I'm located in Morro Bay, California, and I'm considering investing $5,000 in a DIY solar system. I currently pay around 37 cents per kWh and use about 500 kWh per month. I want to know how much of my electricity bill I can offset with this budget, particularly if I go for a system with or without batteries. I understand we get a good mix of sun and fog here, averaging about 5.7 peak sunlight hours daily. Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
To get a clearer picture, check out the PVWatts calculator. It can help estimate how much energy you'd generate based on your location's sunlight hours. It's important to note that without battery storage, any energy used outside of sunlight hours will still be billed at full price, so plan accordingly!
It really depends on the size of the system you're looking at. A $5,000 budget may not get you a huge setup. If you’re considering a small system, like 7 to 8 kW, you could potentially cut your electrical bill in half, but that's a bit of a stretch for that budget. Your current bill seems pretty cheap, though! So, it might be best to think about how much you really want to offset.
I get that, but I’m not aiming to cover everything—just curious what chunk I can manage for $5k and maybe expand later!
I spent about $6,000 on a 4 kW system that offsets about two-thirds of my monthly consumption. My setup includes microinverters and works well in low-light conditions. You might want to look into used panels and DIY options since those could fit your budget better!
That sounds promising! How many panels did you use for that setup?
Great tip! If I have a 2 kW system and average 5.7 hours of sunlight, would that mean I could generate about 11.4 kWh daily?