Solar

My new garage is in the design stages. We’re thinking about going solar with installing panels on the roof. Does anyone have experience with solar?

 

Solar what?

Lots of things can be done, from simple water heating to electrical production and storage.

 

Solar panels for electrical production.

 

Had a system installed last spring as we moved into a new house. We got in before the NEM2.0 cutoff here in California, which favored selling energy back to the grid. NEM3.0 places more incentives on including storage and using your own stores of energy. Not sure if those are California only things.

I say it "saved us" on our bills, but it'll take awhile to cover the cost to install. That being said, it was nice to run the AC constantly and get $20 utility bills (still have a gas water heater).

We have been getting higher bills in the winter (not from gas consumption), but something to do with fluctuating rates at which they buy excess power back in low demand times, and generally lower production rates due to a different angle to the sun. I am installing a Vue monitoring system so I have a better understanding of what branch circuits in our house are drawing power as well. Our solar system has an app that reports current and overall production, but it doesn't break down solar production vs consumption, and the Vue is supposed to do that among other things.

Most companies will do a full work up of your house to give you a quote. They are kinda like sharks though- if you reach out to get a quote they somehow all know, and all come running.

Our house arial view hasn't been updated in google, apple, or bing maps yet, so the sales people still go door to door in our neighborhood every few weeks with an opening line of "We noticed you don't have solar installed"