Sponsored

Looking for home solar advice

Sgt Beavis

Well-Known Member
First Name
Rick
Joined
Sep 28, 2021
Threads
65
Messages
1,680
Reaction score
3,548
Location
Colorado
Vehicles
2022 Rivian R1T, 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
Occupation
Overpaid Computer Nerd
Clubs
 
Good Morning everyone,
I've started shopping solar panels for my home. I looked into SunRun but they told me I could only get 10 panels on my home. I think they half-assed their assessment because they just used a satellite photo of my roof to determine how many they could fit. There are other homes in my neighborhood that have the exact same roof with up to 20 panels.

Anyways, I'm looking for advice on Solar providers I should look into. I know about Tesla but I also know about their <sarcasm>legendary service</sarcasm> I have some rather high power requirements and I'm looking for solutions that will also let me charge my truck. I'm still kind of a noob at this so any advice is appreciated. Links to good education sites or youtube vids are also appreciated.

Thanks,
Sponsored

 

jjswan33

Well-Known Member
First Name
Joshua
Joined
Sep 17, 2021
Threads
116
Messages
3,645
Reaction score
7,720
Location
Sandy, OR
Vehicles
Rivian R1T LE, Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited
Occupation
Engineer
Clubs
 
Find a local company is the best advice I would give.

Also @JeremyP might chime in as I know he installed his own solar over in Grand Junction.

Edit: Also yes Tesla will be the cheapest but will take longer and they will be less flexible. Basically your choices will be 4, 8, 12 kW or whatever so if you want 10kw for example you are out of luck. Also they use string inverters instead of microinverters which as I understand is older tech.
 
Last edited:

Madsen203

Well-Known Member
First Name
Michael
Joined
Jul 18, 2022
Threads
5
Messages
329
Reaction score
385
Location
Bay Area
Vehicles
Tesla Model Y
Occupation
Manager
Get multiple quotes. I had quotes ranging from 14-23k for 14 panels.

Solar is worth it. Our panel limitation was solely based on service panel size. 100a panel limited to 14-15 panels based on code.
 

Aroohoo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Threads
14
Messages
337
Reaction score
471
Location
Seattle
Vehicles
R1S
Would suggest googling for local installers and perhaps asking r/solar in reddit.

Also, https://projectsolar.com/ will give you an idea of the low side of what you could see while still using good equipment. They are an equipment wholesaler that contracts with local electricians and roofers to procde a turn key solution.
 
Last edited:

Sponsored

Aroohoo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Threads
14
Messages
337
Reaction score
471
Location
Seattle
Vehicles
R1S
I am trying out https://www.energysage.com/ have not picked a provider yet but it looks promising.
For what it is worth, the the quote I got on energysage was almost 2x the average price I was quoted by reaching out to local companies directly.
 

ztron

Active Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2021
Threads
1
Messages
44
Reaction score
99
Location
San Antonio
Vehicles
2019 E-tron, 2022 R1T
For what it is worth, the the quote I got on energysage was almost 2x the average price I was quoted by reaching out to local companies directly.
Good to know. One installer said they wanted to install 97 panels!
 

Aroohoo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Threads
14
Messages
337
Reaction score
471
Location
Seattle
Vehicles
R1S
Good to know. One installer said they wanted to install 97 panels!
Ha!
It's like they don't even look at google maps to see what is possible.
Also, that's a 38kW system...what did you tell them your useage is? Or do you have a lot of shade or bad angles for mounting (north facing roof). Either way, it is ridiculously huge.

In this market, if you can get below $3/watt prior to incentives, it's a good deal.
Before COVID inflation, below 2.5/watt was the standard. These are basic rules of thumb, with variations in local markets.
 

NY_Rob

Well-Known Member
First Name
Rob
Joined
Feb 9, 2022
Threads
18
Messages
3,664
Reaction score
5,065
Location
long island
Vehicles
2021 Model 3 LR AWD, 2017 BMW i3 REX, 2023 R1T
Occupation
IT
I'll echo what others have said... go with local installers who have a good track record in your area.

The big national guys suck and don't care about anything but new sale numbers.
 

