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Originally Posted by PR_Tom
In NY state, utility companies are required to pay you if you generate more electricity than you use as well. They have to buy your surplus!
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You might want to check that very closely. In Grid Tied systems in Florida, that only applies up to 10KW, and then, there is an annual reconciliation. If the power company owes you for generation beyond your usage, they keep it. The concept is that they don't want people to oversize their array.
Once you get above 10KW, you get put on commercial grid rates, which means that the power company only pays you for generated power at the cost of their lowest generated power source. In Florida, that is their last remaining coal powered plant in Rivera at a whopping $.015 per kilowatt hour. Then, the sell that electricity to the consumer at $.09/kwh and mark it up another $.04/kwh for tagging it as 'green' power. Are we in the wrong business or what?
After Hurricane Frances, I strongly considered Solar. For my electric needs, if I were to grid tie, with the Federal and State Subsidies (almost 50% on an installed system), I could have replaced my electric bill with a 5 year 4% federal note and halved my electric bill. At the end of 5 years, I would have been darn close to having no electric bill after the reconciliation. There are reasons I haven't done this yet.
There are some interesting issues in doing Grid Tie systems, one of which is that a grid tie system cannot be functional with a loss of grid power. Meaning, no power from the power company, no juice for the house, even if it is nice and sunny and the panels are cranking out power. There is one company, Beacon something, that makes a 5.5KW inverter/charger that has what they call 'islanding' which allows you to do it, but, doesn't feed power to the line until 5 minutes after power is restored.
Of course, for a 10KW system, you need two of those expensive beasts
Solar + Battery can easily run a small cabin/home with modest power requirements. A/C is your largest expense, so, if you don't have a 5 ton A/C unit, you probably don't need a huge grid.
And contrary to popular opinion, Florida being the sunshine state and all, during peak generation times, there is an average 45% cloudcover throughout the summer months which limits viability. Of course, you can oversize the array to take this into account. Arizona residents, your annual average is 3%.