My wife wants to install solar. I haven't looked at the expected cost but I don't believe solar gives an acceptable return on investment. If that is the case, why are people installing solar?
I have not done a serious investigation for a solar system but I have done a bit of poking around. My monthly consumption is about 600 kwh. Most of the consumption is at night. I would need 20 kwh worth of battery, an 8 kw inverter and about 6 kw of solar panels. Looking around on Lazada I think I can get what I need for around 300 k pesos. My guess is about 100 k pesos for bits and pieces and installation. As I said this is all guesstimate. The payback would be about 5.5 years. The bank doesn't pay me much interest on my deposit. Getting serious about solar is creeping into my mind.
The sun has been in the same spot for millions of years, and will be in the same spot a lot longer than us too, and its does exactly the same thing everyday, much the same as water, neither of which we can live without, water we can drill to find, and when we do we can fold our arms and nod our cap and look on our neighbours as lesser than us, when the local LGU water comes through as brown 10 months of the year, dont we see ourselves as champions, solar is no different..................be a prisoner of the sun or a prisoner of NORECO
I feel, and this could just be me, people consider solar for the same reason they consider a generator. Peace of mind when the power goes out, you will still have power. I want my A/C. I don't want to throw food away. I want my MTV. Did I remember to turn off the A/C when we left the house, who cares, the suns shining. No need to be a TURN OFF THE LIGHTS Grinch. What about a generator then? A generator can serve for peace of mind. You might not get ROI on a generator and you will pay for fuel every time you use it. Not having to pay NORECO does sound appealing. Every monthly no bill from NORECO is your investment returning. Factors that can make solar ROI faster. 1. Living in an area with higher KWH rates. 2. Living in an area with plentiful sunshine. 3. The cost of the equipment and installation where you live. 4. Not having to throw food away. I wouldn't get to high on wanting to go green. No solar retailer will ever tell you about the cost to properly dispose/recycle damaged or degraded PV panels. PV cells contain things like arsenic, cadmium, lead & selenium. They should not go in a landfill.
Does she want off grid, on grid or both (Hybrid? I have hybrid. Solar panels have come down in price considerably, batteries are still expensive, inverters are coming down in price. Why are people installing solar? Sick of brownouts maybe. ROI maybe. I have solar, 7KW solar panels 5KW hybrid inverter and 12000 wh batteries. ROI 5 Years. Cost 300k peso but I did it myself with some help lol You can go on grid with just panels and inverter but you will still get brownout and of course you can get Net- metering, I discarded that, not worth it in my case.
A reason a lot of expats have for buying or building a home, instead of renting, is so they know their other half will have someplace when they pass on. Ignoring ROI for a moment, we could leave them without an electric bill, for as long as the system lasts. Or, we could just leave them with the extra pesos not spent. If me standing in those lines every month was my only way to pay the electric bill, I would definitely open my wallet for solar.
