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Comment by laurencei | Hacker News Reader

Those installation prices seem crazy?

I live in Australia, and last year I had 13kw worth of solar panels, with a 10kw inverter installed on my roof for $10k AUD (about $8k USD).

Our federal government does some subisidies, so I believe the raw cost was closer to $15k. But either way, that is substantially lower than what is quoted here?

Why would anyone pay $70k USD for solar?

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You say you installed the panels on your roof. So I guess you have to add the price of your roof to it?

I would think that a Tesla roof is roof+solar in one. Or am I missing something?

Funnily enough, most houses already have a roof, so I don't think you need to incur that cost again when installing solar panels.

All things have their lifetime. Here roofs are expected to last 20-30 years. Depending on location and weather YMMV.

I think the idea with Tesla roofs is you would only buy them if you're already building or replacing a roof

As I understand it the solar roof is a ‘vanity’ roof designed to blend in with traditional roofing, rather than bolt-on panels.

I have solar on my roof and I'm actually glad it's bolted on instead of integrated into the roof itself. In the summer the heat from direct sunlight doesn't hit the roof and gets absorbed by the panels instead. This way my actual roof is staying relatively cool. A very nice feature that I bet many home owners don't realize until they have it.

People are somehow downvoting this but it's a fact that my attic is a lot cooler for longer after solar was installed despite much hotter summers. The solar panels are shading my roof and the main thing heating it is the hot air.

Tesla's fancy solar roofs take this away and are very likely more expensive over the long term due to higher AC costs.

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