I was going to purchase an whole array of solar panels (a 80,000 dollar purchase) but after reading pages of pages fine print of the contract and then being LEGALLY lied to by the sales person, I decided not to and here's why. (I'm going to make this as short as I can but, still giving key points as I understand them)
- If you miss out on the payment of your solar panels, They try to put you at ease by telling you that they (company who sells you the solar panels) won't put a lean on your house but, the loaning company will.
- My objective was to buy solar panels so I didn't have to rely on the grid, not because of climate scam. Well, guess what? The local power company commandeers the power you stored or are generating during a blackout. Your access to your OWN power depends on the whim of your local power company.
- By law you cannot disconnect from the power grid.
- You have to have wi-fi so your local power company can control your own panels
- The percentage of the your battery storage limit is at the discretion of your local power company
- The salesperson does not represent the company. They are essential outside contractors. So they can make any claim that they want without the company being held liable.
- The local power company buys the energy from you at 10% of the value of the power generated
There is more but, I hope these reasons alone will convince you NOT to get solar panels
Yes. Had the same experience a few years ago.
Buy your own panels and battery backup, install switch on electric panel. Its do-able.
That is true but most ppl don't have the resources (money) or the know how.
It costs a hell of a lot less than 80K for panels, inverter, and storage for an average home where I am. Averaging 1K per Kw (not installed) . Recently helped install a 20Kw off grid system that was $18,500 for complete system. Add a disconnect and you are off grid if you need to. If you are in a state that says you can't disconnect, leave a yard light on the meter and don't sell back crap.
I know but, like what you pay on a house, the interest adds up. The real cost (at least with me) would have been about 40,000, give or take. They really gouge you and I have the highest credit rating one can have. (no exaggeration)
You can buy one panel at a time. “Know-how” just depends on how bad you want it. Resources are not hard to find.
About 12 years ago a home in citrus County Florida did that and installed their own stuff little by little until they were off the grid. The power company found out about it and they made him hook it up to their meters!
You are not allowed to sustain yourself with power without your energy company being involved. That is the law. This is who the politicians work for not you or me.
yeah I guess that is true on almost anything, but I'll stick with my backup generator that doesn't use conventional fuel.
Good plan.
Solar is still a rip off. The panels are dirty on environment. Can they even be recycled yet? Or are they like the wind turbines? A Monument to the merry -go-fucking the cabal gives us?
No, solar panels cannot be recycled. In fact they are so toxic that a special dump sites have to be made for them. Same with the batteries.You pay the special dumping bill
The solar panel themselves last about 30-40 years (so they told me) but degrades in performance.
Cleaning the dirt off of solar panels are the owners responsibility (rightly so)
The storage batteries last about 25 years but, again their storage capacity is lessened for every passing year.
After 10 years the performance is shitty!
From what I read from customer reviews and what the solar panel companies claim, are two different things.
So in one word "GARBAGE"
It would cost a shitload more money to recover the silver than you would get selling it. An ounce of silver is only 30 bucks.
Really? Care to share how you would extract the silver from the panel for less than $30 in your own home? And...actually make it worth your time so you'd pull a profit? Because I feel that right there would be an interesting read.
They are deceiving us with the distractions of what you just mentioned. Hint hydrogen and Fukushima, missing nukes, hydrogen car company due to go online in 6 months at the time before it all happened.
Yup! In Florida they were giving tax credits monthly instead of energy credits and people were too stupid to know the difference. Now they are angry! So the power company said they would start giving energy credits after 10 years!
That is when your panels are barely pissing juice anymore! They work like batteries in a flashlight the minute you turn them on they start diminishing.... So when there's not a lot of money to be made off of your excess energy they do not let you have, then they will give you an energy credit. Biggest rip off in the world! The energy lobby gets it this way because they didn't like people being able to reduce their power rate!
Where I live, those taxes have a 2 year time limit. That is say if you don't pay off a certain amount on your panels (this includes the power that you local power company buys from you) in two years it goes void. Not much of an incentive.
Either case I didn't buy them and if the latter is true, then I dodged a bullet.
No, you dodged monkeypox.
The ones with weapons grade Chineesium in em turn you double gay...
^this
I heard that too.
Yeah that was a shocker to me as well.
I purchased a 52 panel solar power system in 2017 and had it installed on my house in Southern Louisiana. It was great for the first two years. My electricity bill went from over $300 per month in the summer to an average of $150 per month. In fact in 2018 my largest electric bill was $190. In 2019, the Louisiana legislature and the Public Service Commission changed the law that the electric company had to purchase any excess electricity that a consumer generated at the same price the electric company sold it at. Now the law states that they have to purchase it back at a third of what they sell it for. This is the reason they changed all of the meters across the country in the last five years. No more net zero meters and back to charging you out the whazoo.
Good things never last. Always some cockroaches out there making sure it doesn't
primitive but effective
A UCC-1 statement is a legal notice that some creditors file to publicly declare their right to seize assets from anyone who defaults on a lease granted to them for their solar project. In other words, it allows the lender the right to repossess the solar panels in case of a default. This is not a lien on your home.
If you’re in the City, yes you must remain Grid Tied,, If the Grid goes down.. then you are obviously off Grid with your Panels . Battery back up. The Battery system is sized to run off the Solar System size. Electric companies have nothing to do with battery back ups.. only the Solar system,,. As you are back feeding the grid.
Wi-Fi is to monitor the system,. App on your phone, Company that installed can monitor.. — this is an option… electric companies have nothing to do with this.
Yes we are independent contractors 1099. A good energy consultant should find you the best Value & Products,, for which you are looking for.
