We love our solar panels!

User: alegene@simons-rock.edu

Vendor: None

Action: 2035 - Catch the Sun on your roof

In February of 2017 we had solar panels installed on our roof. North East Solar scraped the snow off the roof and went right ahead installing. Within 2 weeks our 16 solar panels were up and running, and they have been running without a hitch ever since. We get monthly reports of how much energy they have produced, but we can also log in to a website where we can monitor production on an hour by hour basis. We originally installed just as many panels as needed for our energy use at the time. We regret not having installed more, because, come to think of it, free energy is pretty amazing, and soon you want to electrify more appliances etc. We decided to get heat pumps, which means we now use more electricity than we produce. But before that it was fun seeing our electric bill go negative, with the electric company owing us. We cannot expand the range for a few more years, because for 7 years we are receiving SREC payments. These come from polluting companies which have to pay "penalty" by paying for green energy production. After these payments are done, we will expand our range to cover all our electricity needs. Between tax breaks, SREC payments, and huge savings on our electricity bill, the solar panels will pay for themselves in about 7 years. After that, for the duration of their life span (30 years), we will have free electricity. We are fortunate that we did not need to take out a loan to pay for the panels, but I know there are interest free loans available, and I highly recommend to anyone who can afford it to do their part and get solar panels! We will wean ourselves off oil one rooftop at the time!