Thanks to new California’s CSI solar thermal rebate combined with Federal solar hot water tax incentives, the ROI for commercial solar water heating systems is extremely fast today.
Using Free Hot Water’s new solar thermal cost calculator, we plugged “100” for the number of units for Hotels/Motels, Apartment/Condos, and Nursing Homes.
Although the number of panels and costs vary for each venue, the payback is consistent: 3 to 4 years!
While all three examples are residential in nature, the reason the number of panels and costs are so different is because the State of California calculates the rebate differently for each venue—as they should. Nevertheless, the break-even point works to be about the same with each venue.
Below are screen shots of the numbers. If you want to play with those numbers, just go to our solar thermal calculator page and input your own variables.
APARTMENTS/CONDO – 100 UNITS
HOTELS/MOTELS – 100 Units
RETIREMENT NURSING HOMES – 100 Units
If you’re having trouble reading the above, it’s easy to go to our calculator and recreate the numbers. Just be sure to input “100” for the units and select California and the right type of installation (Apt, Hotel, or Nursing Home.)
Also, keep in mind that these are retail prices, including typical installation charges. Of course, Free Hot Water distributors and installers costs will be lower.
