I’m in North Yorkshire, in the UK. It’s midday, currently -2 degrees and cloudy... And right now it is generating 1,670w. It hasn’t hit peak yet; that’s well over 4kW and we won’t get the full benefit of that until after the spring equinox.
The system is comprised of 12 410w Canadian Solar panels, a Sofar HYD 6000 inverter, and Pylontech US-3000 battery which is charging from solar.
We’ve got the washing machine, dishwasher, tumble drier and electric fan oven on right now so are using 2760kw. Stick the cooker on too, and we might hit 5.5kw.
The total spend was £8k but that included a partial house rewire with 16 energy monitoring plugs, critical load split, voltage optimiser to stabilise the grid input, Evohome multizone heating controls, and a Raspberry pi which I use to control and monitor the entire stack.
And the cost of the scaffolding for a week, as we had some roof repairs done at the same time.
No grants or subsidies.
With the fan oven now off, we’re exporting 150w to the grid, and still getting 1680w. The battery is charging at max rate but we’d need more batteries to capture all the juice coming from solar.
I could’ve installed the system for a lot less if it had been ground level, but it’s a large Victorian property with very high ceilings and it’s a 30 foot haul to get up on the roofs, so I got the pros in rather than mess about.
Just because you didn't get a check doesn't mean the thing isn't subsidized. Not saying it isn't a great deal for you. It is just that the system breaks down when you start using the same model for everyone.
Plus, when one starts considering the energy cost of producing a lot of the "renewable" energy hardware, it starts to look (practically) like an energy storage medium rather than an energy source. If your initial energy is cheap enough, and your goal is energy independence, that may not matter. But if your goal is eliminating fossil fuels from the economy, all you have done is moved it behind a curtain you won't look behind. That is why most "electric" cars can effectively be described as "coal-fired."
So how does your panel putting out 1.5 kva handle that load? It doesn't..
Which is around $13,000 USD. I pay for electricity around $0.10 per KW-Hr . My annual electric bill is $2,500/yr. $13,000 is about 5-6 years worth of electricity. So I would not be breaking even for over half a decade. How long do these panels last?