Solar Panel Install - Entry Interview

 So one of the first steps for Install is an Entry Interview. It is basically the first time that the Solar Install project manager will see your property in person and be able to determine if the planned install is appropriate and the design that was given is possible given the roof setup and where everything is located. 

I think this part is important because what i did not know is that anything that is on the roof (Vents' exhaust pipes from Bathrooms or Cooktop range vents will mean that the panels will have to be located around them SO. when looking pay attention to this because the layout design will probably not take this into account. 

Ours came in, looked at our power panel, then looked around at the roof, took pictures and asked questions about trees and shade. However he did show us his cell phone app for his own system and how it was generating Power. he also told us that the next thing would happen is they would schedule an install and the team would come out. 

very simple and straightforward meeting. 

SOLAR PANEL INSTALL - Research of Sun transitioning across roof.

 So The next step we have is the Engineering Site Inspection to physically look at the site and determine if the design is sound and what other tree trimming might need to happen that may impeded the Solar Panel Receiving the Required Number of hours of sunlight to operate optimally. 

Here are the Images of the Roof.

0830 BACK

(Shadows above are covering 99% of the Roof)

0930 BACK

(Shadows above are covering about 75% of the Roof)

1030 BACK

(Shadows above are covering about 15% of the roof)

1030 FRONT

1040 BACK

1050 BACK

1100 BACK

1110 BACK

1120 BACK

1130 BACK

(Shadows in the back are from 1 Tree and take about a full hour to clear the roof)

1130 FRONT

1230 BACK

1230 FRONT

1330 BACK

1330 FRONT

1430 BACK

FRONT 1430

BACK 1530

FRONT 1530

(Shadow in Front shows up at 1530 and covers about 5% of the roof)

BACK 1630

FRONT 1630

(Shadows in Front from 1530 - 1630 cover about 50% of the front of the roof and are moving onto the back roof area)

Based on the above information from 0830 to 1630. 

-- Full sunshine for the Back Roof lasts from about 1130 - 1630 (5 hours)

-- Full sunshine for the Front Roof lasts from about 0930 - 1530 (7 hours)

There are two trees that I could possibly remove or trim and in the back it would add about 2 hours of sunshine in the back. If i were to remove 1 Tree in the front it may add about 1 hour of sunshine. 

Because there is an APP that monitors and indicates production I may wait to remove/trim the trees to see what kind of increase in production is given from the removal. 

Our appointment is Sept 10th 1-3pm so I will show these pictures to the engineer and then figure out what the recommendation is. 

 

SOLAR PANEL - WELCOME MEETING for Solar Panel install

We had our meeting with Caroline from Solar Bear and with Kevin the Regional Director at Solar Bear and they went over and confirmed the information we had and answered our questions. 

Here is how the meeting went. 

Caroline introduced herself and gave us her phone number. she then went over some standard disclaimers and let us know that if we did "not" produce enough power then we could have a small bill even though we have Solar. She also said that the system was sized based on our avg KWh usage and that it is at 16KWh.

    - This was not new to us since we already discussed this with our Kevin and we actually increased our size from 13KWh to 16KWh to cover the potential increase power because we are having a Swimming Pool put in. 

Caroline then asked if we understood our power bill that there is a connection charge and that during the switch over we may have overlapping bills from DUKE and from SUNLIGHT the finance company. 

She then confirmed our names, address and phone numbers. Then it was our turn to ask the questions I had written down. 

1.      1. Are there holes Drilled in the ROOF….what kind of impact does that have on our roof warranty? 

a.      We were told we had a 10 year no leak warranty added to the roof.

ANSWER: YES, there are supports that are installed in places on RAFTERS and they are installed so there is no potential for leaks since they are sealed and SOLAR BEAR is a Licensed Roofing Company as well

2.     2. Can you provide us with Details of what the Insurance policy for the $1,000,000 liability looks like (coverages and exact policy type)?

a.      Can you Recommend a company that we should go through?

b.      Can you allow us to contact another customer to ask how they handled the $1,000,000 liability insurance coverage that DUKE will require?

ANSWER: YES. they gave us the name of a Company that we can get the 1,000,000 Homeowners General Liability insurance through Gave us a Phone number and e-mail

3.      3. How many Hours of Sunlight does the Panels need to generate full capacity. (16KW) – 

A                      ANSWER: 4-6 hrs depending of time of year.

4.       4. Elements that go bad and maintenance long term?

a.      How long does an inverter last (heard it was 25 years) and they cost about $5000

 ANSWER:  You have an Inphase - microinverter system. 

 ANSWER:  You also have access to the APP to see production so you will know if there is something not functioning in the system. Duke has to monitor this also to determine your credit for putting power back into the system

ANSWER: also you have a 5 Year Wash clean annual contract, but after need to do wash clean annually, or you can setup a new contract.

