Hypothesis: The market for residential and commercial
solar panels will increase within the next few years as prices of panels decrease,
demand for electric power increases, and protective import tariffs continue.
Who: Chinese photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers, customers
(owners of businesses/residences), American companies currently in the PV
business,
What: Need for inexpensive electrical power
Why: Desire to go green, sustainability, electricity
is a significant financial expense, trend
Interviews
Interview 1: Homeowner, recent solar installation
Why solar?
1.
reduce energy cost
2.
environmental conscious
How much research?
Fair bit into DIY. Effectiveness, how much needed, state
provided net metering. Didn’t do much
research on companies. Research on
technology
What company did you choose? Why?
What were your filters for choosing?
Goldin
Solar. Good reviews, price point
reasonable. Looked at one other co
Timing?
Pricing wasn’t there years ago (initial
construction). No FPL net metering. 2019 was last year for max 30% tax credit
What type of system? Grid-tie or off-grid? Why?
Grid-tie/net metering. Cost, batteries cost money. Get 100% use of the power generated
Cost? Or how long until investment pays for itself?
Roughly 10 years. Including tax credit. Just based on Solar Panel cost. 15+ years to recoup cost of structure
Interview 2: Homeowner, recent solar installation
Why solar?
Need to harvest and take advantage
of as much natural resources to us. Live
simply. Not to be tied to huge infrastructures.
How much research?
Dispersed throughout many years. When first design of house, looking into
solar panels. No incentives at the time
for use of solar panels. Required by
code to connect to FPL. Even if wanted
to produce own electricity, had to be tied.
Infrastructure and culture wasn’t ready 15 years ago. Finally, this year FPL had netmetering and
last year of 30% tax incentive. Had saved
for solar for a long time. Planning: 15
years.
What type of system? Grid-tie or off-grid? Why?
Grid-tie with net metering. Sell electricity w/ cap amount back to
FPL. Future: battery packs to store
electricity FPL won’t take. That will be
phase 2.
What company did you choose? Why?
What were your filters for choosing?
Goldin Solar. Knowledge base and excitement for what we
wanted to do. Responsive when we had
questions. The right amount of
experience. Pricing right. Full-house turn-key service (connect w/ FPL,
tax incentive, etc.).
Found out about it through Broward
Clip magazine ad. The advertisement was
appealing and professional
Any other
companies?
Two other companies. Not as responsive. One too low and other too high. Don’t believe with going with cheapo… plan on
charging for engineering change order, didn’t want surprise charger. Other was 1.5 times price of Goldin Solar
Cost? Or how long until investment pays for itself?
10
years
Interview 3: Prospective solar customer
Why consider solar?
Not
dependent on utility company. Budgeting
cost. Sustainable
How much research have you done?
Looking into solar on and
off. At one point, I wanted to make my
own panels with individual cells.
When do you plan on purchasing your
first array?
Soon after I buy my own house. I’m renting for the time-being, getting an
understanding of the area
What type of system? Grid-tie or off-grid? Why?
It depends where I live. If in an area with net-metering, then I might
tie the system to the grid. However, I
like the idea of being completely independent/off-grid.
Interview 4: Homeowner, solar business owner
What system do you have?
20.4kw, 68, 3 tesla
power wall, last feb, complete June
2*200W circuit breaker
panels
When was it installed?
Ordered:
Last February
Completed:
Last June
Why solar?
Power outages, trees falling,
number of incidents. How to remedy? Solar or whole house generator. Gave a lot of options. Almost free energy as long as the solar
panels
How long
until investment recouped?
10 year re-coupe, 20 years financed
How much research?
Looking at solar for years. In Weston, it was older home. Certain factors limit. Older roof won’t work, roof needed to be replaced. Cost come down quite rapidly now. Wasn’t cost effective. Ave Maria.
Plans are to be here for awhile. “No
brainer” Wasn’t looking for it. Neighbor got solar, talked to them, then
decided pretty quick.
