Ask HN: Do you have home solar?

[mmayberry]

Hi! I'm one of the co-founders of Jasmine Energy (YC S22) and I'm looking for people who have installed solar panels on their home. If thats you, would you be open to sharing the documents you received from your installer? We're working on a new tool at Jasmine Energy that may be able to help you find rebates and incentives buried deep in those documents.

[prdonahue]

I do, feel free to DM on Twitter. Just pull an 18 kW system in a few months ago and it’s been great.

(Full disclosure: I’m in the solar industry, but on the software side. Recently left Cloudflare to join Aurora Solar as CPO.)

[mmayberry]

DM sent. Much appreciated!

[toomuchtodo]

Consider talking with the folks running NREL's SolarAPP platform. Potential partnership opportunity considering the data flows in scope for automated permitting.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777288

https://solarapp.nrel.gov/

[mmayberry]

great find. thank you!

[megablast]

I only have solar!! It’s awesome. Completely off grid. Sailboat life.

[orwin]

Do you use gas stove for cooking? Or is it also electric?

[mmayberry]

living the dream!

[Yawrehto]

No, but when the roof eventually needs repair we probably will. Sounds like an interesting idea though!

[sharpshadow]

Germany is steadily reducing the legal hurdles to install balcony solar plants. Now one does not have to ask the landlord for permission, no tax, 800W allowed, etc..

Berlin grants one 500€ with the purchase of a balkony solar plant.

[animal531]

Here in South Africa our main electricity supplier has been failing for the last few years due to corruption, nepotism etc.

As a result solar power has really taken off for both businesses and homes.

[dbetteridge]

800W ... total?

I guess for apartments thats better than nothing, but wouldn't it make more sense to install them on the roof of the building and tie it into rebates for everyone?

[idontwantthis]

Do you run it as it’s own circuit or do you connect it to your main power somehow?

[ryandrake]

I've got a pretty old 7400 watt system installed back when the incentives from California were pretty good. It's lost quite a bit of efficiency over the years, and usually tops out at around 5200 watts, providing ~40KWh during cloudless days in the summer. I don't know much about net metering and incentives, but what I do know is that I can't make any major changes to the installation without ratcheting down to the current regulatory system, which reduces compensation for selling during off-peak hours.

[mmayberry]

if you have any paperwork related to your installation we would love to see it. The standard installation pack (diagrams, blueprints, system info, tech specs, etc...) is what we are most interested in. You can drop anything you are comfortable sharing here: https://driveuploader.com/upload/UdA5Ev9YFP/

[metabeard]

Can you setup a form to allow us to upload the docs? I had solar, panel, and roof done by SolarCity before it was purchased by Tesla.

[mmayberry]

Upload portal is here: https://driveuploader.com/upload/UdA5Ev9YFP/

Thank you for helping out. Much appreciated!

[pfd1986]

OT but what's the best way to find incentives and rebates given a zip code? Google just suggests 1,000 ads...

[nick238]

https://sunroof.withgoogle.com/ kinda works, but strangely if I try it on my house in Chicago, it omits the state rebate. Illinois/local utilities cover 20-40% the installation cost, depending on how well they produce. After the ~30% tax rebate from the feds, basically halves the "price after incentives".

TBH, best way is to talk to a solar provider. They're not as hard to stop talking to as Mormons.

[tdaltonc]

DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency) is the database that all of those companies use.

https://www.dsireusa.org/

Disclosure: I'm also a Jasmine cofounder.

[cmclaughlin]

I’d be happy to help. My email is in my profile

[mmayberry]

email sent. thanks!

[paultannenbaum]

I put solar on my roof right before the NEM 2.0 -> 3.0 switch over. Email is in my profile.

[chrsw]

Do incentives and rebates apply to batteries as well?

[kkfx]

I do, self-made (legal here, France), composed of:

- 12x Trina Solar Vertex S 400Wp (TSM-400DE)

- solar inverter Fronius Primo 5kW

- battery inverter Victron MultiPlus II-GX

- 8kWh LFP BYD LVS

- smart meter (zero injection setup) Victron/Giavazzi ET112

- EV charging piloted by the Victron (EVC300400300)

There was not much 400V batteries and inverters back than. I log a bit via Home Assistant, so far without InfluxDB simply because I still have to find value in logging over longer time period, pruning data etc and HA alone was time consuming to setup due to the devs passion for YAML (GRRR i HATE modern YAML mania).

Personally in commercial terms I'm DISGUSTED by the current state of thing where in China prices plunge and here in EU skyrocket, as quotes from professional installers are so high that a not-self-made system is simply economically not a good investment.

Feel free to ask what you want :-)

[novateg]

I have home solar. I'm interested

[mmayberry]

Thank you. Just sent you an email

[gavinh]

I expect to by September. DM me.

[hollerith]

This site doesn't have DMs.

[theogravity]

I had my panels installed in 2018. I doubt there's any incentives at this point? Are you looking for more recent installs?

[mmayberry]

2018 still works! We're most interested in the paperwork associated with the install. If you are willing to share any documents related to your installation you can do so here: https://driveuploader.com/upload/UdA5Ev9YFP/

[metadat]

Plz shoot me an email, collect.metadat at gogglestermale.

P.s. this thread would've been less noisy if there was a decodable email address in your profile, sweetie pie. :)

Then again, maybe you know the trick where more comments is mo' betta'. No judgement, haha.

[metadat]

FWIW, OP never bothered to contact me.

Not everyone uses twitter and slides into the DMs like that.

Best wishes,

Metadat

Edit: please do downvote this benign message to your heart's content, cheers