Power companies sell at Retail & buy at Wholesale. They are crooks and continue to raise rates.
Most likely they would just leave the panels.. and make sure you pay your balance when you sell your house… so I understand stand what you are saying.
They have direct access to your Meter, Electrical meter, not Wi-Fi.. you can disable monitoring, and the system will still produce.
That is not true. They have total control of the storage limits of your battery and access to the power your solar panels generate through your wi-fi at their own discretion, as I understand it.
Every area has its own Utility company,,. If that’s true with yours, that’s messed up. The Batteries should be sized according to the system.. The wi-fi has always been an option (most use to monitor) .. but it is not mandatory in my area.
Seems this is common practice to take liens on people's property to steal it. I had a roof replaced, paid the total with a cashier's check and the company that did the work had placed a lien on my home. I had it quickly removed with threat of breach of contract. Always read the tiny fine print...
That seems to be the current thing. Inflation is skyrocketing and with the fixed rate mortgages the banks stand to lose a lot. Last year I got offer after offer to refinance. Suckering ppl into taking their houses by making it so they couldn't pay the mortgage and then stealing their house.
Not to have you dox yourself, but what state are you researching for?
a southern one
If you just want to keep some USB devices and batteries charged during an emergency, you can probably just either get panels yourself or buy those portable folding panels and batteries that are pretty much just plug in and use.
Maybe watch some reviews on the products and get some basic info about how it works from channels like Will Prowse on Youtube.
I did but, only selectively. You know positive stuff. I learned my lesson as to NOT USE THAT APPROACH EVER AGAIN. I really wanted a fall back if the grid should fail.
I just bought 60 olive trees of age hundred. Enough for heating here in southern Greece in the winter. We have one day per year where water does freeze.
Slow down turbo. Based solar professional here.
Most solar finance companies secure the panels with a UCC1 fixture filing - this is not a lien and can easily be removed to facilitate a refi. Unsecured loans and installment loans don’t use liens.
Either a battery or an Enphase IQ8+ MicroInverter with added tech will make you independent of the grid.
You can’t disconnect but you can bypass it with a battery or a micro grid with Enphase if the utility turns off your smart meter in the event of a blackout https://newsroom.enphase.com/news-releases/news-release-details/enphase-energy-launches-iq8-industrys-first-microgrid-forming
You are dealing with the wrong solar company - we monitor systems with Verizon cellphone chips
Picked the wrong battery you can configure Teslas however you want
Not a bad thing if you are dealing with a professional.
Most utilities in solar friendly states have a 1:1 buyback. - california as an example. If you don’t live in one, then you have to have a battery.
There are differing scams around different parts of the country.
Down here you can build them as you wish, and you do not have to sell it to a utility if you don't wish to do so, simply use your transfer switch to separate them out and don't let their 'smart meter' see you.
Pay cash or arrange your own loans and they have no ability to place liens.
The current technology simply is not sufficient to make the numbers work out for most people, less so the further north you go.
Want to know how to get disconnected from the grid? Stop paying your electricity bill. They'll do it for you.
Yes, it's probably not that simple and mileage varies between states/counties, but it's a start?
Still connected to the meter and they might come after you for (non-living space status)
I installed my own 6.4kW system for about $1.05/watt. If I had used an installer, it would have been over 3x this amount. It's not that hard! The main thing you need to know is to install a #6 bare copper ground wire and use the correct type of high temperature insulation wire. Where I live (Southern Oregon), the permit and inspection process was super easy. Our grid power provider simply reduces the kW-hrs used on the bill by the exact amount of power produced. Any excess power produced for the year gets given to charity cases.
How about if there is a house fire? Since the electricity on the roof is live, will the fire dept let the house burn down to the ground?
Emergency shut off. All systems have an Emergency shut off,, also Fire codes for panels are 3 feet from ridge.
Rapid shutdown is an electrical safety requirement set for solar panel systems by the National Electrical Code (NEC). Simply put, it provides a way to quickly de-energize a rooftop solar panel system.
No.
I knew someone who was going to buy roof solar and he called the fire dept to ask about this. They said they will not go on the roof and will let the house burn down if fire is on the roof.
Bro, that’s not true.. If they really said that, they are not knowledgeable.. I am on the west coast, and have installed on Firefighters homes.
This is 100% pure bullshit.
Hmmm…if the fire is on the roof, then it would be easy to turn off the electricity from the panel and fight the fire. (Source firefighter family).
But maybe there are different rules in each state? I’m going to do some checking because it’s a great question. Which leads to the next…if the FD wont intervene on a roof fire with panels, then why are some states requiring solar on all new construction?
https://understandsolar.com/are-solar-panels-dangerous-for-firefighters/
So, no, it looks like they are mandating spaces on panels but fires will be fought if you have solar.
Good to know
Don't know but, good question.
What's with all the anti-solar posts lately? Doesn't make sense, unless...
By law you can't disconnect from the grid? Fuck that. If you put a disconnect on your main line and turn it off, how would they know? It's the same as turning off everything in the house. Anyways, valid points and quite eye opening!
As I said you can but their workers have to do it. Though if you live in a hoa then you might be f^cked.
Wow. What a world.
What if you build a house and never connect it to the grid......
I think it would depend on the city and their bylaws. I expect that some would insist that you connect to local utilities.
Then you'd be scott free, unless some cockroach would make it mandatory but, that would be really hard to do or enforce.
That is not true. You can disconnect from the grid but, the local power company has to send a worker to do it. That's the only stipulation.
Not in Florida.
i don't know how it works there