Going Solar (It’s Easier than You Think!)
In 2021 my husband & I had solar panels installed on the roof of our home. I can’t take credit for any of it, the whole thing was his idea, and he did all of the research, met & consulted with the right people, and organized the installation (in fairness, I was very pregnant during this process and a little preoccupied 😉). I learned the basics of solar as we went, but in order to write this I’d need to refer to him, so I figured let’s just do a Q&A! So, without further ado, here’s how we went solar:
What made you want to install these on our roof?
It was twofold. I wanted to set an example for our family & neighbors by getting the greenest energy that we could. But it also saves money.
How did you get the process started?
I started by researching whether or not our roof exposure was good, bad or otherwise. There are websites out there that can help with that, I used Project Sunroof. If they have your neighborhood, it will show you an estimated area of where you could put solar panels and hours of available sunlight. Once I knew that our roof was viable, I started researching local companies that could do the install. Not unlike any other large purchase, I contacted different companies to get quotes and went from there.
We used ReVision, were there any other companies available to us?
Yes, there were other companies, but we went with ReVision based on reviews, their reputation, and that they are employee-owned. One of our neighbors had used them and couldn’t say enough good about their experience.
How did the process work with ReVision?
I think the first step was to have a Zoom call to discuss the project. I think had it not been during the pandemic they would’ve come to the house for that initial meeting, but we met via Zoom, and chatted for like 30-60 minutes, covering things like a basic cost estimate, estimated savings, different types of solar panels, other options like battery storage, financing, etc.
Once we agreed that we wanted to move forward we scheduled a site visit. They came to the house and measured the roof area and pitch of the roof, they have tools to measure any shade from trees or nearby buildings, and from there they came up with an actual detailed plan - how many panels we’d need, how much energy we could produce, and actual dollar savings over the lifetime of the panels.
From there it was just getting on the calendar to schedule the installation.
What was the installation process like?
It was pretty easy on my end. It was a two-day install for 32 panels. One of those days required them to be in the basement to hook up to the electrical box and install an inverter. The rest was me sitting around, ensuring they had access to the house.
What’s the box they installed next to our electrical panel?
That’s the inverter. That takes the DC charge from the roof and converts it to AC charge that can be used within the house.
So how does this whole electricity process work?
I guess you can say there are two main ways that a solar roof generates and uses power. The panels themselves generate electricity, which will flow into your house. Option one, which is the simplest way, would be that you have battery storage, which would fill up your battery for you to use on demand. I’d say that’s becoming more common, but, most people have the second option, which is some form of net metering. So you generate electricity from your panels, send that back to the grid, and then are credited for your generation, which off-sets your electrical usage. If that’s the case, you need one more step that requires a shut-off, preventing electricity from back-flowing to the grid when the power goes out. So if you lose power, your solar panels won’t generate electricity. Now, if you had battery storage, you could have electricity if the power went out.
Do we have an electricity bill if we have solar panels?
Yes, with net metering. It varies by state, but we’re paying the connection fee, which is roughly $13/month.
What if we generate more solar than we use per month?
That’s where net metering comes in. We get a credit for each kilowatt we generate, and then we have 12 months to use those credits before they expire. We usually generate more than we use from about April until September/October, so we use those credits during the winter months when our electric bill is usually higher since heat pumps are our main source of heating. So far we haven’t had any credits expire, however, if they did, we’d have to pay our electric company for usage, just like we did before going solar.
Do we store excess solar?
No, but it’s something I’d consider in the future. We opted out of battery storage just because of the cost. On their own, they’re not that cost-prohibitive, but combined with the initial solar expense, it was too much for us to do both at the same time.
Do our panels cover our electricity costs 100% (for reference, heat pumps are our main source of heat in the winter, and we definitely use them to cool in the summer)?
So based on the size of our roof and latitude, we can cover about 95-98% of our electrical usage. ReVision calculated this for us ahead of time, so we knew going into it we wouldn’t cover 100%. Portland requires a three-foot setback from the peak of the roof and at least one side, which reduced the usable area of our roof. We could have potentially put a panel on the back of our garage, but it wasn’t worth the cost.
I feel like our whole roof gets sun most of the day. I was surprised that they didn’t put more panels than they did (using the back of our house, which gets full afternoon sun). Why was that?
Mostly because of Portland’s setback rules. But we didn’t put them on the back of the house because you generate the most solar around solar noon (makes sense), and the sun doesn’t reach the back of our house until the tail end of that, so we’d miss most of the day’s solar generation. We would’ve ended up needing more panels overall if we had done the back of the house (it was like for every 1 panel on the front we’d need 3 on the back or something like that).
What’s the life expectancy of (home) solar panels?
They’re guaranteed for 25 years but may last longer.
Is there any maintenance for them?
Not unless something goes wrong.
What about snow accumulation on them?
You’d be surprised, but as soon as the sun is out the snow starts sliding off.
Did you need to know anything in particular about our house (size, direction it faces, etc.)?
Just generalities, ReVision was able to look up all of the relevant information. We did need to send them an electric bill so they knew how to scale the array.
How long did it all take (from initial research to final installation)?
I started researching in December 2020, had my first conversation with ReVision in January 2021, and they installed in June. I was concerned that the tax credits were going to go away, so we wanted to get them on ASAP.
Some (or maybe most) people may think the cost of solar panels is too prohibitive. How did that process work? Were there rebates/tax credits available?
Our ultimate goal was to trade our propane payments for a heat pump loan, and our electric payments for a solar loan. At the same time we were having the panels installed we were looking into having heat pumps installed, too. So for starters, I just looked at a simple budget of what we would pay going to heat pumps as our primary heat source, versus what we would pay to finance solar panels. I think I estimated like $200/month using heat pumps, and our solar loan payment is about $240/month. It was pretty close to a net neutral; we weren’t spending that much more to put panels on the house, and once the solar panel loan is paid off, it’s all savings.
As far as credits, we verified with our accountant that we would qualify for the full federal tax credit, which at the time was 26% and was set to drop down to 22% the following year, which is why we did it when we did. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, it’s now a 30% credit for panels installed between 2022-2032, so if you’re thinking about solar panels, now is definitely the time!
Has this changed any of our other utility bills (I’m thinking specifically propane)?
Solar itself hasn’t changed anything, but going solar has allowed us to use heat pumps as our primary heat source, which allows us to drastically cut our propane bill.
Can you/do you track our solar usage?
Yes. Our inverter is SolarEdge and they have an app that I use to track our usage. It allows you to see your usage and generation. But also you can see the individual power generation from each panel, so you can identify if there’s ever a problem with an individual panel in the array.
Did anything surprise you about this process?
I guess just how easy it was. We were working with a really knowledgeable company, and from start to finish it only took six months.
Is there anything else you want to share/think people should know about going solar?
I’d say if you’re worried about putting panels on your roof or you think your roof isn’t conducive to an array, you can look into purchasing a share of a solar farm. Everything should still be the same in terms of financing and tax credits (but obviously check that with your accountant). Depending on your state, that may become an asset that you could sell or pass on, as long as it stays within the state. Otherwise, no, not really, other than just how easy it all was.