Newbie, what would it cost to have a good system

 HI I have a mobile home and will be on grid, but would like to offset
the electric cost with solar panels and maybe a hot water heater.  The
question I have what is needed and what would it cost to get started?
I would assume I could always add to it later if needed.  Dont really
plan to go totaly solar just yet but could in the future.  any good web
sites for this or maybe you all could help out.

 

  First, I would look at what programs your state has to help you
with the costs.
http://www.dsireusa.org/
  Then I would try to decide what I consider a reasonable payback
time frame. If it takes you 10 years of energy savings to pay back the
system investment, is that ok.

 john wrote:

Take a look at your electric bill. It'll cost (very roughly) some
$120 for each kWh on a monthly bill for the professional installation
of a grid tied solar PV system in an average solar location.

Say you're an average(ish) small household and consume some 12 kWh/day
or 360 kWh/month. Here that would cost some $50 a month in electricity.
An installation to (more or less) zero your meter, assuming net billing,
would cost somewhere around $43,200.

Needless to say, there are a lot of variables there but that should
get you a feel for the incredible cost. There are ways to save on
labor, get government rebates (sometimes) and purchase in stages.

Conservation is cheapest. This means reducing your electrical load by
using fluorescent lights, occupancy sensors, more efficient appliances
and the like. Mobile homes are notoriously poorly insulated so, if
possible, building it out with better insulation would be next on the
list. Then solar air heaters and solar water heaters would give the
best bang for the buck.

You might try home powermagazine for a place to start.
http://www.homepower.com/

Anthony

 

That's too high for my installation.  I have a monthly average of 937kwh.
I have a 3.8KW grid-tie system, just installed, for $22,696.    That's
$24/month-kwh.  That suggests a payback of 12 years at my current electric
rates, except that it trims the more expensive "over baseline" rates first,
so it should be less than 10 years.


I am projected to be about $220 per year in billing (no more room on the
roof for panels.)


Oh, that part ;-)  The gross price for my system is $35,289 before rebates,
but that's over double the size of the system you're talking about.
That would be $37/kwh-month.


I went for the most dollar investment first ;-)  Domestic water heating is
next, and then a Solar Sponge for some living room air heat.

Any lights in the house that aren't on dimmers are fluorescent.  The
outdoor CF floods are on sensors,except for the front porch.  Indoor
sensors are creepy.


I haven't had much luck looking at back issues.  The table-of-contents
don't seem to be on line, and I don't want to buy a download unless I at
least confirm that it's is the issue I want.

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA  38.8,-122.5