If you went 30 years, and then zeroed out the capital value of the system through depreciation, at a 7.2% S&P 500 index return, you would need to save 8 times the original cost of the system. And that would be without any further input in system maintenance, increase costs of property taxes or insurance, etc.
By comparing to a 2% return, you get that down to 1.82 times the initial investment without any extraneous costs.
Net metering lowers the cost of a residential system, so it becomes easier to get a better return on the investment.
The groups that could do well with this... retail/office businesses.
Our buildings move from a ''sleep mode'' into active starting at 6AM and go back to ''sleep'' at 8PM six days a week and half a day on Sunday. They need electricity exactly when solar would be producing.
An added benefit, EVs parked under an open carport-style structure with PV on the roof, would keep the vehicles cooler (we use a lot of AC to get the heat out of the vehicle after sitting in the sun all day), and could charge the vehicles for the 8 plus hours that they are just sitting there.
The Chinese have battery powered scooters that simply pull up to a solar charge station, and trade the ''empty'' batteries for fully charged ones... just paying for the charge much the same as trading out an empty Blue Rhino propane tank for a full one.
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