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Ive seen a few articles about this topic. I’m a new homeowner and have been looking forward to getting rooftop solar within the next year (recently swapped to

by d1str0 3y ago

Ive seen a few articles about this topic. I’m a new homeowner and have been looking forward to getting rooftop solar within the next year (recently swapped to a heat pump instead of gas furnace). The local (PDX, OR) companies seem a bit sketchy but I do have at least one solid recommendation from a friend. My mother however wasn’t so lucky and experienced something similar to the article where the salesmen claimed it would all be free and pay for itself but the. She ended up with a $16k loan. When she called to clarify they offered to double the number of panels on the roof and install for free, which she agreed to. Any one else here with experience getting rooftop solar?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jlubawy 3y ago
We got Sunrun within the past year on a house we bought 1.5 years ago (so we're NEM 2.0 which is important). I'm in San Diego, we were paying about 500/month for SDGE (fluctuating anywhere from 300-800 throughout the year, 800 because of gas prices last January). We're paying Sunrun a fixed $300/month, with a 4% increase annually for inflation (presumably electricity prices will also go up during the same time). Sunrun 100% paid for a main panel relocation required by our county to be to code, so we literally haven't paid for anything other than the 300/month bill. So far I've only had a good experience.
Kluggy 3y ago
My house faces east-west and so the local solar companies refuse to come out and give a quote. I know it's not going to be as efficient, but I live in an area with lots of power outages, so having a backup system is worth the lack of efficiency, but they all refuse to come out, no matter what I explain up front.
- philjohn 3y ago
  It's not AS efficient, true, especially in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky, but it's not like it'll do nothing - and in the summer you get a longer generation period. You'll likely need more panels, but panels (should) be cheap, although in the US you seem to have high prices due to tariffs.
- nyokodo 3y ago
  > I live in an area with lots of power outages, so having a backup system is worth the lack of efficiency Unless you go completely off-grid then rooftop solar isn’t going to help with outages as they are turned off during outages to protect electrical workers and the power grid. [1] Your problem can be solved with home batteries. 1. https://www.paradisesolarenergy.com/blog/will-solar-panels-work-during-a-power-outage https://www.paradisesolarenergy.com/blog/will-solar-panels-w...
  - dmazzoni 3y ago
    I was surprised to discover that even with a backup battery, a typical solar install is not designed to power your whole home in the event of a power loss. Only some inverters support it, and most backup batteries can't generate enough amps to start an A/C unit, even though they'd have enough to run it for a while. Tesla's PowerWall is more capable than some, but I've heard nightmare stories about working with Tesla customer service so I stayed away from that one, even though technologically it's probably the most advanced.
    - pbmonster 3y ago
      > I was surprised to discover that even with a backup battery, a typical solar install is not designed to power your whole home in the event of a power loss. Might even be illegal, depending on jurisdiction. For good reasons, you could kill electricians working on the local grid or firefighters working on your house if you're not careful with the install and adding local shut-offs. My battery turns off when the grid goes down, but it has 3 outlets directly on the body of the battery, and those always work. I run extension cords from those when the power goes.
