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Solar Electricity Surplus

By: Paula Dennholt


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One of the biggest issues anyone considering solar electricity faces is the upfront cost. Supplying electricity to an ordinary home using solar methods requires big solar panels. Most panel systems will cover the majority of the roof facing towards the sun. The cost of panels alone can easily exceed $10,000. Once you take into account batteries, installation, wiring, and other costs; you might be looking at anywhere between $15,000 to $50,000.

Many people however, do find the outlay worthwhile, if done, you are independent of the power companies, and are far less likely to undergo outages or shortages any time soon, and you won't have to pay any more power bills. Storms and line work can knock out power, transformer explosions happen. Many parts of the power supply system are decades old and there's little incentive for the power companies to upgrade. Having an 'off-grid' solar electricity system provides, at the least, a backup during times when there is no electricity.

However, with a payout time of between ten to twenty years, or more; some still see the cost as too high.

An outright purchase of a complete solar electricity system isn't your only option, however. There are several loan, lease, grant and rebate methods that can offset part or all of the cost.

Tax rebates and outright payments can help, legislation in many states lets power companies enter into arrangements to reduce the cost of renewable energy. Some power companies have systems to allow you to feed back excess solar electricity into the grid; if your system generates more power than you need; the difference goes back into the grid and you receive a rebate every bill.

Many power companies will subsidize some of the cost, via a discount for people who install a solar electricity generating system, and ongoing payments if you feed more into the grid than you use.

Leasing equipment to supply solar power is another option; there are some companies just starting up on that project. This gives you the option of lowering the cost of upfront install, but the total cost over time may increase. But, lowering the initial investment does make solar electricity more attainable for ordinary people.

However, with return times on solar power often taking over ten years, and most people today only owning homes for seven years or less, for many people it's difficult to view the outlay on solar electricity as viable.

If you expect to own your home for five years, are you really going to want to invest fifty thousand dollars in solar electricity? Installing the system does increase the value of your home, but rarely enough to offset the entire cost of the system; it's difficult to persuade a new buyer that they should pay for the entire price of a solar electricity system.

With changes in technology and new legislation and financing options, solar electricity generating systems are becoming more desirable. Investigating all the options might lead to you having a very cost-effective and efficient solar power system.

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