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Hey Matt! Did you think adding the solar panels onto a metal roof can affect the efficiency of the solar panels due to radiant heat generated? Ex. overheating
You mention that your system has the ability to cut off from sending electricity onto the grid in the event of a grid failure. Is there any switch that you have to throw manually to ensure that your system is isolated? When I got my generator (40kw, Deere powered), I looked at an automatic start generator, but it would have at least tripled the cost and would have required complete replacement of the main entry panel. It would have had to include a very expensive switching system to cut off the main line, or I would have legally responsible if my generator sent power back to the mains while they were being worked on. Does your system include something comparable?
I'm more north than you, with a 14.5kW East-West facing array (40 LG NeON panels on 40 IQ7a) and produced 17,000kWh last year. I suspect you'll hit 20MWh.
We’ve now lived in our newly built efficient house in MA for 2 years. It’s 3000 sf with a garage connected by a breezeway. Many of our choices were similar to Matt’s: metal roof, 15 kW solar with Enphase microinverters, all electric appliances including convection cooktop and heat pump water heater and clothes drier. We’re grid-tied with a propane backup generator. No batteries yet. Our house has a simple barn-like design (2 stories) so all the panels are on the south-facing roof. Cooling the house to 77 in summer and heating to 70 in winter, we ended up more net-positive than expected. That includes charging an EV. Lifetime numbers are 53.6 MWh produced and 8.7 MWh imported from the utility. We have consumed 14.6 MWh and net exported 39.0 MWh. So we overshot by quite a bit, but we wanted to cover the entire south-facing roof with panels for esthetics. At least we’ll be covered for panel degradation over time, for a second EV in future, and for the likelihood that we’ll want to be even warmer in winter as we age. We’ll probably get batteries in ~8 years when the SMART incentive program expires. That program pays us monthly for exported power. Last year that added up to $3000, though it is subject to tax. By the time we’re ready to add batteries, I anticipate that cost will come down and performance might improve a bit over today’s offerings.
@@MelloCello7 My house doesn't go over 18C (65F).. Like @jamskinner said, I would also die having to live in 77F. 65F would be my day time temp with lowering it to about 60F at night. I also live in Canada, so its pretty clear that location changes your standards of temperature.
solar panels are a net loss of energy every single time they are implemented - it takes more energy to produce each panel than that panel will ever give back - they can't be recycled, so every single panel today will end up in a landfill
Literally approved my solar proposal today. We over-sized our system a bit (32 x 410w panels for 129% of our estimated usage) to accommodate EV charging (which was not reflected on current electric bills since we just got the vehicle) as well as our intent to change out our AC+Gas setup for a heat pump in the coming years. I do have some lingering worries that maybe I’ve guessed wrong on my estimates, but we’ll see. My house was built in 2005, and while it’s not as drafty as older homes, it’s also not super energy efficient. My wife and I don’t see this as our forever home, but we still enjoy the thought of reducing our carbon footprint, reducing our utility bills, and increasing our resell value. I love these videos as a great way to consider other factors in our project that we may not have foreseen.
His energy production is at most 12,470 kw..... The Enphase IQ8+ has a maximum continuous output power of 290 watts. That times the 43 panels is 12,470 kw. Remember in your calculations that just because the panels can produce 400 watts each does not mean that all that power is available. I learned this the hard way after I bought my Enphase system.
Yep, that is a common problem in designs. Solar companies are quoting the DC potential of the panels and not the max continuous output of the inverters (or microinverters). @@Tell-me-more-75225
I don't understand why you used IQ8+ (299W) and not IQ8H (380W) for 400W panels. At the peak of the day when your panels output 400W, these inverters are operating at 75% efficiency. I replaced my IQ8+ with Hoymiles HMS-2000-4T-NA (475W) on my 400W panels and every week I see peak output from my panels exceeding 400W. I have data where they output over 500W!!! Clipping is horribly inefficient. I use the Hoymiles micros with my Enphase battery and they work well together.
Clipping losses are generally pretty negligible because you output more efficiently with higher DC:AC setups in lower insolation conditions (mornings, afternoons, partly cloudy, fall, spring, winter, etc) which helps negate the losses at peak sun conditions.
@@andRwhoo Not where energy costs are high, not by a longshot. Clipping 25% at the peak of a good day is not negligible IMO. Worse yet, on the not-so-good days when there are intermittent big fluffy white clouds, the 400W panels can output up to 500W, which makes up a bit for passing clouds, but if the inverter is clipping at 299W, it's a loss in addition to the clouds! IMO, unless the utility has a limit on what you can install, there is no sense in clipping.
Thanks Matt. I purchased my place in central california with a PPE solar solution a couple years ago and one of the first things i did was install a Sense monitor at the junction box. My stats for J-D 2022 were pretty close to yours. My system generated 16.7MWh of energy and we consumed 14.7 MWh of energy with a 34% independence from the grid. Your design looks very well thought out. Nice job.
@@rogerphelps9939Yeah, that number seems really low since they produced more than they used. Seems like it should be 100%, right? Not so fast. Production not only varies throughout the year, it also varies even more drastically throughout each day. Even if you have a battery(ies), once those fill up you rely on being able to push energy back to the grid. Otherwise that power is wasted and can't offset your usage when the batteries are empty, or when the sun goes down if you don't have local storage. So you're not being independent if you're using the grid as storage. In a nutshell, it doesn't matter which way the energy is flowing. If the grid is involved, you're not independent. You can only be 100% independent if you're 100% off grid.
@@awo1fman I would also add that CA has a massive stock of homes that aren't even insulated, much less including any other improvements in energy efficiency.
We're in AZ and I had a 7 KW system installed last November. We just recently had to pay for electricity during the months of August and September because we started late for amassing credits last year. Next year, I hope to make it the whole year without paying anything for electricity, which is tough when the summers are over 110 F most days. I'll let you know how we do in the future, but so far, it's a win.
We have a 10.45 kW solar installation with a 40/60 E/W split here in Perth, Australia. We added 2 Redflow ZBM2 batteries for 20kWh of storage. Even with ducted heat pump air-conditioning, we still have not needed to use any power from the grid. I am really liking the redflow batteries as they do not use lithium and have no capacity degradation over their life. Oh, and they are fire retardant so no risk of burning your house down.
Holy Crap. 50kWh a day!! I'm in Northern Canada, In winter our furnaces run 24/7 or we freeze to death and we only have sunlight for 5 hours. My house is old and I have 2 heated double garages and still only use 28kWh a day in Winter! How can someone burn that much energy? Even my neighbour with 2 electric cars doesn't crack 40 a day.
What are using in your furnace? In the one home I have experience with a heat pump, I was using 30 kWh a day during the cold days in the winter, as well as the hottest days in summer. Most homes here in Omaha are natural gas for both heat and hot water.
Very smart of you to choose a metal roof. I messed up and put on a shingle roof before installing the panels. But I goofed up again by letting the installers mount the micro-inverters underneath the panels. What a bad idea. When one micro-inverter failed it meant climbing on the roof, lifting the panel, removing the bad inverter and replacing it with a new one. And this is a two man job. One to hold the panels up while the other person changes the inverter. I learned my lesson. When I expanded my solar system I had the micro-inverters mounted where they can be reached from the ground without a ladder if there is ever a problem. Thanks for sharing this video.
When I asked a master electrician about your easy to reach ground-level Microinverter setup (but with Power Optimisers) I was informed that there would be a noteworthy loss in voltage for all the extra cabling, having them closer to the panels is better for efficiency. The failures including labour should be included in warranty to fix them I suppose it wasn’t in your case.
@@JaylanYilmaz …When the original contractor broke my micro inverter during installation (on the roof panels)that inverter was obviously under warranty. That contractor went out of business so another contractor came out to do the job. Changing the inverter on the roof is a two person job and only one technician arrived. He waited in the front yard for 8 hours and a second person never arrived to help him so he got in his truck and left. The job never got done. The reason the inverter broke in the first place was because the original contractor only sent one man to do the job. When he attempted to hold up the rack with one hand and attach the inverter with the other hand he lost his footing on the sloped roof and dropped the rack, breaking the inverter. I was fortunate that the second inverter on that rack as well as the 4 panels attached to it did not break. So even tho there is a slight efficiency loss I would rather have the ground mount and be free of the problems associated with roof mount. At present, 12 of my panels are ground mount. When it is time to put up a new roof I will relocate those panels to the ground. If in the beginning I knew what I know now, all my panels would be on the ground. That broken inverter has never been repaired. I am just fortunate that I produce enough power from the remaining panels the the loss is negligible.
I have 22 panels on my roof, with each having a micro inverters, IQ8PLUS, under them like you described. In the first year, about 5 months after install, one of the panels stopped reporting. I reported it to Lumio and someone came out in 1-2 weeks and replaced the bad micro inverter. My panels have a 20 year warranty. Is that because I had a contractor and you didn't? The man who came out to fix it, was done in about 20 min and that panel started reporting correctly the next day.
I live in a modest climate and I used to be a solar contractor. I purchased a refurbished battery based system and got some cheap solar panels. 4.2 kW of PV, a 7.5 kW inverter and 14.4 kWh of energy storage. The city denied me on my solar panel installation because my awning is not structurally adequate. (According to them...) So I said screw it and installed the whole thing by myself with no permit and I put my system into "zero export mode" because California doesn't give you much money for your solar production anyways. So far no one has detected that I have a solar system, and I paid about $11,000 total for my equipment and still took the 30% tax credit. 😂😂😂😂 So far it looks like it will save me $2600 per year because electric rates are so dang high here. ROI of 3.2 years! (If I don't get busted) 😂
We understand that the goals and needs for every person varies and each person will have have their own factors and goals to parse though. However the point of this video was for you to answer if the solar system satisfied your personal goals. After sitting through all this information at the end we the viewers are just not clear if YOU are satisfied with your system's performance or not. Can you please clarify in simple words, was your system worth it to YOU ?
Your issue with local regulations is so typical of Massachusetts. We are so parochial with local fiefdoms so eager to over regulate. Then our politicians wonder why housing is so unaffordable in Massachusetts. This sort of nonsense drives me crazy.
Hopefully Enphase improved on their quality since I installed mine 12+ years ago since my Envoy Gateway only lasted 9 years before failing and they only give a 5 year warranty even though they give 20 years on the micro inverters. The only good thing was I was able to purchase a used gateway and their tech support did all the programming to reprogram the used gateway, they were great in that aspect, good luck with your system!
When it comes to power estimates, I have always heard to oversize the system. So basically, you calculate the extremes with the least efficiency. So you would use estimates and standards from a non efficient and energy hungry home as your base point. Then, when calculating power production, you estimate on the extreme ends. You take your highest use day and size the panels to meet that on your lowest production day. So essentially, your middle off summer needs are met with middle of winter production. Then, when it comes to battery storage, you always plan for three days minimum. More is better, but plan for storms and down time. It is better to have a system that can run your house at 2x or even 3x rather than constantly going back and forth with relying on the grid. But yes, always remain tied to take advantage of the money you can earn from selling back.
I've done 3 different builds and the one thing in common is I'll always have solar. Because I'm going for off grid. I'm looking at using Renogy 450W bifacial panels. Which can give me up to 585W per panel.
Thanks for this excellent video! We are preparing to install a 29 panel, 11.745 kWh system. Total cost without a battery is right around $36000 (before tax credits). Panels: Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10+ 405 Inverters: IQ8A-72-2-US Microinverters We wanted to add a battery, but that’s another $17000! Does your stated cost include the battery?
I love to see your installation and hear from your learnings. Next week I will expand my actual solar carport by installing a solar fence adding another 7,5 kWp.
Awesome video as always. Giving me so many ideas for my next home! Totally agree, states should step in and regular solar standards NOT TOWNS. I only found out about different town regulations after I had my solar installed, and then my parents had theirs installed. Congratulations on the new home, it looks beautiful!
Towns shouldn’t exist imo. Why do we need hundreds of thousands of the same laws, boards, etc. so much fucking waste for these useless administrators making 100-200k to do nothing. On the other hand, I do believe towns have the right of free association.
@@nothingtoseehere93 So you get cities with 1 - 3 million people, it's in a state that for the most part is rural, as most states are, and state politicians draw district maps for voting that aren't equal in population, they CERTAINLY aren't in Texas, so you end up with a lot of rural people in the state govt. and they're supposed to legislate the complexity of very large cities. Uh huh, RIGHT. That doesn't work though in Texas that's what the state govt. is trying to force by greatly restricting the types of laws/regulations a county can pass. No thanks I think our city govts. in large cities often do MUCH better than the state does in understanding what laws should look like. There's basically no similarity between small towns/rural areas and large cities. THAT is why you have city govts. And you wouldn't shrink the overall SIZE of govt. much by not having them because you STILL have to deal with police and the functioning of that city and ALL you'd be doing is passing that to a STATE assembly assigned to that city.
solar panels are a net loss of energy every single time they are implemented - it takes more energy to produce each panel than that panel will ever give back - they can't be recycled, so every single panel today will end up in a landfill
Even so many states create laws that interstate business a nightmare. The result is that only big businesses can manage interstate commerce, which helps them, and ultimately hurts the little guys. Neither political party can seem to figure this out.
I am installing a 13.91kW behind-the-meter, ground-mounted PV array this week at the back of my property. It's on a South-facing, fixed-tilt rack, mounted on screw piles, with bifacial panels. All of this is being done in conjunction with upgrading my insulation and going fully electric with heat pumps wherever possible. My ultimate desire was to always have the option of "islanding" my home when the grid goes down and being able to run off the panels and batteries alone but that wasn't as economical as just remaining grid tied, so that's what we chose. As presently designed, I expect to offset the bulk of my energy usage, but not all of it. As we gain experience as to how our PV system operates and how increasing our efficiency altered our energy needs, we will expand the system by just adding more racking on each end of the existing rack. It's really great to watch you go through the process and share your experiences with your roof-mounted system. Great video!