      - Faaak 3y ago
        Bullshit. All "hybrid" inverters nowadays (grid tied + battery backup), auto island themselves when the grid is out. That misconception is now 15 years old
        3y ago
- verisimi 3y ago
  Yes. It's a shame that it is hard to install on the ground - or rather it's a shame that permission isn't easily given for ground installations, if you have space. Ground installs won't damage your roof, and will be easier to clean, install, etc. But then, as noted elsewhere, is it really the answer anyway? Solar doesn't really give you the energy when you really need it - in the winter.
latchkey 3y ago
I follow Will Prowse on YT. He's full of great information about solar/batteries/etc. He's more about "mobile solar", but tbh... you can apply a lot of the same stuff to your own home. Especially when it comes to storage.
dmazzoni 3y ago
I thought I would avoid those issues by buying a system outright, rather than financing it. I had the cash to spare and thought it would be a good investment. I went with a local company. The owner was an electrician and knew what he was talking about. He didn't try to upsell me. He didn't claim to be the cheapest but the price was competitive and the workers were in-house, not subcontracted. It seemed like just what I wanted. The installation day came and they arrived early in the morning, and spent hours installing brackets. The solar panels were supposed to arrive by 9am. By noon they were still waiting. Finally they gave up and went home, no answer on the panels. The next day they came back to keep working, still with no panels. I sent them home and called the owner, demanding an answer. Eventually I learned that the panels were damaged in transit and it'd be weeks before they could procure new ones. They couldn't guarantee a date. They had already charged my credit card for the full amount of the install. I told them this was unacceptable, the law says they can only charge a deposit, with the balance due when the work was actually complete. They stopped returning my calls, so I initiated a chargeback with my credit card company. That got their attention. They begged me to cancel the chargeback, which I only reluctantly agreed to after they hand-delivered a refund check to me in person. It took me dozens of calls before I found another company willing to work with the half-completed install. Most companies didn't want to touch it. In the end, I got the system I wanted and it worked great. One thing I learned through this process is that there are a lot of companies who want to install solar, but none who want to service your existing solar installation, which is seen as a money-losing business. Lots of homeowners buy a system that supposedly includes an excellent warranty, but then their solar company goes out of business, and suddenly they have nobody to call when something goes wrong. I don't really know the solution to that problem. It makes me think that if I had to do it again, maybe I should go with a larger national company.
- switch007 3y ago
  > He didn't claim to be the cheapest Ugh! Every independent tradesperson that’s spun that line (“I’m not cheap, I’m quality” etc) with me has turned out to be a liar. Super expensive without the quality part … Most are conmen and incompetent at running a business and price isn’t a strong signal for a good one Anyone who comes in strong with the hard man, “I’m expensive for a reason” spiel is a hard no now
dehrmann 3y ago
I haven't researched it much, but what's always smelled fishy to me is that rooftop solar is going up, but there's less utility-scale solar in the desert where there's more sun, no shade, panels angled correctly, and consolidated maintenance. I suspect rooftop solar only appears to work because the sales pitch sounds good, there are government subsidies, net metering is broken, and people don't consider depreciation and maintenance.

