Does hooking up to your power grid, using renewable electrical sources, cost money?

Question

If you have an at home power source like a generator or solar panels does it cost money to hook up to the grid (other than to pay for an electrician)?

I have heard that when you hook up to the grid to send back electricity it costs like 10 grand. Is that true?

Answer 1

to make a usable amount of energy to sell back to the grid yes indeed may cost ten grand.

Example: An SW 175 solar panel costs about $850.00

That 175 is the watts it makes at maximum output.......say you get 6 hours a day of max output.....that's a really optimistic number but 175 x 6 is 1050 watts, or 1 kilowatt and change. Most [people use 20-30 kWh a day ( go look at your electric bill and see just what you use).

So you need 20 or so panels to keep up with demand when the sun is out.

That why most solar panel systems, plus batteries, inverters and all that run 10,000 to 20,000 dollars up front.

If you wanted just to hook up one panel to the grid......

What do you pay for kWh where you live? 20 cents? so you could sell 20 cents of energy every day till you pay off the 850.00 panel.

Answer 2

When you hook a system up to the "grid" you need to get a permit from the city. You will need to submit plans and get them approved. The cost will depend be determined by your city or county.

It is also up to the utility to allow items to be hooked up to the power companies equipment.

I had a solar system installed and the permits were only a few hundred dollars, the solar contractor had to submit plans for apporval and we had to have an inspection before we could start the system.

Answer 3

I know there are all kinds of inspections and permits to get.   Don't think the electric company is going to make it easy for you to take some of their business do you?