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We are in Seattle and are already breaking even. We used Blossom Solar which was affordable and did a great job. We got a loan at a very low interest rate and

We are in Seattle and are already breaking even. We used Blossom Solar which was affordable and did a great job. We got a loan at a very low interest rate and the payment is about the same as our power bill was. It helps that Seattle has net metering, so we didn’t need to build a battery wall and can offset our winter energy use by generating it in summer. Our electric rates go up faster than inflation, and so in a year or two our costs will be lower than they would have been without solar, and will remain so for at least a few decades.

rootusrootus 5y ago
I may try again when my roof gets replaced. Right now the numbers don't work because I've only got about 15 years left on my roof. So for a 20K investment, I'd break even in about 10 years, then get 5 years before the system needs to be replaced (the panels will still have value, but it seems like the cost of the labor for uninstall/reinstall will dwarf that). So for a 15 year timeline, all I need to get is about 3% from a regular investment, and if I do better, then I should do that instead of solar. The numbers may be more favorable if I do the solar at the same time I put a new roof on, but mine is only 10 years old so it's early yet. One of the reasons I'm thinking of a smaller ground-mount system is that it won't have the same time horizon limitations as a roof-mount.