Should I Get Solar Now Or Wait?

Why go solar in California? The proof is in the numbers: Investing in a solar energy system can fix your electricity rate and protect against unpredictable increases in utility costs. If you’re a homeowner with fluctuating cash flow, going solar will help you better forecast your expenses. The intelligent choice is to switch to home solar power.

Why Should I Go Solar Now in California

Reasons to Go Solar and Save

Home solar prices are lower and trending downward.
Solar panels last longer and longer.
Module efficiency has been trending upward in California and elsewhere.

Bonus Reason to Go Solar and Save: solidarity!

We say that switching to solar helps homeowners save money, reduce their carbon footprint and that it’s always a good time to switch to solar. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Let’s go over the data that shows why going solar is suitable for the short term and the long term!

Will solar panel prices continue to go down? Home solar panels are cheaper than ever, and experts expect them to continue falling despite the Coronavirus pandemic’s temporary supply disruptions in early 2020.

According to Dan Reicher, the founding executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University and an assistant energy secretary for President Clinton: “Renewables are on a growth trajectory today that I think isn’t going to be set back long term…This will be a bump in the road.” (Source: NY Times)

Think you’ll save more money by waiting? Think again. We are at a place in our market maturity where waiting for the price to go down doesn’t make sense, making now the optimal time to go solar and save.

The longer you wait, the more money you pay your old utility company. We’re past the tipping point where you’d save more money over the long haul by waiting for prices to come down further. If you’re wondering if you should go solar in California, the answer is: absolutely.

How long do solar panels last?

How long they “last” is usually taken to mean how long they produce adequate electricity to offset the electric bill in your home.

Solar panels degrade over time, it’s true. But it’s slow. Technically, solar panels could produce electricity from sunlight for a couple hundred years, making it easy to go solar and save.

What homeowners should be concerned about is the efficient productivity of their panels. After a long time, they may stop making a difference in your electric bill.

Typical warranties carry your panels’ efficiency anywhere from 15-25 years. Over that time, the panels may decrease by 10 to 20 percent. Warranties should give you peace of mind for a couple of decades. But the low cost guaranteed by the warranty may no longer be precise after that.

However…

Truthfully, home solar panels should last 30 or 40 years if you take good enough care. If you take excellent care, according to Robin Hirschl, Technical Director at Obton, your solar cells could last for as much as 50 years, depending on which panels you get. (Source: New Energy Update)

What about solar inverters?

Something else that homeowners should consider is the lifespan of solar power inverters.

Each home needs one for the solar panels to convert into usable energy for your family. Solar inverters need to be replaced more often than panels — generally around 10 or 15 years. If you add a storage battery to your system later, that creates more strain on the inverter, potentially shortening its lifespan.

Replacing an inverter can cost hundreds of dollars, so it’s essential to keep this budget in mind when you switch to solar.

Thinking of how to go solar? Pineapple designs custom solar systems, and we always factor an inverter replacement in when producing a design that saves money both now and for the entire duration of your performance guarantee. If you switch to solar with another company, you’ll need to watch out for that hidden cost.

One nice thing about advancing solar inverter technology is the growing market for replacement parts. Part replacement keeps costs lower than a full replacement for many aging inverters.

Solar panel modules are on an upward trend in productive efficiency as the price trends downward. It’s an excellent combination for homeowners to go solar and save.

Trends are especially strong in California, but all states across the U.S. see improvements rising.

Despite more and more homeowners wondering why to go solar in California or choose to go ahead with solar, utility companies often increase rates across the board, leading to higher bills for non-solar customers. Installing a solar energy system can help protect you from future rate hikes imposed in your area.

Electricity is Cheaper — But Is Your Electric Bill Going Up?

Data from April 2020 indicates the average price of electricity to residential customers continues to fall. This is driven in part by home adoption of solar power. The effect on the electricity market of home solar production is the same as the effect on supermarkets by growing your own vegetables. Economics 101 tells us that as demand for purchased goods falls, so does the price.

It’s hard to find a good argument against switching to home solar power. By all accounts, it’s a wise personal financial decision. But it’s not purely subjective – the effects benefit the rest of us.

Installing solar panels on your roof won’t disconnect you from the rest of the world; on the contrary, the way it works is that you produce energy that goes back into the grid. You save money in credits on your monthly bills by going with solar energy. You even get a negative cost on your energy bill in some areas, thanks to net metering. But every other electricity customer reaps the indirect benefit of more electricity provided by solar panels.

The widespread benefit of going with solar energy is clean, renewable energy. That means less need to produce energy that costs everybody more and less pollution in the air we all breathe. The more we go solar, the more good we do for both the environment and the economy.

Still deciding if you should go solar? Going solar is a personal decision that works out great for you and everyone else you know. And in a time where we’re divided on nearly everything, win-win decisions are more than welcome.

If you haven’t gone solar yet, now is the time. Click here to get started.

Home solar power is easily one of the smartest decisions a homeowner can make. Don’t wait any longer! Reach out to Pineapple today.