Was skeptical about solar panels for years, finally caved and glad I did

I live in Portland and always thought solar panels were too expensive and not worth it in our cloudy climate. A neighbor got them installed last spring and showed me his electric bills dropping from $120 to around $30 a month. That got me curious, so I ran the numbers with a local installer and found out the federal tax credit and state incentives cut the cost by nearly half. I pulled the trigger in October, and even through the rainy season my system is producing way more than I expected. Has anyone else in the PNW been surprised by their solar output?

2 comments

2 Comments

grayb6415d ago

I know a guy in Seattle who got solar and his first bill was actually higher because of some meter issue with the power company... took him three months to sort it out. Those federal credits sound great on paper but you have to have enough tax liability to actually use them, which not everyone does. And those state incentives in Oregon can change year to year, last I heard they were cutting some of them back. The cloudy season might be fine for you now but wait until a string of really dark weeks hits in January, that's when production really drops off. Plus panels degrade over time, so that $30 savings might be $50 in five years when you factor in panel replacements and inverter failures.

linda_clark14d ago

Are we gonna pretend rate hikes from your utility won't eat that $30 savings alive in two years? My neighbor in Portland locked in net metering before they changed the rules, and his summer bills are literally negative $20 now. The degradation thing is overblown too, most modern panels still hit 85% output after 25 years, and inverters are cheap to swap compared to the fuel surcharges power companies tack on every winter.