Photovoltaics Installation FAQs 8/1/24 Update Most of the below info is still valid, however 16 years on I have yet to recover my initial installation costs. The installed cost of the 4.1kW system was $18,109 (2008 dollars); as of this date, the system has generated $13,029 (not adjusted for inflation) tracking monthly output and per-kW monthly rates. So why it is that a system that was sold as paying for itself within 10 years has not? Well, there are several factors: In 2007, it was estimated that energy rates would increase 5% annually (it had been trending 8-10% for the prior 10 years). That didn't happen. Instead, this little thing called "fracking" got discovered and our energy costs actually decreased for many years (the "green push" is changing that trend). In 2007, it was estimated that PV owners would get somewhere in the range of 5-7c/kWh generated for their Renewable Energy Credits -- RECs. These were credits that other electrical customers would pay
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