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Who's gone Solar

No such desire! It was a great run and took the usual construction tolls on my body. Need to save what's left of it for as many years of ridding as I can. License and insurance was given up.

I highly recommend retirement!!
 
Be sure to look into small Electrical Contractors as most these days have lots of solar exp. Solar Co's are generally more expensive.
 
Can anyone speak to whether or not it's a good idea to use the same company for a roof replacement and solar addition? Companies you like? Companies to avoid like the plague? Thanks all for a very informative thread.
 
Bubba_s said:
Can anyone speak to whether or not it's a good idea to use the same company for a roof replacement and solar addition? Companies you like? Companies to avoid like the plague? Thanks all for a very informative thread.
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I imagine most roofers would be subbing out the solar install, so you might be better off finding a solar company you're comfortable working with.
 
After the phone consult with Sunrun, reading their reviews on consumer affairs, their 12yr product warranty vs. 25yr most others offer and talking with my neighbors who used them, i instantly turned them around.
 
Starpower said:
Be sure to shop around. You should see 25-30 year warranties on the panels. I would also suggest that you go with smaller co's. When I retired 4 years ago equipment costs were about the same as now and I was charging $2.80/Wdc (nameplate) fully installed same warranties. I had a small 3 man crew and worked from my home 1200 sq.ft. shop. Never spent a nickel on ad's and had to turn away 70% of inquiries, too busy. My same county competitors were between $2.50/Wdc to $4. 10 year workmanship and power warranties are state mandatory. Specific Roof penetration warranties are optional, but fall under the 10 year workmanship, for coverage anyway. In over 30 years of installs and 1000's of roof holes I've not had one leak and the systems are even better today. Support the little guy and save big!
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Id much rather support the mom & pops. Just cant seem to find any in my area that dont have horrible reviews. Solar companies in general have a bad rep. for being scammy.
 
supaflyryan said:
This is a great thread, thanks for all the info.

We just bought a new house and it primarily has a flat roof (well, very slight grades for drainage). The roof itself will need to be "replaced" (not sure what that entails when there's no shingles or tiles) in the next couple years, which it sounds like we should do before considering solar.

Are there any special considerations or pros/cons to having a flat roof? I'm guessing there's more available sq. footage considering nothing is pointing "away" from the sun, but also nothing pointing directly at it.
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I had a Tar & Gravel low pitched roof when i lived in gunpoint. There was enough pitch to turn it into a comp. shingle after removing all the T&G.
 
HeatXfer said:
I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet:

https://solarrights.org/pge-sdge-and-socal-edison-propose-to-double-the-cost-of-consumer-solar/
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Im pretty sure NEM3 is what came about from that. Thats an old article AND i find it to be partial shit.

Solar is wreaking havoc on the outdated, un maintenanced PG&E grid. Solar and EV's are actually increasing the need for maintenance and building new line. But who is gonna pay for it? Do you think the utility wants to fork out $ from the investors pockets?
 
2 more in person consults today. Both from SunPower product local companies. Both companies have excellent reviews. Very close to the same cost with minor difference to the system so i wont include both. They were working off the same SunPower design system.

These 2 breakdowns are from 1 consultant

Cash Cost- $39,904
11.6 kw system
29- SunPower (rebrand) U series 400w panels (25 year product warranty) - Not nearly as efficient over time as their previous M series
Enphase microinverters
16,934 kwh/year production est.
124% usage offset

Cash Cost- $37,368
10.8 kw system
27- SunPower (rebrand) U series 400w panels (25 year product warranty) - Not nearly as efficient over time as their previous M series
Enphase microinverters
15,767 kwh/year production est.
116% usage offset

I believe the M-series Maxeon panels dropped to around 92% efficiency over 25 years and the new U series drop to around 86%.

Big difference in cost and warranty from SunRun to SunPower
 
scratchpad said:
Im pretty sure NEM3 is what came about from that. Thats an old article AND i find it to be partial shit.

Solar is wreaking havoc on the outdated, un maintenanced PG&E grid. Solar and EV's are actually increasing the need for maintenance and building new line. But who is gonna pay for it? Do you think the utility wants to fork out $ from the investors pockets?
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Yeah, sorry about that - It looks like the PUC squashed that back in February :thumbup
 
giving the roof a chance to settle ???

