![]() ![]() You can also buy ‘add on’ units for a discounted price to increase the size of your solar installation. The ground-mount comes with a pre-made structure with 4 legs that can be bolted down and angled towards the sun. At $750, that’s a total cost of $2.83 per watt. For about $750, you can buy a 265 watt panel, microinverter, production monitor, roof mounting hardware, and 25’ of wiring that plugs directly into a 120v outlet. They sell small, single panel kits designed for both roof- and ground-mounting. You can go online and buy a plug and play solar kit from a few different companies, like the aptly-named Plug&PlaySolar. Does anyone make plug in solar kits?Īctually, yes. Sounds pretty appealing! But the question is: are plug in solar panels as easy as they sound? Let’s take a deeper look and see. The Smartflower, which has seen a boom in interest over the last year or so, advertises as just this: an easily portable, plug-in solar kit. That seems like a pretty good incentive! On top of that, if you ever move, you can simply unplug your installation and bring it with you. ![]() ![]() So if you’re able to cut out your installer, you drop your total investment by thousands of dollars, depending on the size of your installation of course. Even if a plug and play system costs 2x as much as traditional equipment (including panels, mounting, inverter, wires, etc), it would still knock about $3k off the installation! With an average installation size of 5,700 watts, that’s a total cost of $15,960, of which the equipment makes up about $6,400 (40%). If you can avoid hiring an installer, you can cut out 60% of the traditional cost of solar!Īccording to the same report, the average residential solar installation costs $2.80 per watt (same chart above). Solar equipment like panels, inverters, and wire only account for about 40% of the total cost of a roof-top system according to a 2017 NREL study of solar costs (chart on page 21). What’s the alluring part? Well, you theoretically don’t need an installer or electrician. Sounds incredible, but does it have wide enough appeal? And before we even get to mass adoption, can we get to the point where plug in solar panels and solar panel kits are a safe, legitimate option? Something so easy and simple, you can just plug it in to any outlet and – boom! – you’ve added green energy to your home without ever even hiring a solar installer. Plug In Solar Panels: Will There Ever be a Tipping Point? Will we ever get to a point of mass adoption?įor years now, many have pined for a plug and play solar installation. ![]()
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