Are solar panels on your home worth it?
And did I go too far this time? Well, I’ve shared my experiences living with solar
panels on my previous home for five years now. Including the pros and cons of it. I just moved
into my new factory built home with the goal of achieving net zero energy, which means more solar.
I've experienced going solar twice within five years. Both with the same solar installer, in the
same state… but with very different houses. How did I go about sizing my solar panel system
to try and hit that net zero target before I actually lived here? And what challenges did we
run into … because there were some challenges. Hopefully you’ll find something to take away from
this if you’re considering solar for yourself. I’m Matt Ferrell … welcome to Undecided. This video is brought to you by
Incogni, but more on that later. Before getting into all the details on my new
setup, it’s important to hit on one important point: there’s no one-size-fits-all answer when
it comes to getting solar. You really need to lay out your personal goals before wading
into the solar panel waters. In my case my family’s goals were (in no particular order):
Environmental: Going all electric and removing fossil fuels from our electricity sources. We
want to know where our power is coming from. Security: Gaining some energy independence for
situations like blackouts in winter storms. Financial: We can save money on
our utility bills and stabilize ongoing costs for our home. This is our
forever home we're building after all. If you want to see the details on my old
house, you can check out my previous videos I'll put links in the description. Overall, we
decreased our reliance on the grid by around 55-60%. That equated to about $1,500 a year
in savings on electricity alone. The solar panel array was actually a nice selling
point for the buyer of our old house. So what about our new house? It’s much easier
to figure out how much solar you’ll need for a net zero energy home if you’re actually living
in it. In order to estimate how much we'd need, I was able to learn a lot from the Span smart
electric panel on our old house. I looked at the circuit data from Span to see how much we
spent on electricity. This included computers, TVs, EV charging, and other things that
moved over to the new house. However, I wasn't sure about the energy needs
of our new heat pump HVAC system, water heater, and appliances. It was
a little apples to oranges to compare. For all of this I had to rely on the Energy
Star labels, which estimate yearly energy use and costs. For our HVAC and hot water I relied on
one of the manual J estimates that a mechanical engineer put together for us. I actually had a
spreadsheet calculating all this up and wanted to share it, but I’ve completely lost it.
I’m not sure where I squirreled it away. At the end of the day, I had a rough monthly
average estimate we needed to hit for 100% net zero energy production over the course of a
year. And no, this doesn’t mean being off grid, that was never my goal. I could go on a tangent
on that, but I’m a big fan of participating in grid tied energy management solutions, like
a virtual power plant for home batteries. Being a mini electricity generator for
my neighborhood is appealing to me. In the dead of winter my solar production will be
too low to be off grid, but in the middle of summer I’ll be producing more energy than I need.
Net metering credits roll over month to month, so it will (in theory) even out over the
course of the year for kWh in versus out. The end result … we went with 43 REC Alpha
400 panels (these are 400 watts each), which means a total system size of 17.2 kW. For
comparison, my old house had 26 365 watt LG panels for a total of 9.49 kW and roughly 7,000 kWh/year.
This new setup is capable of producing about twice what the old one was capable of, but unlike the
old one, this new house is situated better. The better angle of the panels and less shading means
we’re getting better performance out of each solar panel. We have several large roof areas that face
in a southern direction with no shade. And we have a small number of panels on the front of the
house that face almost due west to capture some of the last light in the afternoon and evening.
