In the News
3/23/2009 - Several solar related Bills passed in NM Legislature this year...
hb-572 SOLAR ENERGY IMPROVEMENT SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS, enabling no-down, long term loans to be collected via property taxes.
hb-893 RESIDENTIAL SOLAR TECH IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS, similar but allows either Counties or cities to create tax Distrcts and create Bonds.
sb-237 RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX CREDIT, adds tax credits for corporate facilities for solar and geothermal
|
How much does it cost? There are some variables like the quality of the components, type of racking, and the cost of labor. Unless you are a Master electrician, familiar with PV codes, city codes, and the utility regulations, you probably don't want to do it yourself. Some installers will let you help, and if you don't slow them down too much, you might be able to save a little on the labor cost. The cost of racking varies between ground mount, ballast mount (no roof penetration), standoffs, or awnings. The majority of the cost is the panels themselves, and there is a wide range based on quality and efficiency. Top name in panels and inverters is SunPower; with efficiency around 20%, and a better warranty than any of the others because of fundimentally different (patented) cell technology. Combined with a top quality inverter like SunPower, you get more for your money over the long haul. Ballpark cost for a 'top-shelf' total system including expert installation ran around $8.50-$9.00/watt in 2008, and dropped to an average of about $5.25/watt by 2014, and down to $4.00-$5.00/watt in 2018! The 'average' home in NM could offset just about all their electricity with a 3 kW or 4kW system. I decided to install a 5kW system so I would have enough to power the house AND my electric car. That's the challanging part! Good news in NM is that some new laws that PASSED in 2009 will provide a mechanism for homeowners to obtain no-down, 20 year, low interest loans and repay them through the County Property Tax collection mechanism; the bad news is thaat the PACE programs all got stalled out by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgages not accepting homes with PACE loans. This program never has materialized unfortunately. The real good news is that local banks are now offering loans for Solar with attractive terms and rates. The idea is to get monthly payments down to the point where monthly utility bill savings pretty much covers the payment.Financing Solar really doesn't have to change your monthly budget, you just pay a bank loan off rather than rent your power from the Utility forever! I updated the cost figures here to use 2018 prices... There is a Federal tax credit (30%) still good thru 2019 when it goes down by 4%, then another 4% in 2021 and then expires at the end of 2022. More info is available www.energy.gov Many States have a tax credit as well that may be applied to reduce the initial system cost. NM used to offer a 10% tax credit, but that expired in 2016. There are also a growing number of Utility companies that will buy 'Renewable Engery Credits' (REC) based on your gross electricity production so they can claim they are producing renewable clean energy per the federal mandate of 20% by 2020. If you 'grid-tie' your system rather than use batteries, your system will spin your regular meter backward when you are producing more than you are using during the day and then you pull from the grid at night. In NM, the 'average' home uses about 600kWh per month at a cost of about $.12/kWhr (2018 PNM price), giving a bill of around $72/month. If you install a PV system that would completely offset 600kWh use, it will probably cost about $20,000 up front (with todays prices around $5.00/watt for top quality systems plus installation), but only around $14,000 net after tax credits. This system would save you $65/month electric bill, and protect you from rising electric rates for the life of the system, which is 25 years or more... When you take into account that the cost of power rises almost 6% per YEAR nationally, the savings really add up fast. In 2008, I really wanted to go for a 5kW system to maxmize the tax credits,and have a good chance of offsetting ALL of my typical electric demands... Including my electric car! A 5kW system in NM can be expected to generate around 800 kWhr/month or more, which is about how much a family of four in a fairly large home uses. The local utility in Santa Fe, PNM, had a REC purchase plan which paid $.13/kWhr generated in 2008, plus spins the meter backward at whatever the current cost is, which is about $.09/kWhr (2008). So, for a 5kW system in NM, I expected to make/save about $180/month, which gets even better as the cost of power rises! The PNM billing system now can show negative (surplus) readings monthly, AND the total credit if applicable when you have produced more than you use. If and when you do 'cash out' by disconnecting or selling your home, you are paid at a low rate; not the normal use rate. So, you are best served to size your PV system to yeild no more than you expect to use on an annual basis. In my case I may produce a surplus in the summer, but then use a little more in the winter which will use up my net credit.... I will also probably not have surplus after getting my electric car up and running since it will use probably 100 - 200 kWhr per month depending on how much I drive it. So, in working out the financial returns you can see that while it is not a huge money maker, it will 'pay for itself' in about 10-12 years, and is similar to buying a CD or 10-year Bond with an annual return of around 5%, except that it pays out a monthly dividend with the REC purchase! If electric rates go way up, the effective return goes up, and it gets to be a pretty sweet deal after the 12 year mark. Recent news from Real Estate appraisals show that the investment reflects almost 1:1 on adding to a home's value in resale, and you COULD move the system if a potential buyer didn't want it; they would be silly not to though! I am convinced that investing in PV is a great move if you have a chunk of cash you want to put in a 'safe' investment and lower your monthly bills in addition to feeling really good about taking personal action to reduce your carbon footprint. It's a perfect vehicle for people that are approaching retirement and moving money from aggresive stocks want reduced financial risk, monthly 'dividends', and lower monthly expenses. In New Mexico, the short answer is 'yes'. Rules differ in other States, but in 2007-8 legislative session NM laws governing the installation of Solar Collectors were ammended (and strengthened) to invalidate any restrictions, except in historic districts. The actual text of HB611 pretty clearly invalidates any county, city, neighborhood, homeowners association prohibiting Solar Collector installations. More information on your Solar Rights is also available in a brochure. Experts! I thought about trying to round up all the pieces myself, and hiring an electrician for the tricky parts. But after seeing all the code requirements and paperwork required to file for Interconnection with the Utility, and not wanting to screw up the expensive equipment, I went looking for the most experienced outfit I could find. There are a handful of installers in Santa Fe - Albuquerque area that I am sure are just fine, but I would highly recommend paying a little more for SunPower panels + inverter rather than cheaper Chinese panels, and picking the most experienced grid-tied installers with the best warranty on their work.... which is 'Sunpower by Positive Energy' in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe/Las Cruces area. I was so convinced by my experience as a customer that they are the best choice, I starting working for them to help more people make the right choices, go solar, get the right equipment, and get the job done right! Contact me, and I'd be GLAD tocome give you a proposal!
I will post the monthly gross kWhr as they come in from PNM... My 5kW (24*210 watt SunPower panels) system produced around 25-30 kWhr/day depending on afternoon clouds. So far this is a surplus over my average monthly summer electric use which is around 20 kWhr/day for the house. I use a little more in the winter because of one room on electric heat, and the hot tub heater which hardly runs in the summer. Now I have the electric car running and drawing about 5 or 6 extra kWhr per day in the summer as I am driving it about 20 miles per day. Just about zero net use annual average, which is what I was hoping for!
2008/07 = 525 kWhr, partial billing cycle for 1st month production ---- 2008/08 = 863 kWhr / 31 days = 27.8 kWhr/day 2008/09 = 854 kWhr / 30 days = 28.5 kWhr/day 2008/10 = 836 kWhr / 30 days = 27.8 kWhr/day 2008/11 = 792 kWhr / 29 days = 27.3 kWhr/day 2008/12 = 652 kWhr / 31 days = 21.03 kWhr/day, several snow days... 2009/1 = 588 kWhr / 29 days = 20.62 kWhr/day, several snow days... 2009/2 = 767 kWhr / 30 days = 25.56 kWhr/day 2009/3 = 934 kWhr / 32 days = 29.18 kWhr/day 2009/4 = 897 kWhr / 30 days = 29.9 kWhr/day, 2 snow days 2009/5 =1042 kWhr / 32 days = 32.56 kWhr/day 2009/6 = 787 kWhr / 30 days = 26.23 kWhr/day, unusually cloudy month 2009/7 = 807 kWhr / 30 days = 26.90 kWhr/day, typical afternoon tstorms 2009/8 = 932 kWhr / 32 days = 29.12 kWhr/day 2009/9 = 799 kWhr / 30 days = 26.63 kWhr/day, typical afternoon tstorms 2009/10 = 910 kWhr / 32 days = 28.43 kWhr/day 2009/11 = 610 kWhr / 28 days = 21.78 kWhr/day, unusually cloudy and several snowstorms 2009/12 = 709 kWhr / 30 days = 23.63 kWhr/day, cloudy and several snowstorms |
