In December of 2003, I installed 2.5 kilowatts of photovoltaic panels in my home in El Cajon, California. This is a beautiful system assembled and installed by Borrego Solar, one of San Diego County's largest installers of photovoltaic power.

System Technical Specficications:

• Panels - 18 Sharp Solar NEQ5EIU 165 Watt modules using single crystal silicon solar cells.
• Inverter - Sunny Boy SWR2500 with display

System Cost and Return on Investment

• Hardware - panels and inverter $14,115
• Installation - electrical and mechanical $5,250
• Total gross cost - $19,365
• California CEC Rebate - $9,310
• Federal Tax Credit - $1,500
• Net out-of-pocket - $8555
• Based on 18 months of data, an average of >13.1kWhr/day generated @ 0.17/kWhr, results in a tax-free return on investment of 9.6%