> Without NET metering, solar has to rely on > batteries for energy storage and that triples the cost of the system making > it totally uneconomical.
I'm not sure that's true anymore. PV prices are so cheap now that trippling your array size today is now affordable. When I installed my array 10 years ago PV prices were 5 times as much as they are now, so installin g3x as many panels is STILL cheaper than what I paid. Even adding batteries doesn't increase the price that much An off-grid array today can produce as much energy for the same or lower price than a grid-tied from 10 years ago. In fact I'm serious considering taking my house off grid because my power company is increasing the connection fees for solar customers. Once they finish implementing all of the price increases, I'll end up paying $65 just for the priviledge of having a connection to the grid. They are also changing the net metering from 1kwh in to 1kwh out at same price (basically banking energy for free) to wholesale price for energy pushed to the grid and retail price for energy pulled from the grid, basically I'll pay 10 cents a kwh to bank energy. Switching to off-grid will cost me perhaps $7,000 more, but will save me at least $900 a year. Less than 8 years to break even. I have already purchased 12 more 315w PV panels and a 3kw off-grid inverter-charger which will work with my existing micro-inverters using AC-coupling. I'm looking for a LiIon battery pack from a wrecked EV now. My PGP public key: https://vanderwal.us/evdl_pgp.key _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
