Does Texas make much use of Solar Energy? (San Antonio, Austin: how much, home)

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Snowpacked

Unfortunately no. There has been a tremendous amount of construction in my area and I rarely see solar panels.
Nope. We get alerts about potential outages begging people to reduce electric usage in the summer though.

They are almost never on new construction, not sure why, seems you could roll it into the mortgage. Maybe because it requires quite a bit of time to install after the entire house is finished. Would put off closing date way too long.

Anyway, solar panels are contagious, it seems. If you look at google earth, you will see panels around the high-tech areas, mainly, where some geek puts them in because...well, because they are a geek . And probably ran the numbers. Anyway, over the next couple of years, they 'spread' the neighboring houses as the neighbors talk to the geek and actually see the small-to-nonexistent bill by someone they actually know, not hear it from a salesman. You can use the history function on GE and watch it go from one house, to three houses, then 15 houses in relatively close proximity.

Are current house does not have them because we have a heritage oak that shades almost our entire house. Definitely the south facing that would work best, but also the east and west facing to some degree. If you do put in panels, you have to keep your trees from shading them.

[C24L]

Originally Posted by tcualum

How common are dust storms in West Texas? I’ve been through a really nasty one. I could see them being a problem for solar panels.

they happen from time to time.Midessa and Lubbock get bad haboobs.

[tcualum]

We drove through a haboob in West Texas during Spring Break. It looked like something out of the movie The Martian. We would have stopped to ride it out but there was nowhere to stop.

[Snowpacked]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

They are almost never on new construction, not sure why, seems you could roll it into the mortgage. Maybe because it requires quite a bit of time to install after the entire house is finished. Would put off closing date way too long.

Anyway, solar panels are contagious, it seems. If you look at google earth, you will see panels around the high-tech areas, mainly, where some geek puts them in because...well, because they are a geek . And probably ran the numbers. Anyway, over the next couple of years, they 'spread' the neighboring houses as the neighbors talk to the geek and actually see the small-to-nonexistent bill by someone they actually know, not hear it from a salesman. You can use the history function on GE and watch it go from one house, to three houses, then 15 houses in relatively close proximity.

Are current house does not have them because we have a heritage oak that shades almost our entire house. Definitely the south facing that would work best, but also the east and west facing to some degree. If you do put in panels, you have to keep your trees from shading them.

I think, like most industries with a strong political hold, the people resisting the technology have the most to lose. It’s usually about power and the money that’s associated with all of supporting industries.

Most homes are not being built with saving trees as a priority. So the panels won’t be obstructed, even if they were they would still collect enough energy for the home to use. The panels usually collect much more energy than a home consumes, hence the energy sell back to the utility program. Not sure how that works currently. I have not researched the policy lately, but it was lucrative to sell the extra energy back in the 1980’s.
I would expect the best time to include it would be during the initial construction.

[Trainwreck20]

Thinking about it now, though, I bet the builders can't get the federal credits. That would make it very expensive. And the owner doesn't buy/own the house until it is complete, so they couldn't get them either.

The buy-back now never involves cash, strictly credit and the credits expire after some period of time. You can use the credits to offset 'bought' electricity though.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by Snowpacked

Yes. There was an alert today from ERCOT requesting less electric usage.

Where does Austin get its power from? I was wondering if the hydroelectric dam on Lake Travis contributes any part of it.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Where does Austin get its power from? I was wondering if the hydroelectric dam on Lake Travis contributes any part of it.

A tiny amount. Several power plants (gas and coal), a contract for a (failed) biomass plant in east Texas, some solar plants

https://austinenergy.com/ae/about/co...m/power-plants

https://laketravislifestyle.com/the-...is-and-beyond/

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

A tiny amount. Several power plants (gas and coal), a contract for a (failed) biomass plant in east Texas, some solar plants

https://austinenergy.com/ae/about/co...m/power-plants

https://laketravislifestyle.com/the-...is-and-beyond/

What do you think will be the future for Austin's energy sources since its growing and already running into power issues?

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

What do you think will be the future for Austin's energy sources since its growing and already running into power issues?

The number of people served by AE has not grown by nearly as much as the area in general and the city has aggressively pushed energy conservation and has assisted in solar installation costs. They would really like to avoid building a new base unit, but may replace an existing one with a bigger one. Possibly Decker, which is quite old. It would likely be some gas turbines if I had to be on it.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

They are much stronger than your roof . The central Texas hail, which is often enough pecan-sized, has not damaged any of our neighbors panels. My neighborhood has not had the really big hail (lots of golf ball or base ball sized) in the last 15 years, but it has fallen around the city many times and I have not heard of the panels getting damaged. My understanding is that they can take it.

Currently, the 'pay back' time is around 8-10 years for most people when you include federal subsidies. If your local area has subsidies (only likely in a muni), then that is further reduced by a year or year and half, maybe.

The solar panels are (by law) exempt from property taxes but they definitely add value to your house when you go to sell it. Not the original install cost, but maybe half? I don't really know that. So even if you have only lived somewhere for five years after putting them on, you will at least break even when you sell.

Very few people store the electricity, they just feed the excess to the grid during the day and get a credit for it. So when it is night or no sun, you use the credit instead of incurring cost. You still need to pay a hookup fee whether you are a net consumer or not, but the co-workers that I know that have put on solar (three people now) have not paid a bill for consumption yet - they can generate enough credits to avoid having to pay in the winter months. This specific issue may vary a bit in the deregulated market - I know they have to credit you for the generation, but not sure at what rate. In Austin, I *think* it is somewhere in the 14/ to 1/3 rate that you would pay, but even that is enough to come out even.

The hidden costs are when you do need a knew roof and have to remove the solar panels. There is an additional cost and insurance will not cover it. I think the life-span of the panels is now up to 25 or 30 years now.

Some interesting information in this article:
https://news.energysage.com/how-long...r-panels-last/

I believe that in the deregulated remainder of Texas (outside of the municipal San Antonio and Austin systems) net metering is still not allowed.

I might consider putting the panels on my roof if I can get around the HOA approval, it holds up to hail and other storms without damage, doesn't damage my roof (roof leaks from the holes to screw it in), and the legislature mandates net metering so I don't generate power for charity purposes. The legislature might be the biggest obstacle of all since it's dominated by fossil fuel-funded Republicans!