It’s estimated that we’ll produce almost 18,000 kWh/year (17,998 kWh to be exact). Much better
performance than the old house. Averaging that out means about 1,500 kWh/month. In our old
house we were using about 1,000 kWh a month. My energy use estimates for our new place put
us around 1,300-1,500 kWh/month. I’m insanely curious to see how accurate, or inaccurate I was
for my estimates. I’ll be putting out updates as this plays out. Based on our first month
here, it’s looking pretty accurate … so far. Since this is our forever home we went with
a metal roof, which should last 50+ years and outlast the solar panels. Best part is
that you don’t have to nail or screw through the metal roof to install the panels. Unless
one of the carpenters working on your house accidentally drives a screw through your brand
new metal roof (more on that in just a second). And speaking of not getting screwed, there’s
things you should really do to take back some of the control around your online privacy. And
today’s sponsor, Incongi, can help with that. I’ve mentioned this before, but I signed up for a
newsletter from a small online retailer and after I did I saw a major increase in the number
of promotional emails I was receiving from companies I’ve never heard of. When that happens
… it’s kind of like finding a screw through your brand new roof. That happened because that company
sold my information to a databroker ... I’m sure you’ve experienced it too. Incogi can help with
this. We have the right to request that data brokers delete our information, but it takes a
lot of time and effort. I signed up for Icogni, gave them the legal right to work on my behalf,
and then … just sat back and relaxed. You’ll see updates on your account for which data brokers
they’ve sent legal requests too and which ones have complied. It couldn’t be easier. I’ve
been letting Incogi stay on top of this for me for quite a while now and I'm very happy with
the results. I’ve noticed a difference. If you want to take back some of the control around
who has access to your personal information, give Icogni a try. The first 100 people to
use code UNDECIDED at the link below will get 60% off of Incogni. Thanks to Incogni and
to all of you for supporting the channel. So back to getting screwed … well … why
a metal roof was so appealing to me. Solar installers use special clamps to attach
the racks and panels to the standing seams. These clamps are very easy to move, remove,
replace, or update in the future. There’s no intrusion points the solar installers had
to make through my roof. Metal roofs and solar panels are like peanut butter and jelly.
But yeah, I had a screw through the roof that my solar installation team spotted when they went up
there to start the install. It wasn’t their fault, but someone from the team building the
house. In the end it all got fixed, but it did cause some delays with the solar
team since they had to steer clear of that area until the repair was done. And that
happened to be the area where all of the power lines from the panels wrapped around
the edge of the roof and into the garage. Good times. The solar crew took it
in stride though, which was great. But that’s just the panels. Each panel has
an Enphase IQ8 Plus microinverter underneath. The microinverter changes DC electricity to AC
and sends it to the central brain. From there, it goes to a battery and into the house. The
other reason I went Enphase specifically was because of the peanut butter and
chocolate combo you get with their battery system. I don’t know why I have
such a peanut butter craving right now. When I finally get the batteries installed, the
system will be able to load balance itself during a blackout. Basically, a battery can only take so
much energy at once, which you see referred to as continuous power. For instance a Tesla Powerwall
has a continuous power rating of 11.5 kW, which means in theory that you can’t push more
than 11.5 kW out at once or in at once. If your solar panels are generating 20 kW of electricity,
the battery can't handle all the power. If the excess power can't be used or sent to the
grid, the system has to be shut off. Typically, the system's controller turns the solar panel
array on and off. This helps control the amount of power going into the battery. In a blackout
or off-grid condition that means you’re losing a lot of potential power. Well, the Enphase system
can intelligently dial back individual panels to hit a load that can be used by the house and
battery system. Less wasted potential power. Their system can even be configured in a similar
fashion without a battery installed at all, which is HUGE! If the power goes out and
you don’t have a battery system, your solar panel array will shut off for the safety of
grid workers. Well, with the Enphase system, the system will disconnect from the grid as normal
in a blackout, but it can keep running locally. It dials back the number of individual panels
producing electricity based on the current power draw in the house. It’s really slick. Hopefully
that doesn’t sound like an Enphase ad … I’m not affiliated with them in any way. I’m just very
impressed by the system and paid for this myself. So what about the cost of the system?
Well, the new system cost $55,384, which yes … is pricey. The cost of installing
solar is hyper local, so it may be cheaper in your area. You can pop your eyes back in your
head now. I mentioned this in an earlier video, but I financed the install through Atmos
Financial, which was a sponsor in that video for full transparency. They had a great interest rate
and lower fees than most other banks. I’ll most likely be paying that loan off very quickly to
save on the total interest paid. Most homeowners pay off their loans within 6-7 years, which I
actually did on my last house. It’ll be the same this time too. It also didn’t hurt that Atmos
is focused on funding clean energy projects, so customers who bank there are helping to
invest in the future of clean energy. It’s a closed-loop, completely climate-positive banking
option, which I love about it. I’ll put a link in the description if you’re interested.
