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Estimate system size, annual savings and simple payback for a Minnesota home from your bill and rate.
Ballpark from your bill and typical Minnesota production (~1,200 kWh per kW per year) — not a quote, and it assumes you own the system. The federal residential tax credit ended Dec 31, 2025; commercial & agricultural systems still get the 30% ITC plus depreciation, which shortens payback substantially — ask us.
Three things move the number: how much electricity you use, what you pay per kWh, and the installed cost of the system. In Minnesota a well-sized owned system typically offsets the large majority of a home's usage and pays back on energy savings alone — faster as utility rates rise. Businesses and farms add the 30% ITC and depreciation on top, which is why commercial payback is so much quicker. This tool gives you the honest ballpark; we give you the exact figure.
The math is deliberately plain, so you can sanity-check it yourself.
Your monthly bill and rate tell the tool roughly how much power you use, which sets the system size — bigger bill, bigger system, sized to cover most of that usage on Minnesota production of about 1,200 kWh per kW a year.
Annual savings is that production valued at your rate; simple payback is the install cost divided by those savings. No financing, no incentives — just an honest, checkable number.
Install cost per watt and your exact rate both vary, so the tool shows a band rather than false precision. Your real figure lands inside it once we price the actual job.
As utility rates climb, each year’s savings grows, so real-world payback usually beats the flat “simple” version shown here. We factor that into the full picture.
Keep going: see lifetime dollars in the Savings Calculator, size the array in the System Size Estimator, or check programs in the Incentive Finder.
The residential federal credit ended Dec 31, 2025, so it isn’t in here — but for qualifying homes Xcel’s Solar*Rewards pays per kWh produced, which shortens real payback. We keep it out of the ballpark and add it to your actual numbers.
Direction, shading and usable area aren’t in a bill-based estimate. The Roof Solar Estimator reads your actual rooftop, and a site visit confirms it.
Every figure assumes ownership — we don’t do residential leases or PPAs in Minnesota, so there’s no third-party escalator eating your savings.
Businesses and farms add the 30% ITC and depreciation, which shortens payback well beyond the residential math here — we model that separately, so ask us.
We estimate your annual usage from your bill and rate, size a system to offset about 95% of it at Minnesota production (~1,200 kWh per kW per year), value the energy at your rate, and divide a ballpark installed cost ($2.50–$3.50/W) by the annual savings. It's an estimate, not a quote.
No — the residential figure is pre-incentive, because the federal residential credit ended Dec 31, 2025. For commercial and agricultural projects the 30% ITC and depreciation shorten payback substantially beyond what this residential estimate shows; we model that separately, so ask us for the real figure.
Because installed cost and your exact usage vary. We show a range so it's honest; a free assessment pins it down for your roof and bill.
Likely, for qualifying Minnesota homes on Xcel. It’s a payment per kWh your system produces for the first several years, on top of your bill savings. We leave it out of the ballpark above and add it to your real numbers — see the Incentive Finder for current rates.
Those national figures usually assume the now-expired residential tax credit and sunnier states. This tool is pre-incentive and uses honest Minnesota production, so it reads conservative on purpose. Rising utility rates and Solar*Rewards both pull the real number down.
Yes, a lot. Businesses and farms add the 30% ITC and depreciation, which shortens payback substantially beyond the residential math shown here. We model that separately — ask us for your figures.
These tools are ballparks — a free assessment gives you exact, site-specific figures.