How much money will a 5kW solar system save

A 5kW solar power system is a size that should easily offset a typical  home’s electricity usage. If it doesn’t, then you’ve got one serious energy guzzler of a home and should really consider an energy audit before going solar!
 

5kW solar systems are also the minimum system size you should be considering if you’re looking to add batteries to your system in the future. Here’s what you need to know about 5kW systems, including price information.
 

How many solar panels will you need?
To make up a 5kW solar system, you need 12 solar panels, assuming you use 420W panels – that will actually give you 5.04kW.
Each panel will be about 1.95m x 1m, so you’ll need at least 23.4m² of roof space.
To give you a feel for how big 23.4m² is, this picture may help:

How much electricity will a 5kW solar system generate?
A 5kW solar system will generate approximately 28kWh per day, depending on your location and a variety of other factors. The average home uses about 18kWh per day.
 

How much money will a 5kW solar system save?
You may be thinking: “If the 5kW system offsets my energy usage, then surely it’s going to wipe out my electricity bill?”

Unfortunately it is not that simple! The amount the electricity companies will pay you for your solar energy (what’s known as a feed-in tariff) is, way lower than the price they charge you to buy the same electricity from the grid! Plus, there’s other costs on a bill such as supply charges, aka service charges. However, a 5kW solar power system is still an excellent investment.

Let’s say you get paid about 8c per kWh for exported energy (some retailers offer more) compared to 30c per kWh to buy electricity back from the mains grid. Here’s 3 scenarios to show how the 5kW system payback works:

1) Use all the solar electricity by the 5kW systems in your home. This is unlikely unless you have a mini aluminium smelter in your back garden – or you operate a small business from your home.

If that were your situation, you would save approximately $2100 in the first year, and around $67,000 over 20 years; taking electricity inflation of 5% into account. Those are some serious savings.

2) Export half the electricity: You would save about $1400 in the first year.

3) Export all the electricity: You would save about $700 in the first year with a 5kW system.

If you think that this sounds very counterintuitive, then you can read about the relationship between exports and payback here.

You can see the numbers for yourself and change all the assumptions to see how they affect payback with my solar payback calculator.

How much does a 5kW solar power system cost?
The cost of a 5kW solar system will be around $4500 before SUNCHEES , then you should get about $4200 discount .
 

How long before a 5kW solar power system pays for itself?
If you are not exporting the energy and assuming you’ve paid a reasonable price for a 5kW solar system, then you should see a payback period of less than 5 years – so a fairly rapid payback timeframe.

It can be a laborious process to find a trustworthy solar installer to provide you with a good-quality 5kW solar power system at a reasonable price.