Alan_Hepburn said:
Our son had the roof on his house replaced about 2 years ago - we had to co-ordinate Solar City/Tesla and the roofing company. First call was to Solar City/Tesla to schedule the removal of the system. Once that was scheduled we then scheduled the roofing company. Once the roof was done Solar City/Tesla recommends waiting a month to give the roof a chance to "settle" so he was without a system for about 5 weeks.
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Solar City did not wait when our system was orignally installed in 2014.
Tesla did not wait when they replaced the entire PV array in 2020.

So your installer's notion seems strange.
 
No need for settling. The roof penetrating systems cinch the roofing down tighter than any settling will do.
 
I mean, I have a 6.66 kW "System" but half are on one side of the roof and half on the other and the panels are never all lit up at the same time 100%... :)
 
Got a proposal from a Mom & Pop that has great reviews.

Cash - $36,542
32- 405 watt Jinko solar panels with Enphase IQ8+ micro inverters
18,750 kWh yearly based on the 14,000 kWh annual usage - 134% offset
25 year equipment warranty through the manufacturer
10 year workmanship
5 year equipment warranty where we replace any equipment that becomes defective or needs to be replaced in that timeframe completely for free, after the five year period a small fee is assessed for each replacement.


I could save several thousands of dollars going through him. Apples to apples probably around $10,000. He gave me a slightly larger system proposal from the others in the event i want to add an ADU, EV, etc. and accomodate for utility increase. The other proposals i dont think would cover an EV fully. With him he gets a material workup and i purchase directly through greentech so apparently hes not making anything on product.

With the Mom & Pop im basically on my own from year 5-25. Appears as if a service/labor fee and probably shipping costs of product. Is it worth the savings? Through SunPower and the 3 proposals from their dealers its bumper to bumper on all products and labor of replacing besides the monitoring (10 yr) system for 25.

One other thing ive learned. Once locked into the NEM 2 you can only upgrade your solar system 10% in the future. If upgraded more than that the utility bumps you into NEM 3. So, its a numbers game on getting it right from the gate.
 
A 10% upgrade is pretty substantial. Many have had an expansion after connection and had forgotten to inform the utility. Busy life and all. "Conservation" can make your usage go down making your solar far more productive.

A vast majority of my customers did not desire a potential surplus as they would far more prefer to pay the utility a bit over giving them free power to sell to their neighbors. If your utility pays at least what it costs you to generate then this is moot to profitble.
 
As to is it worth the $10k savings - YES! In the 1st 10 years failures are extremely rare. IF you have one, software will tell you exactly where the issue is with a reasonable chance you can repair this plug-and-play system yourself. If not $10k pays for a butt load of service calls!
 
scratchpad said:
Got a proposal from a Mom & Pop that has great reviews.

Cash - $36,542
32- 405 watt Jinko solar panels with Enphase IQ8+ micro inverters
18,750 kWh yearly based on the 14,000 kWh annual usage - 134% offset
25 year equipment warranty through the manufacturer
10 year workmanship
5 year equipment warranty where we replace any equipment that becomes defective or needs to be replaced in that timeframe completely for free, after the five year period a small fee is assessed for each replacement.


I could save several thousands of dollars going through him. Apples to apples probably around $10,000. He gave me a slightly larger system proposal from the others in the event i want to add an ADU, EV, etc. and accomodate for utility increase. The other proposals i dont think would cover an EV fully. With him he gets a material workup and i purchase directly through greentech so apparently hes not making anything on product.

With the Mom & Pop im basically on my own from year 5-25. Appears as if a service/labor fee and probably shipping costs of product. Is it worth the savings? Through SunPower and the 3 proposals from their dealers its bumper to bumper on all products and labor of replacing besides the monitoring (10 yr) system for 25.

One other thing ive learned. Once locked into the NEM 2 you can only upgrade your solar system 10% in the future. If upgraded more than that the utility bumps you into NEM 3. So, its a numbers game on getting it right from the gate.
Click to expand...

I am doing a similar setup through a local small scale installer.

Cash - $32,500
30x 395 watt Canadian Solar with Enphase IQ8+ micro inverters
11.85kW system
25 year manufacturer warranty
10 year workmanship.

Figured savings over going with a comprehensive package from big name will pay for several service calls when required.
 
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