Free Solar Energy ?

I recently responded to a Craig's List Ad for Free Firewood. The guy had a bunch of trees he was taking down and some already on the ground. I asked him why he was taking down all the trees as I was loading up., he said "Solar". I asked what the deal was and he said the Company comes and installs the panels for free, in the winter if there is snow on them the Company comes and cleans it off, if it breaks down they fix it, they hitch it up to the grid for free, and during a sunny day the meter will often run backwards sending electricity back to the electric utility giving you a credit. He said the Contact was for 20 years, I asked "then what"? He shrugged his shoulders and didn't have an answer.

Anybody have similar deals in your State? I'm from Mass. His only guess was Gov subsidies it.

a reply to: ugmold

Yup it’s called net metering.

You generate your own power and sell the excess back to the grid at market rate. However if a company is installing the system and maintaining it for free, I don’t think your craigslist contact will be getting the energy for free as well - they will likely lease his roof space from him, or sell him that power at slightly lower than market rate.

I’m not sure the exact specifics of how it works in Massachusetts, but some googling turns up these links:

Massachusetts Net Metering FAQ

Can You Really Get Solar Panels Installed for Free?

It all mainly works through government subsidies, which vary depending on where you live. Some places it’s a chance to save a little on your electric bill, others you can actually turn quite a profit (if you can handle the upfront cost). Either way it’s worth looking into if you’ve got an unobstructed south facing roof.

A lot of the subsidies are also winding down now because they were created to help renewable industries become competitive on their own, which they are now very quickly becoming. Here’s how much the cost of solar has dropped over recent years:



Pretty soon everyone will be doing this

Its what solar city is all about, just making an entry here in Australia too.

Providing you have enough space on your roof and you are using enough electricity during the day it makes sense (of course you have to get over the idea of wanting to own your own system) but inverters, panels and infrastructure all cost money and may need replacing, this way the energy company covers it.

I dont know how much electricity costs in the US but in Aus the company comes and puts and installation on your roof and they sell you the energy it creates at a third of the cost (roughly). However, when it isnt creating, ie. at night or a cloud goes over, you buy from the grid at normal rates.

So what you need to do is run all your pool pumps, washing machines and other electrcitiy intensive items when the sun shines to make the most from it.

Its not good if noone is home at day and you are just feeding all that electricity back into the grid, guess what, your neighbour is paying the electricity company full price for that juice.

Really good idea and I think you will see it more widespread but remember, you only get the value if you use it, it really is, use it or lose it (until you get a tesla wall and then you might get a few hours at night free!).

My parents in MA are doing this. They are in a low light zone so it's not free, but really cheap.

a reply to: mc_squared
Thanks, those links were very helpful.