I think you'll achieve your net 0 goal based on how well researched your amazing videos always are. I certainly am hoping that you do anyways, as you're more than deserving of achieving what you want with how much you've given to me and so many others who watch your videos in terms of valuable information and inspiration for what the future can look like. I look forward to your update video(s) to find out the results you ultimately achieve. Thank you for all the great information and resources you provide.
So happy for you and your wife getting all moved in! I know what a great feeling it is to be in your forever home. As always thank you for all the great information presented in a easy to understand method.
That would take 44years to pay off the initial cost in my area. Not including maintenance and cleaning etc.... These numbers make no sense for the installation of solar. My area is $0.0975 Canadian pesos per kwh.
I'm still really interested to hear more about that company you mentioned in your other video, Terra Sonic. I'm super fascinated to hear more about smaller drill rigs meant to help drive down the cost of ground-source heat pumps, and make ground-source heat pumps more realistic for smaller properties. Please. I'd love to heat more about that.
the main issue I see with most solar installations: you have the panels, you have an inverter to create AC, the inverter checks if power from the net is incoming and shuts off when it is not. therefore no power from solar during a blackout (there are ways around it, essentially you need to make sure that no power gets sent out into the grid during a blackout - you don't want to fry the electricians fixing the network) the battery requires DC, most devices in the house require DC, so additional AC-DC converters. so if you build a house from scratch, consider a DC power system. with the current advent of USB-PD and more and more devices capable of it, you can save on money and energy losses due to needless conversions. sure, if you want to sell a surplus of power, you need an inverter.
Are you considering adding additional panels on the roof if you don't meet your net metering targets, or even just to minimise grid usage more during the year? lots of room up on that roof.
Might look like a lot of room, but some towns in MA have stupid minimum clearance requirements for solar panels that dramatically shrink the usable roof area. My system has panels on the north roof, even though they would fit on the south side, because the town wouldn't let the installers put them "too close" to the roof edge. Given that Matt's west-facing panels could have fit on the south-facing roof, I suspect he ran into the same problem.
Good point on the regs. They were mostly got rid of here (in Ireland) last year so no such limit on # of panels. Although easy/West panels aren't as productive as south facing, they are more active in the morning/evening when a house needs the power most. I hope to add a few east/West panels on my setup next year for that reason.
@@darthrainbows I'm running into the same problems in CT. So many requirements that it's honestly turned me pretty sour on the entire thing. It's almost like they just try to discourage you from anything, and if you decide to go ahead anyway, it's way more expensive and intrusive than it should be. And they wonder why people don't pull permits for things, even if you want to do the right thing (like follow the rules, or help the save the planet!)... There's may too much government and oversight these days!
I suggest you avoid using the term "forever home". It locks your mind in a box in which you don't entertain change. A box where you eventually die. It's just a house. Live there for the time it serves you, but if somewhere else starts calling, sell your house and answer that call. Life is an adventure.
Yes solar is worth it especially if your off grid. I am going mostly d.c. in my cottage. One big inverter with super capacitor bank for a.c. tools like welder or circular saw. Gonna wire my cottage more like a sailboat. Lots of d.c. appliances that use less energy than a.c. equivalents.
what about cost of capacitors .. do they need bms or any support or just solar charger settings ? ?. i need for welder and heavy induction tools for my warehouse and those lfp bmses are a bit weak in real life tests
For a 12volt lighting option look into PMMI Lighting Inc. They use 12v LEDs run off of CAT5/6 cable from ethernet hubs controlled by a Rasberry Pi on a spread sheet. Each light can be controlled by multiple switches throughout the house as assigned by the spreadsheet. Can also be controlled by a phone. I saw a demonstration at a home show. It was really cool what they could do.
@@panospapadimitriou3498 I was responding to the OP. I have very little knowledge of what it takes to run a welder from solar. Something that comes to mind is to build a separate system solely to run the heavier equipment.
with 7 years? yea, i can see why no one wants solar at their homes. idk about over paying for equipment that will be out of date, worn down, or even be broken after finishing paying. crazy to think ppl are okay with being scammed like this. imagine the system breaking one day and the whole then just becomes a paper weight for your house for a month. then you still have to pay for it after a repair bill
Firstly, thanks very much for all the great videos and info on solar. Because of you, I signed up for solar sage (a few years ago) and finally decided to pull the trigger over the summer. Solar Sage had about 8 contractors reply with quotes. I independently reviewed each one and picked "Solar Roof and Air" out of Clearwater, FL (and TX). They seem competent, but there have been hiccups with our install. Nothing major so far. We have the commissioning for our system within this week (or next). Our setup is: 29 panels (Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10 SERIES), w/ ENPHASE IQ8M-72-2-US inverters. And (2) 10KWh Enphase IQ Batteries, and the Enphase IQ System Controller 2. The energy company, Duke Energy, is pretty good about solar... and set up our meter to be bi-directional. Looking forward to tracking our energy generation and usage. I think I have space for another 20 panels if needed.
I am looking to build a similar home in Eastern Missouri. Trying to find a panelized manufacturer close to me. I am really learning a lot from your channel!! Since I have several acres to work with I am entertaining using solar trackers and pole mounted arrays. I can also do horizontal geothermal instead of drilling down.
Couple of points I want to make. Going solar depends on what you are willing to spend. If you have a lot of money going off grid and selling back your excess energy is the best option. Grid tied with net metering is nice yet if you have a too big of a system you will end up with a surplus of energy credits. Which means if approved you could rack up 100s if not thousands of dollars in free future energy credits which might take years to get back. Every time you get a new and better energy efficient appliance you will then earn more and more credits. What is you decide to go off grid and then all of those credits pretty much are use less. Now if you were to say get an EV you could eat those credits up pretty easy. Then you dip in to your reserves and now need a much larger system. If you are building new then consider the type of roof you want. Do you want a nice clean roof to which you can max out the most amount of solar or do you want a roof to reflect how pretty your outside of your house is.
Appreciate you sharing your new solar build. We also have REC panels & they've been pretty great. I don't believe I have the same model as yours, as mine are just 300W per panel vs your 400W, so overall we're capable of about 13.5 kW from the array. Nicely done, looks great! I might reach out to you in a year or so to discuss some of the choices you made regarding the house build as I approach doing mine. Thanks again for sharing your build experience.
His energy production is at most 12,470 kw..... The Enphase IQ8+ has a maximum continuous output power of 290 watts. That times the 43 panels is 12,470 kw.
I have an Enphase solar system for 3 years and the Enphase batteries for 2. The integrated solution is excellent. My solar payback is likely to be slightly less than 7 years and the batteries about 10. While 10 years is not a great ROI, compared to a generator backup which has no return (ability to sell power to the grid) it is excellent. We had multiple short duration power outages this summer with no inconvenience. I made these investments a couple years before I retired and am very pleased with the near zero utility costs I have in retirement.
Great video. I just don't understand why your solar has to be such a big system on such an energy efficient home. I would have expected it to be like half that size. What am I missing?
His EVs charging and he likes to participate in grid sharing. If VPP Options comes his way he’ll be able to participate and making money off of the system.
Matt, I’ve enjoyed your stuff very precise very insightful but my guess I’ve have solar out in California and I don’t have the weather you do. Of course my house isn’t as large as yours at 2000 ft.² and I just achieve breakeven point at 7 1/2 years, we paid upfront and I got past 7.5 KWH system and wired it for an electric car although I have two old Mercedes that I drive on veggie oil that said you definitely have overkill 17 KWH but better more than not enough I use 90% of what I generate and the rest goes into the grid which PG&E gives me a pittance you should definitely reach at zero I wish I like yours I did everything I possibly could do but still my house is a 1960s model and I’d love to cut PG&E out completely love your videos
We are in the Hudson Valley by Kingston NY and have a 16kw grid tied ground mount. It was turned on September 22 2022 and for the first year it has produced 20,086.79 kWh which means we are net zero. The PVWatts Calculator was right on in calculating the electrical production. The system has 40 Qcell Duo Blk G10 400 watt panels and 40 Enphase IQ 7A microinverters. Cost after all incentives and tax credits was $30,840. The location has limited sun as there is a forested hill to the west which means the mount is in total shade by 3-5P depending on the season. Our home is all electric geothermal, induction, electric car, pool and the system has saved us $5000+ in this first year. The house was built in 1987 and is pretty well insulated but not up to the standard of Matt's new house.
I built my home in Nova Scotia Canada 3 years ago and installed 10kw of solar panels, in NS the system is sized by a certified installer based on the house size(number of bedrooms) hence the size of my solar array. I do not store power but "sell" power to NS power my surplus and draw when I don't make enough power for my demand. On the anniversary of the system being installed, the books are balanced and either NS power sends me a check or I pay. Happily in all the years I've been in the house NS power has sent me a check. My home when build was with efficiency in mind, it's super insulated with 14" fully insulated walls, all LED lighting etc. I would not build a home without solar! As for costs, the system installed was $24k Cdn. At the time of installation I qualified for a solar rebate of $5750 and and energy rebate for the entire home of $9k Cdn. Using this all into the costs I feel I have almost completely paid for my system as power here is very expensive and only increasing.
Matt, Your original solar video was a big reason why i ended up deciding to have a solar array installed at my new house. Here in Idaho, power is fairly cheap as there's a lot of hydro-electric, but my new house has no natural gas and is purely just electric. We went with a 18kw-dc and 15kw-ac system that is sized to do 120% of my last years power usage, as the panels degrade over their lifespan, roughly 20 years.... as I'm sure you know, my system will still be able to produce more than my annual usage. I'm also set up on a net metering program as well as have a metal roof somit made alot of sense. So far I'm loving it!
Imagine a world where it's normal for every building to have solar roofs and battery backups, all contributing to the grid. I wonder if that could be a world with no emissions. A clean world, with fancy roofs! XD
Maybe, if people are allowed to mine for the lithium, cobalt and other metals needed to make the batteries, panels and turbines. Maine is sitting on a lithium deposit large enough to make enough batteries to replace roughly half the cars in the USA with EV's, yet they've banned mining it.
I dunno about zero emissions but definitely down to very low emissions, within the range of being negligible. It really would be great if ultra-low emissions would be the standard when anything is built. Extended family of my partner just moved into a new build house, and the only thing that seemed more efficient than usual was the water heater. Everything was still full gas and the builders didn’t seem to make any offers of things like solar add-ons, heat pumps (ground or air source), or heat pump water heaters.
I have 400watt Q10’s… IQ8M’s were recommended to me both by the Installer and then also Enphase Tech support. I don’t understand why he went with the Plus model??? Even Enphase website would recommend either the A’s or M’s for his panels specifically… so why Plus? Can you, or anyone explain?
I have a metal roof on my home. There maybe slightly more noise when it rains hard but definitely not a problem. It also depends on how much insulation in your attic.
@bobwojcik6196 Honestly, rain with a metal roof is some of the best sleep I've ever had when I was at my great grandmother's house. It was an instant off button.
The office I work in was converted from an old house with a metal roof and light to moderate showers are unnoticeable, The only rain i can hear is from a tropical storm or heavy thunderstorm levels of rain.
I finally got to net zero for the first time this last year.. It wasn't cheap to get there, but I fulfilled a dream I've had for a long time. First in 2010, I had a 3.6 KW put in. But I was still using propane for heat in the winter, and hot water. Two years ago I decided to go all in on heat pumps. But first I expanded my solar from 3.6 to 12.4KW. This actually turned out to be overkill, but at the time I didn't know how much I would need. In 2021 I had a Rheem/Ruud Presteige heat pump installed. I took out my propane hot water heater and put in a Rheem heat pump one. I took out my full electric dryer, and installed a Samsung heat pump dryer. The winter before last, I had set my heat pump lockout at 20 degrees. Here in southern NM, in the winter we sometimes get down into the teens at night. I ended up using around 15-20 gallons of propane for the backup furnace. Almost there. Since the heat pump didn't seem to have any trouble heating my 2200 sq ft house with the outside at 20 degrees, last winter I lowered the lockout to 15 degrees. We never hit that, and it never called for propane. Did it. Net zero. I bought an 2023 Bolt EUV last November, and even charging that, I don't come close to using my excess electricity I produce. The last piece of this puzzle for me, is a battery back up, and I'm doing all the research I can because that's such an expensive part of all this. In the meantime I have over 22,000KW's in the bank with PMN, and I just can't see ever using them, that number increases each month no matter my usage. I've never paid them more than their base connection fees/taxes which is $7 something a month. For that, they've been a great battery bank, except for when on rare occasion we lose power. Then I'm dead in the water just like everyone else. So my quest for a battery bank/inverter continues.
Here in gujarat india we have 24/7 power supply and power cut for maintenance or pruning of trees before the rainy season to avoid trees falling on trees is the only time there's power cut for a few hours,so investing in back up loke batteries is a waste both of money and batteries, moreover a rebate or subsidy is void unless its an on grid system only .No hybrid system is required, at least in urban areas
Hi, Matt! Thanks for all your great videos. We are in the final stages of buying a house in New England that has brand-new (installed this year) 54-panel REC395AA Pure Black, 21kWh solar array, which is great -- though the house isn't oriented ideally, so we'll see how much we actually generate. We're planning to gradually shift from a propane furnace to a heat pump HVAC and battery backup, though it'll probably take us a few years. You've been a fantastic source of information and we're very grateful!
I built my 1st house about 3 years ago. It has 55 solar panels on it and that seems good and all... however, I'm not 100% satisfied. After looking online about building a house, they say that experience is key! So, by the time you've built your 3rd or 4th house, you should really know what you want and how it all should work.
