Solar power in Danville: What does it cost to install?

Residents of the Dan River Region have been hearing a lot about solar power initiatives in recent months — but what does it cost to install on a home?

The most common answer has been, “It depends.”

How big is the house? How many people live there, and during what times of day does the house use the most energy? What material is being used to gather the power? Do trees shade the roof and block sunlight? How many hours of sunlight daily is typical in your region?

Nate Lewis, key accounts manager for Danville Utilities, said solar power is too new in this area for him to feel comfortable quoting residential installation costs, but said the solar panel system at the Community Market was funded with a $202,000 stimulus fund grant — and the panels alone cost $170,000.

That system, which is made up of 154 panels, feeds the power back into the grid and generates enough electricity to power four homes annually, Lewis said.

Lewis admitted the cost of installing solar panels is still very expensive.

“Anyone that does (install solar panels) these days are not doing it from a financial sense; they do it because they believe in it,” Lewis said. “But prices are going down all the time, and there are federal tax credits that give 30 percent back (on solar projects) with no cap.”

Lewis said consumers should learn about the different solar options from websites such as www.solarpowerauthority.com and get more than one quote when considering solar panels.

Steve Kalland, the executive director of the Solar Center at North Carolina State University, said people can choose to put in a system that just heats their water, begin with a small system and build it up until the home is off the grid completely, or go all out and install panels and batteries to store extra power.

“Every house is different and there are so many options out there now,” Kalland said.

Kalland also noted that different states offer different incentives in addition to the federal tax break. His department maintains a website to help consumers find those incentives at www.dsireusa.org.

NCSU also has an economic calculator on its website that will help consumers determine what a solar panel system will cost, at http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu/calculators.php.

Bob Bennett, vice president of U.S. Green Energy, said the slate roofing tiles his company manufactures with solar cells embedded in them are expensive.

To install the company’s solar slate roofing tiles on what Bennett called a typical home — which he defined as having an 800-square-foot roof, having gas heat and using about 10,000 kilowatts of electricity per year — would cost about $50,000, he said.

Using the 30-percent federal tax credit brings the cost down to about $35,000, and there’s also a renewable energy credit that brings consumers $2,000 to $3,000 a year.

Factor in saving $750 a year on electricity bills, the system would pay for itself in about 20 years.

Installing a battery system to store excess power, rather than using net metering, would double the cost of the installation, Bennett said.

Bennett said the company plans to manufacture solar shingles in Danville, which will drop the cost of roofing a house by more than half.