by d1str0 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

jlubawy 3y ago

We got Sunrun within the past year on a house we bought 1.5 years ago (so we're NEM 2.0 which is important). I'm in San Diego, we were paying about 500/month for SDGE (fluctuating anywhere from 300-800 throughout the year, 800 because of gas prices last January). We're paying Sunrun a fixed $300/month, with a 4% increase annually for inflation (presumably electricity prices will also go up during the same time). Sunrun 100% paid for a main panel relocation required by our county to be to code, so we literally haven't paid for anything other than the 300/month bill. So far I've only had a good experience.

Kluggy 3y ago

My house faces east-west and so the local solar companies refuse to come out and give a quote. I know it's not going to be as efficient, but I live in an area with lots of power outages, so having a backup system is worth the lack of efficiency, but they all refuse to come out, no matter what I explain up front.

philjohn 3y ago
It's not AS efficient, true, especially in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky, but it's not like it'll do nothing - and in the summer you get a longer generation period. You'll likely need more panels, but panels (should) be cheap, although in the US you seem to have high prices due to tariffs.
nyokodo 3y ago
> I live in an area with lots of power outages, so having a backup system is worth the lack of efficiency Unless you go completely off-grid then rooftop solar isn’t going to help with outages as they are turned off during outages to protect electrical workers and the power grid. [1] Your problem can be solved with home batteries. 1. https://www.paradisesolarenergy.com/blog/will-solar-panels-work-during-a-power-outage https://www.paradisesolarenergy.com/blog/will-solar-panels-w...
- dmazzoni 3y ago
  I was surprised to discover that even with a backup battery, a typical solar install is not designed to power your whole home in the event of a power loss. Only some inverters support it, and most backup batteries can't generate enough amps to start an A/C unit, even though they'd have enough to run it for a while. Tesla's PowerWall is more capable than some, but I've heard nightmare stories about working with Tesla customer service so I stayed away from that one, even though technologically it's probably the most advanced.
  - pbmonster 3y ago
    > I was surprised to discover that even with a backup battery, a typical solar install is not designed to power your whole home in the event of a power loss. Might even be illegal, depending on jurisdiction. For good reasons, you could kill electricians working on the local grid or firefighters working on your house if you're not careful with the install and adding local shut-offs. My battery turns off when the grid goes down, but it has 3 outlets directly on the body of the battery, and those always work. I run extension cords from those when the power goes.
    - Faaak 3y ago
      Bullshit. All "hybrid" inverters nowadays (grid tied + battery backup), auto island themselves when the grid is out. That misconception is now 15 years old
      - 3y ago
verisimi 3y ago
Yes. It's a shame that it is hard to install on the ground - or rather it's a shame that permission isn't easily given for ground installations, if you have space. Ground installs won't damage your roof, and will be easier to clean, install, etc. But then, as noted elsewhere, is it really the answer anyway? Solar doesn't really give you the energy when you really need it - in the winter.

latchkey 3y ago

I follow Will Prowse on YT. He's full of great information about solar/batteries/etc. He's more about "mobile solar", but tbh... you can apply a lot of the same stuff to your own home. Especially when it comes to storage.

dmazzoni 3y ago

I thought I would avoid those issues by buying a system outright, rather than financing it. I had the cash to spare and thought it would be a good investment. I went with a local company. The owner was an electrician and knew what he was talking about. He didn't try to upsell me. He didn't claim to be the cheapest but the price was competitive and the workers were in-house, not subcontracted. It seemed like just what I wanted. The installation day came and they arrived early in the morning, and spent hours installing brackets. The solar panels were supposed to arrive by 9am. By noon they were still waiting. Finally they gave up and went home, no answer on the panels. The next day they came back to keep working, still with no panels. I sent them home and called the owner, demanding an answer. Eventually I learned that the panels were damaged in transit and it'd be weeks before they could procure new ones. They couldn't guarantee a date. They had already charged my credit card for the full amount of the install. I told them this was unacceptable, the law says they can only charge a deposit, with the balance due when the work was actually complete. They stopped returning my calls, so I initiated a chargeback with my credit card company. That got their attention. They begged me to cancel the chargeback, which I only reluctantly agreed to after they hand-delivered a refund check to me in person. It took me dozens of calls before I found another company willing to work with the half-completed install. Most companies didn't want to touch it. In the end, I got the system I wanted and it worked great. One thing I learned through this process is that there are a lot of companies who want to install solar, but none who want to service your existing solar installation, which is seen as a money-losing business. Lots of homeowners buy a system that supposedly includes an excellent warranty, but then their solar company goes out of business, and suddenly they have nobody to call when something goes wrong. I don't really know the solution to that problem. It makes me think that if I had to do it again, maybe I should go with a larger national company.

switch007 3y ago
> He didn't claim to be the cheapest Ugh! Every independent tradesperson that’s spun that line (“I’m not cheap, I’m quality” etc) with me has turned out to be a liar. Super expensive without the quality part … Most are conmen and incompetent at running a business and price isn’t a strong signal for a good one Anyone who comes in strong with the hard man, “I’m expensive for a reason” spiel is a hard no now

dehrmann 3y ago

I haven't researched it much, but what's always smelled fishy to me is that rooftop solar is going up, but there's less utility-scale solar in the desert where there's more sun, no shade, panels angled correctly, and consolidated maintenance. I suspect rooftop solar only appears to work because the sales pitch sounds good, there are government subsidies, net metering is broken, and people don't consider depreciation and maintenance.