I'm probably missing something, but I'm confused about your new house being super energy efficient yet needing much more energy than the previous one (even if you weren't net zero before)
It wasn't obvious but I think he's eliminating fossil fuel sources his previous house had. So the electrical consumption is going up but total "energy used" is going down.
Likely due to switching to an electric furnace, dryer, and water heater. Most homes use gas for these, so switching them to electric would help hit that net 0 goal.
That’s actually pretty easy. He’s electrifying everything. So no fireplaces or gas stoves or gas powered water heater. You still need to replace those things with electrical counterparts. As such his house is going to use more electricity to offset no longer using things like gas.
I still don’t understand, because I have an all electric house, and it is not very energy efficient, we have baseboard heaters, mostly, and a couple rooms have in floor heat. My yearly electricity use is about 18,000 kWh. So I think either Matt is way off in his estimates, or all this energy savings that he’s getting is dipping him into the Jevons paradox. He’s building a much bigger house that somehow is only a little more energy efficient as the previous house, and so his costs will end up being the same. I hope we’re all wrong, and that his house end up being super net positive.
@@SuperMacGuy Baseboard/resistive electric heat is probably the least efficient of all options. One of Matt's biggest projects is the geothermal heat pump which is more money up front but probably the *most* energy efficient way to heat and cool a home. Our house has an outside air heat pump and it's amazing how low our electricity bills are and our gas bill is non-existent. So it's not an incremental difference, that's a huge difference in efficiency.
I've had my solar/battery setup (Tesla, 8kwh panels and 3 Powerwalls) for approximately 3 years, my experience with the setup has been very positive and I don't think I will go without a setup of solar panels and batteries. I live in Washington State and we enjoy one of the lowest (if not THE lowest) electrical rate, and a setup like this might seems wasteful but my main goal was for work and security. I work from home full time and I want a system in place that will provide continuous power without interruption in the event of a power failure, customers do not like it when you suddenly disappear from a zoom meeting. I am also sometimes required to travel for work and this system gives me the peace of mind that my wife is protected by the solar panels/batteries in case the grid loses power. If you are watching this video and is thinking of getting a similar solar/battery setup, my recommendation is to also factor in benefits such as increased level of security for your family. A setup like this will also make your house much more attractive to potential buyers if you sell your house later on, remote tech workers like myself values such a setup and you will likely attract higher bids from tech professionals who work from home.
I'm curious about the roof shape of your house. It seems like a very traditional design given that you designed it from the ground up and knew you would he putting solar on it. Would a roof design optimized for solar panel angle just not have made much difference? Or did you choose to prioritize a more traditional roof line for aesthetic or other reasons?
I wonder the same. Building totally from scratch, the roofline and total surface area of the home could have been much simpler and smaller. He paid for the very high end insulation and sealants but chose a design that makes inefficient use of those... It's puzzling. A square or octagonal (as close to round as standard homes get) house with a simple roof would minimize potential leaks and energy loss, and put all of the solar panels in one plane so their wiring all combines at one location. Why complicate the shape and lose so many benefits? It's odd.
@@one_field OMG, this. Why do people make such complicated roof lines solar panels or not? This whole house could have had one ridge line and some very nice alcoves and two or four each large pitches for panels.
@@one_fieldHe didn’t really build from scratch. He said in the first few seconds that it was a factory-built home, so he was probably constrained on several design options. It also explains the non-optimal footprint and roof lines; it is three modular structures tied together. I’m sure there was a reason for that choice, but not how I’d build my forever home (especially with a primary goal of being net-zero)
I have all electric R29 in walls R65 in the ceilings. Geothermal and 10,080 watts of solar. All 3400sqft heated and cooled at all times. I have had zero bills since starting the solar going on 7 years. I self installed the geothermal infloor heat/ chilled water fan coils. Myself. Quite easily for $22,000 (I drive a forklift for a living). Vrs $28,000 to $33,500 estimates for conventional HVAC. So I consider it a wash. I don't have anything to base break even on the solar since my house is a new construction. But based on what my friend living eight miles away pays for lp and electricity on his house. Way smaller. Built in the 80s. My solar was paid for in just over 5 years. I designed the house myself. Had the outside put up and did everything else myself. Pretty much by myself. While working full-time + lots of overtime. So it can be done. Way cheaper. Net Zero. Will have ZERO BILLS. From here on out. Heck I might be able to retire. Just sewer, water, taxes and insurance to pay. Going to have. Build loan paid off in 3 years.
Ive seen a bunch of stuff about home wind turbines being 400-1500w. Is there a reason why its not a good fit for you, location or not enough storage so its redundant? It seems like that little boost of energy would be perfect for your home especially in the winter.
Wind turbines are noisy, so many hoa’s forbid them. Also… the VAST majority of wind turbines are scams. Able to output anywhere CLOSE to rated output during a hurricane only…
I’ve read that many home wind turbines produce a lot of noise, and vibration if attached to a building. Also maintenance. Solar should be maintenance free apart from occasional rinsing off of dust etc.
Here in Thailand, solar panel systems are popping up everywhere. The government itself has huge solar arrays all over the place. I am building a new house in northeastern Thailand and will be one hundred percent off grid. It's actually one big house with several small bungalows for when we have guests. All of that will be off grid too.
Love the idea of solar, but ROI is way too low on a system like this. Better to choose a renewable power provider and invest those dollars elsewhere (other green projects?)
Solar panels do have an ROI at least, giving money to the energy company doesn't, you eventually pay off the solar whereas you aren't left with anything after the same time with the energy company.
He says he has 10% ROI (7 year breakeven) That may not be attainable where you live, as it certainly isn’t for me - but for him this is an absolutely spectacular investment.
@@FuncleChuckokay, I was going from what his old house was and the numbers don’t really add up to a 10% ROI unless it’s 2.5X+ power demand increase. So maybe a new house where all your HVAC is electric + cold winters….😊
So our house started 30,000kWh, then we sealed it and updated mechanicals, and it went down to about 16,000kWh. Then we solar/battery, and the net energy went to 5,000kWh. This last year, we did grid-export from batteries, while raising our energy usage, and net energy is at 8,000kWh (but our bill is way negative). Next steps are replacing WH with a HP, and washer/dryer with a HP. I figure we could get back down to about 5,000kWh with the same energy usage profile. Maybe less on a good year. Although, to make up the rest, I'd like to add a few 2kW wind turbines out back to help in the Winter.
Not a single solar company will tell me how much it costs to replace a roof with panels on it. "Oh, we will come remove them so you can do it." And nothing on the probably charging to put them back up.
@@AshleySpeaks4U I’d bet they’d charge several thousand to remove and put them back on. And watching them screw new holes in your newly installed roof would be a nightmare.
It’s mainly because of the battery back up. Once a battery is installed “savings” gets throw out the window and more for peace of mind if the house ever loses power.
Living in Montana, there are a lot of people that live off-grid. I thought about solar but not only does the state/county not pay you for energy put back into the grid, they only allow you to have a credit of so much energy and then zero out your account every year, essentially stealing the energy that you have stockpiled.
At 50 to 100 dollars a piece I would cover the entire roof. I bought a dozen of them for $600 off Marketplace and run my entire air conditioning unit during the daytime. In the desert where we get sunlight most of the year I cut my bill in half and I don't even have batteries at night I just worry about daylight collection... if you just want to quick and easy setup to taper your bill off I did my whole system for $1,000
My impression remains the same, since your last video. The costs you have incurred will take many years to recoup, especially if you're paying interest on a large loan. And installation/digging of a deep well are just the up-front investment. You have in effect created a power plant. Power plants need maintenance. That will incur more significant costs as time goes by. This is more of a passion project for you than a cost/benefit analysis. More power to you for that (pun intended). But most people, including me, just want the best bang for the electric buck. I just don't see such a home in my future, even if I could afford it.
I agree. Because there is a scale-up potential, I guess an aggregator of rooftop PV's or a local solar plant would be able to specialize and have efficiency improvements and then selling power at more competitive cost to the neighborhood. The same goes for batteries. The neighbors would then sign a PPA for a certain amount of annual energy if they wanted.
Hello Matt, I had an idea that I would like to share with you and the community. I have seen most of your videos and especially the ones about your net zero home and I remember that you have batteries installed, so…. What if you charge your batteries at night (when electricity is cheaper) spend the energy from them only and all the sun’s energy goes to the grid (when the electricity is more expensive). I don’t know if it can work but if it does we are speaking for buying it at almost half the price and selling it with almost double the night price.
It is crazy to me, how much power the average US citizen needs. 1000kWh/Month at a normal house? BOI! The average german household needs 250kWh/Month or less
We have much looser building standards especially when it comes to the vapor barrier on sides and top of homes. I also imagine American houses are a bit larger houses on average. A better comparison is kwh/month/sqf but Germany probably still blows us out of the water. Track houses in suburbs are notorious for leaking air and being inefficient.
He’s not an average citizen. The US EIA pegs the average US citizen at 12.1 kWh/day of power consumption for residential purposes. That means an average citizen is only using around 360 kWh/month. Him and his wife life together, so doubling that figure gets us to 720 kWh/month for residential consumption. Tack on the cars they charge at home and you’ll find that 1000 kWh/month is reasonable for them
according to my calcualtions, you can use diesel engine and vegetable oil to power and heat your home only at about 2000 dollar a year, if your solar panel money after tax, it can buy you 16 years worth of energy cost electricity and heating. if you manage to sell the vegetable oil to restaurant and recollect waste vegetable oil, you can have at least 40 years of worth of energy cost with that solar money.
Solar doesn’t make sense, from a macro perspective and from a personal financial perspective without massive federal AND local subsidies. Don’t you love being forced to pay for others home improvement projects?
interesting to note, but do they offset the costs in energy savings? Ignoring the environment and going for the energy independence is also a relevant aspect @@sebastianflynn1746
@@sebastianflynn1746 It really depends on the location. They might be a viable solution for the places that are windy, but don't get a lot of direct sun. Also, I'm not sure you're correct about footprint, while wind turbines do experience more wear than solar, they still last quite a while. Do you have sources for that research?
Thanks for the video, very interesting to see as someone who works with solar every day. But doesn't it bother you that the array is so nasty? Mix of landscape and portrait on one roof, that one module sticking out on the left side? Maybe that's just the standard in the US since all the examples you show in your videos are always looks like that. And I get it sometimes it's just not possible to have even numbers of modules but on your roof it would have been possible. I don't want to criticise you, and I don't want to say anything bad about your new home. I guess I'm so trimmed to that because we had big fights with regulaters, who often where architects, because they told us solar is ugly and try to forbidden it, or at least only allow it in places no one will see it. So we had to adapt and build nice looking plants with even numbers of modules.
I didn't watch the vid but I've lived offgrid on a yacht for nearly 3 years now. 1275w of Solar, 614ah lifepo4 and 7kw generator as a back up. Generator hours amount to 80 hours over the same period. It can be done.
going net positive is really not a issue, since in winter its really hard with the shorter days and often cloudy weather a super large array of say 16kwh for a typical 4 person daily use on eco may only produce 3-5 kwh a day than 35 in summer, i use rec alpha and absolutely love them if i had the choice the first array the last year of lg i would have waited a year for the rec alpha, even in shade they have proved excellent daily and really helped in the buffalo winter outage disconnected from the grid, even if it didn't charge the car i still managed to keep the water heated, and kept an air to air annex alive. but i would never go heat to water again for the main property that's listed, ( 20kwh heat loss and nothing i can do about it due to listing) we fitted a retro suspended floor to accommodate the under floor heating loop the 3400 ft main building had that and the inline hvac unit replaced and existing 70's air diffusers replaced with a second loop heat pump both 11kwh, it chewed through 19000 kwh in one year with 4 months off where's the air to air only used 6000kw total (it was negative 20) but still that wiped out all solar production and still left me with a 4k bill (we had a second meter put in so I know what was used for house hold as it was on a a different string of the three phase, what's worse is it never exceeded 63f. as the temp dropped we resorted to heating via the wood fire which defeated the point of the heat pump it was that bad, yet the annex was lovely and warm , we ditched the heat pump and have sold them, and replaced with a propane filled modern bosch combi 55000 btu nothing has changed bar the loop temps increased and flushed yet again, , that has had absolutely no issues heating in fact its too warm we had to turn it down, but it just proves that heat pumps are not the answer for some buildings, if you have a modern insulated or built since mid 90's there's no issues at all going heat pump providing you increase your loft to r30 and have modern windows, or willing to insulate inside for extra r , listed buildings like mine couldn't do that, we had to follow the original and go to hemp and treated wool mix, r 10. which sucks. now that we have had the first snow, with modern heat controls our usage heats 3 times a day for a few hours as top up. and is comfortably sitting a 72f day in day out, usage so far predictions are about 1600 for winter a huge saving, for electric our production is being diverted into a 30kwh battery array that keeps everything off grid and still have a surplus going back unlike last year, so play the numbers game with the utility topping up when getting cheap exporting when rates are high, so far the utility still owes us about 500 bucks that may change once net metering 3 kicks in next march,
If the mounting rails ran "vertically", rather than horizontally, natural convection currents can work unimpeded to cool the panels (which have a negative temperature coefficient meaning they lose efficiency as the temperature increases)
Dream solar setup is off-grid (doing without the requirements of grid operators and requirements), charge the batteries with the grid if you must. I'm also not a fan of Enphase micro-inverters, not only they are expensive but they are underpowered compared to the latest solar panels that aren't even cutting edge. Enphase also less efficient (compared to panels charging batteries) because it converts DC to AC, then AC to DC to charge batteries. You are basically paying more for less. Very few solar and battery UA-camrs use Enphase.
