This is why I would never put solar panels on my house

The water cooler
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She explains it very well.

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As CH says, buy the panels, don’t ever lease them.

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Solar panels are essentially a very expensive virtue signal to the rest of the neighborhood. Our electric bill is about $1,000-1,200/year. I have priced solar panels for our house and they make absolutely no economic sense. Adding power walls, so we could be totally off grid, almost doubles the price. If we replace our gas and water heat, the payback is still beyond the normal lifespan of the solar.

Even if they are semi-economic, don’t lease. Buy. Leasing can screw up a future sale of the property.

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They make sense if you have a pool, or otherwise use lots of electricity. I looked into it a couple of years ago when we had a stretch of more than 2 weeks over 110 degrees. It still didn’t quite make sense for my modest house.

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The $125 solar blanket instead of the $5000 pool heater has my pool up to over 85 degrees this morning. ( I know, different discussion).

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We have evaporative cooling instead of a/c, and that saves a lot of electricity. If we had a/c I suspect our annual bill would more than double.

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Went in my pool a couple of days ago. The water temp was 73 degrees.(no solar blanket)

Those pool heaters are very expensive to run

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I wouldn’t pay cash for them either, it would take a long time to recoup $30-$40,000 in electric savings, probably longer than the panels last. I don’t know how they mount them, but I have a tile roof and don’t want cracks or holes up there. I’ve read people have to pay to have them cleaned off occasionally. I’d rather save adjusting the thermostat.

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There are new plug and Play solar panels that are in use in other countries, but are not yet legal in a lot of places here. They’re called balcony solar panels, Clark talked about them a couple weeks ago.

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Or want clean energy.

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If you can afford it.

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Yes, clean energy is a boost. Most people aren’t going to do it on their own unless it will pay for itself.

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Because it costs too much.

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I think mine would have paid off after a decade or so.

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10 years is the max ROI I would be willing to look at, 5 would be preferrable.
Several years ago Emmanual Cleaver made a big deal about retrofitting the KC Federal building for “green energy” and said it would pay for itself in 25 years. The problem was the lifecycle of the equipment was only 20 years.

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Some of care about the environment. Luckily it’s not really an option where I live now.

I debating adding it to my Florida house. My only concern is will it survive high winds

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A house on my block is for sale it has solar panels. I went on Zillow and it said active under contract. Was listed in Feb at $467,000, March 11 at $455,000 and then March 26 at $448. The listing said PPA solar. I found out that means leased solar panels. I bet that’s why the price kept being reduced so quickly.

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I was today years old when I even learned about leasing solar panels.
I have always thought you bought them.

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I learned it today also from AI. I asked what PPA solar meant.

This home has a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement)

A PPA is not owned and not a loan. It is effectively a lease‑style contract where:

  • The solar company owns the panels
  • The homeowner buys the electricity they produce at a set rate
  • The contract usually lasts 20–25 years
  • The buyer must assume the PPA when purchasing the home
  • The solar company must approve the buyer’s credit
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If the seller does not pay off the lease, or the buyer refuses to agree and take responsibility for the lease, the solar company will come out and remove the panels. I have read reports of them leaving the holes and other damage in the roof. That’s why I said buy not lease.

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