planning to get one, for a store/house, we use alot of electricity at least 500-3000 dollars a month. how much money would this save us? how big would we have to get the solar panel?[aproximately]
Hi, One or two new windmills may not cost you as much I believe. Just my suggestion anyway.
Consider installing building energy measurement first, which cost less than $200. Work out what is using the energy and if there are more efficient options. Consider co-generation which uses gas for an energy input and electricity generation and heat as an output. Use the Solar Energy Calculator to work out how much solar panel area is needed to generate the remaining power needed in you are of the world.
There are a lot of factors to consider. Net metering, utility rates, number of hours of daylight, size and orientation of roof or other location. I can tell you I had a 3.74 kwhdc system which reduces my bill by about $200 a month. It cost $26K installed, I received a $0K rebate from my utility and a $2K federal tax credit. Businesses have always been able to get a 30% fed. tax credit, this year everyone gets it. If this is a business you plan on owning for a long time there is no reason why you can't do the install in stages. Of course making sure you are conserving as much energy as possible will also help. Using energy efficient lighting, appliances and electronics, Turning off lights, monitors, computers, printers etc when people go home, sharing printers and other resources, adjusting the thermostat and using natural light can all help reduce your electricity usage.
In the US, the average electric cost $.5/kw-hr. $2500 means you are using 6700 Kw-hr/month or 550 kw-hr/day. Since solar panel only make peak kw for about 5 hours per day (in sunny places like (AZ) you will need a 0 kw system. Solar systems cost about $7/watt so your system will cost about $750,000. The government my pay for about $250,000, so be prepared to spend one half a million dollars. You will also spend about $250/month on maintenance of the system. The system will lose about %/year of it's efficiency, so the system will be paid for in 240 months, or 20 years. With in 5 years after the system is paid for, they will have to be replaced, the cost will be another 2 million dollars.
