The average monthly electric bill in the United States is $112.59 per month[1]. With the average solar system size of 5 kWh, about 22 kWh of power will be created a day saving you $83 a month, amounting to nearly $1000 a year! With tax breaks and other bonuses, the average break even time would be under 5 years[2]!
SREC
Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC) is an incentive to install solar panels that allows homeowners to sell certificates to their local utility. Homeowners will earn one SREC per each 1000 kWh’s produced by their system. A single SREC can be worth up to $300 depending on the market, and the region[13]. Why would states pay for homeowners to switch to solar? States must meet a quota on the amount of renewable energy that they are producing. Buying SREC’s allows the state to meet it quota as the state would have the rights to the power created while allowing the homeowner to use the power their system generated at no cost.
Figure 1: Sara SREC Infographic [2]
The SREC’s in the southwestern United States are not state-owned however, but there are services available that would work similarly to the SREC selling. In California, the government has passed legislation to increase the percentage of renewable energy being sold by utility companies; leading to privatized selling of SREC’s.
Solar Battery
Solar energy produced during the day is generally sold as SREC’s or back into the grid at an off-peak cost. This means that you can be losing money for the energy you are creating. Adding a solar battery into your solar system can help solve the problem. In California, selling power back into the grid will earn you about $0.11 per kWh during the day as it is considered an off-peak-time, and when you come home and use your electricity the prices have increased. Adding a battery system can allow you to store the energy generated during the day and use this power when its actually needed.
Figure 2: Typical day with a solar battery system [12]
Most home solar systems will range from 5-10 thousand dollars[9]. It’s a lot of money to be paying up front, but rest assured it will end up paying itself in at most another 5 years. For most homes, a battery system installed in the solar system would lead to the home being “off the grid” electrically. You may be wondering “Why should I install this expensive system when I am not going to be staying in the home for very long?” After installation of a solar system, the price of a home would increase by around the price of the entire system itself!