Solar power for 1300 kWh each month. Suggestions?

Question

We use approx. 1300 kWh each month as a family of 6 and we live in southeast Texas. What kind of load requirements are we looking at for a grid-tied solar-power system? I have found several sites but am more than a little confused in figuring this out.

Also, what's the life expectancy of the average solar power system?

Is there a decline in performance as the years go by?

Answer 1

Google for public interest/non-profit groups that support green energy, and you will probably find a very informed and willing assistant to help you realize your project.  You might also contact sales for the 3 largest solar power home systems and ask them to COMPARE products or tell you where to look for feature comparisons.  Also, always try Consumer Reports and magazines on remodeling.

My mom's cousin back in Kansas builit on a hillside lot - ground level in back, but that became the basement when you reached the front of the house.  It was a great source of family humor, that he built his basement and no tornado ever took the top of the house off the foundation, that he prepared by not putting any house up there in the first place.  (That IS how it looked from the street.)

They had a fireplace, which was cheery but didn't really offer so much heat but fresh air.  For a family with 5 kids at home (1st of 6 was grown and living next door), it was really a wonderful home.  The earthen walls on over half the sides provided excellent insulation.  And he built solidly.

I thought a lot about it, how they might have gardened atop the house (pre-solar panels), but this might also be an idea you could use, then place solar panels atop.

I would suggest a setup sufficient to provide your own energy needs and a bit more.  How they do it here, is they hook you into the city or county energy system and there's a meter that tracks how much you use or contribute.  (You might need more than what your panels would give at one part of the year and less at another.)  Whatever the surplus is, you get paid for that.  Or you could gauge your own system and just release power to the local utility when you had a surplus.  (More control on your part, if they agree.  Or you might do a coop with neighbors.)

Answer 2

Hope U have lots of money. The solar panels are expensive, but good batteries to run on when the sun is down are expensive and have a short life ,like 5 years. There is another expense of mounting the panels so the wind will not blow them away. I installed a small system in the Ecuadorian jungle . The panels cost $10,000 US . and in about 3 months the wind blew it all over the jungle. Each panel should be fused so that is one shorts it does not burn up your wiring.... The panels will last a long time but it needs to be constructed so U could clean them.