$120/400W new, open box solar panels from reputable manufacturer, delivered, on eBay. If you have the time and ability to DIY that seems like a good deal. Installed, they seem to cost 10x as much
Replies
Can I just lay them next to my house? 😂
sep 2, 2025, 2:47 am • 1 0 • view
I know this is meant to be a funny but you can in fact put a mounting frame up and put them next to your house - there’s no technical requirement they have to be installed on a roof..
sep 2, 2025, 6:24 am • 3 0 • view
This is what people are starting to do as the panel price starts dropping below mounting hardware and labor costs people are switching to simpler and cheaper methods. Zip-tying them to a fence is a thing! And it's defensible
sep 2, 2025, 6:55 am • 1 0 • view
It isn’t exactly legal (here). I am looking into exactly this though! There’s a bunch of 150-200W panels that are basically free. Why not using them as fencing panels..
sep 2, 2025, 8:56 am • 2 0 • view
I was mostly kidding but definitely interested. My HOA would have a fit but it’s good to know it’s possible.
sep 2, 2025, 4:07 pm • 1 0 • view
Doing basic math this is A$185/400W or A$460/kW for the panels alone. In Australia a 6.6kW system installed is around $4,000 at the entry level. Around 50% more for a quality install.
sep 2, 2025, 6:29 am • 1 0 • view
you'll learn what the other 90% is for pretty quick though
sep 2, 2025, 1:39 am • 12 0 • view
Scrambling on a roof I get paying for, but electrician labor is just insanely expensive
sep 2, 2025, 1:44 am • 4 0 • view
consider the risk premium
sep 2, 2025, 1:45 am • 4 0 • view
Is electricity more dangerous in places where electrician labor is much cheaper?
sep 2, 2025, 1:53 am • 4 0 • view
Consider the risk premium by doing all the PV electrical work yourself (illegal in Australia) and then forgoing any insurance coverage. You could save even more money by not having home insurance at all.. 🤷🏾🤪
sep 2, 2025, 6:22 am • 0 0 • view
price that out to same-rated parts and NEC requirements, and you'll be hard pressed to get _that_ much cheaper anywhere that has any money. then add the *actual* risk premium--the one that gets your insurer called
sep 2, 2025, 1:56 am • 4 0 • view
It's possible that NEC requirements are part of the problem! Does Australia have a higher rate of electrical fires and electrocutions than we do? What explains their rooftop residential solar costing 20% as much as here?
sep 2, 2025, 1:59 am • 1 0 • view
at a whack: higher pencil-out demand leading to more competition plus substantially friendlier legal liability framework and having owned a management company, NEC is one of the few standards so well-designed that arguing with it makes you wrong by default, we don't austrian-school the sparky parts
sep 2, 2025, 2:02 am • 4 0 • view
(not, to be clear, the actual language of it, which is a patchwork because they try to update sentences instead of rewriting, but it has *remarkably* few vendor carveouts and generally implements a massive safety edge that yes, you keep when dealing with houses)
sep 2, 2025, 2:04 am • 3 0 • view
I have read through the residential NEC and it indeed seems extremely reasonable. There are some dumb parts like kitchen island outlet requirements and # of kitchen circuits but mostly it seems very reasonable
sep 2, 2025, 2:22 am • 1 0 • view
My buddy who is a carpenter helped me build bookshelves that we used for my wedding and when I commented that this was easy and I couldn’t believe the ones that inspired the design were $1200 told me “you don’t pay for the first 90% of the job. You pay for the last 10% when we make it look good.”
sep 2, 2025, 1:54 am • 4 0 • view
It's also illegal here in Portland. www.oregon.gov/bcd/Document...
sep 2, 2025, 1:58 am • 1 0 • view
Nope! It's legal for homeowners much like any other electrical work. Still need it permitted and inspected. Apparently it's non trivial permitting though.
sep 2, 2025, 2:10 am • 1 0 • view
Yeah. They can require engineering inspections to make sure the roof can handle the weight, etc.
sep 2, 2025, 2:22 am • 0 0 • view
There is a prescriptive checklist-based approach that is much simpler now
sep 2, 2025, 2:25 am • 0 0 • view
Just in time for nobody to be eligible for the tax credit..🫠
sep 2, 2025, 2:26 am • 1 0 • view
So is that page I linked to that says "all individuals working on a solar installation must work on behalf of an individual or business with an electrical contractor license. This applies to both residential and commercial installations" just out of date?
sep 2, 2025, 3:22 am • 0 0 • view
gimme gimme, i can only find ~$1500 for 1.6kw
sep 2, 2025, 2:58 am • 0 0 • view
I regularly read Home Power Magazine in the 90s while having off-the-grid fantasies, and the current state of solar blows my mind. And I absolutely have the time and ability (and an IBEW journeyman son). I hope to be able to do it in the next 2 years. Should cover ~65% of my annual consumption.
sep 2, 2025, 3:37 am • 2 0 • view
I had some panels installed this year, and I'm thinking I'll add some in the future. Price of PGE isn't going down.
sep 2, 2025, 4:22 am • 2 0 • view
I'd love to do as little business with PGE as possible, unless they're paying me. I have longer term plans for a new patio roof on the south side, so I'll be sure to have inverter capacity to expand onto that.
sep 2, 2025, 4:41 am • 2 0 • view
We've got a patio that we want to use as a Jackary charge station.
sep 2, 2025, 5:02 am • 1 0 • view
Well, sure, its 10x cheaper if you just look at panels and not at everything else you need
sep 2, 2025, 2:00 am • 3 0 • view
I understand. It's pretty easy to spend more per panel *just* on mounting hardware with no labor, which is crazy. You can see why commercial farms who can really optimize it are outcompeting rooftop
sep 2, 2025, 2:12 am • 3 0 • view
Bill McKibben: "If you want to put solar on your roof, it costs 3-4 times as much in this country as it does in Australia or the EU... it's mostly because we have a byzantine and baroque permitting system here; every municipality makes up its own rules, you have to do endless inspections and..."
sep 2, 2025, 3:32 am • 3 0 • view
"...wiring diagrams and on and on and on; and it's for something that's not dangerous... In most of the world, you call up on a Monday, and by Friday you have solar panels on your roof..."
sep 2, 2025, 3:33 am • 2 0 • view
Are you talking transformers and storage?
sep 2, 2025, 2:17 am • 0 0 • view