Solar Panels for our house

We are considering the move to solar panels both in Seattle and in New Hampshire.

Here is an email from a friend about his installation which he is just working on.

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Hi Joel:

I have 18 Sanyo HIP-200BA3 200 Watt panels, a 3.6 KW grid tied system.
($1050.00 each) These Sanyo panels are the panel of choice for my
installer, PowerTrip Energy, http://www.powertripenergy.com/ ; pdf
spec sheet attached. I have a SMA SunnyBoy 4000US Watt Inverter
($3000.00).  For awhile there was a shortage of panels and I was
worried that my installation would not take place before 12/31/08 when
the current Federal tax credit expires. The new alternative energy
package bundled inside the “Bailout Bill” negates that worry but we
are sifting through the newly passed bill to see if in fact I might be
able to take advantage of an additional 10% (total 30%) Federal tax
incentive plus WA state. I might have to wait for a 1/01/09 start up
to take advantage of the new incentive but we don’t know yet. We
activated the system briefly last Thursday and I saw my current house
meter running backwards. If you are looking for a positive cost
analysis and need a short term return on your investment a solar
installation might not be for you. It will take years for me to
recover these costs but I wanted to do something now and electricity
is never going down so here we are.