The cost of solar panels varies from home to home, depending on the size of the system. The larger the system, the more panels you have and the more your electric bills go down. You choose your system size based on what portion of your electricity needs you want your panels to supply. The size of your system is limited only by your available roof space. It’s possible to supply 100% of your home’s electricity from solar panels, but most solar homes are “hybrids”, with part of their electricity coming from panels and part from the utility grid.
The combination of government and utility incentives can drive down the cost of your solar installation by 50-80%! Federal, State, and Local governments, along with utilities, are pitching in to lower the cost of your solar panels because solar is a great investment for them as well as for you.
The Federal rebate is very straightforward: it’s 30% off your installation price. All states have some kind of rebate or grant program that provides reimbursement to homeowners for solar installations. There are also a variety of local incentives that might be available to you depending on where you live. The incentives require some paperwork, which Astrum Solar will take care of for you.
Get more details on incentives and rebates in your state here.
Most states have laws requiring utilities to produce a percentage of their electricity using renewable sources of energy (or pay a fine to the state). The utility can meet this requirement by buying Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) from solar homeowners. It’s a win-win-win situation! You get money from the utility for putting up solar panels, the utilities don’t need to become experts in adding solar to roofs, and the state gets more solar installations.
Astrum Solar can offer you the best value for your SRECs. That’s because SREC prices are not fixed but negotiated, and Astrum Solar, as one of the region’s top SREC aggregators, has the leverage to get the best price for our customers. We are also the only installation company that offers an upfront payment for the value of all your future SRECs, thereby reducing the initial out-of-pocket cost of your installation. Astrum Solar customers have the option of selling their SRECs to Astrum Solar upon purchase of their solar system or over a period of years. When you use our Solar Calculator to get an estimate for a solar installation for your home, it will show you the price we can offer you for your SRECs.
A typical 5 kW system costs $31,750 and offsets $882 per year of electricity costs at today’s electricity prices. But with available government incentives the net investment is only $9,100. Not bad for helping save the earth!
A typical installation is 5 kW (5,000 watts). When the sun shines on those solar panels for one hour (in non-cloudy conditions), they produce 5,000 watt-hours, or 5 kWh of electricity. On a cloudy or short winter day, the panels might produce 15-17 kWh during the day. On a perfect, clear sunny day, they might produce 30kWh of electricity during the day.
A regular light bulb uses 60 watt-hours of electricity in one hour. A fluorescent light bulb uses 15 watt-hours in one hour. A large plasma screen TV uses about 150 watt-hours in one hour.
So on a great sunny day, your panels would produce enough electricity to power your large plasma TV for 200 hours or one regular light bulb for 500 hours or a fluorescent bulb for 2,000 hours.
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