A homeowner from McLean, Rick Harwood, demonstrates his solar equipment. Photo by Nadezhda Shulga/The Connection
On Sunday, June 2, a homeowner from McLean, Rick Harwood, opened the doors of his residence for a community open house to share his experience of going solar.
While Virginia solar farm projects are the focus of intense controversy, the use of solar energy for private housing is gaining interest. The topic is getting more popular every year. That’s why experts from Mountain View Solar, a solar installation company, organized the open house to showcase solar power.
Harwood installed his solar system in December 2018. “I have been thinking about this for a long time,” he said. “Solar is cleaner than coal. It’s even cleaner than natural gas. We expect to get a reasonable economic return.” The total price of the solar installation amounted to $25,000. The federal solar tax credit allowed to deduct up to 30 percent of the price.
“The payback period is expected to be 10 years and return 7.5 percent. To be honest, my stock portfolio doesn’t do better than 7 percent per year. In an economic sense, we are doing great,” Harwood said.
Even though the "fuel" for solar power is limitless and free, its intensity varies throughout the year and from season to season.Harwood shared the stats for the last few months. In the dark and gloomy winter months, the system produced 15 kilowatt-hours of energy per month which was not bad, but yet below average. In May, when summer finally arrived, the system harvested three times more. As expected, ti almost zeroed Harwood’s electricity bill. The sunniest days are ahead.
“The good news about solar panels is that it is a ‘setup and forget’ kind of system. Being fully autonomous, it transforms sunlight into pollution-free electricity at no cost, day over day, year over year,” added Danny Chiotos of Mountain View Solar.
The system is basically your own mini power plant. It is able to send excess energy to the grid and reduce electricity bills. Harwood estimated that “the system should save more than a hundred dollars per month this summer.”
“The system is designed to handle strong winds, heavy snow, and even hail,” added Shane LaBrush, a consultant from Mountain View Solar. “Everything is covered by warranty and insurance”.