Eight Twenty Solar

[Midtowner]

^^^^ cost? This is personal so I get if you don’t want to share but how much did you spend on it? I’m looking at helping my grandparents put a Tesla solar roof on their house and the cost was almost 100k. Not exactly chump change.

Nothing close to that. Get multiple bids. I took three. I had two of them coming in around $70K with EightTwenty coming in at tens of thousands less. I can understand the philosophy--this stuff is in high demand and if they can bank tens of thousands in profit per job, good on them.

[Midtowner]

Their site shows no money down options (e.g. loans)

Yeah, I did a twenty year loan. The payment is right around what my average electric bill is right now. The neat part about it though is that as the price of energy increases (average about 3% per year), my payment stays the same. The deal makes sense if you're going to stay in the same place for a long time. This makes great sense for my family, we have a school age child, we're close to other family. Neighborhood schools are great. I anticipate being here 20 years.

I did hear from my insurance company. They increased my structure value by north of six figures for these panels, I'm having them get in touch with the company so replacement cost is what's considered, so that's maybe going to be a cost.

[Roger S]

Yeah, I did a twenty year loan. .

What kind of interest are they offering?

[Bellaboo]

Yeah, I did a twenty year loan. The payment is right around what my average electric bill is right now. The neat part about it though is that as the price of energy increases (average about 3% per year), my payment stays the same. The deal makes sense if you're going to stay in the same place for a long time. This makes great sense for my family, we have a school age child, we're close to other family. Neighborhood schools are great. I anticipate being here 20 years.

I did hear from my insurance company. They increased my structure value by north of six figures for these panels, I'm having them get in touch with the company so
replacement cost is what's considered, so that's maybe going to be a cost.

My sister had a nightmare scenario with their panels in Ft Worth last year. Big hail, big damage and had to wait on their solar provider to remove panels before roof replacement. Wasn't fun waiting on the solar panel crew. Took several months to resolve.

[Midtowner]

My sister had a nightmare scenario with their panels in Ft Worth last year. Big hail, big damage and had to wait on their solar provider to remove panels before roof replacement. Wasn't fun waiting on the solar panel crew. Took several months to resolve.

That's one reason I chose an OKC based company. I know the install is different from service after the sale, but when wiring the breaker box, there are two bars. When you go solar, everything has to be wired to ground OR neutral. When you're on the grid, everything can be wired to either bar. They had missed one breaker and the lights weren't coming on in the kid's bonus room upstairs. No big deal. I sent an email around 4PM. I had a crew there to fix it around 4:30 PM.

I did visit with the crew about them servicing some of their Norman customers after the hail storm, so I imagine they're handling things pretty well.

As far as a roof replacement, I don't know why your roofers couldn't just work around the panels. They're not spaced out, so the roof under them was protected from whatever happened.

[Mott]

The batteries are guaranteed for 25 years to be at 85% (8.5kWh). My homeowner's went up a little bit, but I'm covered for weather damage. I'm told by EightTwenty that a lot fo the panels damaged in the Norman hail storm a bit ago were cracked, but production was unaffected. It was just cosmetic in many cases (I can't speak for whether a cracked panel is going to remain water tight and eventually result in a fire though).

After going through the process, I'm honestly surprised that we don't see panels on a lot more houses. If homeowners took more responsibility in generating their own power on a large scale, a real dent could be made in carbon emissions.

Yes it would, and it would change OG@E’s power monopoly. Back in the 1970’s there was Barry Commoner, who advocated for every large building creating its own power, as well as electrifying the nation’s railroad, among other environmental ideas. It’s not just the burning of fossil fuels at generating plants, it’s the tremendous loss of electrons sending that power over the lines.

[shawnw]

The reality is, if every car on the road was electric tomorrow, we wouldn't have enough power generation or transmission capability to keep up. One way to help offset that as demand grows over time will be the growth/widespread adoption of residential and commercial solar projects. If I understand correctly, many of the things removed from the new infrastructure bill are going into the build back better bill, including clean energy incentives. Not sure of the details, but if there are residential incentives folks should jump on it.

[Midtowner]

There are already huge incentives. I am getting a (I think) 22% tax rebate. And many of our grid issues would be solved if the EV owners would generate their own power.

[April in the Plaza]

So basically 50-70k for an average system in OKC? For some reason, I thought the systems were far cheaper than that. Is it the battery backup that drives up the cost?

[Midtowner]

So basically 50-70k for an average system in OKC? For some reason, I thought the systems were far cheaper than that. Is it the battery backup that drives up the cost?

The battery backup does increase the cost by about $13K for the first one, and then the price declines pretty quickly. I got the battery because my microinverters, which are kind of the brains behind each panel and each cell in the batterf require power to work, so that in the event of an outage, my panels would go down without the battery and I'd be as helpless as folks who are reliant on the grid. There are newer microinverters (I have 7+ gen, the new 8 gen) from enphase, probably everyone else too which don't require external power.

