For security reasons, I don’t plan on sharing pictures of my house here, but I will let you know that 3 weeks ago, they came and installed the 2 Tesla powerwalls inside of my garage. About a week ago, they came out and installed about 75% of the solar panels, then had to come back a few days later to finish up.

During the powerwall install, I didn’t have power for about 2 hours as they were hooking things into my electric. A minor inconvenience, but pretty much everything went smoothly. They got the 31 panels up, and this is expected to produce 116% of the power I need – with extra able to sell back into the grid. The company, Lumina, takes care of the SRECs for me, so the solar generation credits get sold to an exchange and I get a check every 3 months or so.

When you first look at the cost, it’s kind of staggering no matter who you go through. Partially because I financed it – which bloats the price as they put a lot of the padding in that bloated price. Instead of charging you like 20% interest, they charge you ‘only’ like 5%, but throw the bones in with that bloated price. Once you understand how the financing models work, you are ok.

Next up, an inspector has to come in and bless off on everything. After that, the local power company has to give the OK to operate. Then, I’m good to go.

Big picture then is this – that massive price gets a 25% or so discount with the tax credits. I take the tax credit for 2022 and pay that to the company. So my price for this, with 31 panels and 2 powerwalls comes out to be like $56,000 paid over like 25 years. The warranties for all of the items are 25 years, including the Powerwalls.

Why do it?

I’m not a tree hugger. I like nature like anyone, but I didn’t buy this to save the spotted owl whale native to York, Pennsylvania. I bought them for this thinking. Energy prices and inflation may have a tendency to move up in the future, perhaps sharply. While I’m not sitting here with a crystal ball to project 6.2% inflation between 2025-2026, it stands to reason a few things will occur:

  1. Fossil fuels will be more and more hated by the left. This may lead to much higher taxation, loss of incentives for producers, stupid high carbon taxes which discourage development – you get the idea. This paints a target on any producer of any fossil fuels. In my area, coal is a big item used to generate power, and I literally live 7 miles from Three Mile Island nuclear plant – the worst nuclear disaster in US history. I was 4 at the time. We have peach bottom around here somewhere, and Limerick where I grew up. Point is that I am expecting a move to solar, wind, and nuclear over the next 5-10 years and less and less development in fossil fuels. Anyone who has a gas stove, gas heat, or oil – they may have issues. To an extent.
  2. It is clear to me that solar is an easy choice for homeowners of new(er) houses with means to borrow. I saw that with the upcoming crisis, credit may contract and it may not be easy to borrow in the future for these things. They offered the loan at 5%, inflation is 10%, seemed like a good deal to me. Besides, my electric bill and this payment are not off by much.
  3. It is clear to me that many people may run to solar, and soon, for the same reasons I did. It is very clear to me that our supply chains are a shit show and since most solar panels are made in China, you may have a difficult time getting solar. Not only could prices skyrocket with demand, but you may be looking at many months to get the products here.
  4. It is clear to me that there is not enough baseload generation to offset all of the rainbows and unicorns paraded around with “green”. If you cut coal power generation in the great state of Pennsylvania, where the fuck are you getting that 48% of power from? The problem is you are driving down a highway at 86 mph and Jim Bob who fixes your car is sitting in the passenger’s seat and wants to climb out your window and attempt to make repairs on your engine while you are driving 86mph. None of the dolts pushing this idea have any form of project management experience to try and sunset things as you are bringing more generation online. Anyway – this means that the morons shutting this stuff down will cause blackouts. See: California.
  5. It is clear to me we are about to hit a currency crisis in stage 7 of stages of empire. If you look at places like Venezuela, they allow power maybe an hour a week per household. I have a 20 month old. I will have power here. If there are brown-outs or the grid goes down, my batteries can handle 20 hours of load without the panels on – but obviously when the sun comes up, it will recharge the batteries with extra.

Recap of steps

  1. Shop around for what you want. I had morons telling me “you can’t do that here”. I did. They are on the %$&%*# roof. One guy was trying to sell me a 78% power solution with a Generac battery that had half the power of my Powerwalls – at the same price I’m paying now. Talk to people who have had solar. So far, my experience with Lumina solar has been amazing from start to finish. These guys are in the business to make money. Period. You want a good power solution. Period. If the numbers work out, make a deal. Don’t be an @##T%$^.
  2. After you have met with a few, sign the dotted line with the one who made sense for your solution. They usually have to have someone come and look at your power, attic, etc. All of them use GPS to find your house and get a solar profile. South facing roofs are best, and I was in luck. No one from the front knows I have solar.
  3. A few weeks/months may pass, and they call you to come out and install the powerwall/solar. I had a gap between mine due to a winter storm.
  4. Powerwalls took a day and a half to install, solar a day and a half. They are professional, efficient, friendly, and great guys.
  5. Inspection has to happen so you don’t burn your house down.
  6. Power company gives the blessing for you to operate and sell back to the grid.
  7. Company gave me access to Tesla app to check my battery, and I will get an app to control my solar panels and geek out with the numbers.
  8. Company will get me full packet of warranty items printed out with maintenance contacts so I can hold on long term.

Overall, my fears are exactly what happened in Europe this year. What happened in Venezuela with hyper inflation. What happens in California every summer. The best part of this is with the solar credits, and the SRECs, my monthly bill today will be about $25 more than my normal bill. However, I will be generating 116% of my power needs and this gets sold back into the grid – and I get a yearly check in March from the power company cashing me out – which should eliminate that extra $25.

So my monthly power bill averages $150, will essentially be replaced by a $150 solar bill that does not change over the next 25 years. As inflation can erode your purchasing power, I have locked in today’s power prices. As hyperinflation causes rolling blackouts, my lights stay on. As soaring energy prices ravage people for the next few decades, I’m covered.

I suggest you all look into this while you can. I’m a silver bug and I feel there may be a backlog of panels due to the 20g of silver used in each panel in a silver paste. If/when silver hits $100-$200 per ounce, good luck.

Note: They have not paid me or compensated me in any way for this, although I’m not opposed to it!! 🙂