BY PRESTON RAVIN
What North Texas homeowners should know about solar panels In an effort to explore the growing impact of solar energy within the community, Lori Clark, senior program manager at North Central Texas Council of Governments’ Transportation Department, broke down how solar panels can be useful for homeowners. She also advises how homeowners can find more information about solar panels. How do solar panels work? Solar panels are made out of primarily silicon sheets, but the sunlight energizes electrons in the solar panels themselves, which start moving around and create current, which creates electric- ity. As long as you’ve got sunlight, and it doesn’t have to be full sun—cloudy days, work too—those solar panels are able to create energy on site.
What are the benefits of having solar panels? The benefit of higher electricity cost is that it makes solar more beneficial economically, because you’re generating your own power, so that’s power that you don’t have to pay the utility for. You still have to pay every month to be connected to the electric grid, and you do have to pay the capital cost of installing that solar array, but the cost of installing solar has come down like 90% over the past decade, so it’s much less expensive now than it used to be. There’s also a resilience benefit. During the winter storm, there were several people who had solar and battery storage in their homes, and they didn’t lose power—it’s able to run off of solar. What are some drawbacks of solar panels? The number one drawback is that they can be expensive, depending on how much you install at a home. You’re not necessarily going to see the payback in a single year. It may take a few years for you to see the cost savings, so you have to be able to handle that upfront capital cost.
COURTESY LORI CLARK
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