The battery does require you to actively manage your power if you wanted it to work through the night. I've played around with my home devices and can get just my fridge and freezers powered and only draw .5kW per hour. That would easily get me through the night. I might be in trouble if the outage continues and it's overcast the next day.

Still, in any event, I figure I'd be in a far better position with someone with no solar, I've got my bill locked in, when grid customers are going to see on average a 3%/year cost increase. And when it's paid off, I'll have free electrictity for the foreseeable future. I might have to replace some panels or add some down the line. I'd only recommend this if you're in a house you want to stay in forever as there is not really any solid information on how solar contributes to resale value, although I can tell you the rep I worked with at EightTwenty says they're working on getting that data.

And that cost is parts AND labor. Labor is significant as you have to have specially trained electricians crawling all over your roof and attic for the 4-5 days the install takes place. Skilled labor ain't cheap, but in the end, assuming we stay in this house, it'll be worth it.

[Teo9969]

How many sf is your home, if you don't mind me asking?

[Midtowner]

How many sf is your home, if you don't mind me asking?

It's 3,000 sq. ft. We run 2 HVAC systems.

[LakeEffect]

It's 3,000 sq. ft. We run 2 HVAC systems.

Hmmmmmm. My house is very similar.

I'm curious if they've tried any projects in Edmond proper. Edmond Electric has a strict-sounding solar policy which really feels anti-solar:

Under the terms of Edmond Electric’s wholesale power supply contract, Edmond can allow a maximum cumulative distributed generation capacity of one percent (1%) of Edmond’s single hour peak load to be installed on its electric distribution system. This capacity is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If the cumulative generating capacity of solar systems reaches the maximum 1% of Edmond’s single hour peak load, Edmond Electric cannot allow any new systems to be interconnected to our distribution system.

[Midtowner]

Hmmmmmm. My house is very similar.

I'm curious if they've tried any projects in Edmond proper. Edmond Electric has a strict-sounding solar policy which really feels anti-solar:

Under the terms of Edmond Electric’s wholesale power supply contract, Edmond can allow a maximum cumulative distributed generation capacity of one percent (1%) of Edmond’s single hour peak load to be installed on its electric distribution system. This capacity is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If the cumulative generating capacity of solar systems reaches the maximum 1% of Edmond’s single hour peak load, Edmond Electric cannot allow any new systems to be interconnected to our distribution system.

Yeah, I kind of hit the lottery. Edmond schools with OKC utilities. I'm also in a neighborhood with an HOA, but my house was here before the neighborhood was platted, so no covenants and restrictions to worry about. The company knows what to expect from the utility companies. If that's what Edmond is doing, their grid is in no way ready for the future where there will be lots of people producing their own power. But that's not an uncommon problem. One of the big factors in Japanese companies being so far behind in the EV game is that there's no way their current grid could handle widespread EV use.

The way I read that, they are going to allow only so many systems until solar hits 1% of their capacity, so if you're an early adopter and go solar right now, you might get in under the wire.

[Pete]

Update from the OKC Economic Development Trust:

Site is very contaminated and we are working with the City’s Brownfield Program to identify ways to clean the site

[Midtowner]

One of the big factors in Japanese companies being so far behind in the EV game is that there's no way their current grid could handle widespread EV use.

I reread this post from just 4 months ago. Man. That statement re Japan automakers falling behind aged poorly.

https://www.toyota.com/electrified/

https://www.thedrive.com/tech/43978/...ink-its-headed

https://automobiles.honda.com/future-cars/prologue

I just have to admire those Japanese companies. It appears the era of the EV snuck up on them a bit, but they're embracing it aggressively. If they just-as-aggressively work to put solar up on any surface they can, their grid can handle the new requirements.

[king183]

Midtowner, how are you still liking your panels over the winter? I'm considering adding some to my house and I keep hearing good things about EightTwenty.

[Midtowner]

Midtowner, how are you still liking your panels over the winter? I'm considering adding some to my house and I keep hearing good things about EightTwenty.

They've worked out famously. If nothing else, I'm a lot more aware of which appliances use what. In this overcast weather we're having, it doesn't produce much. It does have a cool feature in that it automatically switched to battery full backup mode the day before the storms hit, so I've had a 10kW battery on standby were power to be interrupted. The way things have gone in this storm, I hear most outages are 3-4 hours and we wouldn't have noticed had we had an outage, aside from a push notification telling me I'm off the grid, if that was the case.

When it's sunny this winter, I've sent about 15-30kW more than I've used back to the grid. OG&E is taking their time getting the net metering installed, so that's just free electricity to OG&E right now. On a day like today with everyone home and running all of the things with very little sun, I'm probably going to import ~40-50kW. And had I the net meter installed, I would just be drawing against power I exported a few days ago.

So there's a transition, but I do look forward to having it fully operational. I also look forward to dumping my ICE car for an EV in a few months, and not having to pay for gas anymore. One less thing.

[Midtowner]

I have to brag a little more on Eight Twenty. I think I've said before that they gave me a call shortly after installing the system and told me their design team and engineers had reviewed my panel output and that it was putting too much energy too fast in charging the battery array. They then, at their own expense, installed a separate combiner and separate meter receptacle, and directed a few panels away from the battery array. This will increase the battery's life substantially.

