You may wonder what benefit will you get from switching to solar power for powering your home. If so, you have come to the right post.
It is an uninterrupted source of power : If installed properly
The sun doesnt shine 24×7 to power your solar installation (unless you live in the arctic ofcourse). On an average, you get 7 hours of direct sunlight that allows solar panels to operate at almost 90 to 100% of their rated capacity; because the direction and energy density of the sun’s rays decrease towards the evening and at dawn. So if your house energy consumption is on average 25 kWh per day or 1.2kWh per hour, you need to install 30kW capacity panels to keep your home powered 24×7 through out the year. The logic is that 25kWh generated by your panels power your home during the day and the other 5kWh is stored in a battery ( similar to the Tesla power wall) and continues to power your home at night. The consumption obviously skews to be higher during the day and modern day battery storage comes with smart meters that automatically route power as required and store the remaining power. So having a minimum of 120 to 140% of your required energy consumption ensures that you never go a single day without power, while most keep it at 150% of their average energy requirement. It gives you the peace of mind and you will no longer be in a situation where you have a office presentation due at 9 in the morning and the power goes out due to a blown transformer in your neighborhood.
It gives you independence; Your electricity bill reduces drastically and the value of your home also increases
By powering your house using solar power, you are becoming self sufficient and independent of the grid. You will no longer have to pay your monthly electricity bill. Once your solar power setup pays for itself after the intial 5 to 10 years, you are powering your house for free for the remaining life of your solar power installation; which can be another 10 to 15 years with proper maintanence. By powering your house with solar power, you can easily save about 50 to 60 months of your average monthly electricity cost ( net of intial cost of setting up the solar panels ), which you can spend on your hobbies, invest or in anyway you like. It also protects you from the rising energy costs. Your monthly electricity bills are expected to rise by 5 to 10% year after year irrespective of where you live. By going solar, you get independent from inflating energy bills.
Even if you are not fully powering your house and instead partially using solar power to meet maybe 30% of your monthly electricity requirement, it still reduces your monthly electricity bill in the long run.
Further, if you have a sprawling lawn or backyard that allows you to install more capacity than required, you can also sell the excess energy produced back to the grid!
Homes that are powered by solar fully or partially on an average are valued 5 to 15% more than the counterparts without solar power in the same neighborhood and also sell quicker than other homes.
Install and forget for next 20 to 25 years:
When you install the solar power setup for your home, other than 1 or 2 weeks at the time of installation, you wont even need to check up on the installation. The company which installs it usually covers annual maintanence checkup at your convinience every year or more frequently if you require. The annual maintanence cost is also very low and less than 100$ a year. Most types of panels have no moving parts and therefore have no wear and tear. With an average life of 25 to 30 years and a warranty covering equally long periods, you can be at peace without having to worry about it after the intial installation. The only component that might require replacement is your inverter and battery once in 10 to 15 years.
Due to advancements in technology, most solar panels have become even more durable and withstand heavy showers and small debris like branches/sticks that might get swept in the wind. This durability means they wont get damaged under such conditions. The occasional showers also clean the panels and keeps the surface free of dust ensuring panels can operate at full capacity. The only problem can be hail that can physically rupture the panels but warranty usually covers that too!
Going solar lowers your tax
Most governments around the world have given some form of tax incentive for making the switch to solar power. For example, in US it is called the investment tax credit (ITC) and allows for a maximum of 26% of installation cost of the panels as tax deduction for residential properties, while its slightly lower rate for commerical properties. In UK, qualified solar power panels have lower VAT rates. In most ASEAN nations you have tax rebates for 5 to 10 years from installtion period. You must enquire with the company sales agent from where you buy the solar power panels, to get a more detailed information about any such tax benefits you get. Most first time buyers are not aware of this. On average this can save you 10k$ to 15k$
Its Smart and green:
Most modern solar power installations have everything ( the panels, inverter, battery, usage across various devices) interconnected via a centralised app that allows you to monitor and control it from your phone. Smart algorithms monitor your usage across devices and intelligently adjust the load across lines to ensure the power lasts longer. Some even provide intelligent dash boards for your home that shows how much power each device and room consumes, allowing you to micro manage your home’s power grid. Maybe its time to replace that faulty toaster thats using so much power!
Finally the most important benefit you get and also give to others is that you help reducing the pace of climate change. Solar power requires no water usage, does not emit any green house gases and reduces dependence on fossil fuels. A single house switching to solar is equivalent to planting 150 more trees every year, reduces coal use by 3800 pounds annually and saves 50,000 gallons of water every year.
These are the benefits you get from switching to solar power! Overall it is a great investment to switch to solar power that can give you more than 25% return on investment.
Renew - Solar 