Wow, that's...impressive! Something drove too much current through that panel until it went kablooie.
I've never seen it before, either. At first I thought a rock had cracked the glass and shorted a cell. However it seems possible that something shorted first. (And heated, and slagged, and then cracked the glass). Other panels are showing a small blister in the coating on the back panel, but I don't know if I have 18 more problems waiting to happen or whether these two were an unfortunate yet isolated incident.
Has anyone else ever seen this happen to a panel?
BTW, since you're up to date on it, what's a typical price for, say, 2kW worth of panels and a grid-tie inverter to match? Assuming a DIY install, naturally.
I'm obvious not the OP, but a 2kw system installed yourself should run around $4k.
Yep. That depends on a bunch of factors and how comfortable you are with assessing used gear.
You could plunk down a credit card in a solar-supply store (or website) for about $1/watt in panels. Around here, though, we're seeing used modern panels for a little less. Older used panels would be about 50 cents/watt.
You could figure out your own mounts & racks, although the commercial mounts (with flashing) and racks (with clamp hardware) are pretty slick. At retail that'd be another $500-$1000, although tile roofs or standing-seam metal roofs have their own mounting challenges.
The inverter could either be microinverters (one per panel) or a string inverter (600 vDC per string, with an upper limit on kilowatts). A year ago my 4000-watt Sunny Boy was $2800 (+ extra for some feature upgrades). A 2000-watt inverter might be under $2000 but... it's limited to 2000 watts. Almost everyone I know who's bought an inverter wishes that they'd bought a bigger one, or at least done it with microinverters (despite their flaws and expense).
You could buy a good used inverter from someone you trusted. However you might want the manufacturer's warranty for the first year, and that's worth paying full retail. A random Craigslist inverter could've easily been stolen from someone's garage wall.
Add in a few hundred bucks for conduit, wires, connectors, grounding straps & clips, and interconnect hardware to the subpanel breaker by your electric meter.
Grid-tied means no batteries, charge controllers, or other infrastructure. However to arrange a grid-tied net-metering agreement with your local utility you'd need a construction permit (with fees). The net-metering application would need to be signed by a licensed electrician, who'd also charge some fees for their signature. (You'd have to also do everything to their interpretation of code.) Depending on your local codes & laws, that might be a few hundred bucks for each.
You'll get about 30% in federal tax credits, which are not refundable but can be carried forward. Then you might have additional state, county, and utility credits.
Keep in mind that this will not add resale value to your property, although it may boost your assessed value for property taxes. Homebuyers still will not do the math on the net present value of a PV system, and they'll ignore it when they figure out how much they want to pay for your home. You're in it for the payback, the inflation hedging (if any), and recharging your electric vehicle.
