Rooftop solar

[White Lincoln]

.... and little/no accountability.

OMG! That is worst part.

 

[White Lincoln]

No, fortunately this was 100% my decision without any sales pressure from reps. I actually had a feigning interest in exploring this a few years ago, but never got far because the HOA bylaws we were familiar with prohibited it and we wouldn't have been able to move forward even if we were serous. Doing it now was a convergence of several factors:

1) Getting the house paid off a couple months ago freed up a lot of cash flow to be able to afford to do this now.
2) Recent dramatic increases in price to electrical supply made me want to find a way to stabilize and have more control over my utility costs each month.
3) Financial incentives expiring at the end of the year which lowers my price by 30%
4) Finding out that the HOA had removed the prohibition against panels, after I asked them how we could get the rules changed to allow them.

I used the same company my mother-in-law used a few years ago, but got different inverters and more efficient panels without a storage system. They're a local company with a relatively wide regional footprint, but overall I'd rate the experience I had with them a 3.5/5. My biggest complaints revolve around communication efficiency and attention to detail mostly; fortunately the system functionality and quality of work looks good.

That is really good to hear terminator. You made the right step in securing a more stable future for your home and family. Since our rates will be increasing, I may look more into this process. We recently put in AC and the worst months are July / August, but other than that it is manageable. Having another source to power the AC would be nice.

I hope you never want to move.. (jk)

 

[theterminator93]

I set up an Ubuntu VM to run Powerwall Dashboard to collect higher resolution data on the panels yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday was largely sunny, but today has been a gloomy grey overcast with on/off rain. Interesting to see that production with the sun behind the panels is higher - 250-300% higher actually - with the clouds than with no clouds. Not surprising actually, given the clouds are scattering light towards the panels that would otherwise be cast in shadow.



Carry on.

 

[theterminator93]

The project finally reached its logical conclusion last week and I've been officially up-and-running now since the weekend before Thanksgiving. Despite the prevalent winter overcast, snow cover and low sun/short days, over the last 3 weeks I've made enough to cut about 1/3 off my electric bill. Light snow (1" or so) melts off within an hour of sun exposure but thicker, heaver buildup tends to hang around unless it's near or above freezing. I'm thinking about getting an extension pole to help me clean them off if there's sun in the forecast.

Overall I have no regrets about what I got, however I don't have great things to say about the company that did the work. There are some things they did well, but many things that they absolutely dropped the ball on - most of which I attribute to an either overworked and/or underperforming project manager. If I were to post this review publicly (via Google, Yelp etc.) I'd probably give them 2-2.5 stars out of 5.

The pros:

• Very knowledgeable sales rep was a standout from the other companies I quoted with. Quick to respond.
• Quoted price offered a significantly better $/Watt compared to the other company I got a quote from.
• A locally headquartered business; the money I spent mostly stays in the area.
• They didn't give me any grief when I asked to have revisions made to the designs.
• Installation quality looks solid.
• They got my install done ahead of the deadline for getting the federal tax credit.

The cons:

