anyone know if chelco is up to speed with solar yet? i know the state is happy with solar, but i'm wondering about the locals. anyone have any experience?
thanks
jr
thanks
jr
John R said:anyone know if chelco is up to speed with solar yet? i know the state is happy with solar, but i'm wondering about the locals. anyone have any experience?
thanks
jr
twt512 said:John, I looked into this a few years back and was disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm/support that either the state or chelco was offering with regards to solar. Things may have changed now, as this was at least 5 years ago. Some states, especially in the southwest, offer grants to help homeowners purchase a solar system but at that time Florida did not.
I looked into some of the photovoltaic systems that were out there on the market. BP Solar (oddly enough) had some good systems. Don't quote me on this, but I believe a decent system will set you back by about $14,000 installed. I liked the option that pumps power back into the grid during peak hours (your meter runs backward essentially) and then you feed off the grid at night -rather than the more complex option of storing power in huge batteries.
One of the drawbacks that I could foresee was hurricanes -what would happen to those vunerable panels sitting up on your roof during a storm?
In the end, due to the above issues, I tabled the idea for now -but I am still interested in the topic and would like to know what you find out.
Smiling JOe said:Seems like I read that the state of Florida was among a handfull of states in which the power companies did not have to purchase excess power that came back to the grid from homeowners. Do you know differently?
twt512 said:Here is some new information and resourses on this topic:
Apparently, on January 1, new tax credits went into effect in Florida that allow homeowners or businesses to deduct 30% of the cost of a solar system off their taxes, for a total credit of up to $2,000. (Energy Policy Act 2005).
A whole house system will run you somewhere around $24,000 installed however.
Here is a good link:
The Florida Solar Energy Center-
http://fsec.ucf.edu/
Smiling JOe said:Wow! so the 30% tax credit is suddenly reduced to 8.3% due to the cap.When is this country going to wake up and take the necessary steps to get the job done. We (gov't) encourage people (with huge tax breaks) to buy 6000+ lbs, gas-guzzling automobiles, while giving a tidbit of an incentive to to people purchasing small economy hybrid vehicles. We have to keep the Capitalistic American dollar churning to keep people employed so that we can pay bills for the things that we are "forced" to purchase through the very incentives which we create.
If we would give the incentives accordingly to the people trying to conserve fossil fuels via using alternative fuels, we would not have to spend billions fighting for oil, and we could potentially have a cleaner environment along the way.
If all the money spent on the oil war efforts were put toward incentives for alternative, cleaner energy sources, we could create more jobs here, have cleaner environment, and have cheaper costs of energy. If everyone had a solar system or wind system, the prices would not be nearly as costly as they are currently, and a home owner could probably recapture the costs through energy savings in less than two years.
Sorry if I am a bit wordy... I am a little frazzled at the whole system.![]()