Your comment is surprising as I’ve only seen people rave about enphase. It seems the inverter in the panels is the key as they go out around 10 years otherwise. Is your preference Tesla?
Cool that you included coverage of the Enphase IQ8 islanding capabilities. I think you ought to include some mention of the fact that it does not come standard with every IQ8 install. The homeowner would also need to install a certain switch that will tell the micros to go into islanding mode, else they will still turn off when the power is out. That added switch and its accompanying equipment will run the homeowner something north of $5k including installation.
We added solar panels to our house beginning of this year. Went from paying 290€ per month in electricity to now paying 60€ (the cost of the loan for the system). On top of that, our local government reduces home tax by 50% for 5 years for having solar. This means that we effectively get paid to have solar. The system here is so effective that in my village alone, about a 1/3 of houses have solar systems currently, with many more on the way.
Hi Matt. Your videos are great. Not sure if you have decided on batteries yet. But I can give you insight on why we dont have batteries. We live in Central Florida. 14Kw system with (2) 7Kw inverters. Paid cash. Our Electric company gives us a 1 for 1 energy use/supply. So for some of the year we over generate and the rest we consume. At the end of the year we have a credit that roles to the next year. We have a 0.00 Monthly bill and have had for three years. That said our Electric company is our battery. So it doesn't make sense to invest in battery storage. Of course in the chance of a power outage, (which rarely happens and if so it is only an hour of so) we have a propane/gas generator which cost around $400. Way cheaper than a bank of batteries. For us it just doesn't make financial sense for batteries.
Yep, that makes sense for you. Batteries are almost never a net-positive choice, unless you DIY and already had a very oversized solar system (or a wild differential on ToU plan)
I'm literally getting my roof redone now with shingles. They swear that they last 30 years or more. I came very close to getting a metal roof because I want to put solar next, but decided against it because the one that gets you 50 years needs the hidden fastener system, which is very costly. We've switched out our 2 gas car, 1 PHEV to 1 PHEV and 2 EVs. We're in the middle of getting geothermal and finally, I want a 25 kWh solar array with battery back up. I want a system that large because I'm future proofing. If that PHEV becomes another EV, I want a solar array that can charge up all 3 cars and run my houses energy needs, including the geothermal. The more I can get off of fossil fuel and also, the more I can control our costs, the better.
you will for sure hits it. since we have similar size home and i also go all in with electricity. I est my house will use around 12,000 kwh this year. During this past winter my highest month was 1350kwh Jan-Feb. I don't have all the latest and greatest tech like your house. I use minisplit instead of geothermal.
The IQ8s are a big improvement. They support UL1741SA which is basically the standard that allows the inverter fine control of the microinverter output by shifting the frequency. Since its a standard, it works with any hybrid inverter system that also supports UL1741SA (which is quite a few of them now). The older UL1741 standard (without the "SA" part) only supported turning the inverter on or off via the frequency. One limitation of UL1741SA is that in order to adjust the frequency the inverter system (obviously) has to disconnect from the grid. If it didn't it would of course be locked to the grid frequency. This presents a problem when you have more solar installed than you can legally export back to the grid. I think, but I am not sure, that Enphase has an additional communication protocol that allows its own integration to control the microinverter output while still remaining tied to the grid, which allows more solar to be installed than can be exported. In terms of cost effectiveness... well, solar alone is always cost-effective. But throw in the batteries... batteries are always costly. Depending on a family's location, situation, utility tariff, and a few other factors, it is sometimes cost-effective to install just enough battery capacity to load-shift the high-rate period of the tariff (typically 4-9pm), but not so much that you can actually go off-grid 24x7, unrestricted, in an emergency. That said, this is still typically enough to at least guarantee a few lights, internet, furnace blower (gas furnace), and fridge operation 24x7 if everything else is turned off. -Matt
@@AgentOffice I have no idea what you are talking about. Enphase is grid-tied out of the box by default, which means it will export any excess to the grid by default. And Enphase CAN limit its export, while grid-tied, with the addition of a monitoring unit. Even the 7Qs could do that. The monitoring unit uses a different protocol (not UL1741SA), so no frequency shifting is required, thus it can remain grid-tied and limit the export. Enphase has been able to do this for several years. Most hybrid inverters like the Sol-Ark cannot limit grid export for any AC-coupled solar (they can for DC coupled solar, obviously), since they only implement UL1741SA (meaning they can only control the microinverters via frequency when disconnected from the grid). But there is absolutely nothing preventing someone from using enphase in a hybrid inverter system that is grid-tied, and limiting grid export via enphase's own monitoring system. -Matt
That was sloppy of your solar installer if they didn't know the regulations for your town. Even my small town of 5,000 people has a solar installation worksheet that is given to everyone applying for a permit to install solar. It is literally a 10 item checklist for the process after getting the permit. Many smaller towns in the surrounding counties have similar checklists so the installers know exactly what is needed for a given town. Since my town is so small, we don't even have a local building inspector and are reliant on county inspectors who are in town one day a week, so on the worksheet, when the installer has the racks and conduit run, they are required to take several specific pictures that are then emails to a county inspection address so they can be attached to the permit.
I wouldn't call it sloppy. My installer apologized for making an assumption during the process, but in their defense, it was their first time installing in my town (I'm slightly outside their normal coverage area). But every town is different and has different requirements and processes. Not everyone hands out a checklist like your suggesting (I wish the process was more standardized).
Wow that is quite a expense. In the Netherlands I installed a 16kw system with solaredge and it was 15k euro. Makes it more impressive that you went this route.
Glad the solar crew took the time to point that out and let you address it properly. A LOT of crews would have just slopped on a butt load of sealer on it and moved on.
Matt you could have reduced your costs by about half but using server rack batteries. The UA-cam channel "DIY solar with will prouse" has some excellent videos about grid tied battery backup. It is so much cheaper to buy the system and have an electrician turn it on as opposed to buying an enphase system.
I really do wonder how you come up with that '6-7 year payoff'. Investment: $40,000 Income: 18,000 kWh x $0.30 (?) = $5,400/year Interest cost: $40,000 x 6% (?) = $2,400/year Payoff: $40,000 / ($5,400-$2,400) = 13.3 years And that doesn't even cover maintenance costs, panel degradation or any of the associated risks. The selling price of solar may very drop below $0.10 as adaption increases, then you're stuck with panels that won't EVER pay themselves off.
I'm at an interesting position. $0.11 - $0.13 per kWh where the first 544kwh are at $0.11 then bumps up to the $0.13 per kWh for the remaining use. Summer time we see 1400-1600 of use but then in the winter, we approach 3000 kWh of monthly use. House 4 years old in Seattle region and is roughly 3500sqft with a properly sized heat pump/air handler with a heat pump hot water tank. The numbers I have crunched would result in a system about the size of your new solar system but would take longer to financial justify. This is mostly due to we have no power buy back options with PSE any longer. I really like the notion of the solar & battery for backup power especially as we get 3-4 outages a year that last roughly from 1/2 a day to 3 days. I think we could get our energy use close to zero though in the summer with a system like yours. Just wish we could sell back excess power.
Oh man that must be so frustating having the cable externally routed on a new build at 12:20 in the vid. I removed drywall to run conduit so i could avoid external routing on a 50 year old home. I am a bit OCD. These videos are great thanks for the info I will be keeping an eye out for that roofing material when we replace ours. Our steel roof is 50 years old and still good.
You plan is pretty cool. If you have the space and sun etc. why not ? I wish I could do that but for me it does not make any sense whatsoever. Next step would be to couple a heating unit with a stirling engine. This would be perfect for you during the winter, since you will have to heat your home as well.
Thats a lot of power! I do live in a small one bed flat (apartment) but I only use 3,000kwh a year. So you’re generating almost enough for my annual usage each couple of months and that's with bog standard electric space and water heating, none of that fancy heat pump stuff.
What we are installing (fate permiting). 13.2 kW panels (30x440W 10N10w10flat) 10kW inverter hybrid ready no battery at this stage but planning in getting ev with V2L. System is export limited to 5kWh. Feed in tariff 6cents kWh. System potential to generate 16000 kWh per year (live at 33degrees south). $9000AUD after subsidies, installed, paid from savings. Yep. Lucky country.
The mistake I made was estimating the solar needs before adding a heat pump and it does use a lot of electricity. I also had no idea that Jan-March of 2023 was going to be the cloudiest in 18 years, which really hurt solar production. Happy I did do a battery backup as power was lost twice, and with our system the only reason I knew it went out was becasue the SPAN app on my phone told me it had. Good luck on your net 0 dream.
I wouldn't mind having 150% of our annual need being produced for potential demand increase in the future. But, yeah, 6 months of being unemployed this year then returning to work with about a 45% pay cut... oof. By the time I can afford PV there will probably be cheap fusion.
We are very happy with our solar power, and power retailer. In the last 365 days we have bought 1946.3kWh of power for a total cost, including all charges, of $NZ634.98. Yes, that is the total cost for a years power including connection. But wait, there's more! In those same 365 days we have sold 5064kWh for a total account credit of $NZ860.86. Thus, over these last 12 months we have created a credit on our power account of $NZ225.88. WINNING! Any questions? PS all electric home, no alternative fuels, and also no traditional batteries.
I put up about 40 of the 430 Watt LG panels on my system a couple years ago for a 19 KW system, also with Enphase inverters, and that cost me $60 Grand, including $2k for a new electrical panel, so that sounds about right.
As electrical demand increases, the benefits of having power generation on houses gets smarter and smarter. It's a distributed grid that can take some of the weight off the local power plants and power lines. While the tech is still relatively new, I think that this is definitely the way of the future. Hopefully they can come up with some reasonable regulations to have it all tie together well. It just makes sense.
What you did not mention that you go from DCsolar to AC via µiv then rectified to DC again for storage then made into AC again when you use the storage battery in the evenings. All these conversions retain only 90-95% of the energy (at best)...not ideal imo, but it is very flexible
In San Francisco, houses are not allowed to have more than 1 Tesla Home Battery, or something equivalent, because of the fire hazard (among thousands of other regulations that even the city officials probably don't know about). However, this can all change when sodium ion home batteries become commercially available. Since they are not flammable, you can have as many batteries installed as you want
I wish solar made sense in my area! I pay a flat $0.07/kwh, and most of my electricity comes from hydro. My break-even on a setup like yours woild be over 30 years!
If you’re able to sell the additional power you create in the summer, that’s where the faster payback comes vs. straight up calculations on your power usage. In the spring and summer months you can essentially double (2-4x) your power consumption and get paid back extra $ for it. But the rate you pay is very low, not a lot of incentive to need to change. BC?!
Grid tied Solar is almost pointless in Alberta Canada - It costs me $0.12kwh usage and then additional $0.10kwh in Fees. so $0.22-25/kwh. But if you have solar and you give back to the grid, you will only get the KWH rate, not including fee rate.so around $0.10-12. You HAVE to over panel and produce 2-4x what you would use to actually break even on the fees that are charged. Batteries are the way to go so you can use the 15Hrs or so the sun is not shining. As for the utility tapping into MY BATTERY, wearing it out for money they give back at the end of the year, that is the pure garbage. What happens if they tap into your battery, use it all up, and then grid goes down, you are left hooped.
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Get a wind turbine too.
Hey Matt! Did you think adding the solar panels onto a metal roof can affect the efficiency of the solar panels due to radiant heat generated? Ex. overheating
Did you consider getting a wind turbine? If so, what was the reason you decided against?
You mention that your system has the ability to cut off from sending electricity onto the grid in the event of a grid failure. Is there any switch that you have to throw manually to ensure that your system is isolated? When I got my generator (40kw, Deere powered), I looked at an automatic start generator, but it would have at least tripled the cost and would have required complete replacement of the main entry panel. It would have had to include a very expensive switching system to cut off the main line, or I would have legally responsible if my generator sent power back to the mains while they were being worked on. Does your system include something comparable?
I'm more north than you, with a 14.5kW East-West facing array (40 LG NeON panels on 40 IQ7a) and produced 17,000kWh last year. I suspect you'll hit 20MWh.
We’ve now lived in our newly built efficient house in MA for 2 years. It’s 3000 sf with a garage connected by a breezeway. Many of our choices were similar to Matt’s: metal roof, 15 kW solar with Enphase microinverters, all electric appliances including convection cooktop and heat pump water heater and clothes drier. We’re grid-tied with a propane backup generator. No batteries yet. Our house has a simple barn-like design (2 stories) so all the panels are on the south-facing roof. Cooling the house to 77 in summer and heating to 70 in winter, we ended up more net-positive than expected. That includes charging an EV. Lifetime numbers are 53.6 MWh produced and 8.7 MWh imported from the utility. We have consumed 14.6 MWh and net exported 39.0 MWh. So we overshot by quite a bit, but we wanted to cover the entire south-facing roof with panels for esthetics. At least we’ll be covered for panel degradation over time, for a second EV in future, and for the likelihood that we’ll want to be even warmer in winter as we age. We’ll probably get batteries in ~8 years when the SMART incentive program expires. That program pays us monthly for exported power. Last year that added up to $3000, though it is subject to tax. By the time we’re ready to add batteries, I anticipate that cost will come down and performance might improve a bit over today’s offerings.
77 in summer? I would die at that temp.
@@jamskinner isn't 75/77 like the general human ideal??👀
@@MelloCello7 My house doesn't go over 18C (65F).. Like @jamskinner said, I would also die having to live in 77F. 65F would be my day time temp with lowering it to about 60F at night. I also live in Canada, so its pretty clear that location changes your standards of temperature.
