Has this been shared on HN yet? You put in your address and Google tells you how much you save by installing solar panels.
According to that site a $20k install would pay itself off in 6 years. That is compelling.
(I could have gone bigger and come close to covering all of my household power needs, whereas the current system gets maybe 60% or so, but I'd have had to cut down the big old cedar tree which shades part of my roof, and that just seemed like it would be missing the point somehow.)
Also I seem to get a new roof every 5 or so years due to all the hailstorms we get around here. I suspect solar panels don't like big hailstones very much and I have no idea what would happen if both the roof and panels are damaged. I doubt a roofing company is well equipped to handle the panels.
If you go to buy a house in 2020 that had a system installed in 2012, the panels etc would be fairly dated (plus wear and tear), and there would still be 12 years left on the contract. I'd insist on paying less for the house due to being saddled with the obligation, or the homeowner would have pay (a lot) to get out of the contract early.
Like you I too see dramatic improvements over the next few years, hence committing now not being a good decision.
A quick look on Wikipedia says Denver has sunshine 70% of the time totaling ~3,100 hours a year. I'm from MI where we see sun about once a week so I'm out of touch, but that seems like it should be more than enough to recoup costs.
Is the amount of sunshine in Denver significantly different from where you're at, or is there something else I'm missing?