The furrowed eyebrows and quizzical stares are understandable. Since the 1970s Americans have seen the number of rooftop solar projects grow. From a handful of California and Colorado hippies who sought to live “off the grid,” solar panels have now been installed on over 300,000 homes throughout the country.
Traditional Rooftop Solar. In the early days of solar, rooftop panels were not economical. Early adopters were happy to pay up. A small 5 kilowatt installation could cost $60,000 and more. Until the US government introduced a 30% tax credit – meaning that $18,000 of the total cost could be recovered at tax time – this was money out the door. At average US electricity rates of $.15/kilowatt, it would take 66 and 2/3 years to recover the cost of investment! And that is assuming no degradation in the panel production even though history shows that the panels produce about .5% less electricity every year.
