Should we be waiting to install solar?

Many people still aren’t convinced that they should be installing solar right now. Because the costs of solar keep going down, a lot of people are thinking to themselves, “Well, if it keeps going down, then I should just keep waiting until it’s as cheap as possible.” And other people are looking at the constant technological improvements and thinking to themselves, “Well, since solar power keeps improving all the time, then I should just wait until we reach the peak in solar power technology.” However, both of these reasons to not install solar right now are flawed. In fact, people should be installing solar right now. Keep reading this blog to see exactly why you’ll want to install solar as soon as possible and why waiting for low costs and new technologies is not a great idea.

The problem with the “low cost” model.

The main reason people are convinced they should wait to install solar is because of the constantly lowering costs of the panels and systems. However, there are a couple reasons it’s not a good idea to wait for lowering costs.

The first reason is that with the introduction of new tariffs, we’re likely to actually see the price of the systems start going up again. China installs a huge amount of the solar panels we use, and with their prices going back up as a result of the tariffs, solar is likely to start going up in price in general again.

The second reason you don’t want to wait is the loss of tax incentives and rebates. While there are tons of credits, incentives, and rebates out there, a lot of them are expiring in the near future as solar becomes more and more mainstream. And the main federal tax credit that most people know about, which is set at 30%, is currently set to reduce in percentage each year. On top of that, it will be completely gone by 2022. If you want to get the best credits and rebates possible, the time to install solar is right now.

What will happen if you wait until 2020 to install solar?

In order to determine the future price of home solar, and how the savings will actually start going down, many use the Department of Energy’s Sunshot Initiative goal of $1.60/watt in 2020. This very aggressive target would mean a 5kW system would cost $5,600 after the federal solar tax credit. That’s a $4,900 difference from the 2017 net price. But this family would also still be paying their utility bill every month for the next 32 months. By deciding to go solar now, the monthly savings would be approximately $285 every month, after subtracting the utility bill that remains for ancillary costs. For that 32 month period, the family would save $9,120 by going solar today which is almost double the savings than if they chose to wait until 2020. Combined with the less tangible benefit of immediately reducing your home’s use of fossil fuels, going solar now instead of waiting is a wise choice.

The problem with waiting for new solar advances.

Other common questions that are related to the cost of solar is panel efficiency and technological advances in the near future. Some homeowners say that they would prefer to wait until solar panel efficiencies are higher and the technologies have proven themselves for a longer period of time before they install their own system. The best way to put this into perspective is by comparing it to another technology: the television. The television is constantly improving, with new updated models coming out every single year, but no one is using that as a reason to not own a television. And with the price of not going solar so high as climate change gets worse and worse, this should not be a reason to avoid solar.

Want to learn more about the benefits of solar and why you should join the movement today? Check out the HahaSmart blog for tons of solar information!

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