(Post Master Sr)

02/20/15 07:13 PM

Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Got this in the mail ... http://www.feedTheGrid.ca ...

They have a few options, finance, or 'rent' your roof to them...

HURRY, OPERATORS ARE STANDING BY, THIS IS A LIMITED TIME OFFER!

2 options:

(Post Master Supreme)

02/20/15 08:09 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

no

(Post Master Supreme)

02/20/15 09:17 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

This has been going on for years. It's a bit late though to get in, the price per kw is pretty low now.
I started looking at solar because i was going to rent my roof, but i ended up buying the system instead. The ROI is high and it's pretty much guaranteed.
I would not recommend renting your roof at all. If you are going to do it, outlay the cash and buy your system, its the only way you are going to make money.

(Post Master Jr)

02/20/15 10:18 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

You'd be an idiot to rent your roof. The return is guaranteed if you invest into it.

It's still beneficial to get into solar, the cost has dropped for the entire system which is why they lowering the price per kwh. The ratio is still the same whether you bought 6 years ago or buy today.

Most people would see profit after 12-15 years with the contract being 20 years.

The shitty part about the solar industry in general is that there is so much misconceptions about it. The only reason I wouldn't get solar is if you don't plan on staying in that house very long.

EDIT: If I had the money I would be doing the same, renting peoples roof's while I kickback and retire. All liability for any roofing damage is placed on the home owner and solar panels don't require much maintenance at all.

(Post Master Supreme)

02/21/15 08:37 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

how much does a typical system cost?

(Post Master Sr)

02/21/15 09:25 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

So... how does this feeding-of-the-grid work? Let's assume I bought my own shit.

- I have a buncha panels on the roof, buncha batteries in the basement, all wiring done with permits, yadda yadda yadda...

- I'm guessing since the rest of my electrical in the home remains the same, I continue to 'live on the grid', i.e. I'm using electricity from the utility company, but at the same time, have another line going BACK to them? So, net net, my bills would be lower because I'm still using XXX kilowatts, but I'm also feeding back YY kilowatts...

Hrm... reading bits 'n pieces of the huge solar install thread in OT... That guy doesn't have a bank of batteries, so he's generating and using in real-time; anything he doesn't use in real-time goes straight back into the grid...

(Post Master Sr)

02/21/15 09:26 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

And... as an aside... What's the opinions around Tesla and the 'Home Battery'?

(Post Master Supreme)

02/21/15 10:39 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

My boss owns a movie theater and he leases the roof space, gets paid $4k/month

(Post Master Supreme)

02/21/15 10:42 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: furball

And... as an aside... What's the opinions around Tesla and the 'Home Battery'?

nothing

(Post Master Sr)

02/21/15 11:46 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: furball

Hrm... reading bits 'n pieces of the huge solar install thread in OT... That guy doesn't have a bank of batteries, so he's generating and using in real-time; anything he doesn't use in real-time goes straight back into the grid...

The grid is the "battery". He converts more solar energy than he uses during the day, and during the night uses from the grid. I believe in his case it goes beyond that as well where in the winter he'll consistently convert more than he'll ever use and in the summer with the AC on he'll chew all that up that he "stored" in the form of credits with the utility company. It's like a battery with infinite storage. Some of the facts regarding his situation may be off but the point is the same. As long as the local utility allows this and you have access to a grid why would you ever have batteries?

(Post Master Supreme)

02/21/15 12:25 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: loudsubz

how much does a typical system cost?

i can give you all the numbers for my system but i cant rember off the top of my head. I'd have to go dig them up.
I think mine is a fairly average sized one for a home. I used my HELOC to buy them, cost was i think $37,000 ish and it averages $3500-$4000 per year. so just over 10 years it's paid off, and then 10 years of profit. i got one of the last few contracts where it was 85 or 86 cents per KWH. I dunno what it is now, but waaaay less. Like somoene mentioned above the costs for solar have come way down, but i still dont think you will get as good a ROI as the first batch of contracts.
After the contract is up, call an electrictian and get the panels wired to the house.

As for the guy in OT, it;s very different for them VS us (canada). It makes zero sense for us to use any electricty we generate when it;s much much cheaper to buy it off the grid, and we get paid so much more to sell it back.

If you are selling energy from solar back to the grid you cannot have any batteries connected to the system. Plu slike someone mentioned above the grid acts as the "battery"

(Post Master Supreme)

02/21/15 12:31 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

oh the only issues i've had where animal related. Stupid squirels! They got under the panels 3 times. First time, no damange paid $150 to have them removed.
Second time i rented a lader, went up and evicted them.
Third time i went up again and snagged a wire while poking the nest out, DOH!
I ordered a squriel guard and had it installed, the tech also checked out all the wirirng and repalced a huge bundle of it where the little bastards munched on it!
The system has been working so good after those wires where repalced haha

(Post Master Sr)

02/21/15 12:51 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

zc your contract is for almost 10x what we pay for electricity. WTF?!?! Why? Who's subsidizing this? I don't understand the way it is here locally but that sounds crazy. How long is that rate good for?

(Post Master Supreme)

02/21/15 12:53 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

you guys do, thanks $\:D$

(Post Master Sr)

02/21/15 01:19 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Can you use lights at ~8c to convert into ~80c? Or back-feed somehow right off the grid? /profit

(Post Master Sr)

02/21/15 07:16 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Found a pretty good blog that's local-based.

http://www.yourturn.ca/solar/

(Post Master Jr)

02/21/15 08:03 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: loudsubz

how much does a typical system cost?

