[American Solar One]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I checked the Project Sunroof link, and their analysis seems to have several flaws:

1. They assume that the solar system will completely eliminate your electric bill. Even if the system provided all of the electricity for your house, you will still have a bill from the electric company.
2. They provide no consideration for the time value of the initial money that you pay for the system, even though they do assume that the cost of electricity will increase every year.
3. They do not consider that, after 20 years, the solar system will be at it's life cycle end, which means that it will be almost worthless. But, if you invested the money instead of buying a solar system, you would still have your entire principal investment after the 20 years.
4. There is no cost for maintenance of the system for 20 years. And, there is no consideration of the cost to remove and re-install the panels when you replace your roof, which is an almost guaranteed cost in The Villages.

OP, I think it would be helpful if you could address these points for those considering a solar system.

Hi retiredguy123

The project sunroof is more to give you an idea of the solar profile for your home than actual numbers. Its a Google webpage, not specific to any particular solar company. Sorry for the confusion.

1. They assume that the solar system will completely eliminate your electric bill. Even if the system provided all of the electricity for your house, you will still have a bill from the electric company.

Yes, that particular page assumes 100% coverage, however an actual design would need to know your historical usage. Again, its just to get an idea if your home could go solar, it's not specific to your home because it doesn't know how much electricity you use.

2. They provide no consideration for the time value of the initial money that you pay for the system, even though they do assume that the cost of electricity will increase every year. .

What initial money? Are you planning on paying cash for the system, or are you using a finance option?

3. They do not consider that, after 20 years, the solar system will be at it's life cycle end, which means that it will be almost worthless. But, if you invested the money instead of buying a solar system, you would still have your entire principal investment after the 20 years.

The panels have a 25 year linear production guarantee. They will still be 86% efficient at year 25 as they are day 1.

Yes, if you are looking for an investment vehicle, you wouldn't buy solar. You buy solar to reduce or eliminate your electric cost over time. It's not an annuity or mutual fund, solar is producing electricity. You pay for electricity now, this is a replacement. Make sense?

4. There is no cost for maintenance of the system for 20 years. And, there is no consideration of the cost to remove and re-install the panels when you replace your roof, which is an almost guaranteed cost in The Villages.

Correct. No maintenance cost. PV panels do not need to be washed. There are no moving parts. Everything has a warranty.

I would not recommend removing and replacing your roof once you have solar. You would replace the roof prior to solar, get the 26% Federal Tax Incentive, and then not worry about it. The panels protect the roof. It makes no sense to pull panel off to replace a roof surface that was protected from solar radiation and weathering for 25 years

Thanks for your time. Have a great day!