Installing solar panels on your home can be a great way to save money, reduce your reliance on the electrical grid, and even boost the value of your home.
Today, with generous solar tax credits in place, buying solar panels for your home makes more sense than ever. Cromwell Solar has been installing residential solar panels in Kansas and Missouri for over four decades. We understand every facet of the process, including design, installation, permitting, and available solar panel incentives.
Homeowner's Guide to Going Solar
We’ve put together this FREE comprehensive guide to going solar to help homeowners like you think about the pros and cons of going solar, and learn more about the installation process. →
Find answers to common questions about solar panel cost, financing and maintenance below. We offer free estimates for solar panel installation for homeowners, showing you how much you stand to save from your solar panels, and what your payback period for solar might look like. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
How Much Do Home Solar Panels Cost?
What do solar panels cost? This often-asked question has an easy answer: Solar panels cost about $300 per panel plus shipping. But installing solar panels, and whether the payoff will be worthwhile, is slightly more complicated.The overall cost of a home solar panel installation, includes the cost to install solar panels, available tax incentives, the energy savings from the solar energy produced, and the potential increase in your home’s property value. Also worth considering is the cost of financing.
Thankfully today, the full cost of a solar panel installation for a home or business is typically offset within a decade by the savings, when taking the federal solar tax credit into account. This payoff period is far less than the life of a solar installation, meaning you’re almost guaranteed a positive return on your investment.
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The Federal Solar Tax Credit for Homes
The federal residential clean energy credit often known as the “solar tax credit” is a tax credit that can be claimed on your federal income taxes equal to 30% of the total cost of going solar. It covers everything from the panels itself to the labor and taxes. Battery backup systems and electric car (EV) chargers are also eligible for a 30% tax credit whether part of a solar installation or done alone.
Learn more about average savings from the Solar Tax Credit >
Should I Lease or Finance Solar Panels?
You can install solar panels on your home by either financing or leasing them, or by simply buying them in cash. The main difference between buying and leasing solar panels is who owns the panels, and therefore who gets the tax credits. If you buy the panels yourself, you get the 30% federal solar tax credit, if you lease them, the bank gets it.
Today there are great solar loans available, and most of our clients opt to finance solar panels. When you finance solar panels, you’re still eligible for the solar tax credits, and many clients don’t end up paying more for the panels than they do for monthly utility bills. Combined with the incentives, it’s possible to be cash positive from day one when buying or financing solar panels.
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Do Solar Panels Increase Home Value?
Studies show that buying solar panels for your home or commercial building will add to its value and also make it easier to sell down the road. The most often cited study shows home value increased on average by $4 per watt of solar installed, which is often higher than the cost to install solar.
In addition, both Kansas and Missouri have laws that prohibit increases in property taxes based on property value increases from solar installations. And solar panels last for more than 40 years, with little decrease in performance, meaning solar is an asset that does not depreciate much over its lifespan.
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What Is the Average Payback Period for Solar Panels?
It typically takes between 10 and 12 years for the savings from a solar installation to equal the cost of installing it, after accounting for incentives, commonly called the solar payback period. Solar panels have a lifespan of more than 40 years, meaning they can be paid off within about a quarter of their lifespan.
There are other factors related to the payback period that make solar panels an even better investment. Adding solar panels to a house or commercial building typically increases its value, often by about as much as the solar panels cost to install. From this perspective, the solar panel payback period is about zero.
There are a number of factors that can affect your monthly electricity savings from your solar panels. Cromwell Solar performs detailed analyses of every potential solar installation using industry-leading techniques to give you a trustworthy custom estimate of what your solar installation will cost, and what the payback period will be.
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Home Solar Panel Maintenance Cost
Solar panel maintenance costs are nearly zero, as there is no regular maintenance required for solar panels. Amazingly, solar panels work without any moving parts that would wear out and need service. As the solar panels need to see the sun to work, any buildup of dust or pollen can reduce their efficiency, but natural rainfall will almost always clean solar panels just fine and no solar panel cleaning is needed.
For that reason, in Kansas and Missouri at least, routine cleaning of solar panels is not required. If it snows, the panels clear themselves quickly as they are dark, slick glass installed at an angle, so it does not take long at all before snow slides right off the solar panels.
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Cost of Solar Panel Repairs
Solar panels are hard to damage, so solar panel repairs are rare. Repairs on solar panels are almost always the result of extreme weather and the repairs needed are usually covered by your existing homeowner’s insurance policy. The top rated “Tier 1” solar panels Cromwell installs are suitable for the high winds and hail storms that we get in Kansas and Missouri — our panels can take a wind of over 100 mph and larger-than-golf-ball-sized hailstones.
Cromwell Solar has installed more than 100,000 solar panels in Missouri and Kansas and has had to repair only a handful of them (some after very close calls with tornados). In the unlikely event of solar panel damage, we find that homeowner’s insurance will cover the damage and pay for repair. We have found that with most insurance carriers there is no increase in premium when installing solar panels, but it is recommended that you check with your insurance carrier before getting solar.
In the event your residential solar project needs repairs, or you need to have your solar panels removed (for instance to allow for a roof repair) or replaced, Cromwell Solar’s dedicated solar maintenance team can help. Cromwell Solar is often called upon to provide maintenance for home solar projects, whether we installed the system originally or not.
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Environmental and Health Benefits of Solar Panels
Solar panels save you money, but they bring other benefits to you and your community as well. Solar panels help keep your community’s air clean, lower carbon emissions and conserve water.
Fossil-fuel-burning power plants emit aerosols and other gasses that lower air quality and lead to smog, contributing to cardiovascular and respiratory problems. Having solar panels installed means you’re using less power from your utility, directly lowering emissions..
Solar panels also reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to climate change. Adding solar panels to your home will keep literal tons of greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere every year. It’s the carbon-saving equivalent of planting 125 trees or not driving 20,000 miles in your gas-powered car — every year.Home solar panels also help conserve water. A conventional power plant uses massive amounts of water, and create pollution that enters waterways. So, getting your energy from solar panels reduces both water use and pollution.
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Are Solar Panels Worth It?
Yes, for most homes that have a sunny roof, it is well worth it to install solar. There are amazing economic, environmental, and community health reasons to install solar panels.
The most important consideration when looking at whether your house in Kansas or Missouri is right for solar is the amount of sun you get, the state of your roof, your utility rate, and solar rules in your area. The best way to tell if your home is a good candidate for solar is to have a reputable engineering-based solar firm like Cromwell Solar perform a free solar assessment.
Homes with good sun on a roof with life left in it that have an average utility rate ($0.11/kWh and up) are good candidates for solar. With an average payback on residential solar in Kansas and Missouri of 10–12 years, you will recover your investment at a nice rate of return while making a huge environmental impact and improving your community’s air quality and health. Even if you are moving in less than the payback time, the potential increase in your property value from installing solar panels allows you to recover the cost of your solar panel investment at any time.
This is a great time to install solar panels as federal incentives are high and prices are low; paybacks for solar have never been better and the need for clean, renewable solar energy has never been greater.