- Fourteen 230W panels gives the farm a total installed peak
capacity of 3.2kWatts.
- The panels produce 4360 kWh of energy per year.
- The total cost of installing the solar systems was $19,487
- Installation cost = $6.05 per watt.
- Maine state rebate is $500
per 1000kWh estimated annual production with a maximum of $2000 for residential
and $4000 for commercial (DOE, 2012).
- The federal rules provide a 30% tax credit
(US Dept of Energy), which amount to $5846.10.
- There are also federal rules
that allow accelerated depreciation on tax returns for solar installations.
- Combining state and federal
incentives the total cost of the project is reduced to $11,641.
- Given a cost of electricity of 17 cents per kWh to get
a yearly savings of $741.
- Payback time = 15.7
years.
- Solar panels
hold a 25-year warranty.
*Cost Update*Solar costs have steeply declined. The average installed cost is now $4.44 per watt (Wesoff, 2012) The farm solar arrays would have a payback time of less than 10
years given the current pricing.
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