Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse

The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. A Montana solar company's woes

A Montana solar company's woes

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion
11 Posts 4 Posters 62 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • M Away
    M Away
    Mik
    wrote 8 days ago last edited by
    #1

    Essentially, his business model counted on federal tax credits for solar lasting forever. Poor choice.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/i-own-a-small-solar-company-in-montana-and-might-have-to-lay-off-most-of-my-employees-i-m-not-hiding-that-from-them/ar-AA1GHdFG

    “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

    1 Reply Last reply
    • H Offline
      H Offline
      Horace
      wrote 8 days ago last edited by
      #2

      Too bad about the warranties he's sold with the panels to his existing customers.

      Education is extremely important.

      1 Reply Last reply
      • M Away
        M Away
        Mik
        wrote 8 days ago last edited by
        #3

        I imagine the manufacturers still warranty their products, at least as far as that goes. If the customer can find someone to do the work.

        “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

        1 Reply Last reply
        • L Offline
          L Offline
          LuFins Dad
          wrote 7 days ago last edited by
          #4

          I’m sorry, but was I supposed to feel something beyond an eyeroll over this story?

          The Brad

          1 Reply Last reply
          • M Away
            M Away
            Mik
            wrote 7 days ago last edited by
            #5

            Nope.

            “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

            1 Reply Last reply
            • L Offline
              L Offline
              LuFins Dad
              wrote 7 days ago last edited by
              #6

              It costs $21K to $24K to convert. So the tax credit was between $7K-$8K. Annual savings are estimated to be $1800 per year. It basically takes 10 years to recoup the costs even with the frigging credits. And that’s not including the solar panel battery replacements. The lifespan is anywhere from 5-15 years. So you could conceivably still be $5K in the hole after a decade EVEN WITH the tax credit. Why was this a good idea, again?

              The Brad

              1 Reply Last reply
              • L Offline
                L Offline
                LuFins Dad
                wrote 7 days ago last edited by
                #7

                The only potentially good installations seems to be in California and such, where the grid is unreliable at best, and they even give you options to sell extra electricity back to the state.

                The Brad

                1 Reply Last reply
                • M Away
                  M Away
                  Mik
                  wrote 7 days ago last edited by
                  #8

                  If I were to add solar panels, I would want to be off the electric grid, not selling it back to the suppliers.

                  “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                  L 1 Reply Last reply 7 days ago
                  • M Mik
                    7 days ago

                    If I were to add solar panels, I would want to be off the electric grid, not selling it back to the suppliers.

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    LuFins Dad
                    wrote 7 days ago last edited by
                    #9

                    @Mik said in A Montana solar company's woes:

                    If I were to add solar panels, I would want to be off the electric grid, not selling it back to the suppliers.

                    That’s the other thing, he talked about how conservative and he area is and the business lost from the conservatives going off the grid… I’ll debate the conservative descriptor, but those guys aren’t reporting the tax credit, anyway. That’s defeats the purpose of what they are trying to do… They are also probably paying cash…

                    The Brad

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • M Away
                      M Away
                      Mik
                      wrote 7 days ago last edited by
                      #10

                      Until it can make me self-sufficient I'll pass.

                      “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • 8 Offline
                        8 Offline
                        89th
                        wrote 6 days ago last edited by
                        #11

                        Whatever happened to Elon's solar roof? Seemed like a cool idea, on paper at least.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        Reply
                        • Reply as topic
                        Log in to reply
                        • Oldest to Newest
                        • Newest to Oldest
                        • Most Votes

                        9/11

                        15 Jun 2025, 15:06


                        • Login

                        • Don't have an account? Register

                        • Login or register to search.
                        9 out of 11
                        • First post
                          9/11
                          Last post
                        0
                        • Categories
                        • Recent
                        • Tags
                        • Popular
                        • Users
                        • Groups