Solar electric systems achieve record numbers in Minnesota
November 7, 2010 at 7:08 am in Alexandria Echo Press
Harnessing solar energy to power a home or business in Minnesota may seem like a challenge, but a growing number of residents and companies are finding that Minnesota is a much sunnier state than its numerous gray, winter days would suggest. Continue Reading
It would be interesting to see some ROI data. The last time I checked, admittedly a few years ago, the cost to install one on my home roof was in excess of $30,000.00. The worksheet I found on the manufacturer’s website at the time (not the one mentioned in this article) indicated that I could expect enough energy from the system to offset about 30% of my total annual electrical use. Approaching 100% during the summer, but much less during the winter months when demand is highest and available daylight is lowest.
My average electrical bill at that time was approximately $75.00 per month or $900.00 per year. Using that information I can calculate the approximate yearly savings as $900 x .30 = $270.
Saving approximately $270.00 per year on average, how long would it take to recoup the cost of installation? $30,000.00 / $270 = 111.11 years.
Just that alone makes the system not feasible but then add the cost of maintenance and repair and it gets worse. Of course some of this would be offset by the increased cost of utility supplied electricity, which is sure to increase over time but how much is impossible to predict.
I visited the website of the manufacturer mentioned in this article, Green Energy Products, LLC, and there it was confirmed that the cost of a residential installation would be approximately $25,000.00 – $30,000.00. I do not know how old the information is because they also indicated the costs could go down by 2010. But even if the cost did come down by as much as 25% as this article suggested, we are still looking at approximately 83 years to recoup the cost using my calculated $270 per year savings.
The average life expectancy of a person in the United States today is only 78 years. That price needs to get much more competitive based on this data to get my attention.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0