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Solar Electric Panel Manual
Solar Electric Panel Manual
Buyers Manual
This book is written for you, the solar panel buyer. The goal is to put
all the starter information on buying solar panels for your home in
one place. Its divided into short sections, so you can nd what youre
after, when you need it. I hope you nd it useful.
I
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
This book is written for you, the solar panel buyer. Its divided into
sections, each covering a part of the process of choosing a solar panel.
1
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
2
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 4
3
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 5
4
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
NB. Off grid houses can be wired for DC power. This eliminates the need for an inverter (except for some
appliances that arent made to work with DC power. There arent many DC sound systems for example.) The
advantage with keeping your power DC is that you wont lose power through converting it to AC. Typically,
converting DC to AC will mean 6% power loss.
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 7
The grid tied with batteries system is when you are connected to the grid and you have batteries to store your
solar energy.
This is a system where you get the
advantage of selling excess power
to the grid. You also have emergency
backup power for when the grid goes
down.
A solar system gives you free power, unlike the grid, where you are paying for power by the watt.
If you live on the grid there is one thing to consider do you get frequent power cuts? If you do get frequent
Solar Trading Post LLC 2008
5
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
power cuts, then a grid tied system with batteries will provide emergency backup power for when the grid is
down.
Otherwise, a grid tied system will give you the benets of solar energy and bill savings, without the added
expense of batteries. Batteries add approximately 20-30% onto the cost of a grid tied system.
grid. The peak production time for solar panels is from 10 3pm. This is when most people are out of the
house.
During this time, your solar panels are producing energy that isnt being used if youre out, the lights are off,
appliances arent running. So this excess power can be sold back to the grid. If you have batteries, this power
can then charge your batteries.
You could also invest in solar hot water and solar electric. If you are building a new house, this may prove very
cost effective.
Yes
25-40 years
Yes
Depends on Sunlight
Higher
No
Yes
Yes
10-15 Years
Yes
Depends on Sunlight
Lower
No
Yes
6
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 11
7
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
insolation you have, you can check this solar insolation map.)
So your 4kW system will make more power if you live in California. If you live in New Jersey, you have on
average 4.25 usable sunshine hours per day. So this same 4kW system will make less power.
8
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 13
9
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
In other words, once your solar panel system has saved you more off your power bills than it cost you to buy
it, its payback time is over. Each time the sun shines, youre literally making money.
These are the factors that affect your solar system payback time:
1.
PRICE OF SYSTEM This is covered in the section above. However, you can certainly look for a
good deal on solar energy systems. The less you pay, the shorter the payback time. Its still important to
make sure that you are buying quality, backed by a guarantee.
2.
YOUR POWER BILL If youre being charged an expensive rate for your power, your payback
time will be shorter. The way to work out your power rate is in $/kW. On each power bill, there is a
monthly amount for kW used.
Take this amount, and divide it by your power bill minus the xed rates. (Fixed rates are
what you pay the power company anyway, regardless of how much power youre using.)
This will give you your power rate.
The average cost for electricity in America is $0.10 per kW.
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 15
3.
ENERGY PRICES This you cant control, however, the faster energy prices rise, the quicker
your solar panels will pay themselves off. This is because your solar system will save you more
money off your power bill. Your solar panels make the same amount of energy, but this energy is more
expensive. Therefore, you spend less on expensive power.
4.
YOUR HOUSE VALUE Studies have shown that solar panels add to the value of your
house. This value added is approximately 15 times the yearly power bill savings. Heres one such study
Oregon Realtors - Solar Value Added to House Resale
For example, if your solar system saves you $500 in the rst year, the system has added about $7500 to
the value to your house.
For solar electric panel payback time, go and check this Solar Calculator thatll give you an estimate
of payback time.
10
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 16
NB. its important to realize that values from the Solar Calculator are estimates of payback time, and cost.
When installing solar, its recommended to get a professional costing because there are so many variables that
affect your solar panel performance.
4.
WARRANTY When selecting a solar supplier, make sure that you are getting a suitable
length of warranty for the solar system. Solar electric systems should be warrantied for 20-25 years.