What type of system? Grid-tie or off-grid? Why?
Grid-tied. All three.
Power from grid, solar will produce power during day, excess put into
grid, when cloudy take from grid. FPL
LCEC net metering. Reason for batteries,
look beyond consumption of house. Need at
least 1 battery to hold power during power outage.
Will the
solar not work without batteries?
3
phase electric inverter from DC to AC (microinverter). Each panel has one
Multi-point
Power Transformer
Due to grid-tie, power gets cut
off by workers. When you don’t have
anywhere for the power to go, it’s hot.
How does
the inverter system work?
String inverter – individual inverter
system, all connected to it. Least
expensive, most popular
Microinverter – shrinks tech to
each panel, sends to controller which modulates where the power will go. 2nd popular, to be superceded by
power optimizers
Hybrid (power optimizers) – string
inverter with individual units, controlled by main head. Between micro and string
Efficiency
of the system?
Tesla batteries – 90s 96-98%,
guaranteed for 6000 cycles, lose max 5-6%, 13.5kW batteries, 5-7thousand
kW. Power entire house, 4AC units. 15people in house. Dryer and 2 hot water heaters.
If lose power and power entire
house, last 5 hours worst case scenario.
Optimally, load shedding – if grid goes down, split 2 200W panels into
individual. Drop off 2 AC and one heater. Other panel run 2 AC units, water heater. Need enough power to last from sun up to sun
down. 20hours run without recharge
People miss the fact, they don’t
need 2 solar panels and never pay FPL.
Need to know how to store power and how to distribute it.
Other
considerations?
Whole home power generators. Cheaper than buying solar initially. Lose the investment into your home, still
have to pay for electricity. Solar takes
the place of electricity.
What company did you choose?
Started our own solar
company. Educate other people. Save wallet, planet. New solar that is emerging. Florida home energy design. Primarily education, installation as an
option. Lay out and transparency. Help ppl with their decision and clarify
jargon.
Solar
installers for personal house: Go Solar - Delray
How satisfied are you with the
solar panels?
Could use 1 more battery. 9/10 satisfied
How did you learn about solar and
all the technical information?
Self-researcher. Find things. Follow the development. Read technical. Understood electrical aspects. Asked questions.
Any other information?
Demographic – 40-55 year old
established households, medium income 70-100K, family, budget conscious. Rebate
Interview 5: Current RV owner, future A-frame
off-grid owner
What
is your perspective on solar energy?
Would you consider it?
Alternative forms of energy that
must be utilized to conserve the planet, yes, I would
Have you
done any research?
Yes, due to fact that planning to
build A-frame house to be completely self-sufficient. Solar and wind highly considered
Deciding factors
Energy
output v cost
Budget
For A-frame, 1 bedroom with open
floorplan, 1000sqft on first floor. No
more than 15% of value of the home. But
I prefer to pay less than 1%.
Percentage
Wind and solar. Currently Oregon is overcast but windy. Not great for solar production
Grid-tie or
Off-grid?
Off
grid. Cheapest land ones which don’t
have access to electricity
For
heat, propane/wood
What type
of cell system? Voltage/battery type?
I am 90% sure that the cell system
I will choose will be 45% of the time give or take a standard deviation of 1%,
deep cycle lead 6V batteries
All lighting 12V. Appliances that run on 12V. Use experience from RV.
Hi Quinton,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting opportunity you have here, not only because the idea is unique but also because I had no idea solar panel prices were coming down. It seems that your hypothesis is backed up by your interviews, since a number of them have recently converted to solar energy. Furthermore, you really went in-depth with your interviews, which should provide good feedback and research for your solution.
I like the approach you took to your opportunity. Very logical and legitimate as the need and demand for renewable energy through solar power increases. There is definitely an opportunity here for many jobs and people trying to find the best solar panels and market them to customers. Your interviews support your hypothesis and I think with more research you can find the solution to your opportunity.
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