I Think We're Going Solar! Any Advice?

My husband and I are seriously thinking about adding solar to our home. I have been researching it and am in touch with an energy engineer here in our area. We would be starting with the intention of being self-sufficient should the grid go down, but we'll probably buy a few panels at a time with room for expansion.

Here's the site of the guy I'm talking with. Solar Biz

If anyone has any advice, words of wisdom, experience or anything, I would appreciate it greatly! Thanks!

Hi BH,

I've been looking into it in my area as well.
Are you looking at battery storage too? For the nighttime?
Thats where a big initial expense comes in. The storage.

You can always start with panels only ..Connected, and Sync'd up with
the commercial power that comes into your home.
You only get daytime power, any excess is fed back to the grid, and is
credited to your power bill..So at that point it's really supplemental power.
You use the grid for "storage".

Then, later when you've saved all that money!, you could look into a storage system for your private power storage..

Hi spaced-oubt (for the first time, I 'got' the second pronunciation of your username. )

Anyway, yes, we want to get the battery back-up because we want to be independent if the grid should go down. With the world on somewhat unstable footing, we're thinking of autonomy as much as power savings. We might start with a few panels and work our way up to replace our grid electricity completely and then maybe move off the grid if it's still around. And NM pays 13 cents per kw hour pumped back into the grid, so we could even be getting a check from them every month!

I pray for the day I can finally afford to get solar and sell electricity back to my Energy provider being my ultimate goal. Thats really a great move for you guys. The newer Silver cells are supposed to be absolutely amazing. Lighter, smaller and more efficient. Good luck and congrats on cutting the cord to the electric companies. I hate having to pay them every month!!

LOL....You got it..."Spaced"..

First, congratulations on starting the process..
There is a lot to learn, and the products change quite often.
I first brought the topic up to my wife about 5 years ago..
We still have nothing..She accuses me of researching things to death..LOL
And I do, sometimes.I'll admit that..

I'm in Nevada BTW, we get a little Sun here too..
Is NM giving tax credits?

The feds give 2K. It's something. And what's this? State tax credit

30% of purchase and installation costs, less any federal tax credit

Does that mean we'd get 30% of the price minus the 2K fed credit? That's about 5K! Woo-Hoo! Am I right?

We're going to go for it. My husband has a 401K that we need to do something with and with the world bank in the control of - who is it Wolfowitz? Jesus! I'd rather have $20 sitting on top of the house instead of in the bank.

(although it wont be on top of the house, it will be out in the pasture.)

I think it means you get to deduct 30 percent on your next tax filing, minus
whatever the tax credit the Feds give you, up to 9 grand.

The really cool part is your power will be Solarized, and "Pasturized"
That makes it clean power, if I am not mistaken.

ah!

I just found an old thread of mine..2 years old..
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I was asking similar questions as you..

[edit on 19-4-2006 by spacedoubt]