Cost to produce energy?

I read a lot about utilities only paying .03 per kwh, but how much does it cost me to produce it?

My panels are going to die from environmental factors, my inverter runs all day.
So what is the extra cost?
.03 is better than .00 if I don't export.

Doing some quick research most of the answers are it costs about 6-8 cents per kWh to produce from solar. Your setup however may not be the average case.

Yes, anything is better than nothing if you've got excess.

Didn't really understand the question.
But what it costs to produce is based on how you are producing.

As in cost accounting, what is the extra cost to produce one unit?
The system is paid for, so that is a past cost.
The panels are going to degrade weather I use them or not.
The inverter is going to use electricity no matter what. Is active vs stand-by mode significant?
What am I missing?

Panel Degradation - they can last to 20 years + if not physically damaged.
Inverter system consumption is essentially neutral, as it pulls from the battery which is charged by solar. There is a cost in a sense, with regards to the power consumed that can't be used for something else.

Take a situation where you have to bring power up to your new home... Sometimes that can be shall we say excessive/unrealistic. So if a complete solar system with a respectable battery bank costs less than having Grid Power brought up, you already have an instant ROI and without a monthly hostage fee. Case in Point, it was going to cost over 70K to bring grid to my place, for <30K I am solar powered with 45kWh of battery.

If I don't count the cost to aquire the inverter and solar panels and racking and batteries and charge controllers and wires and fuses and switches and breakers, then it costs me nothing to produce power with solar.

CRenner said:

As in cost accounting, what is the extra cost to produce one unit?
The system is paid for, so that is a past cost.
The panels are going to degrade weather I use them or not.
The inverter is going to use electricity no matter what. Is active vs stand-by mode significant?
What am I missing?

Click to expand...

Sounds like your issue is considering the paid for system a "past cost".

You need to amortize the cost of the system over the expected lifetime of the system, and then figure out what the generation capacity is in that timeframe, to understand your $/kwh or whatever your metric will be.

Get free panels, mounts and GT inverters, find volunteer help to install, have a willing Electric company to allow interconnect agreement that pays 3 cents per kWh, Profit!

I think the question that is being asked is "Am I degrading my system by more than $0.03/kWh exported?"

I don't think the solar panels care whether they're producing or not. The inverter will likely die quicker/sooner if it's driven to produce more power, however how much sooner it will die is tough to quantify.

I think in the grand scheme of things the marginal cost of generating 1kWh of energy with Solar is under $0.03/kWh so you're likely wise to export. My buyback price is the same and I'm exporing every last bit of excess solar.

GT PV hardware costs around $1/W. Turnkey installed system around $4/W
Amortized over 20 years, and depending on what an insolation calculator says for your location ...

I put cost of electricity generated by DIY GT PV system at $0.025/kWh, turnkey at $0.10/kWh.

This neglects time value of money, which seemed OK during the period when we could earn about 0% interest. Today short term CDs are around 5% so that changes. But inflation also drives up cost of electricity from the grid.

This cost also assumes you capture 100% of production, either exporting to grid or using immediately. For a battery system you need surplus production (good thing is is so cheap to produce.)

$0.03 credit is break-even with DIY cost, so good to overbuild, reducing how much you buy from utility. Assuming you use some; if you only use at night and have no batteries, then GT PV gives you no benefit.

If you paid turnkey cost, you still loose 70%. Government in California requires PV panel installation on new homes, and sets the credit for export low, forcing homeowners to lose money giving power to the utility.

I think the answer misses the point. The user already has a system and they treat the investment as "sunk cost". They want to know what amount their system is getting degraded by exporting over not exporting.

For example: Let's say their inverter, one that costs $5,500 to replace, will die after 288MWk of energy transfer. That would mean the inverter has a marginal cost of $0.0115/kWh. If this is their only marginal cost (wires don't care, panels don't care) then it actually makes sense to export at $0.03/kWh.

But let's say they're using a battery and exporting from that one where the battery is a 40kWh unit that costs $20k. With ~6,000 cycles that would mean they're paying $0.0833/kWh so it would make no sense to export at $0.03/kWh from the battery as the marginal cost per kWh is higher than their credit. But if the utility company is paying $0.10/kWh it actually makes sense to use your battery to export to the grid as well as it's a net positive, albeit a tiny one.

I didn't think it would be that complicated.

Thanks all.