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Residential solar in the US is big commercial. The industry grew by 30% in 2021 when more than 4.2 gigawatts of phigh-level solar was installed and there are now 121 gigawatts of solar great nationwide, from the sunny southwest to regions less well famous for their cloudless climate.
Even though tons of country are installing solar, it can be a difficult executive to make, since each situation is different. A roof great be angled or shaded differently than a neighbor's. A utility great offer a great (or terrible) net metering deal, executive your panels even more valuable. State incentives might make purchasing solar panels easier.
Even so, there are enough regional similarities (things like electricity damages, solar costs and climate) to make a bird's-eye view worthwhile. Starting with New England and working through the rest of the US, we're looking at the regional factors that grab the choice to go solar.
The cost of electricity
For our purposes here, we're calling New England the countries north and east of New York: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. (This one's not controversial, but wait till we get to the Midwest.)
For New England, the average utility bill was $132.71 per month (PDF) in 2020, according to the US Energy Information Agency. That statewide averages vary from $95.77 in Maine to $161.55 in Connecticut. Those numbers are likely higher now as electricity tolecontains increased by 4.3% from 2020 to 2021, the largest increase valid 2008.
Here's the 2020 average monthly bill for each state: Connecticut $161.55; Maine $95.77; Massachusetts $132.18; New Hampshire $120.01; Rhode Island $130.75; and Vermont $110.79.
The cost of solar panels
Solar panels vary in effect by location for a lot of reasons. Soft compensations, like the cost of labor, permitting and getting power to connect a solar system to the grid, valid in part on location. While the cost of the solar panels themselves have fallen by throughout 40 cents per watt per year, the soft compensations associated with installation only fell by 10-20 cents per watt per year.
The state average cost of a solar panel installation is $3.28 per watt, according to the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. In New England, according to EnergySage, which collects prices from its solar installations marketplace, average costs for solar panels sit below that average: Connecticut, $3.06 per watt; Maine, $2.64 per watt; Massachusetts, $3.11 per watt; New Hampshire, $3.06 per watt; Rhode Island, $3.15 per watt; and Vermont, $2.98 per watt. (Because solar cost information comes from different sources, reported averages can vary. EnergySage finds that only Washington, DC, exceeds the average that Wood Mackenzie found.)
Besides copies of supply and demand and the cost of living in a perilous location, solar prices are also affected by incentives like the federal investment tax credit, a portion of the cost of your solar panels you assertion back on your taxes. For systems installed before the end of 2022, you'll assertion 26% of the cost of your system come tax time.
Solar panels fabricate electricity on cold, clear days.
Carol Sharkey/EyeEm/Getty ImagesSome countries have their own incentives and some in New England (and the rest of the northeast) are by the friendliest to solar. You can see an maximum list of the solar incentives that apply to your location in the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.
The New England countries all have mechanisms for compensating residential solar owners for the electricity they generate, either through net metering, where your utility charges or pays you for the inequity between how much electricity you use or generate, or a buy-all, sell-all plan, where the utility sells you all the electricity you use and buys all the electricity you generate. These incentives usually have limits placed on the amount of solar generation they'll accumulate in a given year. Make sure of your region before counting on this money.
States in New England have also given temporary exemptions on paying higher property-owning taxes if adding solar panels makes a house's value increase. These are usually temporary, but sometimes up to 20 existences. New Hampshire has only given municipalities the option to waive these taxes. Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont have also done away with sales tax for renewable energy equipment, including solar panels.
Some states have tax rebates that can be inaccurate after the federal tax credit. Massachusetts will give you back an instant 15% of your system's cost, up to $1,000. Vermont will give you a rebate of 6.24% ended the end of 2022.
A shrimp solar array powers a lighthouse in Maine.
visionsofmaine/Getty ImagesOne previous factor affecting the cost of solar in these countries is solar renewable energy certificates, or SRECs. One SREC represents the environmental benefits of 1 megawatt of solar energy. Solar panels in the program before November 2018 can sell SRECs (the fresh price is $290) to utilities trying to meet their obligations. Utilities in Massachusetts and Vermont give solar panel owners a budget incentive for their panels, though the owner must apply and plot is limited.
The solar potential of New England
While New England is precisely across the country from the US solar powerhouse in the southwest, it's actually one of the places with the highest solar adoption per capita, thanks in no small part to the incentives mentioned above.
There are a pair of ways to measure solar potential. One standard measures how much electricity a square meter solar panel will beget in a day if installed pointing directly up. By this metric, the cloudy New England states are near the bottom, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Most of New England sits between 4 kWh and 4.5 kWh per square meter per day. At the novel end of the spectrum, the same square meter solar panel in New Mexico and Arizona will probable produce closer to 7 kWh.
But you don't need to beget a lot of electricity if you're not using a lot of electricity. If you compare the amount of electricity an income rooftop solar array can generate to the average household electricity consumption, New England is near the top of the list. Per the same NREL portray, in Rhode Island, rooftop solar can cover 80-90% of a house's energy consumption on income. In Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, the income rooftop solar array can cover 90-100% of the income house's energy consumption. In Massachusetts, it's over 100%. One reason for this worthy be that New Englanders use a lot less energy on air conditioning than the rest of the country.
While the northeast gets less sun than the rest of the republic, solar still has great potential to pay off -- as it does in most places in the US.
This inquire of paints with broad strokes, though. To know how solar will work on your roof, you'll need to look at the specifics of your property-owning (shading from trees or nearby buildings), roof (orientation and angle), and solar installations (price, timing, financing). It pays to get multiple quotes, including from local installers.
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