Thanks for sharing! What kind of HVAC system for heating/cooling?
solar panels are a net loss of energy every single time they are implemented - it takes more energy to produce each panel than that panel will ever give back - they can't be recycled, so every single panel today will end up in a landfill
Literally approved my solar proposal today. We over-sized our system a bit (32 x 410w panels for 129% of our estimated usage) to accommodate EV charging (which was not reflected on current electric bills since we just got the vehicle) as well as our intent to change out our AC+Gas setup for a heat pump in the coming years. I do have some lingering worries that maybe I’ve guessed wrong on my estimates, but we’ll see.
My house was built in 2005, and while it’s not as drafty as older homes, it’s also not super energy efficient. My wife and I don’t see this as our forever home, but we still enjoy the thought of reducing our carbon footprint, reducing our utility bills, and increasing our resell value.
I love these videos as a great way to consider other factors in our project that we may not have foreseen.
His energy production is at most 12,470 kw..... The Enphase IQ8+ has a maximum continuous output power of 290 watts. That times the 43 panels is 12,470 kw. Remember in your calculations that just because the panels can produce 400 watts each does not mean that all that power is available. I learned this the hard way after I bought my Enphase system.
Yep, that is a common problem in designs. Solar companies are quoting the DC potential of the panels and not the max continuous output of the inverters (or microinverters). @@Tell-me-more-75225
I don't understand why you used IQ8+ (299W) and not IQ8H (380W) for 400W panels. At the peak of the day when your panels output 400W, these inverters are operating at 75% efficiency. I replaced my IQ8+ with Hoymiles HMS-2000-4T-NA (475W) on my 400W panels and every week I see peak output from my panels exceeding 400W. I have data where they output over 500W!!! Clipping is horribly inefficient. I use the Hoymiles micros with my Enphase battery and they work well together.
Might be more than the batteries can take at once. In which case the energy would be wasted anyway.
Clipping losses are generally pretty negligible because you output more efficiently with higher DC:AC setups in lower insolation conditions (mornings, afternoons, partly cloudy, fall, spring, winter, etc) which helps negate the losses at peak sun conditions.
@@andRwhoo Not where energy costs are high, not by a longshot. Clipping 25% at the peak of a good day is not negligible IMO. Worse yet, on the not-so-good days when there are intermittent big fluffy white clouds, the 400W panels can output up to 500W, which makes up a bit for passing clouds, but if the inverter is clipping at 299W, it's a loss in addition to the clouds! IMO, unless the utility has a limit on what you can install, there is no sense in clipping.
@@drewharrison6433only if you can’t feed it into the grid 😅 if you can feed the grid you won’t have an issue
@@Playingwithproxies Yeah. He did say he's on grid. I am not. I forgot that my situation is different. There is no grid here.
Thanks Matt. I purchased my place in central california with a PPE solar solution a couple years ago and one of the first things i did was install a Sense monitor at the junction box. My stats for J-D 2022 were pretty close to yours. My system generated 16.7MWh of energy and we consumed 14.7 MWh of energy with a 34% independence from the grid. Your design looks very well thought out. Nice job.
Only 34% independence?
@@rogerphelps9939Yeah, that number seems really low since they produced more than they used. Seems like it should be 100%, right?
Not so fast. Production not only varies throughout the year, it also varies even more drastically throughout each day. Even if you have a battery(ies), once those fill up you rely on being able to push energy back to the grid. Otherwise that power is wasted and can't offset your usage when the batteries are empty, or when the sun goes down if you don't have local storage. So you're not being independent if you're using the grid as storage.
In a nutshell, it doesn't matter which way the energy is flowing. If the grid is involved, you're not independent. You can only be 100% independent if you're 100% off grid.
@@awo1fman I would also add that CA has a massive stock of homes that aren't even insulated, much less including any other improvements in energy efficiency.
@@awo1fmanno because it's exported
Either you had solar for 50 years or you're operating a small nuclear reactor. Your system produced 16.7kWh not MWh :)
We're in AZ and I had a 7 KW system installed last November. We just recently had to pay for electricity during the months of August and September because we started late for amassing credits last year. Next year, I hope to make it the whole year without paying anything for electricity, which is tough when the summers are over 110 F most days. I'll let you know how we do in the future, but so far, it's a win.
Be careful out there hoard fresh water it’s getting serious in the west
We have a 10.45 kW solar installation with a 40/60 E/W split here in Perth, Australia. We added 2 Redflow ZBM2 batteries for 20kWh of storage. Even with ducted heat pump air-conditioning, we still have not needed to use any power from the grid.
I am really liking the redflow batteries as they do not use lithium and have no capacity degradation over their life. Oh, and they are fire retardant so no risk of burning your house down.
Holy Crap. 50kWh a day!! I'm in Northern Canada, In winter our furnaces run 24/7 or we freeze to death and we only have sunlight for 5 hours. My house is old and I have 2 heated double garages and still only use 28kWh a day in Winter! How can someone burn that much energy? Even my neighbour with 2 electric cars doesn't crack 40 a day.
What are using in your furnace? In the one home I have experience with a heat pump, I was using 30 kWh a day during the cold days in the winter, as well as the hottest days in summer. Most homes here in Omaha are natural gas for both heat and hot water.
Very smart of you to choose a metal roof. I messed up and put on a shingle roof before installing the panels. But I goofed up again by letting the installers mount the micro-inverters underneath the panels. What a bad idea. When one micro-inverter failed it meant climbing on the roof, lifting the panel, removing the bad inverter and replacing it with a new one. And this is a two man job. One to hold the panels up while the other person changes the inverter. I learned my lesson. When I expanded my solar system I had the micro-inverters mounted where they can be reached from the ground without a ladder if there is ever a problem. Thanks for sharing this video.
When I asked a master electrician about your easy to reach ground-level Microinverter setup (but with Power Optimisers) I was informed that there would be a noteworthy loss in voltage for all the extra cabling, having them closer to the panels is better for efficiency. The failures including labour should be included in warranty to fix them I suppose it wasn’t in your case.
@@JaylanYilmaz …When the original contractor broke my micro inverter during installation (on the roof panels)that inverter was obviously under warranty. That contractor went out of business so another contractor came out to do the job. Changing the inverter on the roof is a two person job and only one technician arrived. He waited in the front yard for 8 hours and a second person never arrived to help him so he got in his truck and left. The job never got done. The reason the inverter broke in the first place was because the original contractor only sent one man to do the job. When he attempted to hold up the rack with one hand and attach the inverter with the other hand he lost his footing on the sloped roof and dropped the rack, breaking the inverter. I was fortunate that the second inverter on that rack as well as the 4 panels attached to it did not break. So even tho there is a slight efficiency loss I would rather have the ground mount and be free of the problems associated with roof mount. At present, 12 of my panels are ground mount. When it is time to put up a new roof I will relocate those panels to the ground. If in the beginning I knew what I know now, all my panels would be on the ground. That broken inverter has never been repaired. I am just fortunate that I produce enough power from the remaining panels the the loss is negligible.
I have 22 panels on my roof, with each having a micro inverters, IQ8PLUS, under them like you described. In the first year, about 5 months after install, one of the panels stopped reporting. I reported it to Lumio and someone came out in 1-2 weeks and replaced the bad micro inverter. My panels have a 20 year warranty.
Is that because I had a contractor and you didn't? The man who came out to fix it, was done in about 20 min and that panel started reporting correctly the next day.
I live in a modest climate and I used to be a solar contractor. I purchased a refurbished battery based system and got some cheap solar panels. 4.2 kW of PV, a 7.5 kW inverter and 14.4 kWh of energy storage. The city denied me on my solar panel installation because my awning is not structurally adequate. (According to them...) So I said screw it and installed the whole thing by myself with no permit and I put my system into "zero export mode" because California doesn't give you much money for your solar production anyways. So far no one has detected that I have a solar system, and I paid about $11,000 total for my equipment and still took the 30% tax credit. 😂😂😂😂 So far it looks like it will save me $2600 per year because electric rates are so dang high here. ROI of 3.2 years! (If I don't get busted) 😂
Honestly. This is the way. It doesn’t make sense to have a company charge you up the whazoo for a 15-20 year ROI.
We understand that the goals and needs for every person varies and each person will have have their own factors and goals to parse though. However the point of this video was for you to answer if the solar system satisfied your personal goals. After sitting through all this information at the end we the viewers are just not clear if YOU are satisfied with your system's performance or not. Can you please clarify in simple words, was your system worth it to YOU ?
Your issue with local regulations is so typical of Massachusetts. We are so parochial with local fiefdoms so eager to over regulate. Then our politicians wonder why housing is so unaffordable in Massachusetts. This sort of nonsense drives me crazy.
Due to regulations, entire cities no longer go up in flames.
Guaranteed this dude votes for the team that likes regulation and taxation. You can hear it in his voice.
Short Answer: 1. YES 2. YES and 3. YES the problem is: how to combine it with affordable and reliable wind power systems? (to all feed a 48V battery)
Hopefully Enphase improved on their quality since I installed mine 12+ years ago since my Envoy Gateway only lasted 9 years before failing and they only give a 5 year warranty even though they give 20 years on the micro inverters.
The only good thing was I was able to purchase a used gateway and their tech support did all the programming to reprogram the used gateway, they were great in that aspect, good luck with your system!
When it comes to power estimates, I have always heard to oversize the system.
So basically, you calculate the extremes with the least efficiency. So you would use estimates and standards from a non efficient and energy hungry home as your base point. Then, when calculating power production, you estimate on the extreme ends. You take your highest use day and size the panels to meet that on your lowest production day. So essentially, your middle off summer needs are met with middle of winter production. Then, when it comes to battery storage, you always plan for three days minimum. More is better, but plan for storms and down time. It is better to have a system that can run your house at 2x or even 3x rather than constantly going back and forth with relying on the grid. But yes, always remain tied to take advantage of the money you can earn from selling back.
I've done 3 different builds and the one thing in common is I'll always have solar.
Because I'm going for off grid. I'm looking at using Renogy 450W bifacial panels. Which can give me up to 585W per panel.
Will bifcials work with rooftops?
@@irokpe6977
If you do your own research. You'll be able to answer your own question.
Thanks for this excellent video! We are preparing to install a 29 panel, 11.745 kWh system. Total cost without a battery is right around $36000 (before tax credits).
Panels: Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10+ 405
Inverters: IQ8A-72-2-US Microinverters
We wanted to add a battery, but that’s another $17000!
Does your stated cost include the battery?
I love to see your installation and hear from your learnings. Next week I will expand my actual solar carport by installing a solar fence adding another 7,5 kWp.
Awesome video as always. Giving me so many ideas for my next home! Totally agree, states should step in and regular solar standards NOT TOWNS. I only found out about different town regulations after I had my solar installed, and then my parents had theirs installed.
Congratulations on the new home, it looks beautiful!
Towns shouldn’t exist imo. Why do we need hundreds of thousands of the same laws, boards, etc. so much fucking waste for these useless administrators making 100-200k to do nothing. On the other hand, I do believe towns have the right of free association.
@@nothingtoseehere93 So you get cities with 1 - 3 million people, it's in a state that for the most part is rural, as most states are, and state politicians draw district maps for voting that aren't equal in population, they CERTAINLY aren't in Texas, so you end up with a lot of rural people in the state govt. and they're supposed to legislate the complexity of very large cities.
Uh huh, RIGHT. That doesn't work though in Texas that's what the state govt. is trying to force by greatly restricting the types of laws/regulations a county can pass.
No thanks I think our city govts. in large cities often do MUCH better than the state does in understanding what laws should look like.
There's basically no similarity between small towns/rural areas and large cities. THAT is why you have city govts. And you wouldn't shrink the overall SIZE of govt. much by not having them because you STILL have to deal with police and the functioning of that city and ALL you'd be doing is passing that to a STATE assembly assigned to that city.
solar panels are a net loss of energy every single time they are implemented - it takes more energy to produce each panel than that panel will ever give back - they can't be recycled, so every single panel today will end up in a landfill
Even so many states create laws that interstate business a nightmare. The result is that only big businesses can manage interstate commerce, which helps them, and ultimately hurts the little guys. Neither political party can seem to figure this out.
Is your mom worth it in 2024? I think not!
I am installing a 13.91kW behind-the-meter, ground-mounted PV array this week at the back of my property. It's on a South-facing, fixed-tilt rack, mounted on screw piles, with bifacial panels. All of this is being done in conjunction with upgrading my insulation and going fully electric with heat pumps wherever possible. My ultimate desire was to always have the option of "islanding" my home when the grid goes down and being able to run off the panels and batteries alone but that wasn't as economical as just remaining grid tied, so that's what we chose. As presently designed, I expect to offset the bulk of my energy usage, but not all of it. As we gain experience as to how our PV system operates and how increasing our efficiency altered our energy needs, we will expand the system by just adding more racking on each end of the existing rack. It's really great to watch you go through the process and share your experiences with your roof-mounted system. Great video!
I think you'll achieve your net 0 goal based on how well researched your amazing videos always are. I certainly am hoping that you do anyways, as you're more than deserving of achieving what you want with how much you've given to me and so many others who watch your videos in terms of valuable information and inspiration for what the future can look like. I look forward to your update video(s) to find out the results you ultimately achieve. Thank you for all the great information and resources you provide.
I have a 10,000Sq f home with met zero home energy use including charging a model Y. Planning to add more solar for my long awaited cyber truck .
So happy for you and your wife getting all moved in! I know what a great feeling it is to be in your forever home. As always thank you for all the great information presented in a easy to understand method.
That would take 44years to pay off the initial cost in my area. Not including maintenance and cleaning etc....
These numbers make no sense for the installation of solar.
My area is $0.0975 Canadian pesos per kwh.
