Our solar panels are installed, out of view, on the southern exposure on the roof of our house. They've been quietly busy converting sunshine to electricity all year long. This happens without any intervention on my part, as it's fully automatic.
So I'll bet that most do not really care about how the first year went, or wonder if it was worth the effort. Ya know, for the longest time we were led to believe that solar panel technology was costly, inefficient, and only for super left wing tree hugger millionaires. These solar installs were for people trying to make a statement. They were trying to save the planet themselves. It's still that way, right?
Wrong. What would you think if I told you that in 365 days of operation, We saved 48% on our electric bill. I valued that savings at $686.37. (4894 kWh) In addition, we earned, and sold, four Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC's). An SREC is earned by producing one Megawatt (1,000 kWh) of electricity. We earned and sold four. (I've actually just earned the fifth.) Power companies buy these certificates to meet their quota of producing power from alternative sources. The purpose of the issuance and sale of SREC's is to help to defray the cost of the investment by the solar host. That's us. So here is the lowdown on the last 12 months.
Selling four SREC's netted $1,164.00. Subtract the $737.40 we paid for electricity to the utility and this equates to free electricity for the year, plus had $427.00 in our hands. In addition, we generated $686.37 worth of electricity and end up using it ourselves. If you add the value of the electricity produced with the proceeds from SREC sales, the total equates to a 12.78% return on our net investment. My 'Performance' Money Market account earns one tenth of 1 percent. (00.1%)
Finally, according to a study done in 2009, the value of a home increases by $20.00 from every one dollar in electricity generated by Solar. 20 X $686 = $13,720.00. Yes, it was worth it.
I'm still beaming!
