More good news for solar power and electric cars

It's been about a year since we installed our 3.24 kilowatt solar system on our roof, so I thought I'd check in with our installers (Supersolar in Oakland) to see if prices have dropped.  Our system cost $5.25 per kilowatt.  Szilard Szabo from Supersolar told me that today they would charge $4.90 - $5.00 per watt due to the drop in solar panel prices. 

It also looks like we are right on target with our estimates of 4,200 kwh from the solar panels, and about 6,600 kwh total used for the house and the car.  I'll give a report with those exact numbers in January when we have a full year of PG&E bills.

So the good news is that our system today would cost, say $4.95 x 3,240 = $16,038.  With a $948 PG&E rebate and a 30% tax break that would come to $10,563.  Financed for 30 years at the current rate of 4% gives an annual cost of $611.  For 4,200 kwh that comes to 14.5 cents per kwh--very close to PG&E's cheapest rate (Tier 1) for most homes of 12 cents per kwh.  And, as discussed in previous posts, the actual cost of electricity is well below 14.5 cents per kwh since PG&E pays 28 cents per kwh in the peak summer hours and only charges 6 cents per kwh in the off-peak when the car is charging.  That makes solar power and electric cars the cheapest way to buy electricity, and the most environmentally friendly.

Now PG&E wants to raise the rates for electric vehicles, and I'm trying to convince them to leave the rates low at least until there are a lot more EVs on the grid, so stay tuned to see how that plays out.

More good news:  Szilard told me he has installed solar systems for 2-3 leafs and another Volt since mine went in.  That's five EV/PV systems for just one small solar installation company.  Wonder how many of us are out there!  Solar power and electric cars are definitely the way to go, and they keep getting better!

Szilard Szabo installing solar panels on our roof Dec, 2010