I have been working the alternative energy scenarios on my Connecticut property this past year.  When I started, the State of Connecticut was no longer doing the individual incentives for solar power.  While I was in the process of installing a 6kw solar system, they reinstated their program.   I put my project on hold, applied for the rebate and was awarded a $9071 rebate for my 6KW system based on the amount of energy it’s going to generate (which is pretty close to 9071 KWH per year).

To increase the amount of power my panels were going to create and get the maximum rebate possible, I had to chop down one tree (in a stand of about ten other trees).  Small price to pay.

I reran my payback analysis figures based on today’s scenario.  It came out that they system would pay for itself in 15 years.  The expected system life is 25 years.  I will keep the house until the market goes back up within the next 20 years (it’s bound to happen - CT has experienced two real estate “corrections” of this magnitude in the past 30 years).   This is still the best place to park my money for creating a retirement nest egg.

It is going to cost me a little over $28k to install the 6kw solar system.   Based on what else I could be doing with that money, this will generate a 4.5 x better return over 20 years than anything else I could be doing with my money right now.   Even the safest place to park your money - US Treasuries adjusted to keep up with inflation - the solar panels still generate a 2.3 x better investment.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 8:04 am and is filed under Alternative Energy Options, Financial Decisions, Reduce and Manage Electrical Usage, Solar Power, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.