Solar Electric Cost Calculator

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in Grid Tie and Grid Interactive Systems #1
Hi Everyone,

I am looking for calculations to help homeowners determine the potential cost/savings for a system here in the US. Most PV calculators that I found are based on kWh usage. Is there a calculator that can provide details when the homeowner only has the monthly or annual electric cost and zip code? I am looking for a spreadsheet that I can add to my solar site called, fabdigs (dot) com.

Thanks!
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,637 admin
    #2
    Re: Solar Electric Cost Calculator

    The reason you will not find a straight forward listing of price of power vs cost of solar is because solar systems generate kWhrs, and utilities charge on price per kWhr. It would be a very large spreadsheet/database (with options for places that have multiple tarrif options) and, for many, would also need time of use / tier rate information (on the east/west costs typically).

    You are probably in Belmont CA--I am just up the road from you in San Mateo. My PG&E bill ranges from $0.09 to $0.60 per kWhr--depending on usage tier, time of day, day of week, and season.

    There are products (web-based) that make estimates based on tiered usage like this Kyocera one (I think that many are all really from the same web-services company).

    There are other programs that will estimate your power "savings" based on local estimated kWhr pricing like the PV Watts program.

    But--there is going to be a big difference between spending $1,000 a month in Tennessee (TVA) at $0.07 per kWhr and spending $1,000 in California at $0.40-$0.60 per kWhr (PG&E / Northern CA Tariffs).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #3
    Re: Solar Electric Cost Calculator

    Thanks Bill, it looks like I will need to figure how to find a list or dbs of all utilities and rates to make this happen based on price of power.

    I'm really trying to find a low cost solution for creating this calculator instead of paying for some companies web services that costs thousands of dollars. I like what dsireusa.org and clean power estimator offers, but they charge more than $6k which is way too much for a calculator that I want to provide for free. And I don't want to link out to their sites.

    I am actually in SJ. If you have any more info, it would be greatly appreciated.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,637 admin
    #4
    Re: Solar Electric Cost Calculator

    Check with the PV Watts program--I believe that is open source (US Gov) and they appear to update a flat-rate estimate of kWhr costs.

    If you look at PG&E rate plan for E6 (which is required for Grid Tied Solar)--you will see there is no way you can do this level of support for every major utility in the US (and not go crazy).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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