I'm still really interested to hear more about that company you mentioned in your other video, Terra Sonic. I'm super fascinated to hear more about smaller drill rigs meant to help drive down the cost of ground-source heat pumps, and make ground-source heat pumps more realistic for smaller properties.
Please. I'd love to heat more about that.
the main issue I see with most solar installations: you have the panels, you have an inverter to create AC, the inverter checks if power from the net is incoming and shuts off when it is not. therefore no power from solar during a blackout (there are ways around it, essentially you need to make sure that no power gets sent out into the grid during a blackout - you don't want to fry the electricians fixing the network)
the battery requires DC, most devices in the house require DC, so additional AC-DC converters.
so if you build a house from scratch, consider a DC power system. with the current advent of USB-PD and more and more devices capable of it, you can save on money and energy losses due to needless conversions.
sure, if you want to sell a surplus of power, you need an inverter.
Are you considering adding additional panels on the roof if you don't meet your net metering targets, or even just to minimise grid usage more during the year? lots of room up on that roof.
Might look like a lot of room, but some towns in MA have stupid minimum clearance requirements for solar panels that dramatically shrink the usable roof area. My system has panels on the north roof, even though they would fit on the south side, because the town wouldn't let the installers put them "too close" to the roof edge. Given that Matt's west-facing panels could have fit on the south-facing roof, I suspect he ran into the same problem.
Good point on the regs. They were mostly got rid of here (in Ireland) last year so no such limit on # of panels. Although easy/West panels aren't as productive as south facing, they are more active in the morning/evening when a house needs the power most. I hope to add a few east/West panels on my setup next year for that reason.
@@darthrainbows I'm running into the same problems in CT. So many requirements that it's honestly turned me pretty sour on the entire thing. It's almost like they just try to discourage you from anything, and if you decide to go ahead anyway, it's way more expensive and intrusive than it should be. And they wonder why people don't pull permits for things, even if you want to do the right thing (like follow the rules, or help the save the planet!)... There's may too much government and oversight these days!
I suggest you avoid using the term "forever home". It locks your mind in a box in which you don't entertain change. A box where you eventually die. It's just a house. Live there for the time it serves you, but if somewhere else starts calling, sell your house and answer that call. Life is an adventure.
Yes solar is worth it especially if your off grid. I am going mostly d.c. in my cottage. One big inverter with super capacitor bank for a.c. tools like welder or circular saw. Gonna wire my cottage more like a sailboat. Lots of d.c. appliances that use less energy than a.c. equivalents.
what about cost of capacitors .. do they need bms or any support or just solar charger settings ? ?. i need for welder and heavy induction tools for my warehouse and those lfp bmses are a bit weak in real life tests
For a 12volt lighting option look into PMMI Lighting Inc.
They use 12v LEDs run off of CAT5/6 cable from ethernet hubs controlled by a Rasberry Pi on a spread sheet.
Each light can be controlled by multiple switches throughout the house as assigned by the spreadsheet.
Can also be controlled by a phone.
I saw a demonstration at a home show.
It was really cool what they could do.
@@shawnr771 i think of capacitors for heavy discharge rates .. thats why i ask cost and management !!!!
@@panospapadimitriou3498 I was responding to the OP.
I have very little knowledge of what it takes to run a welder from solar.
Something that comes to mind is to build a separate system solely to run the heavier equipment.
They do not use less energy if they do the same thing. Why should they?
with 7 years? yea, i can see why no one wants solar at their homes. idk about over paying for equipment that will be out of date, worn down, or even be broken after finishing paying. crazy to think ppl are okay with being scammed like this. imagine the system breaking one day and the whole then just becomes a paper weight for your house for a month. then you still have to pay for it after a repair bill
Metal roof is a must for forever homes !
Standing seam metal is better than the screw down kind.
The rubber grommets deteriorate in Texas sun in a few years.
I fix plenty of them.
Firstly, thanks very much for all the great videos and info on solar. Because of you, I signed up for solar sage (a few years ago) and finally decided to pull the trigger over the summer. Solar Sage had about 8 contractors reply with quotes. I independently reviewed each one and picked "Solar Roof and Air" out of Clearwater, FL (and TX). They seem competent, but there have been hiccups with our install. Nothing major so far. We have the commissioning for our system within this week (or next).
Our setup is: 29 panels (Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10 SERIES), w/ ENPHASE IQ8M-72-2-US inverters. And (2) 10KWh Enphase IQ Batteries, and the Enphase IQ System Controller 2.
The energy company, Duke Energy, is pretty good about solar... and set up our meter to be bi-directional. Looking forward to tracking our energy generation and usage. I think I have space for another 20 panels if needed.
I am looking to build a similar home in Eastern Missouri. Trying to find a panelized manufacturer close to me. I am really learning a lot from your channel!! Since I have several acres to work with I am entertaining using solar trackers and pole mounted arrays. I can also do horizontal geothermal instead of drilling down.
Couple of points I want to make. Going solar depends on what you are willing to spend. If you have a lot of money going off grid and selling back your excess energy is the best option. Grid tied with net metering is nice yet if you have a too big of a system you will end up with a surplus of energy credits. Which means if approved you could rack up 100s if not thousands of dollars in free future energy credits which might take years to get back. Every time you get a new and better energy efficient appliance you will then earn more and more credits. What is you decide to go off grid and then all of those credits pretty much are use less. Now if you were to say get an EV you could eat those credits up pretty easy. Then you dip in to your reserves and now need a much larger system.
If you are building new then consider the type of roof you want. Do you want a nice clean roof to which you can max out the most amount of solar or do you want a roof to reflect how pretty your outside of your house is.
Appreciate you sharing your new solar build. We also have REC panels & they've been pretty great. I don't believe I have the same model as yours, as mine are just 300W per panel vs your 400W, so overall we're capable of about 13.5 kW from the array.
Nicely done, looks great! I might reach out to you in a year or so to discuss some of the choices you made regarding the house build as I approach doing mine. Thanks again for sharing your build experience.
His energy production is at most 12,470 kw..... The Enphase IQ8+ has a maximum continuous output power of 290 watts. That times the 43 panels is 12,470 kw.
I have an Enphase solar system for 3 years and the Enphase batteries for 2. The integrated solution is excellent. My solar payback is likely to be slightly less than 7 years and the batteries about 10. While 10 years is not a great ROI, compared to a generator backup which has no return (ability to sell power to the grid) it is excellent. We had multiple short duration power outages this summer with no inconvenience. I made these investments a couple years before I retired and am very pleased with the near zero utility costs I have in retirement.
Great video. I just don't understand why your solar has to be such a big system on such an energy efficient home. I would have expected it to be like half that size. What am I missing?
He is charging electric vehicles 🚗.
His EVs charging and he likes to participate in grid sharing. If VPP Options comes his way he’ll be able to participate and making money off of the system.
Matt, I’ve enjoyed your stuff very precise very insightful but my guess I’ve have solar out in California and I don’t have the weather you do. Of course my house isn’t as large as yours at 2000 ft.² and I just achieve breakeven point at 7 1/2 years, we paid upfront and I got past 7.5 KWH system and wired it for an electric car although I have two old Mercedes that I drive on veggie oil that said you definitely have overkill 17 KWH but better more than not enough I use 90% of what I generate and the rest goes into the grid which PG&E gives me a pittance you should definitely reach at zero I wish I like yours I did everything I possibly could do but still my house is a 1960s model and I’d love to cut PG&E out completely love your videos
We are in the Hudson Valley by Kingston NY and have a 16kw grid tied ground mount. It was turned on September 22 2022 and for the first year it has produced 20,086.79 kWh which means we are net zero. The PVWatts Calculator was right on in calculating the electrical production. The system has 40 Qcell Duo Blk G10 400 watt panels and 40 Enphase IQ 7A microinverters. Cost after all incentives and tax credits was $30,840. The location has limited sun as there is a forested hill to the west which means the mount is in total shade by 3-5P depending on the season. Our home is all electric geothermal, induction, electric car, pool and the system has saved us $5000+ in this first year. The house was built in 1987 and is pretty well insulated but not up to the standard of Matt's new house.
I'm in Kingston, how was the process? Any tips?
I built my home in Nova Scotia Canada 3 years ago and installed 10kw of solar panels, in NS the system is sized by a certified installer based on the house size(number of bedrooms) hence the size of my solar array. I do not store power but "sell" power to NS power my surplus and draw when I don't make enough power for my demand. On the anniversary of the system being installed, the books are balanced and either NS power sends me a check or I pay. Happily in all the years I've been in the house NS power has sent me a check. My home when build was with efficiency in mind, it's super insulated with 14" fully insulated walls, all LED lighting etc. I would not build a home without solar!
As for costs, the system installed was $24k Cdn. At the time of installation I qualified for a solar rebate of $5750 and and energy rebate for the entire home of $9k Cdn. Using this all into the costs I feel I have almost completely paid for my system as power here is very expensive and only increasing.
Here on PEI we get screwed, if we produce more power than we use in a year we don't get paid anymore, Maritime Electric did away with that
Matt, Your original solar video was a big reason why i ended up deciding to have a solar array installed at my new house. Here in Idaho, power is fairly cheap as there's a lot of hydro-electric, but my new house has no natural gas and is purely just electric. We went with a 18kw-dc and 15kw-ac system that is sized to do 120% of my last years power usage, as the panels degrade over their lifespan, roughly 20 years.... as I'm sure you know, my system will still be able to produce more than my annual usage. I'm also set up on a net metering program as well as have a metal roof somit made alot of sense. So far I'm loving it!
Imagine a world where it's normal for every building to have solar roofs and battery backups, all contributing to the grid. I wonder if that could be a world with no emissions. A clean world, with fancy roofs! XD
Theoretically very possible, only issue is greed.
Maybe, if people are allowed to mine for the lithium, cobalt and other metals needed to make the batteries, panels and turbines. Maine is sitting on a lithium deposit large enough to make enough batteries to replace roughly half the cars in the USA with EV's, yet they've banned mining it.
@@DoubsGamingI dream of that too, but investors looking for a big return will plow down woods and install a massive solar farm instead...
I dunno about zero emissions but definitely down to very low emissions, within the range of being negligible. It really would be great if ultra-low emissions would be the standard when anything is built. Extended family of my partner just moved into a new build house, and the only thing that seemed more efficient than usual was the water heater. Everything was still full gas and the builders didn’t seem to make any offers of things like solar add-ons, heat pumps (ground or air source), or heat pump water heaters.
California killed net energy metering. They ruined solar.
I have 400watt Q10’s… IQ8M’s were recommended to me both by the Installer and then also Enphase Tech support. I don’t understand why he went with the Plus model??? Even Enphase website would recommend either the A’s or M’s for his panels specifically… so why Plus?
Can you, or anyone explain?
I'm curious how the noise level is with the metal roof as it rains.
He has product and insulation between the metal roof and ears, so no difference in sound😉
I have a metal roof on my home. There maybe slightly more noise when it rains hard but definitely not a problem. It also depends on how much insulation in your attic.
@bobwojcik6196 Honestly, rain with a metal roof is some of the best sleep I've ever had when I was at my great grandmother's house. It was an instant off button.
The office I work in was converted from an old house with a metal roof and light to moderate showers are unnoticeable, The only rain i can hear is from a tropical storm or heavy thunderstorm levels of rain.
Insane without insulation. Silent with.
I finally got to net zero for the first time this last year.. It wasn't cheap to get there, but I fulfilled a dream I've had for a long time. First in 2010, I had a 3.6 KW put in. But I was still using propane for heat in the winter, and hot water. Two years ago I decided to go all in on heat pumps. But first I expanded my solar from 3.6 to 12.4KW. This actually turned out to be overkill, but at the time I didn't know how much I would need. In 2021 I had a Rheem/Ruud Presteige heat pump installed. I took out my propane hot water heater and put in a Rheem heat pump one. I took out my full electric dryer, and installed a Samsung heat pump dryer. The winter before last, I had set my heat pump lockout at 20 degrees. Here in southern NM, in the winter we sometimes get down into the teens at night. I ended up using around 15-20 gallons of propane for the backup furnace. Almost there. Since the heat pump didn't seem to have any trouble heating my 2200 sq ft house with the outside at 20 degrees, last winter I lowered the lockout to 15 degrees. We never hit that, and it never called for propane. Did it. Net zero. I bought an 2023 Bolt EUV last November, and even charging that, I don't come close to using my excess electricity I produce. The last piece of this puzzle for me, is a battery back up, and I'm doing all the research I can because that's such an expensive part of all this. In the meantime I have over 22,000KW's in the bank with PMN, and I just can't see ever using them, that number increases each month no matter my usage. I've never paid them more than their base connection fees/taxes which is $7 something a month. For that, they've been a great battery bank, except for when on rare occasion we lose power. Then I'm dead in the water just like everyone else. So my quest for a battery bank/inverter continues.
Here in gujarat india we have 24/7 power supply and power cut for maintenance or pruning of trees before the rainy season to avoid trees falling on trees is the only time there's power cut for a few hours,so investing in back up loke batteries is a waste both of money and batteries, moreover a rebate or subsidy is void unless its an on grid system only .No hybrid system is required, at least in urban areas
Hi, Matt! Thanks for all your great videos. We are in the final stages of buying a house in New England that has brand-new (installed this year) 54-panel REC395AA Pure Black, 21kWh solar array, which is great -- though the house isn't oriented ideally, so we'll see how much we actually generate. We're planning to gradually shift from a propane furnace to a heat pump HVAC and battery backup, though it'll probably take us a few years. You've been a fantastic source of information and we're very grateful!
