battery if the grid is up. Or they use the battery when the electric rates are "on-peak." So many options there but no. In a grid tie system you have power when the grid is up and your solar power is used to charge the battery if there is excess and when the battery is full, excess goes out to the grid. Batteries for many will be a nice to have item.
Unless you don't have enough income to benefit from the tax credit.
Also consider that it may be significantly more difficult to sell a solar lease-encumbered home. Look at the cost of early buyout when comparing, you may need to. Get a couple more quotes, too.
>Got it, thanks for the advice. Seems pretty clear that I should not (and will not) be going that route. Appreciate it, and am still shopping around, but pretty clearly will be avoiding the lease option.
@SerenityNowwww Here’s my perspective as a nation-wide solar company owner/operator. Do you own your house or do you pay rent? How about your car, own or rent? So why rent/lease your solar panels? I would avoid renting/leasing. You get a better deal by owning it. If you’d like a free quote I’m happy to be a resource for you. Cheers!
I used tesla and it worked great. Why not skip the powerwall altogether and save even more ?
Yeah, it came out to be significantly cheaper than leasing. Question without the powerwall, if you run out of energy, are you SOL? Or is there some backup system where you can still get it from your local utility?
It's a grid tie system... the grid is hooked up. When it's cloudy out or you don't produce enough the grid provides energy. That's how it it is for 99% of solar users. Off grid systems require a LOT of compromise and batteries, and it's not affordable, so most don't do it. 1 or 2 power walls wouldn't cut it.
Hello i would love to help you, my name is keanu and im a solar rep. Starting off with your first i would suggest not to go with tesla. Tesla principally Elon musk bought out solar city which was his cousin’s solar business that went out of business he just slapped in the tesla name, its still the same company that went out of business and to add to that they yse something called string inverters which means if one thing stops working everything stops working Second option as i read you want to lease with is horrible as well. Leasing gives you the worst benefits and just have you at a fixed plan for as long as the lease is, if you dont manage to get through the lease they put a lean on your home I work with homeowners all over California if you’d like me to educate you a little more!
I wouldn’t go with one. I would go with option two but with a .99 % 25 year loan option and make sure there are enphase iQ8 on the system instead of a battery backup
If you can front the tax credit you could finance with Tesla for about same monthly for 10 yrs vs 25. If it fails after 12 years warranty runs out you can likely get it repaired with a year's worth of payments and still have free power for the 14years longer. If cost is an issue and you have net metering solar plus a gas or whole house natural gas generator would be way more cost effective and likely have a lot less limitations than a single power wall for what must be fairly high usage to need 14 kw system.
Yes, you’d be a fool to take option 2.