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We switched to solar in 2021 expecting a 3.5-year payback. Electricity prices rose so fast that we recovered the investment in under two years. Also the nation
by neebz 1y ago
We switched to solar in 2021 expecting a 3.5-year payback. Electricity prices rose so fast that we recovered the investment in under two years.
Also the national grid is notorious for it's frequent blackouts (load-shedding) since the early ’90s. Solar allowed us to have uninterrupted supply in the mornings and longer backups during night.
- toomuchtodo 1y agoRough location (if you feel comfortable sharing ground truth)?
- tibbydudeza 1y agoSouth Africa - load shedding is a curse word here :).
- toomuchtodo 1y agoGreat to hear about the fast payback period, wishing you reliable power :)
- kragen 1y agotibbydudeza didn't post about a fast payback period. Maybe neebz is his wife?
- toomuchtodo 1y agoBroadly speaking, payback period in South Africa is very fast due to similar grid economics to Pakistan.
- kragen 1y agoBut neebz may not be in Pakistan either. Oh, they are: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622584 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622584
- tibbydudeza 1y agoPayback - I never factored that in or even thought about that. I was more concerned about having reliable power and reducing my electricity bill. The daily 2-hour power cuts were getting out of hand, and I was running my business from my home office, so the tax incentives helped slightly. The grid is more stable now as new power units became available but a big chunk of middle-class consumers using solar are using way less power now, so the local town councils are having problems balancing their books (town councils re-sells electricity from the national operator).
- phreeza 1y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622584 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622584
- testing22321 1y agoWe got roof top solar 1.5 years ago in Canada. Payoff will be 6-7 years, but we got an interest free loan to cover it. So we’ll just pay what we would have for power for those years ~$1000 a year, then we’ll have free power for 20 more, saving something like $20,000 for $0 investment.
- applied_heat 1y agoWhere in Canada?
- testing22321 1y agoBC. Tight valley, TONS of snow.