Editor's Note: A calculation in the article was posted in error. It has been corrected.
BOB KENYON
Special to Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Net Zero home produces as much electricity as it consumes.
To reach that goal, you'll need a solar system. Your solar panels can be mounted on your roof or ground mounted.
Let’s start with some terminology. KW stands for Kilowatts and indicates how powerful your panels are. The panels on the house I’m buying are 10.5 KW. When I’m looking for a charging station for my EV (Electric Vehicle), I’m looking for one at least 150 KW, some are as strong as 350 KW. Your 240 V outlet for your clothes dryer or oven is about 10 KW. The term kWh (kilowatt hour) refers to how much power you use or return to the grid. An incandescent 100 watt lightbulb will use 100 watts in an hour.
Leave that on for 10 hours and you will use 1,000 watts or one kilowatt (1 kWh). KW is the strength and kWh is what you consume. By the way, a 100 watt equivalent LED bulb uses only 14 watts in an hour - a savings of 86%!
You can buy whatever sized system your budget can afford and roof/property space can accommodate. Let’s assume a typical system is a 10 KW system. A 10 KW system will produce 10 kWh in an hour when the sun is shining. An average house will consume 35 kWh in a day so as long as you have three and a half hours of sun, you will not buy any electricity.
Now, where does the extra electricity go if you produce more than you consume you ask ? It goes back into the grid as a credit which you can use another day or at night. This assumes you use Evergy with Net Metering.
The policy on banking the extra electricity varies depending on where you live and how old your system is. The panels on the house I’m buying were installed before July 1, 2014 so my credits roll over month to month but are zeroed out April 1. A friend in Maryland gets a check for any excess April 1; we are not so fortunate. However, if you add panels today, the credit will be zeroed out at the end of every month. If this seems wrong to you, I agree. Talk to Topeka. The chair of the House Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications is Representative Leo Delperdang. His email is [email protected].
If someone didn’t pay for, but just took the zucchinis I produced but did not consume, we’d have a problem.
The cost of a system is roughly $3,000 per 1 KW. Thus a 15 KW system will cost about $45,000, a 10 KW system is $30,000 and a 5 KW system is roughly $15,000. Generally a solar company will ask for a year worth of electric bills and calculate what size system would be appropriate for you.
You won’t get a check if you produce extra in Kansas. A ground mounted system will be slightly more since the rack is an additional cost and you will need to run wire underground for a distance.
On average, a solar system will pay for itself in 12 years. If there’s a good chance you’ll be moving, you might think twice. I have retired and plan to be in my home in Hutch for the duration, so it would be worth it. Total what you spend per year and divide your cost by that total to determine pay off years. For example, if I buy a $10,000 system and save $1,000/year, it will be paid off in 10 years. Also be aware that due to the Inflation Reduction Act, you will receive a 30% tax credit so you just saved almost a third. You’re welcome.
Whether or not adding a solar system to your house will improve its value is to be debated. When I had the house I’m buying appraised, the appraiser said she did not consider the solar panels in the valuation. Some might avoid a house with solar. I feel I got a $30,000 10.5 KW system for free.
Be wary of free solar systems. You've been around the sun a few dozen times and know if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Those who install panels for free will often keep most of the electricity for themselves. Read the fine print in any contracts before you sign.
Optimally, panels should be facing south and at a 30 degree angle (varies by latitude).
Panels not facing south will still produce electricity, just less effectively. East facing will produce in the morning and west facing in the afternoon. Longer summer days will produce far more than the shorter days of the winter, however you’ll have high demand from your air conditioner in the summer.
Flipping my gas furnace and hot water heater to electric is on my to do list to avoid putting any carbon in the atmosphere. We’ll see if solar energy produced on short winter days can power them.
Some people add batteries to their configuration. The PowerWall by Tesla is commonly used. They cost about $10,000 each (minus 30% tax credit) so it’s a serious commitment. Why would you use a battery? You can use them to power your needs at night. You could conceivably go completely off grid if your nerves can take it. If the grid goes down in a storm your sump pump and refrigerator would still function.
Alternatively, if you have an electric vehicle, you can configure your system so the EV will power your house if the grid goes down. Also, since your credit will be wiped out at the last day of the month, this would be a way to keep some of the power you produced from the last day to the next month. One PowerWall will hold 13.5 kWh so you might need more than one.
Selecting a company to install solar is a challenge. After interviewing several companies, I found that King Solar (https://www.kingsolar.net) in Yoder is the only vertically integrated solar company in Kansas that specializes in solar. Vertical integration means they handle everything in-house (sales, design, installation, electrical and service). This gives them a technical knowledge of the entire process and means the buck stops with them so finger pointing is avoided if a component fails. Having all of their team living in the Wichita/Hutchinson area also means they can offer quicker response time for service calls than their out-of-town competition.
With a few exceptions, most solar companies either do sales or installation and very few have any type of service department. All of the competitors in the Wichita area have other business ventures (such as general contracting, environmental remediation, electrical contracting, etc) that in my opinion distracts from their ability to offer dedicated solar services. King Solar is the oldest solar company in Kansas that is still in business (established in 1982) and is typically at or near the lowest cost option because they have invested in a warehouse to avoid most material supply issues.
Anyone enjoy a cold craft brew? Sandhills Brewing has solar on their roof and a free EV charger. Came for the charge, stayed for the beer.
Are you ready to go solar??
Comments? Questions? Drop me a line.
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