OK, so you’ve decided to make a great decision to invest in clean renewable Solar Energy!  Fantastic!

Here’s a quick formula to use for calculating when (in terms of years / months), you’ll recoup your purchase investment. Please keep in mind that many factors may impact this calculation…panel efficiency, shade, ambient solar cell temperature, angle of panels, direction of and roof angle, and of course which state you live in for tax credit purposes.

1.  Find your average insolation per day, which can be found from the NREL Insolation Chart.  For ease of a quick calculation-

NY State and the northern portion (90% of the state) of the state would have an annual average PV energy impact of 4.0 to 4.5 kWh/m2/day.  The 10% remaining (Long Island up to Poughkeepsie area) has an annual average PV energy impact of 4.5 to 5.0 kWh/m2/day.

For NJ, CT, RI, MA and southern parts of PA, the insolation chart has an annual average solar impact of 4.5 to 5.0 kW/m2/day.

2.  Existing cost per kilo watt hour of electricity from your dirty energy provider, include the delivery charge.  Let’s use $0.15 per kilo watt hour, only for this example.

3.  Cost of your purchased system installed AFTER tax incentives and rebates.

NOW Calculate-

1. Savings =  $0.15 per kwh cost x 4.5 (insolation value) = $0.67 cents per day or $20.25 per month.

2.  Break even = Cost of your purchased system AFTER tax incentives and rebates divided by $17.55 (month)

3.  Convert to years by dividing by 12.

IN GENERAL, a solar system purchase will have a 6-7 year ROI.  Keep in mind for resale purposes when you go to sell your home, it may sell for a premium equipped with a clean renewable solar energy system!!

CONTACT US TODAY and we’ll provide you a FREE ROI analysis, and answer any questions you may have about this important topic.