Any recommendations for solar in the NoVa area?

[CatB]

I am in Alexandria. Please post here or PM me if you have any advice or suggestions. I will be getting a new roof soon, and Tesla solar tiles are not an option, so I’m stuck with panels. Tesla Energy’s panels look better than most, but price is pretty steep so I want to consider other options.
TIA!

 

[mrjwen]

I am in Alexandria. Please post here or PM me if you have any advice or suggestions. I will be getting a new roof soon, and Tesla solar tiles are not an option, so I’m stuck with panels. Tesla Energy’s panels look better than most, but price is pretty steep so I want to consider other options.
TIA!

Cat! I'm in the process of getting quotes on solar. Let's compare notes. I'll shoot you an email.

 

[Darren S]

I am in Alexandria. Please post here or PM me if you have any advice or suggestions.TIA!

Mountain View Solar in Berkeley Springs, WV, http://www.mtvsolar.com. They could be nearby depending on where you are in Northern VA. I've stopped by their place twice to chat with them while on road trips through that area. Great folks and are worth a try for a quote or recommendation in your area.

 

[MGMDaware]

I am in Alexandria. Please post here or PM me if you have any advice or suggestions. I will be getting a new roof soon, and Tesla solar tiles are not an option, so I’m stuck with panels. Tesla Energy’s panels look better than most, but price is pretty steep so I want to consider other options.
TIA!

Just curious . . . Why are tiles not an option?

 

[DFibRL8R]

We used Solarize NOVA which is a program that runs campaigns in different areas of northern Virginia in partnership with localities. Seems to offer a discount due to volume pricing. We did two installs a year apart, one on our detached garage, one on our main home. Had a different installer for each system. Experience was good each time. I recall a Solarize Alexandria program but it doesn't look like they are doing a program right now.

Honestly, solar systems are so simple, it's just basic electrical work and installing racks/panels so probably hard to go wrong if you get a few quotes from reputable firms in the area.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I just hired an electrician to do the wiring and the bypass switch to the roof and I did the rest with a couple of helpers.

Fairly easy once all the supplies were on the roof...I went with Micro-inverters integrated into the panels and a grid tied system. Unfortunately the company I used doesn't make those panels anymore. The panels worked flawlessly until we had a squirrel chew up some of the wiring under the panels.. lets just say we dont have any more squirrels around here and the dogs enjoyed 12ish squirrels that I cooked for them!

BenQ AUO Solar PM250MA0-255W - 225 Watt AC Solar Panel

Correction; I just pulled the receipt and remember I only had the solar installer, install four panels and then I did the remaining 40 panels - I had Solar Electrics do the conduit ,the inspection, the bypass switch and four panels and then I continued the project myself. I sourced all the hardware from Wholesale Solar and had it drop shipped to my home. None of the professionals ever got even close to the price I was able to achieve using this method.

Here were my 2012 costs:

44 - 250W AC mono panels with microinverters, racks, wiring etc. $21K with shipping from wholesale solar.
Labor and other stuff: removed old 200 AMP main panel (reused in garage), installed new 400 AMP panel with new Square D breakers, by-pass switch, new electric meter (NOVEC did this part), (reused) 200 AMP panel in garage for Tesla's, interconnection agreement, inspection, conduit, panel monitor device, etc. and install 4 panels and a exterior 200 AMP panel for the rooftop panels. (each string of panels has a breaker) - $7360.

Wrote off a huge chunk of this work on my federal taxes, unfortunately Virginias funds were depleted..

Within 5 years system was cash positive (give or take), once you factored in the tax incentives.

Solar Electrics
4060 Trapp Road
Fairfax VA 22032
703 425 9712
[email protected]

 

[DFibRL8R]

...I had Solar Electrics do the conduit ,the inspection, the bypass switch and four panels and then I continued the project myself. I sourced all the hardware from Wholesale Solar and had it drop shipped to my home. None of the professionals ever got even close to the price I was able to achieve using this method.

Yeah, the bulk of the install cost seems to be labor for a full job from start to finish. The prices for panels and inverters keep coming down but labor not so much.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I felt I got ripped on the labor, but I wanted it done right and didn't have the confidence or training to follow the electric code. I was also terrified of electricity as a kid as we used to have a disabled neighbor who lived on our farm in SW Virginia, he was electrocuted working on the railroad (lost his left lung, his left arm, blew a huge chunk out of his back and burned him over 40% of his body). No one could believe he survived. I used to take him breakfast every morning when I was in middle school... he used to sit with the three fingers he had left on the other hand and smoke (I couldn't believe it)... anyway - it was an early lesson for me on not to screw around with electricity!!!

