Rate of Return or Payback period of your solar panel system might look great on paper, but they are never guaranteed. Ask you solar panels installers a few questions about his/her calculations. How did they arrive at those numbers for your Energy Generation, or Monthly Income from selling electricity back to the grid? Have they taken tilt and azimuth angles into account? Has shading been taken into consideration?
Here are a few other questions you might want to ask at this stage:
– What microFIT rate did you use to calculate my monthly income?
– Have you taken into account solar panels degradation factor?
– How potential equipment repairs or maintenance would affect these calculations?
– What happens if the microFIT rate is reduced next year or Ontario solar subsidies program is no longer available?
– Are calculations made based on the assumption that I will be paying 100% cash for my solar system?
– What is the cost of borrowing if I decide to finance the purchase of my solar system?
– etc.
