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December 6, 2023
Texans bask in the constant presence of the sun all summer long. But beyond serving as a source of beautiful sunsets and seemingly perpetual heat, we rarely stop to consider other ways the sun affects our lives.
The concept of green energy as a way to provide power for our planet without using fossil fuels is increasingly a topic of public discussion. As awareness of green energy options grows, more and more people are looking for alternative energy sources to power their homes, which brings up a multitude of questions. In the case of solar energy, the two most commonly asked questions are:
- How much will solar panels cost?
- How many panels would I need to power my home?
The short answer to both? It depends. It’s based on a host of factors, including how much energy you use in your home and how much sun hits your roof on a regular basis. While it still may be too expensive for most people to install solar panels on their homes, prices for the panels and installation are coming down. Chariot Energy exists to offer 100% solar energy at competitively priced rates without the need for personal panels. So, if you’re ready to make the switch to solar and want a cost-effective solution, consider Chariot Energy as your green energy provider.
Before reaching out to your local solar panel installation company for a personalized quote to power your home with solar energy, it’s crucial to grasp some vital details about solar panels and their incredible potential to transform your home. Discover how you can harness the power of the sun to save on energy costs, reduce your environmental footprint, and enhance your home’s value. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to make a wise investment in a brighter, more sustainable future for your household. Reach out today for a competitive quote and take the first step towards enjoying the benefits of solar energy in your home.
The Falling Price of Solar Energy
Solar panels have become one of the most accessible forms of renewable energy, and the benefits they offer are hard to resist. Not only can they significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they can also increase the value of your home by an average of $15,000. As the number of solar panels installed across Texas continues to rise, with enough to power over 350,000 homes, it’s clear that solar power is no longer a rarity. Nowadays, it’s common to spot solar panels adorning the roofs of both residential homes and businesses.
This solar energy expansion is not just due to its environmental advantages; it’s also about the remarkable drop in the cost of generating solar electricity. In Texas alone, solar prices have fallen by an impressive 34% from 2014 to 2019. But the real game-changer is the long-term trend, where the installation costs for solar panels in the United States plummeted by a whopping 70% between 2009 and 2019. As a result, the demand for residential solar panels and solar power, in general, has skyrocketed.
If you’re ready to harness the power of the sun for your home and take advantage of these cost-effective solutions, explore our range of high-quality solar panels designed to maximize your energy savings.
How Many Solar Panels Are Needed to Power My Home?
The average home in the U.S. uses 10,400 kWh of electricity per year. If you install the average 250-watt solar panel, you’d need around 28-34 solar panels to generate enough energy to power your entire home.
However, unlike the traditional utility grid, which is automatically connected to your home during construction, solar panel installation is a highly individualized process – something which also drives its price. We recommend taking these three steps to determine whether solar panels could be a good fit for you:
- Determine your electricity consumption in kWh. You can find this information on your electricity bill, or you can estimate it here.
- Divide that number by the solar panel production estimate. The exact estimate will vary depending on your location and property (e.g. tree coverage and regional sunshine). You can obtain a reasonable range by using 1.31 (Arizona) and 1.61 (Maine), the highest and lowest production ratios of the US, as guides.
- Divide that number by 250 – the wattage of an average solar panel – to determine a range of how many solar panels you may need in order to generate 100% of your home’s electricity needs.
Let’s try some basic math:
- 11,000 kWh of annual electricity usage / 1.31 (since we live in Texas) = 8,396.9
- 8,396.9 / 250 = 33.58 » 34 panels.
While this estimate should not replace a professional evaluation, it can provide a useful rough idea to indicate the feasibility of solar panel installation for your house.
How Much Will It Cost to Install Solar Panels at My Home?
Though installation costs are dropping, an average installation will likely run you upwards of $10,000 – even after a 30% federal tax credit. For many, the cost alone makes the notion of completely powering homes through solar panels difficult. And that’s before you remember that Texas Retail Electricity Providers usually produce electricity much more cheaply than their residential power counterparts.
There is no doubt that solar panels will continue to drop in cost and increase in productive capacity in the future. But the majority of homeowners with solar panels don’t use them as the exclusive source of residential power. Instead, they are connected to the utility grid in a process called net metering (NEM). Net metering is a fantastic option for people who want to decrease their electricity bill while increasing their environmental friendliness.
This unique billing arrangement follows this pattern:
- A household utility meter monitors how much electricity is consumed by the household and how much electricity is generated by the solar panels.
- On either a monthly or yearly basis, that household is only responsible for paying its net consumption – its electricity consumption beyond what was generated by the home’s solar panels
- This creates opportunities for the most electricity-conscious households to be compensated by their utility company.
However, this setup is very rare. Though a self-sufficient, off-grid solar panel system remains a challenging feat, there are other ways to use green energy to power your home.
How a 100% Green Electricity Plan Is a Great (If Not Better) Alternative to Solar Panels
With its perpetually sunny climate, Texas ranks in the top 10 U.S. states in its cumulative solar capacity. As a result, the Texas solar industry has grown rapidly in terms of electricity generation and the number of people it employs. With it, household enthusiasm for solar panels has also increased. However, the two main concerns people have when it comes to solar panel installation are production capacity and costs.
Solar panels in residential settings currently face limitations since most homes have no way of storing extra solar power on sunny days when solar panels create more electricity than the home can use. Thankfully, further technological progress will likely address this storage problem, as it plagues the entire industry.
In regard to costs, regular electricity companies can offer lower rates on traditional electricity plans than those powered by solar energy because of an economic concept called economies to scale. In essence, the costs for each additional unit of output decrease as more output is created. In other words, because more households are connected to the Texas electricity grid than use solar panels, the average cost of electricity is lower for each household than it would be with individual solar panels.
Chariot Energy is striving to solve both issues and make the switch to green energy easy for you. You can use 100% green energy in your home without the challenges of solar panel installation and at rates as affordable as regular Texas electricity companies. Plus, despite decreased costs, it can take the average U.S. homeowner nearly 8 years to break even on solar panel installations. You don’t have to wait that long. Support the industry now and enjoy the benefits of 100% solar energy today!
Ready to make the switch to affordable and eco-friendly energy? Click here to learn how Chariot Energy provides customers with 100% clean, renewable solar energy. Join us today and start saving while supporting a greener future.