Inverters can also be warrantied for 2-5 years.
The reason why a warranty is so important is that solar panels are a long term investment. By having
a longer warranty, you are guaranteeing that you will get your return on investment.
Rebates Available
See DSIREUSA.org
Each state provides rebates and cash incentives. Some states provide greater benets than others. Most
rebates can only be applied for after you have installed your solar system. Some rebates allow you to claim tax
rebates from the state for several years after installation of your solar system.
There is also a federal rebate you get 30% off the price of your solar system in tax rebates. The maximum
amount you can get is $2000. And if you install a solar electric system and a solar hot water system, you can
claim for both of these systems separately.
This rebate is available to everyone who installs a solar system. One thing to know though, is that most other
rebates come on a rst come, rst served basis. Each year, a certain amount of money is allocated to give to
people claiming the rebate. Once that amount is reached, either the rebate amount is less, or the rebate is no
longer available.
Solar Trading Post LLC 2008
11
What is Solar Electric Energy
Types of Solar Panels
Components
Types of Solar Systems
Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot
Water
Sizing
Costing
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Heres a site the calculates your savings per year for doing the switch:
Light Bulbs America
ENERGY EFFICIENT APPLIANCES One way to check for this is the energy star rating system. Heres a USA
government website where you can nd energy efcient appliances:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=appliances.pr_appliances
You can also look for the energy star logo on appliances in stores.
Appliances with this sticker have met the energy efciency guidelines set by the EPA and US Department of
Energy.
PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN If you are building a house, design for passive solar heat gains. Heres an article on
solar house plans describing the principles behind this.
INSULATION This cuts down on heat losses and your heating bill. Many states have grants in place for
improving your houses energy efciency. Some programs will even put extra insulation into your house for
free. Check DSIREUSA.org for details. Look up energy efciency rebates.
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 18
12
This is a quick checklist to ll out before contacting with solar power installers and suppliers.
Check that part of your roof that faces south is unshaded from 9am-4pm. (Actually, facing
south is best practice in the Northern Hemisphere. However, you can get away with 90 each
side of South without too much loss in efciency.)
Make sure that if you are connected to the grid and can have net metering. See DSIREusa
Roof area. The rule of thumb is 100ft2 per kW of solar power. So if you want a 1kW system,
you would need at least 100ft2 of unshaded roof.
Check your annual sunlight. Less sunny states like NYC and NJ have many solar installations.
Solar power can work in less sunny areas as well.
An important thing is to own your own house, or be planning to buy one. Solar panels can
be tted onto existing houses. They are easily integrated into new houses. However, they are a
long term investment and cannot be easily transported. If you dont own your own house, and
want to explore solar energy, then you might want to look at portable solar panels
Check that your length of warranty will guarantee your solar power investment 20-25 years
for solar electric panels
Look for competent solar installers in an approved directory a good place to start is:
Find Solar - Directory of Pre-Screened Solar Professionals
What is Solar Electric Energy
Check what rebates are available to you and how to claim them
Thank you for taking the time to get educated about solar energy. Id like to personally wish you all the very
best for your solar future.
DISCLAIMER The information contained in this manual is based on sources and information reasonably believed to be accurate
as of the time it was recorded or created. However, this material deals with topics that are constantly changing and are subject
to ongoing changes related to technology and the market place as well as legal and related compliance issues. Therefore, the
completeness and current accuracy of the materials cannot be guaranteed. These materials do not constitute legal, compliance,
nancial, tax, accounting, or related advice.
The end user of this information should therefore use the contents of this manual and the materials as a general guideline and not as
the ultimate source of current information and when appropriate the user should consult their own accounting, construction or other
advisors.
Any case studies, examples, illustrations cannot guarantee that the user will achieve similar results. In fact, your results may vary
signicantly and factors such as your climate, house site and many other circumstances may and will cause results to vary.
PRIVACY POLICY I never sell, rent, trade or lend any information about my subscribers to anyone, for any reason, whatsoever. I
assure you that your privacy is respected and well protected.
Installing
Payback Time
Solar Rebates
Maintanence & Before You Buy
Solar Buyers Checklist
page 21