5.       5. Can we have all the documents about warranty? 

                            ANSWER: yes but also Solar Bear is in Partnership with Owens corning and we have our own Roofing License. In addition to SILFAB has a 25 year Product. Inclusive of labor

6.      

7.       6. Can we walk through all of the next steps?

                         ANSWER:  

a.      Welcome meeting

b.      Engineer Site Survey - Entry Survey

c.      Layout Design for Permitting Completed.

d.      Engineer Approval of permit

e.      Layout Design Permit Submitted

f.       Permit Approved

g.      Schedule for Install

h.      Install Day

i.       HV Connecting panels to Inverter.

j.       Permit Inspection

k.      Interconnection Setup….need declaration

l.       Duke Inspection (60 days)

m.    Duke Cutover/Panel turn on

n.      Once Swapped call solar bear – Exit they walk through the system.

So that was our questions which they answered and ALSO they gave us a very rough estimate of end of September to be installed barring any delays in Permitting.  

Additional SOLAR PANEL INSTALL Research

 To consider how much power the Solar Panels Created I used the information Solar Bear Provided and matched it against our Actual House Kilo Watt Hours (KWh) used. An Important thing to note is that in March of this year (2020) we had a new RHeem 3 ton Air Conditioner Installed. This came with power savings and I also did analysis on the power savings by matching last Years Power usage against this years for the months we have had it installed. Here is the savings I found. (I realize there are other factors that may affect power usage, and I cannot attribute 100% of the savings to the AC)

As you can see the power difference between last year and this year during the same months is on average 132 KWh lower and overall 794 KWh less. BUT an important thing to note, even though my power usage is LESS....my bills still are going up because the average KWh cost has rose to .17 cents. SO no matter how efficient your appliances or other house required items are the cost to power them is still rising. I understand that costs rise but here is something interesting. 

Make your own judgement on where the salary comes from, what she does and how come anyone would get a Bonus that is double their salary. AND it looks like a yearly MASSIVE Stock award. This is just one year. 

The Solar Bear information provided based on OUR HOUSE. 

So when talking about my house and my little money. I wanted to know HOW much my system would generate and how that compares to what I use. NOTE this is against a time frame that encompasses both the OLD A/C and NEW A/C so there is some disparity in the KWh used during this entire time frame. Here are the numbers. 

Notice the EXCESS KWh is how much more our system would have provided compared with our actual usage. On Average our overage was 549.02 KWh over what we used. Here is why this is Important. 

1. Any Overage is sent to the Power Company as a Power Credit. 
2. Any Shortage is Drawn from the Power Company Credit that was Generated from Overages. 
3. IF you do not have OVERAGE CREDIT you will still have a POWER BILL.

In our case as you can see from the numbers I need to turn on more lights and USE my power.....because I will never use all the power generated. My CREDIT will be exponential and ever increasing if I go this route. 

Solar Bear Design for my house. 

My house is a SMALL house so every house is different and will rely on designs and estimates to understand all YOUR specific Details. 

All in all nothing stands out from my research and analysis that would make this a bad decision.

Research on the Solar Panels to be installed

 While playing the waiting game I did a lot more research. (By The Way I do have 3 days to cancel according to Florida Law, if I think it is a bad sale or a bad deal).

But here is some of the research links I used. 

Silfab Solar Panels - https://news.energysage.com/silfab-solar-panels-complete-review/#:~:text=Based%20on%20EnergySage's%20analysis%2C%20Silfab,more%20standard%20solar%20panel%20options.

Solar Bear the Company - https://www.oursolarbear.com/ 

Youtube Video - https://youtu.be/UH2s__hY7_0

Youtube Video - https://youtu.be/tgBCoDsxzWw

Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ViV3dI8G5VgopQW7EFt_Q

(My Own Video when I am done) .

Better Business Bureau - https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/tampa/profile/solar-energy-design/solar-bear-llc-0653-90319731 

Google Reviews - Google Reviews Link

There are many other sites to research but right now I have these that I have went through.

You got em.....Now What - Solar Panel Install

 So now that we went through everything we are waiting to have the Solar Panels installed. We have a WELCOME meeting that starts tomorrow 3 September 2020 and during that meeting I have questions I want to ask. I have not posted them here yet because I do not know all the questions I want to ask yet. 

But whatever I learn I will post. 

For now this is what I know.

Step 1. Buy the Solar Panels (CHECK)

Step 2. Have a Welcome Meeting 

Step 3. Have a Technical Engineer come out and inspect and look at the property to ensure the sales team provided or captured all the information. 

Step 4. Approve the final Technical Installation plan. 