10k-40k most are in the 20k range currently for the average family, but the kwh pay back is lowered to compensate. It's around 0.43c p/kwh now

That's part of the education part I was mentioning. It really depends on the family & how spoiled they are in terms of electricity usage (leaving lights on, setting a realistic temperature in the summer no 16c bullshit etc) which heavily affects the ROI.

Also a proper system is sized to the owners usage, most just fill up the amount of roof space they have available.

(Post Master Jr)

02/21/15 08:08 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: furball

So... how does this feeding-of-the-grid work? Let's assume I bought my own shit.

- I have a buncha panels on the roof, buncha batteries in the basement, all wiring done with permits, yadda yadda yadda...

- I'm guessing since the rest of my electrical in the home remains the same, I continue to 'live on the grid', i.e. I'm using electricity from the utility company, but at the same time, have another line going BACK to them? So, net net, my bills would be lower because I'm still using XXX kilowatts, but I'm also feeding back YY kilowatts...

Hrm... reading bits 'n pieces of the huge solar install thread in OT... That guy doesn't have a bank of batteries, so he's generating and using in real-time; anything he doesn't use in real-time goes straight back into the grid...

If you bought your own shit to live off grid the costs of batteries for a typical 3 day standby & lack of reimbursement for the utility company make it stupid to do so as the roi jumps to something stupid like 35 years since you screw yourself in the summer once you turn on the a/c etc etc

The way you want to do it is sign on for a microfit contract (20 years guaranteed) from the government.

(Post Master Jr)

02/21/15 08:15 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: 87ZCSi

zc your contract is for almost 10x what we pay for electricity. WTF?!?! Why? Who's subsidizing this? I don't understand the way it is here locally but that sounds crazy. How long is that rate good for?

20 years.

The reason the government does this is at the time & I believe currently its still cheaper than buying electricity from Quebec or the States for high peak times, then selling them back at a loss to them.

This is the reason why people that have the money lease rooftops. Where other in the world do you have a guaranteed return on your invest with a contract for the government. You may be paying the owners, but I know of a guy that came from Germany where solar was started first and was somehow able to get investors to give him a ton of money. He then went and leased every commercial building that would allow it & maxed out his investment money. Something like 1M, he paid that back under 5 years including paying the owners for the leased roof etc. He has 15 years of profit and retired under 40....he's on track to make 10M.

(Post Master Supreme)

02/22/15 07:02 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Actually I think the main reason they did this was to promote green energy and create jobs. Just before I gt my contact I believe there was an uproar about these solar contracts and why the government was spending so much money on them when OntArio already produces more electricity than we use.

(Post Master Supreme)

02/22/15 07:14 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Sorry my contract is 80.6 cents

Here is an article about ontarios energy issues
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-b...?service=mobile

There where even better ones but Google is letting me down

To tell you the truth I think the whole microfit and FIT ideas are pretty stupid in terms of actually helping the province. We didn't need all these green ideas for electricity when we have so many issues with the system as is. Now the ontario government has all these guaranteed contracts to buy energy at stupid high prices, for what?
I didn't do it for any green reason, I did it for free money, it's not often the government just hands it out lol

(Post Master Supreme)

02/22/15 07:26 AM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: Wildout

Originally Posted By: 87ZCSi

zc your contract is for almost 10x what we pay for electricity. WTF?!?! Why? Who's subsidizing this? I don't understand the way it is here locally but that sounds crazy. How long is that rate good for?

20 years.

The reason the government does this is at the time & I believe currently its still cheaper than buying electricity from Quebec or the States for high peak times, then selling them back at a loss to them.

This is the reason why people that have the money lease rooftops. Where other in the world do you have a guaranteed return on your invest with a contract for the government. You may be paying the owners, but I know of a guy that came from Germany where solar was started first and was somehow able to get investors to give him a ton of money. He then went and leased every commercial building that would allow it & maxed out his investment money. Something like 1M, he paid that back under 5 years including paying the owners for the leased roof etc. He has 15 years of profit and retired under 40....he's on track to make 10M.

I should have done the same haha. I learned a lot when I did mine and I should not have wasted the knowledge. I should have put it to good use and figured out a way to do the same. But I never really thought about it at the time.
I learned about it from a friends brother and was skeptical at first, and then did my own calculations and was sold.
Ah well. Good for that dude! He did the right thing (obviously) lol

(Post Master Jr)

02/22/15 10:11 PM

Re: Solar going mainstream vBuyOrRentOutYourRoof

Originally Posted By: zc911

Sorry my contract is 80.6 cents

Here is an article about ontarios energy issues
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-b...?service=mobile

There where even better ones but Google is letting me down

To tell you the truth I think the whole microfit and FIT ideas are pretty stupid in terms of actually helping the province. We didn't need all these green ideas for electricity when we have so many issues with the system as is. Now the ontario government has all these guaranteed contracts to buy energy at stupid high prices, for what?
I didn't do it for any green reason, I did it for free money, it's not often the government just hands it out lol

I fully agree, it's dumb as hell on the governments end to subsidies it. Makes no sense to for the bottomline.