Mr. C lived for another ten years after that, I loved that he treated me like an adult and would share cigs, beer and whisky with me -- if my parents had known....

 

[preilly44]

We interviewed several companies and eventually went with Solar Energy World. They have been great.

Tesla Solar didn't exist yet and we weren't happy Solar City's options at the time.

 

[jacobp]

I used Aurora Energy. They were terrific. But whatever you do, make sure you get SolarEdge inverters and not the typical microinverters solar companies sell. The SolarEdge inverters will provide you with far better efficiency. And no, I am not affiliated in any way with Solar Edge.

 

[AlecBee]

I used SolarGaines in Cockeysville in late 2015 (my house is in Montgomery County). Their prices were competitive with others, and I chose them because their financing didn't require a second lien on the house. The panels themselves are used as collateral for the loan. Send me a PM and I can give you a lot of info from my research, plus the efficiency data that I've collected in the 2+ years of running solar on my house.

 

[AlecBee]

By the way, I'll also tell you about the "Job In Jeopardy" rate that SolarCity quoted me after I'd told them that I was buying from another vendor!

 

[CatB]

Just curious . . . Why are tiles not an option?

Tesla Energy (f/k/a Solar City) solar tiles are not available for another year (or two...), at least on the east coast.
I have been looking for other manufacturers (for integrated photovoltaic building materials, or some such acronymized thing), but not seeing anything that looks as nice as TE solar tiles, and don’t know about those other companies - advice and suggestions appreciated!

 

[CatB]

Thank you everyone. Will dig into all this soon

 

[Skipdd]

Tesla Energy (f/k/a Solar City) solar tiles are not available for another year (or two...), at least on the east coast.
I have been looking for other manufacturers (for integrated photovoltaic building materials, or some such acronymized thing), but not seeing anything that looks as nice as TE solar tiles, and don’t know about those other companies - advice and suggestions appreciated!

There is a house in Silver Spring directly across from Brookside Gardens that appears to have solar tiles for part of its roof. It's new construction and the tiles are flush with the other roofing and look like glass roofing shingles. Not as nice as the Tesla shingles, but much more aesthetically pleasing than big glass panels. Am not really in the market to do this in our current house or I'd go knock on their door to get the info on who they used..

 

[CatB]

I just hired an electrician to do the wiring and the bypass switch to the roof and I did the rest with a couple of helpers.

...

Within 5 years system was cash positive (give or take), once you factored in the tax incentives.

Progress report: agonized for hours, talking to Tesla and one other installer (who I met at an EV meetup, who is recommending Sunpower panels that have integrated emphase - and this looks like good advice) - but my price for 10k panel system (without re-roofing or battery backup, one of which I definitely need - last windstorm tore off a shingle that then flew AGAINST the wind to scrape the frunk on my new Model 3 - still in mourning on that; and given I’ve lost electricity twice in 6 months - both times for at least 12 hours, the former is a maintain-sanity issue for me) is >$45K out of pocket. Which is about 20 years to cash positive (based on bidders’ calculations that do include tax incentives).

@Xenoilphobe - did you do your own site survey and engineering? I have very limited (think Habitat for Humanity) experience on roofs, but my contractor (who has given me a good price estimate on new roof here, and did great job on my old townhouse) has installed solar at his cabin in WV, so I’m thinking he can do this. But basically, that makes me the contractor/engineer...

And I’ve heard you need a “single invoice” for going solar, or you won’t get the tax credit. How did you do that? I’m trying to figure out how to get Tesla Energy to subcontract to my contractor (which is nuts) just to get to a single invoice. But now I’m thinking - if I take down trees in the back (Have to come down - too tall, spindly, crowded, dropping branches, oak leaves corroding copper roof over an addition that will not be getting solar, etc.) - can I include that in the cost of going solar?

Thanks in advance for any advice, opinions, not-an-advice (props to investor threads for that inside joke), or moral support...

