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Comment by thinkcontext | Hacker News Reader

That would be an awesome price even if it's after the federal tax credit. Here's a link to average prices by system size, that's way under even for the smaller size.

https://news.energysage.com/how-much-does-the-average-solar-...

Also rooftop solar is 2-3x the cost of utility scale solar.

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For rooftop you’re not paying for the solar, you’re paying for the scaffolding, design and fitting for your particular roof, retrofitted electric work, marketing, permits etc.

But still cheaper than supporting the utility’s transmission and distribution infrastructure with $150/kWh storage.

I don’t understand. How is paying $10,000 or more cheaper than using the electricity provided by my local electric company? The break even point is probably 5 years if you really can install everything but $10,000.

The opportunity cost of that $10,000 is, let’s say 5% per year on avg, or $2500 over 5 years (without compounding which would skew this even further against panels)

The solar system should last 25 years. That’s about 2c/kWh.

With your electric utility, after all the additional fees, you’re probably at at least 15c/kWh.

Storage simply needs to cost less than 13c/kWh to make economic sense.

Also, 2c/kWh is a hedge against inflation. Utility prices go up not down.

Right, it just depends on the numbers. Taxes and credits have a lot to do with it. For example, a $10k (after credits) system might save at averaged $1200/year accounting for production lost, increasing a bit over time due to utility hikes. After 20 years, assuming the system is now worthless, that will compare similarly to an 8% stock market return plus initial capital after capital gains taxes. The solar system would return in a narrower range of performance than the stock market return.

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