NY_Rob

Well-Known Member
First Name
Rob
Joined
Feb 9, 2022
Threads
18
Messages
3,664
Reaction score
5,065
Location
long island
Vehicles
2021 Model 3 LR AWD, 2017 BMW i3 REX, 2023 R1T
Occupation
IT
Oh.. maybe putting the cart before the horse here, but try to go with the Emphase IQ microinverters vs. old school optimizers and string inverters.

You use one microinverter per panel and don't need any other conversion equipment downstream. That also means if you lose one panel or microinverter.. that's all you lose, it doesn't take out a good portion of your array like the optimizer/string inverter system does.
 
Last edited:

Sponsored

nomis

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2022
Threads
5
Messages
52
Reaction score
48
Location
Las Vegas, NV
Vehicles
2023 Rivian R1S; Toyota Rav4
Clubs
 
Would suggest googling for local installers and perhaps asking r/solar in reddit.

Also, https://projectsolar.com/ will give you an idea of the low side of what you could see while still using good equipment. They are an equipment wholesaler that contracts with local electricians and roofers to procde a turn key solution.
Anybody else have experience using Project Solar? I was considering of using them for solar on my home. My initial quote from them about 2 years ago was very reasonable (~$1.35 per watt after incentives), but never pulled the trigger...
Also I heard that the national solar incentive is now 30% due to the inflation reduction act.
 

JeremyP

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2021
Threads
5
Messages
254
Reaction score
428
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Vehicles
Toyota 4runner, BMW I3, preordered R1S
Occupation
Engineer
Check out Google's project sunroof for a quick estimate of the solar potential of your roof (not all areas are covered). The energy sage website can get you multiple quotes. If you are limited on roof space you will want efficient panels that maximize the output. An on-site evaluation will get a more accurate idea of how much solar can be added, even if some of the panels will have some shading through the year. The online PVWatts calculator by nrel is a good way to estimate how much energy you could produce, and was really close to my actual production so far.

I got quotes of around $4/watt two years ago in Grand Junction so I decided to do it myself and my pre- tax credit price ended up around $1.10/watt (materials, permits and fees). A friend who just had solar installed paid $3/watt and it was installed by active energies solar.

I installed a 10kw inverter and 13.7kw of panels. I changed my main breaker to 175 instead of 200 to allow a 60 amp solar breaker. If I went over a 10kw inverter the Xcel fee would have been $1000 instead of $100. The inverter clips a bit in the early summer but I have panels east, south and west so production is spread throughout the day more. My system produces about 20 Mwh/year. If you have the roof space and you're limited by breaker size it can make sense to over-panel so your dc to ac ratio is 1.2 or more.

I ordered my equipment from renvu.com and used a solaredge inverter/optimizers. Since then prices have gone up (haven't they all!) but I helped a friend install a system this summer and it was still pretty reasonable. Solaredge makes an inverter that has an integrated ev charger but costs more (and it will need to be in a location that's works for charging). A lot of inverters now are designed to work with battery backup; something to think about if you want to add storage at some point.
 

nomis

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2022
Threads
5
Messages
52
Reaction score
48
Location
Las Vegas, NV
Vehicles
2023 Rivian R1S; Toyota Rav4
Clubs
 
I would love to install solar panels myself, but I have a clay tile roof which looks and sounds like a HUGE PITA. Unless somebody on the forum has a clever easy solution to tackle clay tiles :)
 

cody

Member
First Name
Cody
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Threads
0
Messages
6
Reaction score
8
Location
Colorado
Vehicles
SUV
Hi Rick,

My brother (in Fort Collins) used Photon Brothers (possibly based in your Broomfield/Westminster area) a couple years ago, who had a good reputation and he was happy with them.

He thinks they might still have a $500 each referral program (for both previous & referred customer). I've seen them installing at another house in my neighborhood in Fort Collins as well.

He uses the "mySolarEdge" app with his ~6-8 kW system, and they also recommended/setup the "Sense" app. He did not have an EV, so I'm not sure about integration with a charger, but their website mentions it.
 

svet-am

Well-Known Member
First Name
Tony
Joined
Mar 24, 2021
Threads
16
Messages
666
Reaction score
1,244
Location
Broomfield, CO
Vehicles
R1S (Launch Edition Preorder)
Occupation
Embedded Systems Engineer
@Sgt Beavis - As a fellow local guy, reach out to Namaste Solar. Get them on the phone and explain your situation. That's what I'm doing.
Sponsored

 
 




Top