(And p.s. yes, i do love trees and will plant more - just better, more size-appropriate trees, further from the house and I will not crowd them so they can individually flourish)

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I did not have a single invoice, damn those costs seem high. What is you per watt cost for everything

 

[DFibRL8R]

Progress report: agonized for hours, talking to Tesla and one other installer (who I met at an EV meetup, who is recommending Sunpower panels that have integrated emphase - and this looks like good advice) - but my price for 10k panel system (without re-roofing or battery backup, one of which I definitely need - last windstorm tore off a shingle that then flew AGAINST the wind to scrape the frunk on my new Model 3 - still in mourning on that; and given I’ve lost electricity twice in 6 months - both times for at least 12 hours, the former is a maintain-sanity issue for me) is >$45K out of pocket. Which is about 20 years to cash positive (based on bidders’ calculations that do include tax incentives).

@Xenoilphobe - did you do your own site survey and engineering? I have very limited (think Habitat for Humanity) experience on roofs, but my contractor (who has given me a good price estimate on new roof here, and did great job on my old townhouse) has installed solar at his cabin in WV, so I’m thinking he can do this. But basically, that makes me the contractor/engineer...

And I’ve heard you need a “single invoice” for going solar, or you won’t get the tax credit. How did you do that? I’m trying to figure out how to get Tesla Energy to subcontract to my contractor (which is nuts) just to get to a single invoice. But now I’m thinking - if I take down trees in the back (Have to come down - too tall, spindly, crowded, dropping branches, oak leaves corroding copper roof over an addition that will not be getting solar, etc.) - can I include that in the cost of going solar?

Thanks in advance for any advice, opinions, not-an-advice (props to investor threads for that inside joke), or moral support...

(And p.s. yes, i do love trees and will plant more - just better, more size-appropriate trees, further from the house and I will not crowd them so they can individually flourish)

I don't think there is any requirement for a single invoice to claim the credit. Certainly a DIY job you would be able to claim materials sourced from different vendors etc.

I love trees also but solar panels are better for the planet. Trees only sequester carbon until they die, then it gets released into the atmosphere (fast through a fireplace or slow through a termite's digestive process). Trees are nice to look at and do "scrub the air" of pollutants which is nice too but cutting down a few to improve your solar system is ok. This thread is an interesting read on the topic:
Planting a Tree is almost entirely symbolic.... or aesthetic...

 

[David.85D]

Just had a smaller system installed by Sustainable Energy Systems to supplement a 7 year old system.

The pre-incentive pricing was around $2.80 a watt. And I got all black “architectural” grade panels to please the HOA for that price.

The post above seems to be $4.50 per watt which is very high for today’s market. Of course it does depend on a lot of factors.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Progress report: agonized for hours, talking to Tesla and one other installer (who I met at an EV meetup, who is recommending Sunpower panels that have integrated emphase - and this looks like good advice) - but my price for 10k panel system (without re-roofing or battery backup, one of which I definitely need - last windstorm tore off a shingle that then flew AGAINST the wind to scrape the frunk on my new Model 3 - still in mourning on that; and given I’ve lost electricity twice in 6 months - both times for at least 12 hours, the former is a maintain-sanity issue for me) is >$45K out of pocket. Which is about 20 years to cash positive (based on bidders’ calculations that do include tax incentives).

@Xenoilphobe - did you do your own site survey and engineering? I have very limited (think Habitat for Humanity) experience on roofs, but my contractor (who has given me a good price estimate on new roof here, and did great job on my old townhouse) has installed solar at his cabin in WV, so I’m thinking he can do this. But basically, that makes me the contractor/engineer...

And I’ve heard you need a “single invoice” for going solar, or you won’t get the tax credit. How did you do that? I’m trying to figure out how to get Tesla Energy to subcontract to my contractor (which is nuts) just to get to a single invoice. But now I’m thinking - if I take down trees in the back (Have to come down - too tall, spindly, crowded, dropping branches, oak leaves corroding copper roof over an addition that will not be getting solar, etc.) - can I include that in the cost of going solar?

Thanks in advance for any advice, opinions, not-an-advice (props to investor threads for that inside joke), or moral support...

(And p.s. yes, i do love trees and will plant more - just better, more size-appropriate trees, further from the house and I will not crowd them so they can individually flourish)

I did do my own site survey - I face directly south (back of house) and have a perfect setup for max solar gain. The hardest part was making sure to hit a roofing beam to ensure that the racking system was setup properly. Once that was done it was similar to legos and keeping them square with the next panel. It really isnt that hard once the wiring is completed to the panel. I hired two helpers who helped bring the panels up on the roof and helped bolt them down. Took me two days to install about 40- 255 watt grid tied micro-inverter panels. I looked at SunPower, but they didn't want to sell me the panels independently. I would do it again on my next home.