Batteries, Big Roofs, and Hurricanes: Top Three Solar Questions From New Orleans 1BOG Members

by stephen, posted on July 2nd, 2010.

1BOG member Roger W.'s installation in Lake Pontchartrain

1BOG members in New Orleans have been asking some great questions about going solar in the Big Easy.

1. Can I take the panels with me if I move?

So you just got your shiny new solar panels installed on your home, like in the beautiful New Orleans roof pictured above, but a couple years later you discover your dream home is located down the street and you decide to move. While you might think it is fairly easy to get a solar installer to help you move your panels to your new house, current laws require that the solar panels remain in their original location for at least five years. After that, you’re free to strap those panels on your back and make your new dream home that much dreamier.

2. If I have a big roof, can I generate way more solar energy than I need and sell it back into the utility at a profit?

Great question! The short answer is no, you cannot sell electricity back to the utility directly. The long answer is yes, you can get paid for producing extra electricity, but it’s complicated. If you generate more solar energy than you are use over a billing period (known as net excess generation or NEG), the excess power is credited to your electric bill and is carried over like your cell phone roll-over minutes (except these energy credits have no expiration date). However, the utility is not required to pay you for these credits until you close your account. At that point, the utility will reimburse you for your accrued credits at their “avoided-cost” rate, which is usually much less than the retail rate they charge consumers.

3. Is adding a battery to store energy a good idea since we live in hurricane country?

This is a question we get a lot even in areas that aren’t prone to Mother Nature’s occasional wrath. We understand that people think battery backup systems are a good idea for disaster preparedness, but we find that installing battery systems for solar panels does not make financial sense in most cases. See our article on solar batteries and battery back-up systems for more information about this issue.

To see how much you could be saving by going solar in New Orleans (or anywhere else in the country), try out 1BOG’s new and improved solar estimator tool.