Here in Half Moon Bay California, the weekly paper profiled local houses with solar electricity.
Roughly speaking, the installed cost was $9 per watt. Or 21,000 to 30,000 dollars for a pretty large installation. No mention of batteries, but some of the users provide some net power to the grid.
My house has a 1985 vintage solar water heater on the roof... and it has reached the age where it has 2 small leaks and the roof underneath is nearly worn out.
This goes to the hail problem (no freezing or hail here)... solar power systems have to be carefully worked out to last long enough to pay for themselves. The roof or supporting material has to be equally long lasting.
I'd say the time is arriving when we need to build houses with 100 year roofs. Then put 100 year solar power systems on the 100 year roof.
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Here in Half Moon Bay California, the weekly paper profiled local houses with solar electricity. Roughly speaking, the installed cost was $9 per watt. Or 21,000 to 30,000 dollars for a pretty large installation. No mention of batteries, but some of the users provide some net power to the grid. My house has a 1985 vintage solar water heater on the roof... and it has reached the age where it has 2 small leaks and the roof underneath is nearly worn out. This goes to the hail problem (no freezing or hail here) ... solar power systems have to be carefully worked out to last long enough to pay for themselves. The roof or supporting material has to be equally long lasting.
I'd say the time is arriving when we need to build houses with 100 year roofs. Then put 100 year solar power systems on the 100 year roof.