And no, they're not sponsoring this video. The Federal solar tax credit is 30%, which
means my wife and I can reduce our tax burden this year by $16,600. This knocks the out of
pocket costs down to $38,784. The estimate is that by around year 7, we’ll hit net positive
with the system and start seeing the financial benefits of production. But there’s also
some additional state incentives that we’ll be able to take advantage of to knock
those out of pocket costs down further. We’re also getting batteries installed
for this system in a matter of weeks, but I’ll be getting into the details of that in
a separate video. This will affect the incentives I qualify for. For example, my solar panels
will be eligible for a Class 1 REC program in Massachusetts. REC stands for Renewable Energy
Credit, which is a broader type of credit compared to a Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC). That’s
what I had on my previous house. It’s similar, but different. Right now the program pays
out an average 3.5 cents per kWh generated. If I produce the estimated 18,000 kWh a year,
that means I’ll get paid out roughly $630 a year. The credits are sold at market rates,
so the amount will fluctuate making it hard to estimate. For back of the napkin math, I’m
assuming I’ll see somewhere between $500-$600. The battery system I’m getting installed
will be participating in the Connected Solutions virtual power plant program, much like
my last house. The grid will be able to tap into my battery storage to help with peak shaving
during high demand events during the summer. Then at the end of the year they pay you for
that use. I’ve got a whole video about that I’ll link in the description and will go into
more detail on my new setup once it’s done. But no project is perfect or goes according
to plan 100%. A screw through the roof would surprise anyone, but I’m not talking about
that. Here in the US it’s kind of the wild west when it comes to solar panel regulations
on people’s homes. There isn't one standard set of regulations in the industry, causing a crazy
mix of incentives and rules. It’s why there’s an unfortunately large number of shady companies
selling bad solar out there. My solar company was surprised by the local regulations in my town
that they didn't know about. They have a ton of experience elsewhere in Massachusetts, but every
town is different. They were at the final stages, with a handful of panels left to put up, when they
found out they needed a rough-in inspection so the town inspector could see all the junction
points beneath key areas of the system before the panels went up. Some towns do that, some
towns don't. That meant they had to take down a bunch of panels, get the rough-in inspection,
and then put them all back up. And then get the final inspection after that. The solar team were
good sports about it, but it is a problem that requirements vary so much between towns. The
more this can be standardized, the more it can help installers streamline the process, speed
up installs and hopefully drive down costs. So at the end of the day, I think I did a pretty
good job trying to estimate what my new home’s energy needs will be, but the jury is still
very much out on that. We might want to start a betting pool to see who comes closest. Would
I have done anything differently? Not for the design of the system, but I would have made some
different choices during the build process. I talked about this in my “Net Zero Regrets”
video, but there were some communication issues between the different teams working on
my house. Ideally, I would have had all of the conduit runs preinstalled in the attic and
through the roof before the solar installers ever showed up. But because of the communications
breakdowns that window closed and we had to move forward without doing any of that work. The
end result still looks good to my wife and I, so in the end it did kinda all work out,
but I wish I could have done it differently. No matter how close I get to my net zero
energy goal, I've pre-paid for 18,000 kWh of energy each year. This will save me a lot
of money in the future. It ticks those three goals I brought up at the beginning. But
your goals might be different from mine. But if you are interested in solar, it can be
tricky to figure out how much energy you need, as well as how much your house will be able to
produce … and that’s exactly why I created the “Achieve Energy Security With Solar” guide! It
can be overwhelming because you don’t know what you don’t know. I’ve been there. I want you to
feel confident about what you actually need for your home and personal goals. My guide helps you
determine the amount of solar energy you need. It also suggests suitable equipment for your house
and how to choose a qualified solar installer. This will even help you decide if solar actually
is the right move for you or not. The guide uses all of the steps I used when starting to figure
out the design of my new system. And once you buy the guide, you’ll get any updates I make
to it for free. I’m actually working on an update about home batteries for it. And if you
want to get in on the 30% Federal tax credit in time for filing next year’s taxes, it’s
not too late. I’ve recommended them before, but I’m a partner of EnergySage. It’s a great
marketplace to find an installer in your area, get quotes right in your online portal, and
read through some excellent product guides and reviews. It’s a completely free service and
it’s how I found my installer over 5 years ago. I liked them so much I used them twice! I’ll
put links to my EnergySage portal and my solar guide in the description if you want to learn
more. Both really help to support the channel. So do you think I’ll hit my net zero energy
goals? What’s your dream setup? Jump into the comments and let me know. And be sure to
check out my follow up podcast Still TBD where we'll be discussing some of your
feedback. Thanks to all of my patrons, who get ad free versions of every
video. I’ll see you in the next one.
