Solar Frequently Asked Questions
Photo by Andreas Gücklhorn on Unsplash
Out of everything I’ve written on this blog, the most popular stuff based on page views involves EDC. But easily the topic that has generated more questions than all the other topics combined is my solar setup series. The questions come in by email, DMs from every popular and not-as-mainstream social media platform, even via SMS and Signal. I’ve decided it is easier to pull all of the questions together into a single source I can point people to. So here we go….
How powerful is your system?
46 Mission Solar panels, roughly half at 300 watt, the rest are 310 watt, so the total energy is about 14Kw total.
How much did your system cost?
When the third phase of this is complete, the cost will be under $46k after incentives and rebates. This number is misleading. First off, I did not finance anything, money was set aside and saved up for years, and occasionally there would be a windfall which was added to the other money set aside. This means no interest as there was no loan. If one were to finance there would be more “out of pocket” expense in the long run. Secondly, the work is in phases. Phase one was $10k, followed by phase two at $14k, and the third phase is currently in progress and should come in under $22k. This makes it less painful.
Bear in mind for other people doing this there might be additional costs. My roof had to be completely replaced first. Fortunately a hailstorm had damaged it pre-solar, so insurance covered the replacement cost. Had insurance not covered it, this would have added thousands to the cost. We had also had a structural engineer from our foundation repair company come out and inspect (foundation repairs were performed years before), just in case there might be an issue (fortunately there wasn’t, he didn’t even charge us). Also note this was in Texas with better-than-average pricing, minimal county inspection fees, and it is a small house (three bed/two bath). A larger house in a different region with less sunlight and more fees could massively impact the price.
How much are you saving?
The electric bill averaged around $2800 annually pre-solar, and the bill was mostly reduced to less than $500 annually after phase one was complete in 2017. In 2019 with phase two completed the electric bill was eliminated and a credit was slowly built up. So in theory at this rate it will have paid for itself by 2032, assuming there are no additional upgrades. Phase one has been paid for with a decent chunk already off of phase two.
So you’re off grid then?
No. Within the city of Arlington it is “illegal” for residential housing to be off grid. This is a city ordinance, not a Tarrant county or Texas state regulation. You can just not pay your bill, but you have to be connected to the meter. Plus, my heating uses gas, and I am on the city water supply. I just have no electric bill.
Will hail or lightning damage the solar panels?
Quality solar panels will hold up to most hail, unless it is gigantic (softball size or larger). It will certainly hold up far better than a traditional roof. Quality panels should absorb/deflect lightning, with the danger being to the electrical connections to each panel. Proper grounding will help. My humble system has a total of three grounds that are literally grounded into the earth - two from panels, and a third from inverters.
What about EMPs or GMDs?
An Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) or Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD) is a concern. I talked about it briefly in a blog post where I discussed and hopefully dismissed a lot of false information about humanity ending with the advent of major electromagnetic event. The danger to the solar panels would have roughly the same damage impact (via the connectors). The main damage for such an event would come in via the grid itself, but the new inverter in phase three is hardened and should not be impacted by EMP or GMD.
Are you worried about being a “target” as the only one on the block with the lights on?
Yes and no. First off, I have a good relationship with neighbors and we tend to look out for each other, know what each other’s skills are, and answer each other’s questions. I do plan on having an outdoor charging station for neighbors in the advent of an extended power outage.
I also have a rough plan in place for outages. As all of the cameras can do night vision I don’t need exterior lights, and running interior and exterior lights when there is no sunshine (no power from solar) will mean more battery drain, so it will still be candlelight in the evenings. The priorities are HVAC, refrigerator, freezer, basic tech, and Internet access.
Are you getting a “smart” electric panel?
No. I will assume this is in reference to something like a Span electrical panel. My current electrical panel is a bit of a mess as there is both aluminum and copper wiring in the house, and therefore I might possibly need to re-run existing wiring to get everything onto copper. Right now, Arlington city inspectors have ignored this during inspections as it is grandfathered in, but if I were to get a new electrical panel they would have to have it inspected without the grandfathering, and it could potentially fail on the mix of both aluminum and copper wiring. This is based upon a discussion I had with an electrician ages ago that was doing some work, so I could be wrong as things might have changed.
The other reason is I am not convinced smart electrical panels are quite there yet. I would prefer the ability to not use WiFi and to use Ethernet, and would have to be able to run the entire thing locally in the event of a massive outage. I am not talking about some end-of-the-world scenario, I am talking about something like a severe thunderstorm or even a tornado that takes out nearby cell towers as well as electricity (this has happened in the past. If I needed to make adjustments to the configuration, that would probably be the time I would need to tweak things the most, and if I were to be dependent on the Internet to edit settings, then I have no desire for it.
Wait, isn’t all of this tech “smart” and using the cloud and WiFi?
Most of it is and then I am in mitigation mode if I buy it. If I have a choice between WiFi and Ethernet, I pick Ethernet and then disable the WiFi. If the only choice is WiFi, then I try to make sure of the following:
If it broadcasts an SSID, see if it can be made hidden (usually not), otherwise try to enclose it so it does not transmit far.
If it needs an SSID to communicate with, I can create a dedicated one and hide it myself, and have the smart device connect to it. In most cases it can be but results might surprise you. My $300 weather station (and the $120 weather station it replaced) could find their network with a hidden SSID, but my super-modern HVAC system that cost thousands cannot. Go figure.
Regardless of Ethernet or WiFi, all smart IoT and whatnot gets isolated onto its own VLAN with strict firewall and connectivity rules in place.
Do you protect your outdoor network devices?
Some of the devices might be outdoors using Ethernet (mainly cameras), those cable runs are plugged into a port on a switch that is configured specifically to use one and only one VLAN, to prevent someone from disconnecting a camera, installing a tap, and reattaching the camera and then trying to gain access to internal resources. Any externally mounted solar-related systems running Ethernet will have the same protections.
Are the batteries installed yet?
As of this writing, Kosmos Solar (the awesome solar company) is waiting on Oncor (the regional grid provider) to approve the plan - the all-important third phase. We’ve been in this holding pattern for a few weeks now, and as I am being copied in via automated email by Oncor from their internal tracking system, last update was still in the “project created” status. So Kosmos and I are just waiting. I expect further delays as I am far from Kosmos’ only project, so once approved I have to be added onto the Kosmos install schedule. After installation there may be a delay as the City of Arlington Code Compliance Office will need to do a final inspection before the batteries are live. Fingers crossed it all happens sooner than later.
I hope this has answered all of your questions, feel free to comment or write or ping me on social media or email if you have additional things you are wondering about. Hopefully the batteries will be installed and reviewed soon in a future blog post.
