Free planning tool
Solar Payback Calculator: When Does Off-Grid Solar Pay Off?
Enter what your solar setup costs and the monthly power bill or generator fuel you are offsetting, and this tool tells you how many years until the system pays for itself, plus what it saves you over ten and twenty years. You supply your own dollar figures, so the answer reflects your real costs.
How to use this
- Enter the total upfront cost of the system: panels, battery, inverter, install, all of it.
- Enter the monthly cost you are replacing. That is your grid bill, or what you spend on generator fuel and propane in a typical month.
- Be honest about how much of that cost solar will actually cover. Most off-grid setups plus a little backup cover most of it, not every last watt.
- Set a rough yearly amount for maintenance and wear, then how fast you expect energy costs to climb, and hit Calculate.
Your numbers
Panels, battery, inverter, install, everything.
Your grid bill, or what you spend on generator fuel and propane per month.
Batteries and parts wear out; a rough yearly set-aside.