Solar Panels - Is it worth it?

your ROI will probably be double what it was before the subsidy ended, likely now 10+ years. If you will not be in the house that long you will not get your money back. But ROI is not the only reason to go solar either as a primary or secondary power source

What type of roof do you have?

If asphalt shingles, solar panels with cause them to last about half as long as opposed to no panels.

For the portion of roof covered, they reduce solar heat gain by up to 38%. If your ac is borderline on doing the job, they would give you the added benefit of getting the heat load back to a manageable amount for the ac system.

Backup power walls are not just available from Tesla. I've gotten so much junk mail from one company in Houston that I can't remember the name.

Anker also makes the Solix line which includes solar rechargeable (purports to recharge an entire 3600W unit using solar in 90m.)

The biggest thing that cut the power bill in my 5200 sq ft house was tinting the windows. $2600 (11 years ago) cut my average summer power bill by almost 50% ($500 to 250.)

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I have a small solar system using four 365w panels and an EcoFlow Delta Pro power station. On sunny days I power most of my house (no 240v) using this. I also have an emergency power backup with this system if the grid goes down. Most standard solar systems don't have power if the grid goes down. All of this was about $3,000. I put the solar panels on my 10' x 12' shed. I could have made it larger if I wanted to. Ecoflow has systems that would power everything if you have the space for the solar panels. I chose my shed instead of my house due to having to get a permit if I put the solar panels on the roof of my house. On the bigger systems it even has a panel that will switch power over automatically if the grid goes down. I have my system going through a six circuit manual transfer switch.

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you got a guide or youtube video you followed for this? sounds intruiguing

I looked at the tesla shingles but their warranty doesnt cover our type of storms or even the hail we sometimes see. I forget the specifics but i couldnt justify the extra cost and be comfortable that way

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If asphalt shingles, solar panels with cause them to last about half as long as opposed to no panels.

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This is incorrect. They actually act as a UV blocker and extend the life of the underlying shingles. They thermal boogey man some reference is nonsense. I have multiple independent engineers reports that prove this.

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your ROI will probably be double what it was before the subsidy ended

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It's longer with the loss of the 30% ITC but not double. We're seeing about a 25% increase for non ITC eligible products but we only monetize the credit at about .85c on the dollar anyway. But there are some sweet deals right now on non-financeable equipment that doesn't meet DOE foreign entity of concern restrictions. And a lot of the market has been moving to domestically made solar equipment because we get an additional 10% ITC. Thats all to say you can sometimes get a smoking deal on equipment that is not eligible for financing if you can pay cash.

Sounds like your house is a good candidate.

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So I’m also interested in a home battery to store energy

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I honestly wouldn't even consider solar without a battery now. If you don't have shade issues a PowerWall 3 would be a good option. The Enphase micro inverters, Qcells AC module, or SolarEdge optimized would be a good option if you do have variable shade because they're module level electronics so you don't kill an entire array when one panel gets shaded. The PW3 solves that with the ability to isolate arrays but its not down to the individual panel. I would consider going to an N type module like the Q.tron because they degrade slower than P type like the Q.peak. But they do cost a little more. The economics on them are favorable after year 10ish.

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Any opinion on Solar Alternatives, Inc?

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I've never done business with them but i do know them well. Their former CRO is a buddy of mine from LSU. I've just never don't any work with them because we don't finance in La. They're an experienced shop with in house design and engineering. But suffer from issues with some of the sales practices that all solar installers deal with.

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Now you have me curious, any reason y'all don’t finance in Louisiana?

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It's a couple reasons. Our capital providers aren't really keen on the consumer credit profile in La. We could get it in at a low portfolio concentration limit and we have enough Tx, Fl, Ca, NJ, etc volume to bury it. But the big driver is cost to enter a new market. It's about 250k to enter a new state because we need new contracts because every state has specific consumer protection lending laws, we need a new appraisal for asset value and we have to update our independent engineers report to validate the production estimations. It's just far down the list because it's not a traditionally hot solar market.