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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Community
Forum: Hardware Chat Room
Thread: Solar/Wind |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 52
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enels
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 25, 2008 Post Count: 286 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Hello experts,
I'm getting a quote for a very small PV system. 3 panels on the front of my garage. Each panel is 40x60 inches and 300 watts, or 900 watts total. It would take 2 micro-inverters I'm told. No battery backup. First I don't understand the 300 watts. Is that the maximum per panel or some average? Surely they produce more per year in Arizona than near Seattle, which is where I am located (although we just went 56 days without rain which is a record. It drizzled a little 4 days ago but no rain in site now). So I basically want to know how much electricity each panel will produce per year near Seattle. The install sounds easy. It would all be in the garage. The electric service comes in from underground on the side of the garage. The front of the garage where the panels would be located faces SSE and is angled about 45 degrees. No shade. I don't know if the panels could lay flat or would need some kind of tilting. I'm also not clear on the incentives. I was told there is a 30% federal tax credit. Is this as a deduction or a straight 30%? My electricity provider is PUD, which I'm told pays 0.21 USD for every kWh produced for 8 years. Any rough idea what this should cost? How miuch for 3 panels? 2 micro-invertors? Labor? Thanks |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
300 watt is a nominal max output under "standard conditions". You will likely see 250 watt output under a bright midday sun. Taxes: it is what it says. A tax credit for say $300 means you get a refund of $300,
Inverters- micro inverters are mounted one to a panel so you will need 3 for the 3 panels you are planning on. KWH output: There are spreadsheets you can find online that will help calculate the energy output per year. You will have to plug in your system-specific data including compass direction, latitude, angle of roof, etc. Good luck. It is all worth it. Hello experts, I'm getting a quote for a very small PV system. 3 panels on the front of my garage. Each panel is 40x60 inches and 300 watts, or 900 watts total. It would take 2 micro-inverters I'm told. No battery backup. First I don't understand the 300 watts. Is that the maximum per panel or some average? Surely they produce more per year in Arizona than near Seattle, which is where I am located (although we just went 56 days without rain which is a record. It drizzled a little 4 days ago but no rain in site now). So I basically want to know how much electricity each panel will produce per year near Seattle. The install sounds easy. It would all be in the garage. The electric service comes in from underground on the side of the garage. The front of the garage where the panels would be located faces SSE and is angled about 45 degrees. No shade. I don't know if the panels could lay flat or would need some kind of tilting. I'm also not clear on the incentives. I was told there is a 30% federal tax credit. Is this as a deduction or a straight 30%? My electricity provider is PUD, which I'm told pays 0.21 USD for every kWh produced for 8 years. Any rough idea what this should cost? How miuch for 3 panels? 2 micro-invertors? Labor? Thanks |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
This is one of several online solar PV calculators.
Try plugging in your specific info and see what you get. http://pvwatts.nrel.gov/ |
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enels
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 25, 2008 Post Count: 286 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thank you Mark,
----------------------------------------I tried out the calculator and came up with 983 kWH per year here, for 3 panels. The quote came in and they can fit 12 high efficiency panels for 4834 kWh per year. Starting with 4 of the lower efficiency panels I should expect 1243 kWh per year. Interestingly the per kWh provider pays 21 cents per kWh produced by the lower efficiency panels, which are made in state. Only 16 cents for the panels made out of state. Edit: I'm leaning towards the 12 (lower efficiency) panel option. 3730 kWh per year. With the 21 cents per kWh credit it would pay for itself in 10 years. This averages 427 watts which would power my crunchers that use 350 watts (240 CPU, 110 GPU). [Edit 1 times, last edit by enels at Aug 17, 2017 9:59:01 PM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I am a little confused but from what you say I gather you are looking at a lease or PPA?
This is better than nothing but if you can swing it, owning the PV system gives you a bigger long term advantage. |
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enels
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 25, 2008 Post Count: 286 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I was going to purchase it outright. Most likely with a 10 year home equity loan. Are there advantages to a lease or PPA? Buying it outright, while the 21 cent incentive lasts (8 years) the savings in my electrical bill will cover the loan payments.
I was quoted $9,600 for a 12 panel, 3730 kWh per year system. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
The only advantage of leasing is no money down, but the provider absorbs most of the monetary advantage in return for putting up his capital. Go for the purchase.
What kw capacity would the 12 panel system be? I was going to purchase it outright. Most likely with a 10 year home equity loan. Are there advantages to a lease or PPA? Buying it outright, while the 21 cent incentive lasts (8 years) the savings in my electrical bill will cover the loan payments. I was quoted $9,600 for a 12 panel, 3730 kWh per year system. |
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enels
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 25, 2008 Post Count: 286 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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With 12 300 watt panels I understand that would be a 3.6 KW system. Here near Seattle they would produce 3730 kWh per year.
----------------------------------------Edit: To be clear, the $9,600 quote is after the 30% tax credit. For fun I ran the calculator on the same system in Prescott Arizona. 6171 kWh per year, which is 65% more than the 3730 in Seattle! Although I don't know what incentives they have other than the 30% federal. [Edit 1 times, last edit by enels at Aug 18, 2017 4:25:00 PM] |
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supdood
Senior Cruncher USA Joined: Aug 6, 2015 Post Count: 333 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Just turned on a 2.9 kW, estimated 3425 kWh/year system, offsetting all crunching electricity needs.
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enels
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 25, 2008 Post Count: 286 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Cool supdood. I'm still looking into a 3738 kWh / year system. Which would also pay for crunching.
----------------------------------------Edit: The system I'm looking at is $9,600. That's after the 30% federal rebate. I am trying to get a loan, and some states provide low interest loan. I think the 30% rebate lasts until 2020. Who knows what them. The system will take decades to pay for itself. So it would be a harder decision without incentives. Here in Snohomish county, WA I would get paid $.21 USD per kWh for up to eight years. So I would get 'paid' about $785 per year while the incentive lasts. There is a lot of labor putting up the panels. And when you redo your roof you have that labor cost again. So if you will need a new roof 'soon' you may want to wait until then to install panels. [Edit 2 times, last edit by enels at Sep 10, 2017 3:03:51 PM] |
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