Who wouldn’t love to say goodbye to their electric bill (or most of it) and get your electricity from the sun?

I think I would, but the high cost, the complexity, the fact that it always seems like the next big breakthrough in Solar is just around the corner (will I be stuck with clunky outdated equipment for the life of the system?) makes me pull away every time I start to research my options.

Could I do it myself?

Will prices ever take that significant dip everyone’s always talking about?

Will it damage my house, tear up my roof, look out-of-place?

Would a smaller system that only replaced part of the household electricity be worthwhile?

I’m less concerned about the appearance than the other factors, but my south-facing roof shows to the street side of the house and I don’t want to upset the neighbors.

So I remain in analysis paralysis, occasionally getting the bug again and conducting a small flurry of research before becoming discouraged and bogged down again.

The latest analysis I had done was for an 11.8 kW system consisting of 43 panels (that sounds like a LOT of panels to me), a 10000 Solar Edge inverter, Solar Edge Optimizers and System.

Gross cost before incentives $32,995

Net cost after incentives $23,097

Net savings over 20 years $21,225

Average monthly bill $2

There’s a lot about the above that I don’t understand. OK, most of it is beyond me.

Mostly I see the bottom line, and it gives me heartburn. I’m waiting for the invisible solar that costs a tenth of the current prices. And for installation to become local–$1500 of the price is travel and lodging for the installation professionals.

Have you flirted with solar?

Do you have solar?

I’d love your thoughts, experiences, and advice.