We just had OG&E come out to install their bidirectional meters. I spoke with the installation tech on the doorbell cam yesterday. I was excited to see my new bidirectional meters installed when I got home and there was nothing there. (the bidirectional meter is how OG&E measures how much energy you send up the grid so they can give you credit for it).

I spoke briefly with Eight-Twenty this morning, and apparently, the guy whose job it is to install bidirectional meters has never once seen two meters. He didn't know what to do, so he did nothing so he could confer with his higher ups. Eight Twenty has been back in touch with OG&E, offering the advice of their engineering and design teams as to how this is or should be normal.

So I can't be the only guy out there with a 14kW system and a battery array. This speaks volumes about both other companies and about Eight Twenty. These guys have completely gone above and beyond. There aren't a lot of companies who invest design and engineering hours in systems that are already paid for. And apparently there's only one company which would, at their own expense, install a whole new combiner system and pay several technicians for a half day installing it just to preserve a battery's life when I can guarantee I never would have noticed, and just taken the 'L' and probably just replaced the battery array early.

[David]

New coalition to host solar energy seminar May 10 at Belle Isle Library

Oklahoma City residents and business owners interested in learning about the benefits of solar energy are invited to attend a free solar seminar offered by a new coalition led by the City’s Office of Sustainability and other local organizations called Solarize OKC.

The seminar will be held at 6:30 p.m. May 10 at Belle Isle Library, 5501 N. Villa Ave. Sign up www.solarizeOKC.com. Participants can watch the seminar virtually from the Solarize OKC Facebook page.

Seminar topics include the benefits of solar energy, opportunities to sign up for free property assessments, information about group-purchasing discounts, federal tax credit information and will feature remarks from Ward 2 Oklahoma City Councilperson James Cooper. Register for the event at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/solariz...s-330631125597.

“Increasing education around solar energy is a policy recommendation in our sustainability plan, adaptokc,” said City Councilperson Cooper. “More solar activity in Oklahoma City creates quality local jobs, saves residents money, and supports local businesses with resilient power supplies. I’m grateful Solarize OKC’s inclusive program design ensures low and moderate-income residents have opportunities to reduce their home’s electricity costs.”

The Launch of Solarize OKC

The solar seminar marks the launch of Solarize OKC, a new coalition designed to make solar energy and battery storage more affordable for Oklahoma City residents and businesses. Solarize OKC is the first such coalition of its kind in Oklahoma City.

Solarize initiatives have been adopted in numerous communities around the country since their inception in 2009.

The public-private coalition includes: RestoreOKC, the City of Oklahoma City’s Office of Sustainability, the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG), the Oklahoma Solar Association, OKC Beautiful, the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council, the Oklahoma Compost and Sustainability Association (OCASA), Fertile Ground Cooperative, Solar CrowdSource and other community volunteers.

Solarize OKC selects solar energy infrastructure installer

Following a rigorous evaluation process, Solarize OKC selected EightTwenty to provide local property owners with the group-purchasing opportunity. An EightTwenty representative will attend the May 10 event.

"EightTwenty is thrilled to partner with Solarize OKC to harness the sun and empower Oklahoma homeowners, businesses and nonprofits to live solar," said Tony Capucille, CEO of EightTwenty. "Our company has an unwavering commitment to deliver our customers quality products with respect and focus. We look forward to bringing this same level of attention and care to each project completed in coordination with the Coalition and continuing to provide our community with clean, reliable and cost-effective energy solutions for years to come."

To learn more about EightTwenty, visit: www.eighttwenty.com

[king183]

I just signed an agreement with EightTwenty to get solar on my home, so I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes. The experience thus far has been good.

[Midtowner]

I just signed an agreement with EightTwenty to get solar on my home, so I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes. The experience thus far has been good.

Congratulations. They will not disappoint.

[LocoAko]

After learning about the Solarize OKC program and the discounts being offered to OKC residents we are now strongly considering making the plunge. Seems like too good (and a one-time) opportunity to pass up. At the very least we may at least get a consultation, which can't hurt.

[Midtowner]

Just checked my bill for May so far. $14.

[jn1780]

That's one reason I chose an OKC based company. I know the install is different from service after the sale, but when wiring the breaker box, there are two bars. When you go solar, everything has to be wired to ground OR neutral. When you're on the grid, everything can be wired to either bar. They had missed one breaker and the lights weren't coming on in the kid's bonus room upstairs. No big deal. I sent an email around 4PM. I had a crew there to fix it around 4:30 PM.

I did visit with the crew about them servicing some of their Norman customers after the hail storm, so I imagine they're handling things pretty well.

As far as a roof replacement, I don't know why your roofers couldn't just work around the panels. They're not spaced out, so the roof under them was protected from whatever happened.

Eventually, the panels would have to come off for a roof replacement. The roof is build as one unit. Maybe they will have to figure out a different way of separating roofing under panels from the rest of the roof.