In Harris County, more federal money is available to help low- and moderate-income residents install rooftop solar.
  • e_t_@kbin.pithyphrase.net
    0·
    4 months ago

    You MUST have a battery for your solar panels to be of any use during a grid outage. When I got panels installed in 2020, I paid $24,500. A whole-house battery would have been almost as much again. I skipped the battery because, at the time, I was not particularly concerned about grid reliability.

  • Pete Hahnloser@beehaw.orgM
    0·
    4 months ago

    Yeah, 2021’s freeze was the final straw for me. Our grid sucks, and solar/batteries are relatively inexpensive in terms of prices through Austin Energy, so there was no upside to remaining on the grid.

    I was paying ~$1,000 per year in a 1/1 for what was usually 30kWh/month and often lower. 600Ah of LFP ran $1,700, 1200W of A-grade 9BB panels were $900, and a hybrid inverter was $600, all at 0% interest.

    So recoup time is roughly three years, except I’m not at the whims of ERCOT. Between that and switching to 5G internet, grid failures simply don’t affect me. I read about them on Reddit and have the “Oh, no! Anyway …” meme reaction.