Solar PV customers in America’s 50 largest cities that invest in a 5 kW solar PV system save an average of between $44 to $187 per month (before a loan, lease, or PPA payment) during the first year that they own their system. source: nccleantech.ncsu.edu
Immediate monthly savings is the simplest concept to grasp for most folks. Simply, it is the difference between your monthly power bill without solar and your monthly power bill with solar power.
The findings show that the customers in California in particular, those who get their electricity from PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison will see the largest savings nationwide. San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose lead the pack with $187 of first year monthly savings.
Of the single-family homeowners in America’s 50 largest cities, we estimate that 9.1 million already live in a city where solar costs less than their current utility rates if they bought a PV system outright – and nearly 21 million (93% of all estimated single-family homeowners in those cities) do if low-cost financing is available.source: nccleantech.ncsu.edu
Last week the North Carolina Clean Technology Center released a whopper report that aimed to open homeowners' eyes to both the immediate monthly saving that installing solar at home offers as well as its sound long term investment value. So much good information was in the report that we're going to split it up into a three part series to to make sure that none of its finer points are lost in the over 20 page report.
In the next two parts things will start getting nerdier indeed. We'll discuss how these researchers used the metrics of Net Present Value (NPV) and the Leveleized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) to inform their conclusions. We'll do our best to keep things easy to understand. Afterall, that's what we do everyday but, just in case grab a latte first.
Going Solar Adds Value and "Green Cachet" to Your Home