Step 5. Submit for Permitting

Step 6. Wait for Install (They said takes a Day)

Step 7. After install the Engineer will come out and determine it is ready for Power.

Step 8. DUKE will come out and do final inspection and switch over. 

Step 9. Switch over Complete and you are generating your own power. 

Solar Panel Costs....Oh and Savings

 During the Meeting I did not have all of my power bills but they used a 4% increase in power from year to year. I did have some information and I knew that when I moved into my house I used whats called "budget billing plan" to allow my bill from Duke Energy to stay the same year round. It started at $160, raised the following year in 11 months to $181 and then again 11 Months later to $208 this was the power cost and did not include taxes. so my Actual Numbers were an increase of 11% and 13% for a total 24% increase over a period of 24 months. (2 years). 

However their briefing showed a 4% increase and they used that to show how much power would cost per month over the next 15 years, and they used it to show how much you could save. So for the time being I used their numbers and I did know my increases but did not do all the calculations I would have wanted until the next day. 

My current actual power bill is $244/mo (cost+taxes/fees). I am disclosing this actual cost because it makes sense to understand the real numbers which are very hard to find. 

After their briefing and all the discussion we were shown numbers....FIRST we were shown two options for payments....

• OPTION 1 - $200 / 25 years (2.99%)
• OPTION 2 - $202 / 20 years (1.49%)

now here is where it gets a little tricky because in order to maintain these payments you have to take whatever the Income Tax Credit (ITC) is and apply it to the loan at 18 months...OR your payment will go up. For Option 1 it would be $252 after 18 months, for Option 2 it would be $277 after 18 months. 

Also 2020 the ITC is 26% of the cost.....in 2021 it is 22% and in 2022 it is 10%. just like the electric car rebates they used to have, it is disappearing. Also this 26% is an amount that is given BACK based on Taxes Paid in...so if your credit is 26% and your rebate is 10,000 BUT you only owe 5,000 then you would get 5,000 and the other 5,000 would carry over to the next year. Also the money you earn has to be taxable....you cannot be on disability and earn non-taxable income and expect to receive $10,000. 

After all of this. we asked to see the BIG number...i wanted to see the final cost. each is different and it is dependent on the number of panels, and size of system installed and other things like not having to remove trees, upgrade to a 200amp power panel, or any roof issues. each of these can be extra costs and can be rolled into your Solar Panel Install BUT remember that increases your payment. SO the big Number. (our Big Number)

 --- $41,450 ---

Was this a Shock....not really. is it expensive, YES!

So Who in their Right mind does this why take on an extra $200/mo bill when it is supposed to save money instead of adding a bill. 

Here is how that happens. 

1. The plan of all of the Solar Panel Install companies is to do this. REPLACE YOUR CURRENT MONTHLY POWER PAYMENT WITH THE PAYMENT FOR THE SOLAR PANEL SYSTEM.

So when all is said and done as long as you are not having a super low power bill, your payment for the solar panels should be lower than your current power BILL and based on 'future' power increases, which I myself saw 24% increase in 2 years, you will recoup the cost and lower your bill. 

In my actual situation my power bill is currently $244/mo, and if I buy the system. I will not get a Power Bill** and my new bill will be to buy the SOLAR PANELS for $202.

** I put two stars on not having a Power Bill because you still have to be connected and there is a fee for me to be a DUKE Customer and that cost is $10.63/mo. SO I still have a Bill but if I generate credit from sending Extra Power in to Duke. My bill could potentially be $0.00 because that fee will be covered by my credit. 

Now for the Numbers. The Next Day I downloaded all of my power Bills for the past 24 months and this is what I found. 

* Notice my actual Increase occurred in both the power Bill and Taxes paid.

If this percent increase continued in 20 years (the time it takes to payoff the Solar panels) my power bill would be astronomical.

Next I thought well lets go with a simplified increase of 5%, no increase 0%, and what the solar panel payments actually are. Here is what I found. 

As you can see with just a 5% increase per year my power costs would be almost $100,000 during the payoff timeline of the Solar Panels. If there was no increase at all from my current bill then my power costs is almost $60,000. Finally my Solar panel cost with Interest is almost $50,000 which even with no increase the costs over the timeline it would save me $10,000 and this does not take into consideration the additional savings in the lower monthly payment which is $500 a year extra. 

These were my numbers I used to justify and quantify my decision. which Bottom Line.

We Did Decide to Purchase Solar Panels!

Solar Bear - A Florida Company

 1 September 2020 My Solar Appointment - What happened...well at about 5:55pm two gentlemen from Solar Bear showed up and had all kinds of boxes, laptops and other stuff. They came prepared to tell us everything we needed to know. So I hoped. 