As a European those are crazy figures, as 21kW domestic roof! 🤯
I built my 1st house about 3 years ago. It has 55 solar panels on it and that seems good and all... however, I'm not 100% satisfied. After looking online about building a house, they say that experience is key! So, by the time you've built your 3rd or 4th house, you should really know what you want and how it all should work.
I'm probably missing something, but I'm confused about your new house being super energy efficient yet needing much more energy than the previous one (even if you weren't net zero before)
It wasn't obvious but I think he's eliminating fossil fuel sources his previous house had. So the electrical consumption is going up but total "energy used" is going down.
Likely due to switching to an electric furnace, dryer, and water heater. Most homes use gas for these, so switching them to electric would help hit that net 0 goal.
That’s actually pretty easy. He’s electrifying everything. So no fireplaces or gas stoves or gas powered water heater. You still need to replace those things with electrical counterparts. As such his house is going to use more electricity to offset no longer using things like gas.
I still don’t understand, because I have an all electric house, and it is not very energy efficient, we have baseboard heaters, mostly, and a couple rooms have in floor heat. My yearly electricity use is about 18,000 kWh. So I think either Matt is way off in his estimates, or all this energy savings that he’s getting is dipping him into the Jevons paradox. He’s building a much bigger house that somehow is only a little more energy efficient as the previous house, and so his costs will end up being the same. I hope we’re all wrong, and that his house end up being super net positive.
@@SuperMacGuy Baseboard/resistive electric heat is probably the least efficient of all options. One of Matt's biggest projects is the geothermal heat pump which is more money up front but probably the *most* energy efficient way to heat and cool a home. Our house has an outside air heat pump and it's amazing how low our electricity bills are and our gas bill is non-existent.
So it's not an incremental difference, that's a huge difference in efficiency.
I've had my solar/battery setup (Tesla, 8kwh panels and 3 Powerwalls) for approximately 3 years, my experience with the setup has been very positive and I don't think I will go without a setup of solar panels and batteries. I live in Washington State and we enjoy one of the lowest (if not THE lowest) electrical rate, and a setup like this might seems wasteful but my main goal was for work and security.
I work from home full time and I want a system in place that will provide continuous power without interruption in the event of a power failure, customers do not like it when you suddenly disappear from a zoom meeting. I am also sometimes required to travel for work and this system gives me the peace of mind that my wife is protected by the solar panels/batteries in case the grid loses power.
If you are watching this video and is thinking of getting a similar solar/battery setup, my recommendation is to also factor in benefits such as increased level of security for your family. A setup like this will also make your house much more attractive to potential buyers if you sell your house later on, remote tech workers like myself values such a setup and you will likely attract higher bids from tech professionals who work from home.
I'm curious about the roof shape of your house. It seems like a very traditional design given that you designed it from the ground up and knew you would he putting solar on it. Would a roof design optimized for solar panel angle just not have made much difference? Or did you choose to prioritize a more traditional roof line for aesthetic or other reasons?
I wonder the same. Building totally from scratch, the roofline and total surface area of the home could have been much simpler and smaller. He paid for the very high end insulation and sealants but chose a design that makes inefficient use of those... It's puzzling. A square or octagonal (as close to round as standard homes get) house with a simple roof would minimize potential leaks and energy loss, and put all of the solar panels in one plane so their wiring all combines at one location.
Why complicate the shape and lose so many benefits? It's odd.
@@one_field OMG, this. Why do people make such complicated roof lines solar panels or not? This whole house could have had one ridge line and some very nice alcoves and two or four each large pitches for panels.
@@one_fieldHe didn’t really build from scratch. He said in the first few seconds that it was a factory-built home, so he was probably constrained on several design options. It also explains the non-optimal footprint and roof lines; it is three modular structures tied together. I’m sure there was a reason for that choice, but not how I’d build my forever home (especially with a primary goal of being net-zero)
I have all electric R29 in walls R65 in the ceilings. Geothermal and 10,080 watts of solar. All 3400sqft heated and cooled at all times. I have had zero bills since starting the solar going on 7 years. I self installed the geothermal infloor heat/ chilled water fan coils. Myself. Quite easily for $22,000 (I drive a forklift for a living). Vrs $28,000 to $33,500 estimates for conventional HVAC. So I consider it a wash. I don't have anything to base break even on the solar since my house is a new construction. But based on what my friend living eight miles away pays for lp and electricity on his house. Way smaller. Built in the 80s. My solar was paid for in just over 5 years. I designed the house myself. Had the outside put up and did everything else myself. Pretty much by myself. While working full-time + lots of overtime.
So it can be done. Way cheaper. Net Zero. Will have ZERO BILLS. From here on out. Heck I might be able to retire. Just sewer, water, taxes and insurance to pay. Going to have. Build loan paid off in 3 years.
Ive seen a bunch of stuff about home wind turbines being 400-1500w. Is there a reason why its not a good fit for you, location or not enough storage so its redundant? It seems like that little boost of energy would be perfect for your home especially in the winter.
might be permit/housing restricted for various reasons.
Wind turbines are noisy, so many hoa’s forbid them. Also… the VAST majority of wind turbines are scams. Able to output anywhere CLOSE to rated output during a hurricane only…
From what I've read in the past, many of these systems have significant reliability issues.
I’ve read that many home wind turbines produce a lot of noise, and vibration if attached to a building. Also maintenance. Solar should be maintenance free apart from occasional rinsing off of dust etc.
Here in Thailand, solar panel systems are popping up everywhere. The government itself has huge solar arrays all over the place. I am building a new house in northeastern Thailand and will be one hundred percent off grid. It's actually one big house with several small bungalows for when we have guests. All of that will be off grid too.
Love the idea of solar, but ROI is way too low on a system like this. Better to choose a renewable power provider and invest those dollars elsewhere (other green projects?)
Solar panels do have an ROI at least, giving money to the energy company doesn't, you eventually pay off the solar whereas you aren't left with anything after the same time with the energy company.
He says he has 10% ROI (7 year breakeven)
That may not be attainable where you live, as it certainly isn’t for me - but for him this is an absolutely spectacular investment.
@@FuncleChuckokay, I was going from what his old house was and the numbers don’t really add up to a 10% ROI unless it’s 2.5X+ power demand increase. So maybe a new house where all your HVAC is electric + cold winters….😊
So our house started 30,000kWh, then we sealed it and updated mechanicals, and it went down to about 16,000kWh. Then we solar/battery, and the net energy went to 5,000kWh. This last year, we did grid-export from batteries, while raising our energy usage, and net energy is at 8,000kWh (but our bill is way negative).
Next steps are replacing WH with a HP, and washer/dryer with a HP. I figure we could get back down to about 5,000kWh with the same energy usage profile. Maybe less on a good year. Although, to make up the rest, I'd like to add a few 2kW wind turbines out back to help in the Winter.
$55K spent to save $1500/year. That's a 36 year payback. Yikes.
@@huskypup3489 and that’s not counting the cost of maintaining, cleaning, and electronic replacement cost.
Not a single solar company will tell me how much it costs to replace a roof with panels on it. "Oh, we will come remove them so you can do it." And nothing on the probably charging to put them back up.
@@AshleySpeaks4U I’d bet they’d charge several thousand to remove and put them back on. And watching them screw new holes in your newly installed roof would be a nightmare.
And in another 5-10 years, the panels they will have then will be way more efficient than the ones they use now...
It’s mainly because of the battery back up. Once a battery is installed “savings” gets throw out the window and more for peace of mind if the house ever loses power.
Living in Montana, there are a lot of people that live off-grid. I thought about solar but not only does the state/county not pay you for energy put back into the grid, they only allow you to have a credit of so much energy and then zero out your account every year, essentially stealing the energy that you have stockpiled.
At those costs Matt, I don't think I want solar. Too many people are getting rich off of us.
At 50 to 100 dollars a piece I would cover the entire roof. I bought a dozen of them for $600 off Marketplace and run my entire air conditioning unit during the daytime. In the desert where we get sunlight most of the year I cut my bill in half and I don't even have batteries at night I just worry about daylight collection... if you just want to quick and easy setup to taper your bill off I did my whole system for $1,000
My impression remains the same, since your last video. The costs you have incurred will take many years to recoup, especially if you're paying interest on a large loan. And installation/digging of a deep well are just the up-front investment. You have in effect created a power plant. Power plants need maintenance. That will incur more significant costs as time goes by. This is more of a passion project for you than a cost/benefit analysis. More power to you for that (pun intended). But most people, including me, just want the best bang for the electric buck. I just don't see such a home in my future, even if I could afford it.
Recouping costs isn’t necessarily a good measurement of success nor indeed for some people not even an issue.
I agree. Because there is a scale-up potential, I guess an aggregator of rooftop PV's or a local solar plant would be able to specialize and have efficiency improvements and then selling power at more competitive cost to the neighborhood. The same goes for batteries. The neighbors would then sign a PPA for a certain amount of annual energy if they wanted.
He’s not trying to break even he’s trying to go green. I think you missed the point
@@nunocarmonawhy not both?
@@codyramseur certainly both!!
Hello Matt, I had an idea that I would like to share with you and the community. I have seen most of your videos and especially the ones about your net zero home and I remember that you have batteries installed, so…. What if you charge your batteries at night (when electricity is cheaper) spend the energy from them only and all the sun’s energy goes to the grid (when the electricity is more expensive). I don’t know if it can work but if it does we are speaking for buying it at almost half the price and selling it with almost double the night price.
Well that will work a lot on summer but idk about the winter
It is crazy to me, how much power the average US citizen needs. 1000kWh/Month at a normal house? BOI! The average german household needs 250kWh/Month or less
I'm guessing that has to do with much strickter building codes.
We have much looser building standards especially when it comes to the vapor barrier on sides and top of homes. I also imagine American houses are a bit larger houses on average. A better comparison is kwh/month/sqf but Germany probably still blows us out of the water. Track houses in suburbs are notorious for leaking air and being inefficient.
You also have a higher voltage than we do. That changes how much is used
Generally, in Europe, we don't have electric heating and typical houses don't have air conditioning. That's a huge difference
He’s not an average citizen. The US EIA pegs the average US citizen at 12.1 kWh/day of power consumption for residential purposes. That means an average citizen is only using around 360 kWh/month.
Him and his wife life together, so doubling that figure gets us to 720 kWh/month for residential consumption. Tack on the cars they charge at home and you’ll find that 1000 kWh/month is reasonable for them
according to my calcualtions, you can use diesel engine and vegetable oil to power and heat your home only at about 2000 dollar a year, if your solar panel money after tax, it can buy you 16 years worth of energy cost electricity and heating. if you manage to sell the vegetable oil to restaurant and recollect waste vegetable oil, you can have at least 40 years of worth of energy cost with that solar money.
Solar doesn’t make sense, from a macro perspective and from a personal financial perspective without massive federal AND local subsidies. Don’t you love being forced to pay for others home improvement projects?
Would like to know what a kWh cost at his location and see how solar penciled out. Also interested in the need for 18,000 kWh capacity. Grow house?
Get a wind turbine too.
Small scale wind turbines never offset their initial carbon footprint from production
interesting to note, but do they offset the costs in energy savings? Ignoring the environment and going for the energy independence is also a relevant aspect @@sebastianflynn1746
@@sebastianflynn1746I dont care
@sebastianflynn1746 I'm interested in where you get that info from, have you any links?
@@sebastianflynn1746 It really depends on the location. They might be a viable solution for the places that are windy, but don't get a lot of direct sun.
Also, I'm not sure you're correct about footprint, while wind turbines do experience more wear than solar, they still last quite a while. Do you have sources for that research?
Great video. Glad you touched on battery solutions. I think it's going to be the next growth phase for residential solar owners.
Thanks for the video, very interesting to see as someone who works with solar every day. But doesn't it bother you that the array is so nasty? Mix of landscape and portrait on one roof, that one module sticking out on the left side? Maybe that's just the standard in the US since all the examples you show in your videos are always looks like that. And I get it sometimes it's just not possible to have even numbers of modules but on your roof it would have been possible.
I don't want to criticise you, and I don't want to say anything bad about your new home.
I guess I'm so trimmed to that because we had big fights with regulaters, who often where architects, because they told us solar is ugly and try to forbidden it, or at least only allow it in places no one will see it. So we had to adapt and build nice looking plants with even numbers of modules.
I didn't watch the vid but I've lived offgrid on a yacht for nearly 3 years now.
1275w of Solar, 614ah lifepo4 and 7kw generator as a back up. Generator hours amount to 80 hours over the same period.