• The project manager I was assigned was nonresponsive to my emails and calls for over a month. Only after it was "my turn" to have designs reviewed, permits submitted etc. did he begin to respond to my communications.
• Early on, the bulk of the communications I sent in were to request that the designs incorporated the maximum number of panels that would fit on my roof. The intention was to get the order revised before the designs were engineered to avoid their having to redo/modify the designs and waste time doing them twice. Unfortunately these requests were ignored/overlooked, resulting in a 1-week delay while they redesigned/implement the changes I had requested weeks prior. I had to point out errors on the planset made by the designers as well due to their hasty adjustments, causing more delays before I could send designs to my HOA for approval.
• When the installers arrived, they ignored design details that diagrammed where exterior conduits were to be placed. These were among the design changes that were made for cosmetic purposes to avoid HOA scrutiny over the appearance. I interrupted the installers midway through the installation process and they reluctantly agreed to move them "almost" to where they were supposed to go. After installation, I was left responsible for getting on a 22' ladder to paint the exposed conduit to match my home's siding.
• Some member(s) of the installation team did not take proper care to remove dirty shoes when walking inside my home. They tracked outdoor dirt and attic insulation debris throughout my home. They did not clean this up prior to leaving and I had to address the cleanup.
• The installers installed the inverters on the side of my house, then removed them and reinstalled them in a slightly different location. This left several 1/8" holes in my siding which the elements could potentially penetrate and damage the sheathing under the siding. They did not seal the holes and I was left to patch them myself to ensure the potential for water damage was minimized.
• The day after the installation, I noticed only one of the two inverters were online and reporting to my account. I asked my project manager some questions about this. He told me they wouldn't be fixing this issue (in a somewhat "not my problem anymore" tone) until after the utility gave permission to operate (PTO), despite asking me to make the final payment indicating work was done. He also scolded me for having the system turned on - despite my comment to him that the installers left at the end of the day with the system energized. A week or so later, after I purposefully dragged my feet making the final 10% completion payment, I brought it up to him again and the problem was somehow resolved within minutes - at which point I made the final payment.
• I waited a few weeks after installation expecting to be contacted to set up a date for the municipal inspection. After several weeks passed I contacted the project manager to get an update and was told they had not yet received the approved permit from the city to install the system, and they opted to install it in advance to "save time". (!!!)
• A few days later, I decided to take matters into my own hands and contacted the city to determine the status of the permit application. I found out that the permit had just come back and was approved. Wanting to see what the project manager would do, I waited a week for him to process the city's notification to him that the permit was approved and schedule my inspection, but received no such communication in that time. A week after the city said they notified the installers that the permit was approved I reached out to the project manager and asked him when the inspection would be scheduled. A few hours later the inspection was scheduled to be done 2 days in the future.
• After the inspection was done and approved, I asked the solar representative when I should expect to hear from the utility that the final paperwork was reviewed and approved so I could turn on the system. He said 7-10 days. 2-1/2 weeks passed and I received no updates, so yet again I took matters into my own hands and reached out to the utility directly. I was informed that the solar company had not submitted any of the inspection report paperwork. I tried to submit it on my own behalf but they responded that the interconnection application needed to be completed by the installers because they started it and it was in their name. After I blew up the voicemails for my contacts at the solar company they submitted the paperwork within about an hour, and the following day I had received permission to operate from the utility.
• The last piece of the puzzle was getting signed up for solar renewable energy credits (I get paid about $30 per MWh I generate; should be something like $300-$350/yr). The project manager asserted that they would be signing me up for SRECs after the interconnection was completed, but this wasn't done until I called into their main line and asked them to approve an application I started on my own behalf. At this point they took over and handled this within an hour or so.
• I mentioned they got the install done ahead of the EOY tax credit deadline; had I not harassed them and taken matters into my own hands repeatedly to keep things moving, would they have completed it on time?

I guess we'll see how this works out once the days start getting longer... long-term data collection in progress. P.S. @gunn's recommendation to get an Emporia energy monitor has been a hit. I'm glued to that thing and I've already cut down my baseline use about 10% per month by identifying and reducing what I thought were inconsequential loads.

 

[gunn]

Congrats on making it over the line terminator; Im willing to bet that there are a ton of people who won't make the deadline (largely because they trusted these companies to work on their behalf and they are almost all overwhelmed).

If there was someone who wants solar TODAY, I would honestly wait 6mos-1yr AFTER Jan 1st so
a) The shadiest installers will die first; you don't want to be giving any of these people any deposit money only to find yourself on their list of creditors a few months later.
b) some installers will get clever with their lease products to take advantage of the fact that the tax credits don't expire for leases for 2 more years. While I think there will certainly be some scumbags to prey on the uninformed, at least a few will figure out a way to capture the tax credit and then pass some (but obviously not likely to be all) of the savings onto the end customer. if the retail cost of an install is $10K and you might have been able to get a $3K tax credit in 2025, perhaps someone will come up with a financial instrument that sells you a prepaid lease with a buyout clause. Therefore you as the end customer could pay $8.5K total (lease+buyout) on a $10K system and the installer can capture the $3K tax credit + depreciation. We'll see if any companies are smart enough to operate this way.