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Notes -
Is rooftop solar a good investment if you're a homeowner? Thinking about an install after getting a house.
As someone who does commercial solar design as part of his living, I will say this: it depends.
An important factor I have not seen anyone else mention is your roof itself. You will want to install on as new a roof as possible because it will be a huge, expensive pain to take the panels off to replace a roof and then reinstall. Big, south facing portions of roof are ideal candidates but east/west facing or not bad either.
I would check on the exact language your utility has on how the hookup has to be configured, what happens to excess power you produce, and any other shenanigans they put in. Do not expect to be able to "island" in case of a power outage unless you specifically build your system to do so.
When figuring out your savings, factor in both peak (typically the highest 15 min window of power usage) and overall kwh. Solar installations will tend to reduce your peak because they produce the most power in the hours when A/C is running, usually the biggest residential electrical load, and reduce your overall kwh. Depending on your actual billing rates, one or the other factor could dominate. Solar will not reduce any flat fees (and may add some), so you cannot just do a simple percent reduction in power = percent reduction in bill.
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