THOMAS TOWNSHIP, MI — Saginaw County resident Tim Morningstar has wanted a solar-powered home since he was a child.

"I would be that kid that would spend more time playing in RadioShack and with electronics than being outside, like a normal kid," the 32-year-old Thomas Township man recalled.

It was there, at 7 or 8, that Morningstar saw a solar cell and got an idea.

"I remember saying to my mom, 'Wouldn't it be cool if you could power an entire house with solar?'"

Last week, crews with Solar Sales of Michigan and Salvatore Contracting of Davison installed 32 solar panels manufactured at Suniva Inc.'s Norcross, Georgia, site in

, making his childhood dream a reality.

"There are 60 cells in total, per panel, and the panel produces a total of 270 watts," Morningstar said.

That's a total of 8,640 watts, enough to meet his electricity needs.

Would you consider a home solar power system? Have you already? Take our poll and tell us more in the comments section below.

Earlier this year, Suniva officials announced plans to open a new solar module assembly factory in a former Sears Warehouse at 2650 Schust in Saginaw Township.

Morningstar said Suniva's move to Saginaw County swayed him.

"Suniva chose to invest in my home, so I chose to invest in them," he said.

Related: See inside as construction continues at solar panel maker Suniva's new Saginaw Township site

He got help funding the project through Michigan Saves, a nonprofit, originally funded by the Michigan Public Service Commission, that provides loans to businesses and residential customers for energy improvements, Morningstar explained.

"For residential customers, like myself, they provide up to $30,000, and I was able to get an unsecured loan for the full amount at 4.99 percent, which means my monthly payment on that is going to be $319 a month over the next 10 years," he said.

"My goal was to replace or eliminate my monthly Consumers (Energy) bill, replace that with a loan payment, and then, after 10 years, never have a Consumers bill again, while adding equity into my home."

Related: Suniva: 'We've hired the best of the best,' hundreds of jobs to come

Morningstar said he won't be paying much more per month than he was before, he didn't have to put any money down, and the loan application process was simple.

Learn more at michigansaves.org.

Here's what some MLive readers had to say about home solar power systems and Morningstar's story:

Reader dawnbaycity says solar is the way of the future:

Solar is what's coming. Fossil fuels are running out and wrecking the environment to get at more of them doesn't make sense. We need solar everything and we'd all have it by now if CEOs didn't own our reps and pass laws that favor Big Oil over Solar and Green Energy.

250 square miles of the Sahara desert could fuel the entire world, but greedy CEOs don't want you to know that.

Reader Thebusguy says solar isn't practical for every household:

Solar is fun but it is not really economically viable. It does not mean that a guy shouldn't use solar, or that it may not be a better financial decision in the future.

Our family of 4 pays about $50/month in electricity simply because we purchased energy efficient appliances. At this rate, it would take 50 years just to break even on $30k worth of solar panels.

Does he have a generator for when the power is out? Grid tied solar systems tend to shut off the power to the house whenever the grid power fails.

I think solar is cool, and the price continues to fall, but from a purely economic standpoint, in Michigan, solar is just an expensive way to get electricity.



Reader deezler says some homes might be able to get by with smaller, less expensive systems:

Yeah but you don't need $30k of solar panels. He is quoted in this article stating that the michigan saves program can provide a loan UP TO $30k, not that his panels cost that much. And if your family is already pretty good at conserving electricity, you could get by on half as much power production as shown in this article. You also neglected to factor in tax credits (30% off!). The return on investment can be as low as 10 years for some people. It IS economically viable if you take the long term view... the panels will work for 40 years or more. Do you think energy prices will stay flat for the next 40 years? Why wait until there is an energy crisis, invest now!

— Heather Jordan covers business for MLive/The Saginaw News/The Bay City Times. She can be reached at 989-450-2652 or hjordan@mlive.com. For more business news, follow her on Twitter and Facebook.