What are the Benefits of Adding Solar Panels?

Posted by Justin Havre on Tuesday, October 31st, 2017 at 10:11am.

What's the Value of Residential Solar Panels?Adding solar panels to your home is a major undertaking in terms of expense and affect on your home's value. How much will going solar really change things for you? Find out the value of adding residential solar panels by weighing the pros against the cons.

What are the Advantages of Residential Solar Panels?

Once you add solar panels, they'll start to generate free, renewable energy. Whether you want to reduce your dependence on coal or oil or save money on utility bills, this is a net bonus.

Central Canada gets the most sun exposure, since the coasts experience greater cloud cover. No matter where in Canada you live, solar panels will produce energy if your house gets sufficient sun exposure. If your solar panels produce more energy than you need, you can sell the extra back to the grid. Money saved on utility bills, as well as income from surplus power, can help you pay off the cost of solar installation. Once the panels are paid off, you'll really see the impact of solar on your spending.

Provincial incentives further sweeten the deal by offering rebates and incentives for residential solar panels. For instance, Ontario offers feed-in tariff programs. If your panels qualify, you'll receive a set price for surplus electricity for a 20-year period—essentially, a guarantee of steady money. Going solar reduces your dependence on the grid, so you won't lose power in an outage.

Lastly, solar panels can make your house more attractive when you go to sell. On average, home buyers in the U.S. were willing to pay $4 USD more per watt of solar power, or $15,000 USD more for a home with an average-sized (3,600 watt) solar system. If you want to sell your home for the largest net profit, solar panels could be an enticing addition that also rewards you with value for the duration of your stay in the home.

What are the Disadvantages of Residential Solar Panels?

Solar panels are expensive, even though prices have fallen in recent years and provincial incentives exist. If you're retrofitting your home for solar panels, you'll need to update the electric system to work with the panels. This represents an additional cost on top of your solar panels. For many people, the price is prohibitive.

Solar panels must be kept clean and free of debris to work properly. Unless you're hiring someone to maintain the panels, this maintenance will fall to you. If you don't want to climb up on the roof to lean panels, you'll need to pay someone to perform the maintenance on the roof of your Britannia home. Your geographic area and sun exposure affect how much sun you'll get. If you don't have great sun exposure, or you live on the coasts, the cost of adding solar panels may not be worth it. On cloudy or rainy days, you may need to draw power from the grid because your solar panels aren't operating efficiently.

A solar installer can review your home, provide estimates on how much power you'll generate, suggest the right size system for your family size, and answer all your questions. After a conversation, you can decide if there's enough value in making the investment. Ultimately, there's no firm yes or no answer on the value of solar panels. It's up to you to weigh the costs of installing solar panels against the benefits of producing your own power and saving money from day one and determine what's in your best interests.

Leave a Comment