It can be done.
going net positive is really not a issue, since in winter its really hard with the shorter days and often cloudy weather a super large array of say 16kwh for a typical 4 person daily use on eco may only produce 3-5 kwh a day than 35 in summer, i use rec alpha and absolutely love them if i had the choice the first array the last year of lg i would have waited a year for the rec alpha, even in shade they have proved excellent daily and really helped in the buffalo winter outage disconnected from the grid, even if it didn't charge the car i still managed to keep the water heated, and kept an air to air annex alive. but i would never go heat to water again for the main property that's listed, ( 20kwh heat loss and nothing i can do about it due to listing) we fitted a retro suspended floor to accommodate the under floor heating loop the 3400 ft main building had that and the inline hvac unit replaced and existing 70's air diffusers replaced with a second loop heat pump both 11kwh, it chewed through 19000 kwh in one year with 4 months off where's the air to air only used 6000kw total (it was negative 20) but still that wiped out all solar production and still left me with a 4k bill (we had a second meter put in so I know what was used for house hold as it was on a a different string of the three phase, what's worse is it never exceeded 63f. as the temp dropped we resorted to heating via the wood fire which defeated the point of the heat pump it was that bad, yet the annex was lovely and warm , we ditched the heat pump and have sold them, and replaced with a propane filled modern bosch combi 55000 btu nothing has changed bar the loop temps increased and flushed yet again, , that has had absolutely no issues heating in fact its too warm we had to turn it down, but it just proves that heat pumps are not the answer for some buildings, if you have a modern insulated or built since mid 90's there's no issues at all going heat pump providing you increase your loft to r30 and have modern windows, or willing to insulate inside for extra r , listed buildings like mine couldn't do that, we had to follow the original and go to hemp and treated wool mix, r 10. which sucks. now that we have had the first snow, with modern heat controls our usage heats 3 times a day for a few hours as top up. and is comfortably sitting a 72f day in day out, usage so far predictions are about 1600 for winter a huge saving, for electric our production is being diverted into a 30kwh battery array that keeps everything off grid and still have a surplus going back unlike last year, so play the numbers game with the utility topping up when getting cheap exporting when rates are high, so far the utility still owes us about 500 bucks that may change once net metering 3 kicks in next march,
If the mounting rails ran "vertically", rather than horizontally, natural convection currents can work unimpeded to cool the panels (which have a negative temperature coefficient meaning they lose efficiency as the temperature increases)
Dream solar setup is off-grid (doing without the requirements of grid operators and requirements), charge the batteries with the grid if you must. I'm also not a fan of Enphase micro-inverters, not only they are expensive but they are underpowered compared to the latest solar panels that aren't even cutting edge. Enphase also less efficient (compared to panels charging batteries) because it converts DC to AC, then AC to DC to charge batteries. You are basically paying more for less. Very few solar and battery UA-camrs use Enphase.
Your comment is surprising as I’ve only seen people rave about enphase. It seems the inverter in the panels is the key as they go out around 10 years otherwise. Is your preference Tesla?
@@grantlinscott Back then it was the rage but batteries for backup power and 1:1 net metering is slowly being phased out.
Cool that you included coverage of the Enphase IQ8 islanding capabilities. I think you ought to include some mention of the fact that it does not come standard with every IQ8 install. The homeowner would also need to install a certain switch that will tell the micros to go into islanding mode, else they will still turn off when the power is out. That added switch and its accompanying equipment will run the homeowner something north of $5k including installation.
We added solar panels to our house beginning of this year. Went from paying 290€ per month in electricity to now paying 60€ (the cost of the loan for the system). On top of that, our local government reduces home tax by 50% for 5 years for having solar. This means that we effectively get paid to have solar. The system here is so effective that in my village alone, about a 1/3 of houses have solar systems currently, with many more on the way.
Hi Matt. Your videos are great. Not sure if you have decided on batteries yet. But I can give you insight on why we dont have batteries. We live in Central Florida. 14Kw system with (2) 7Kw inverters. Paid cash. Our Electric company gives us a 1 for 1 energy use/supply. So for some of the year we over generate and the rest we consume. At the end of the year we have a credit that roles to the next year. We have a 0.00 Monthly bill and have had for three years. That said our Electric company is our battery. So it doesn't make sense to invest in battery storage. Of course in the chance of a power outage, (which rarely happens and if so it is only an hour of so) we have a propane/gas generator which cost around $400. Way cheaper than a bank of batteries. For us it just doesn't make financial sense for batteries.
Yep, that makes sense for you. Batteries are almost never a net-positive choice, unless you DIY and already had a very oversized solar system (or a wild differential on ToU plan)
These sweetheart NM programs are quickly being phased out (thanks to lobbyist), enjoy it while it lasts!@@FuncleChuck
I'm literally getting my roof redone now with shingles. They swear that they last 30 years or more. I came very close to getting a metal roof because I want to put solar next, but decided against it because the one that gets you 50 years needs the hidden fastener system, which is very costly.
We've switched out our 2 gas car, 1 PHEV to 1 PHEV and 2 EVs. We're in the middle of getting geothermal and finally, I want a 25 kWh solar array with battery back up. I want a system that large because I'm future proofing. If that PHEV becomes another EV, I want a solar array that can charge up all 3 cars and run my houses energy needs, including the geothermal. The more I can get off of fossil fuel and also, the more I can control our costs, the better.
you will for sure hits it. since we have similar size home and i also go all in with electricity. I est my house will use around 12,000 kwh this year. During this past winter my highest month was 1350kwh Jan-Feb. I don't have all the latest and greatest tech like your house. I use minisplit instead of geothermal.
The IQ8s are a big improvement. They support UL1741SA which is basically the standard that allows the inverter fine control of the microinverter output by shifting the frequency. Since its a standard, it works with any hybrid inverter system that also supports UL1741SA (which is quite a few of them now). The older UL1741 standard (without the "SA" part) only supported turning the inverter on or off via the frequency.
One limitation of UL1741SA is that in order to adjust the frequency the inverter system (obviously) has to disconnect from the grid. If it didn't it would of course be locked to the grid frequency. This presents a problem when you have more solar installed than you can legally export back to the grid.
I think, but I am not sure, that Enphase has an additional communication protocol that allows its own integration to control the microinverter output while still remaining tied to the grid, which allows more solar to be installed than can be exported.
In terms of cost effectiveness... well, solar alone is always cost-effective. But throw in the batteries... batteries are always costly. Depending on a family's location, situation, utility tariff, and a few other factors, it is sometimes cost-effective to install just enough battery capacity to load-shift the high-rate period of the tariff (typically 4-9pm), but not so much that you can actually go off-grid 24x7, unrestricted, in an emergency. That said, this is still typically enough to at least guarantee a few lights, internet, furnace blower (gas furnace), and fridge operation 24x7 if everything else is turned off.
-Matt
Enphase has no export ready
@@AgentOffice Huh? What are you talking about? Enphase has been grid-tied for years. The latest stuff in IQ8 supports grid-forming / off-grid.
@@junkerzn7312 you said more solar than you can export. Enphase can no export out of the box or limit export
@@junkerzn7312 it does it by watching your consumption
@@AgentOffice I have no idea what you are talking about. Enphase is grid-tied out of the box by default, which means it will export any excess to the grid by default.
And Enphase CAN limit its export, while grid-tied, with the addition of a monitoring unit. Even the 7Qs could do that. The monitoring unit uses a different protocol (not UL1741SA), so no frequency shifting is required, thus it can remain grid-tied and limit the export.
Enphase has been able to do this for several years.
Most hybrid inverters like the Sol-Ark cannot limit grid export for any AC-coupled solar (they can for DC coupled solar, obviously), since they only implement UL1741SA (meaning they can only control the microinverters via frequency when disconnected from the grid). But there is absolutely nothing preventing someone from using enphase in a hybrid inverter system that is grid-tied, and limiting grid export via enphase's own monitoring system.
-Matt
That was sloppy of your solar installer if they didn't know the regulations for your town. Even my small town of 5,000 people has a solar installation worksheet that is given to everyone applying for a permit to install solar. It is literally a 10 item checklist for the process after getting the permit. Many smaller towns in the surrounding counties have similar checklists so the installers know exactly what is needed for a given town. Since my town is so small, we don't even have a local building inspector and are reliant on county inspectors who are in town one day a week, so on the worksheet, when the installer has the racks and conduit run, they are required to take several specific pictures that are then emails to a county inspection address so they can be attached to the permit.
I wouldn't call it sloppy. My installer apologized for making an assumption during the process, but in their defense, it was their first time installing in my town (I'm slightly outside their normal coverage area). But every town is different and has different requirements and processes. Not everyone hands out a checklist like your suggesting (I wish the process was more standardized).
Wow that is quite a expense. In the Netherlands I installed a 16kw system with solaredge and it was 15k euro. Makes it more impressive that you went this route.
Solar installers are insanely expensive and overpriced in the US.
Glad the solar crew took the time to point that out and let you address it properly. A LOT of crews would have just slopped on a butt load of sealer on it and moved on.
Matt you could have reduced your costs by about half but using server rack batteries. The UA-cam channel "DIY solar with will prouse" has some excellent videos about grid tied battery backup. It is so much cheaper to buy the system and have an electrician turn it on as opposed to buying an enphase system.
Where I live the Electric Power company doesn't allow a local electrician to turn it on. Off grid, you can do what you want though.
I really do wonder how you come up with that '6-7 year payoff'.
Investment: $40,000
Income: 18,000 kWh x $0.30 (?) = $5,400/year
Interest cost: $40,000 x 6% (?) = $2,400/year
Payoff: $40,000 / ($5,400-$2,400) = 13.3 years
And that doesn't even cover maintenance costs, panel degradation or any of the associated risks. The selling price of solar may very drop below $0.10 as adaption increases, then you're stuck with panels that won't EVER pay themselves off.
I'm at an interesting position. $0.11 - $0.13 per kWh where the first 544kwh are at $0.11 then bumps up to the $0.13 per kWh for the remaining use. Summer time we see 1400-1600 of use but then in the winter, we approach 3000 kWh of monthly use. House 4 years old in Seattle region and is roughly 3500sqft with a properly sized heat pump/air handler with a heat pump hot water tank. The numbers I have crunched would result in a system about the size of your new solar system but would take longer to financial justify. This is mostly due to we have no power buy back options with PSE any longer. I really like the notion of the solar & battery for backup power especially as we get 3-4 outages a year that last roughly from 1/2 a day to 3 days. I think we could get our energy use close to zero though in the summer with a system like yours. Just wish we could sell back excess power.
Oh man that must be so frustating having the cable externally routed on a new build at 12:20 in the vid. I removed drywall to run conduit so i could avoid external routing on a 50 year old home. I am a bit OCD. These videos are great thanks for the info I will be keeping an eye out for that roofing material when we replace ours. Our steel roof is 50 years old and still good.
I have been Net Zero for almost three years. 17.6kw system. I don’t have all fancy stuff and I am all electric.
You plan is pretty cool. If you have the space and sun etc. why not ?
I wish I could do that but for me it does not make any sense whatsoever. Next step would be to couple a heating unit with a stirling engine. This would be perfect for you during the winter, since you will have to heat your home as well.
I have expanded my home solar 3 times already. One can never have enough solar. Especially in winter.
Thats a lot of power! I do live in a small one bed flat (apartment) but I only use 3,000kwh a year. So you’re generating almost enough for my annual usage each couple of months and that's with bog standard electric space and water heating, none of that fancy heat pump stuff.
I really believe that someday we all will have to get solar or any renewable resource to survive. Someday it' not a choice.
What we are installing (fate permiting).
13.2 kW panels (30x440W 10N10w10flat)
10kW inverter hybrid ready
no battery at this stage but planning in getting ev with V2L.
System is export limited to 5kWh.
Feed in tariff 6cents kWh.
System potential to generate 16000 kWh per year (live at 33degrees south).
$9000AUD after subsidies, installed, paid from savings.
Yep. Lucky country.
The mistake I made was estimating the solar needs before adding a heat pump and it does use a lot of electricity. I also had no idea that Jan-March of 2023 was going to be the cloudiest in 18 years, which really hurt solar production. Happy I did do a battery backup as power was lost twice, and with our system the only reason I knew it went out was becasue the SPAN app on my phone told me it had. Good luck on your net 0 dream.
Thanks for sharing!
I wouldn't mind having 150% of our annual need being produced for potential demand increase in the future. But, yeah, 6 months of being unemployed this year then returning to work with about a 45% pay cut... oof. By the time I can afford PV there will probably be cheap fusion.
We are very happy with our solar power, and power retailer. In the last 365 days we have bought 1946.3kWh of power for a total cost, including all charges, of $NZ634.98. Yes, that is the total cost for a years power including connection. But wait, there's more! In those same 365 days we have sold 5064kWh for a total account credit of $NZ860.86. Thus, over these last 12 months we have created a credit on our power account of $NZ225.88. WINNING! Any questions? PS all electric home, no alternative fuels, and also no traditional batteries.
I put up about 40 of the 430 Watt LG panels on my system a couple years ago for a 19 KW system, also with Enphase inverters, and that cost me $60 Grand, including $2k for a new electrical panel, so that sounds about right.
As electrical demand increases, the benefits of having power generation on houses gets smarter and smarter. It's a distributed grid that can take some of the weight off the local power plants and power lines. While the tech is still relatively new, I think that this is definitely the way of the future. Hopefully they can come up with some reasonable regulations to have it all tie together well. It just makes sense.
What you did not mention that you go from DCsolar to AC via µiv then rectified to DC again for storage then made into AC again when you use the storage battery in the evenings. All these conversions retain only 90-95% of the energy (at best)...not ideal imo, but it is very flexible
In San Francisco, houses are not allowed to have more than 1 Tesla Home Battery, or something equivalent, because of the fire hazard (among thousands of other regulations that even the city officials probably don't know about).
However, this can all change when sodium ion home batteries become commercially available. Since they are not flammable, you can have as many batteries installed as you want
I wish solar made sense in my area! I pay a flat $0.07/kwh, and most of my electricity comes from hydro. My break-even on a setup like yours woild be over 30 years!
If you’re able to sell the additional power you create in the summer, that’s where the faster payback comes vs. straight up calculations on your power usage. In the spring and summer months you can essentially double (2-4x) your power consumption and get paid back extra $ for it. But the rate you pay is very low, not a lot of incentive to need to change. BC?!
Grid tied Solar is almost pointless in Alberta Canada - It costs me $0.12kwh usage and then additional $0.10kwh in Fees. so $0.22-25/kwh.
But if you have solar and you give back to the grid, you will only get the KWH rate, not including fee rate.so around $0.10-12. You HAVE to over panel and produce 2-4x what you would use to actually break even on the fees that are charged. Batteries are the way to go so you can use the 15Hrs or so the sun is not shining. As for the utility tapping into MY BATTERY, wearing it out for money they give back at the end of the year, that is the pure garbage. What happens if they tap into your battery, use it all up, and then grid goes down, you are left hooped.