They walked around our house then introduced themselves and told us some personal stories and made small talk. They were super professional, complimentary and very polite. They were salesmen and they had a job to do. My opinion was they didn't want to be pushy and they wanted to come across honest, sincere and factually accurate as well as appearing to have OUR best intentions in mind. 

The two gentlemen had different styles one was a straight forward sales guy that might have been in training still but had almost all the basic information needed and he also provided all the information to us...me and my wife were present. The other gentleman identified as the regional director for the company. he was very reserved and provided supporting information to his colleague when required. He also was very interested in making sure that the companies image was good and they were dealing with us honestly without appearing to pull any behind the scenes tricks. 

I had my latop and I had my power bills available also I was able to look up some of the things they were saying real time and look at their better business bureau profile and reviews. 

They went through their presentation and they reached out to their 'engineers' who provided a design for our house and how the panels would layout and how the sun travels across our house. They used our power bill to find what size system they would need to provide the correct amount of power to our house. 

This briefing was very informative but some of the details were important to note and in the next post I will put details of WHAT the Numbers looked like and what our decision points were. 

For now I will tell you some of the things that I think are important to note. i will list these all at once in another post.

1. If you have a new ROOF, that is probably best, but you should discuss what if any issues may hurt your warranty. 

2. If you DO NOT HAVE a NEW ROOF, you may need to replace it prior to installing. The Panels Attach to your roof so they need something stable to attach to. 

3. The Panels have a minimum spacing required between the shingles and the panels. Right now they told us it is 3" (three inches) this is hurricane specs and allows air flow between the roof and the panels. 

4. The Panels will protect the area they cover, because the panels will be between the sun and the roof and are BUILT to absorb the sun. 

5. The Panels are SUPER STRONG! They demonstrated hail at 248mph hitting the panels and showed people jumping on the panels and vehicles including a full sized truck driving on them. 

6. You WILL NEED A 200 AMP POWER PANEL. Our house was built in 1973 and we needed a new power Panel for a POOL so we are already having one installed. (Our installer was cheaper, however they said they could do it and roll it into the cost of the install for $2700) (My Previous quotes were $1800-$6650 to have the power panel installed.)

7. You will have to stay connected to the GRID....If power goes out....your house will go out. Solar does not run if the power is out. (this is a legal and safety they explained) Since your house is generating power if it remained connected after the power company is out....it would feed power back into the system and the power workers could be in danger of electrocution. There is also no current ability to install a SOLAR Interlock option like some houses have a Generator Interlock install for backup power from a Generator during hurricanes. 

8. You will not be PAID money from the power company for power you generate  OVER what you use in your house. Your house will use what it needs and any overage is will be fed into the power company and as you generate Kwh's you will be credited what is sent and then when you have cloudy days or your system does not generate enough power you will use the credited amount your power company gives you. 

9. There are warranties included with the system make sure you know them all. 

10. Components of the system will not last forever it might be best to ask about replacement costs of the Inverters and other elements. 

11. If you have more than 36 Panels you are considered Tier 2 system and DUKE Energy will require some kind of Insurance Policy that covers $1,000,000 liability. I do not know much about this BUT I will find out more and post. I did find this "In Florida, for example, systems over 10 kW in size require liability insurance of $1 million dollars. It’s not uncommon for a residential system to be larger than 10 kW, so this liability requirement may dissuade homeowners from sizing their system larger than 10 kW." https://www.solarunitedneighbors.org/news/how-going-solar-could-impact-your-homeowners-insurance/

More to follow on the numbers in next post. 

SOLAR.......now what?

If you are here it is because you know I got Solar panels....OR I referred you here. I may have told you my story in person...BUT however you got here this BLOG has all the details and actual information on my experience with having Solar Panels installed from the first phone call to flipping the switch to generating my own power using SOLAR PANELS.  

Solar Panels are they worth it? I have no idea. But I have seen the ads, saw the in your face advertising and even heard some of the hype. So I finally broke down and saw an Ad to see if I qualified for the incentives that are in my neighborhood.....

- August 31st 2020 I filled out an online form that said find out how much I would save....and how much it would cost....and what incentives I qualified for. (Sounds Great). however NONE of that happens when you fill out the form. 

Here is what happens. As soon as you are finished filling out the information (name, phone number, email, address, Zipcode, etc...). You will hit submit and your phone will ring. It will be a person who has all your information and they want to confirm that all the information you entered is not a bunch of BS. They then will tell you that your information will be sent to multiple companies and to expect them to call you within the next 48 hours to give you information about Solar Panels and their costs. 

As soon as I hung up my phone was ringing. I took a Call and Scheduled the first person I talked to for the following Day, evening Appointment (6:00pm). They gave me no other information at that time. SO for the time being I had to wait to find out MORE.