Jae001
Member
Invertor is warranty for 12 years.
Panels are warranty for 30 years with a guarantee of no lost of power generation something like no more than 2% per year.
That's all part of the package not a separate payment.
But who's to say the company will be around for that long to honor that warranty.
I've done my homework and generally once the panels are up it's pretty much next to no maintenance.
They will monitor power generation and ensure it don't fall below 2% per year.
The panels should continue to work probably two or three time longer than the invertor.
First 8 to 10 years is needed for ROI. The next 20 to 30 years is free and clear.
It's $912 per month for the next two years no interest but that not factoring in the 30% incentives before 2019. In reality it's ~$630 per months for the next 2 years.
There's talks about the incentives going away completely by year end. Currently it's 26% after 2019 and slowly tapper off.
All in all - solar was terrible investment 10 years ago because the panels only last 10 years. But currently, it make sense.
I hope I am making the right choice here. Who knows... Maybe someone will come up with a better and cheaper electricity generation method. But right now, its seems like a good time to jump on. I just don't see our utility company will ever lower our rates. It just kept going up. The more Solar is going up, utility company will have less customers. Guess who is paying for the cost. The one without solar. However, one can also argue more EV owners are coming onboard hence more juice pulled from the grid.
I figured I might retire in 10 years. That's one bill I don't have to worry about.
It's a good time for solar and you are right the utilities are not going to lower their prices and everyone without solar is going to shoulder the burden. It sounds like you got a good deal now that I see the tax savings in there. Those will be gone soon as well as the credits the utilties pay for the extra power put back in their grid. I think at some point that will be zero.