SALEM, Ohio — Whether you’re seeking more efficiency and lower power costs in your family home or you’re a doomsday prepper leaving the world behind to live completely off-grid, alternative energy presents new possibilities for the places we call home.
In recent years, solar power has emerged as a leading choice for homeowners looking to reduce their reliance on traditional energy sources. According to Tobie Troyer, a professional in solar sales at Trail Battery and Solar in Millersburg, Ohio, customers have plenty of options to explore, whether they want a grid-tied system that feeds back into the electrical grid or a fully off-grid setup.
On grid
A grid-tie system exports the electricity it produces from the sun to the wider utility grid. The electricity generated by a grid-tie solar system offsets power used from the grid. Homeowners use solar power during the day and draw electricity from the grid when the solar panels aren’t generating much energy, like at night.
“In the grid tie world, it’s a lot about return on investment,” Troyer said.
If you design a system that is large enough to meet all of your home’s energy needs, it can help your household reach net-zero energy use. They can, of course, be made smaller, in accordance with your requirements and budget.
Today’s solar systems are durable and usually warrantied to the tune of 25 years in some cases, depending on the manufacturer; and best of all, they don’t really need maintenance.
“If we’re living in the northeast part of the hemisphere, of course, we have potential downtime with snow cover, things like that. But if we are grid-tied, we have overproduced (power) in those summer months to make up for those winter months,” Troyer said.
But there’s one disadvantage to a grid-tie system: if the grid goes down, so do you, just like before.
“Now keep in mind, when there is a grid-tie, there is no power when there’s an outage,” Troyer said. “A grid-tie is simply using the power grid as your storage. The only time you have power when there’s an outage is if you have your own storage.”
Hybrid systems and going off grid
Troyer said grid tie systems can be made hybrid — with battery backup, maximizing your savings each month while keeping the lights on during an outage. But for those needing a solar setup in a remote area where connecting to the grid isn’t possible, or who simply prefer energy independence, considerations extend beyond just where you place your panels for optimum operation.
You’ll need to size a battery bank big enough to fit your needs where your power will be stored. In addition to the solar panels, you’ll also need accessories such as charge controllers and an inverter.
Cost
One of the most common questions homeowners ask is about the cost of installing solar energy, and homeowners may have the wrong idea in mind at the start, said Dan Beachy, a Trail Battery and Solar employee.
“Some of the misconceptions are (they think) for $3,000 to $5,000, they can do a whole home setup, and it’s not doable,” Beachy said.
Installing solar panels on homes can help minimize energy insecurity among low- to moderate-income households, according to a recent study published in Nature. The study indicated that solar-powered homes were better equipped to pay for other energy bills.
It’s a shot from the hip to give an accurate answer about cost, Troyer said, since there are so many variables.
“Your system won’t necessarily be the same size as your neighbors,” he said. It’s all based on (your) electric invoice.”
To give a rough estimate, in Columbus, Ohio, a 2,000 square foot all-electric home uses about 1,400 kilowatt hours a month. Troyer said the system needed to power it entirely with solar is roughly a $28,000 to $35,000 investment.
There are certain financial incentives to help offset the initial cost, but you should check the headlines to see if they are still available. The “Unleashing American Energy” order issued by President Donald Trump within hours of the start of his second term on Jan. 20 called for a halt in funding for the Inflation Reduction Act. That legislation expanded a number of existing clean energy incentives for homeowners, including the Residential Clean Energy Credit, which covers 30% of the cost of new, eligible clean energy projects for your home built between 2022 and 2032.
Homeowners should still be able to claim the tax credit for now.
But for those on the fence, Troyer said to remember that we’re living in the age of more efficient technology, making it easy to get yourself solar-ready.
“For every hundred you spend on getting efficient (in your home), it’ll probably save you a thousand on your solar,” he said.
