OK, Pavel, you asked me about my situation with solar panels.  Since it is you that is asking I will "tell all".  Probably more than you wanted to know.  Here goes:

I was apprehensive about placing the solar panels on my roof as my roof faces South on the front and North on the back. Placing solar on the South facing roof would mean that anyone driving by or coming to our house would have Solar Panels as the first thing that they see and I wasn't sure at the time I contracted for the panels if that was the visual I wanted to project for our home.  My garage, however, is in a North/South orientation and thus has an East facing and a West facing roof so I elected to place them on my garage, even though that choice was sub optimal for the best sun exposure.  I was concerned initially about the esthetics and that colored by decision since they were much less visible from the street once I selected the garage placement.

Bottom line on the location:  If I had the same number of solar panels on the South facing roof of the main portion of my house I would have much more electicity being generated.  Now that I am "over" my misgivings about the esthetics I believe that if I have more solar panels placed I will indeed select the South facing roof for maximum sun exposure.

OK, I believe I have 19 Solar Panels in total with about half facing East and the other half facing West.  My contract with Tesla's original partner company, now Tesla, was for a production of 6,800 kWh per annum.  The actual production has exceeded that minimum amount by a little bit every year and I expect it to do so again this year based on how things are going.  I believe it was on 14 August of 2016 when I turned on the unit and it has been flawless ever since.  I actually almost never think of it since I have had absolutely no problems with it.  The transition in ownership over to Tesla has been seamless.  I don't own my solar array, Tesla Solar does.  I agreed to a 20 year contract with 2 Five year options for extension, all based on 11 cents per kWh rate that I pay to Tesla.  Had I purchased the actual solar array it would have been something like $25,000 for the panels, the hookup to the grid and the Invertor.  I threw the switches one time, back in 2016 and haven't had to touch a thing to do with it since.

I am guaranteed an annual electricity output of 6,800 kWh and if the actual production is less than that then the contract states that I will be reimbursed for any hours short of the 6,800.  The rest of our annual power comes off the grid.  Any repairs that might be needed or replacement of panels would be the responsibility of Tesla.  I have the option to renew for another 5 years at the end of the first 20 years and at the end of that extension I also have another option for a final 5 years.  Should I move to another home I could take the array with me, but I would have to pay for takedown and reinstillation.  I can sell my home, if I desire to do so, and have the existing contract as part of my offer to the new buyer and in the event of my death, if prior to the end of the contract, then my contract would be part of my will to my survivor.

Currently my son and grandson intemittently spend time in the house, enough time so that our energy bills are impacted to some significance by their additional energy useage.  That situation will change this year as he and the grandson will be spending much less time at this location and our energy consumption will go down.  

I could probably add the same number of solar panels on the front of the roof and go " Off Grid " but I am not sure that I really want to do that since it isn't just the expense of purchasing the solar panels and their instillation to consider. I would not be doing another contract like the last one since ownership now is more appealing to me than it was 5 years ago, LAC's success is largely responsible for my change in attitude, that and a successful future for another company I am invested in.

The additional cost, however, would be purchase of ESU devices, certainly more than one.  The ESU devices would store the excess energy in order to buffer against days with decreased sunshine.  There aren't that many here in the High Desert of North Eastern Nevada, but once in a while we do have them and, of course, there is always night time.  We take our electricity currently at night from the grid and during the day most of it, or all of it, comes from our solar panels. Since I don't have any price fixed contract with Nevada Energy, our supplier from the grid, the kWh price is subject to whatever price fluctuations that Nevada Energy proposes to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and that they agree to rubber stamp.  So far we have been fortunate that there hasn't been any large increase in electricity rates by Nevada Energy, but should they decide to raise the rates then whatever portion of our useage still proviced by Tesla would be fixed at the same 11 cents a kWh we pay now and for the duration of our contract.

Should I convert to additional solar panels and increased output combined with ESU storage in the future then I have no doubt that the incresed electricity production would meet our household needs and, in addition, any future needs regarding our current small Electric Vehicles along with any future full sized EV.  

I guess it boils down, like everything else, to just how much I have in the way of "discretionary funds" in the future as to whether or not we might actually go "Off Grid" and/or participate in a future "Neighborhood Grid" should that be a future option.  I won't rule these options out at the moment, especially since the investments are doing rather well and just might make such an option more attractive a year or two down the line.

Would I be a candidate for an all electric BEV at sometime in the future?  Yes, absolutely. Probably a Tesla.  

Come to think about it, when I say that we have 3 small EVs at present I really need to ammend that statement.  The son actually bought a 2016 Volt not long ago and characteristically he has habitually hooked it up to Mom and Dad's electricity source at every opportunity in order to keep his GPMe figure up.  I think he averages over 600 miles on one tank of gas and the gas tank isn't all that big on on the Volt.  So, we are already tapping both the grid and the solar panels on the garage for our electricity needs.   I would have to ask my wife what our bills run for electricity, but I believe we are somewhere around $100 a month, maybe $125 in the Summer in what we pay overall as a total to Nevada Energy and to Tesla.  That isn't $125 to each, it is $100 to $125 total.  Compared to similar sized homes in the same area on Central Heat and Air our bills would be miniscule to warm and cool the home.

One of the big things that keeps our energy bills down is that our 2300 square foot home is in a location that is ideal for the use of a "Swamp Cooler" in the Summer.  That is an advantage of living in the desert that folks in other parts of the country do not have.  Central A/C is a must for many locations around the country and lots of homes here in Northern Nevada do have Central A/C, but we haven't had any occasion to abandon a Swamp Cooler since it has worked ideally in form for us for the 28 years we have lived in our home.  It especially has been nice since we switched over from the big metal boxes to a composite and small footprint Australian model a few years ago that works so much better and has so little maintenance vs the old big metal boxes.  

For us, the biggest financial hole is for natural gas to heat the home in the winter so our energy bills do go up in response to colder winters, but not because of any high electric bills.

Everyone has a different situation and what fits for one won't work for someone else.  A terrific case in point is the Swamp Cooler use in our situation.  They only work well in a dry environment.  Here in the desert we rarely have a humidity above 50% so this is the best place for these marvelous old time cooling units.  Sometimes in the Summer I have to turn it down to the first setting, it has 3 fan speed settings, because running it at 2 or 3 would make the house way, way too cold.

Well, that is all I can remember off the top of my head without going back to try and find old records.  Hope that gives you some idea, Pavel, as to why I am so optimistic about both solar energy and the future of EVs.  I don't know that I am a "Big" Tesla fan, it has just kind of worked out that way since Tesla bought out the company that I originally contracted with for our Solar Panels system and since I aspire to be a Tesla owner at sometime in the future.  Should I ever have a Tesla in the garage I would also continue to have an ICE vehicle as a "spare", that is if I can still find a filling station that sells gasoline at that time!

Best wishes to all LAC investors.   I know some of you must also own or contract for Solar Panels on your own home.  If so, then please chime in and let us hear from you about your own experience, bad or good.                  Okiedo