UTILITIES: The Case for Off-Grid Solar

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 After completing the initial 'rough' engineering I received this estimate from the local power company: 


This is the 'rough' estimate simple to hook-up to the grid. And mind you my property isn't very far: 


I asked if dowgrading my power requirements by half would do anything to change the financial picture, the answer was no:


So, I'm left with a choice. Pay $30k to hookup to the grid and then pay for electrical and billing service charges every month regardless of use . Oh, BTW: I'm not making that up, those are real charges levied by the power company. 

OR... I can suck it up and create my own microgrid. And that's what I've decided to do.

How Hard Can It Be


 Figure. Birds eye view of the property, the highway, and the power poles.

 
Figure. The dashed orange line shows that it's only 200' to the main power line.

It gets better. There's already an easement which means that applying the power doesn't require any negotiating with the neighbors. And yet somehow this is still a difficult task for NV Energy.



Calculations: How Much Solar is Enough?

For my European friends, I must apologize in advance. You will be shocked by these numbers.
I sampled 3 homes in the experiment:

  1. My former house in Michigan (had AC - 2 people - 2400 sq ft, 135 year old Victorian home)
    1. Summer time:
    2. Winter time:
  2. My house in Minden (no AC - 5 people - 2000 sq ft, built 2002 poor construction short ceilings)
    1. Summer time: 
    2. Winter time:
  3. My parent's house in Reno (has AC - 5 people - 2000 sq ft, built 1950s older home)
    1. Summer time:
    2. Winter time:

Based on these calculations, I estimate that a well-built home with a 1 ACH 50 airtightness rating should be able to be very energy efficient even in this climate zone.

Calculations: How High Should the Panels Be off the Ground

Fire Protection

In order to protect against fire, there will be a utility room build off the garage with tall concrete walls, and as much fireproofing materials as possible - effectively making the area "lithium bomb" proof.

Tax Incentives: Do they Really Matter?

Yes, actually! The rest of this article is about the finances and tax incentives for solar


Rules of the 30% tax credit:

  • Batteries count towards the tax credit
  • Must be installed residential as your principal residence.

Financially, with the 30% tax credit, it looks like this __________. So based on the IRS tax rates, I'll need to offset an income of ______ when I take possession of the house.

Should be easy enough - just transfer assets from IRA to Roth IRA and pay the rollover taxes, then use the credit to offset the taxes.

Location: Reno, NV, USA