If you’re a homeowner considering solar, you might be worried that it’ll be too expensive.
Solar panels are a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and use a clean renewable source of energy. But until recently were often financially out of reach for many homeowners.
With electricity rates increasing (every year in the United States for the last 25 years), now is a great time to look at the cost of a solar energy system, and figure out if it’s the right choice for you and your home.
Continue reading as we take a look at the breakdown of how the pricing of a solar energy system.
Planning Your Solar Energy System
We’ll be reviewing our process, but the following should be pretty standard for any reputable, professional solar installation company.
When a homeowner goes solar with Purelight Power, they’re getting more than just solar, they’re getting solar designed for their home and energy needs.
So the first step is having one of our team come out to assess your property. That includes a look at the previous 12 month usage of energy via your power bills, the size, slope, direction and condition of your roof, and if their roof is shaded by surrounding trees or structures during the day.
The ideal location for solar panels are on south and south-west facing roofs, but east and west facing works well too. Surprisingly, how steep your roof is affects how the sun hits it as well, so we assess the slope and pitch.
Finally, the Site Surveyor gets into the nitty gritty of the house. They check the attic and look at the rafters to assess whether or not a roof can structurally support the panels. They’ll also assess the general time left for your roof life, as well as the electrical panel to see if any of that needs to be upgraded.
For this part of the process, costs include the Site Surveyor’s time, preparatory work including things like tree trimming and roof repair, and the time spent on the initial design based on this information.
Costs for Designing a Solar Energy System
After all of that is done and we have some final measurements, we start to build the final design. This includes the amount of panels you would need, the type and amount of inverters you need to move that electricity into your home, racking to attach the panels to your roof, and the permits needed by your city and/or county.
At this point, you might be thinking “awesome, I have a huge roof and will be able to fit enough panels for the whole neighborhood!”
It’s important to know that even the largest roof may have restrictions on where we can place solar panels because of something called a fire setback. Fire setbacks are distances that solar panels must not be placed which are generally a minimum of 18 inches to 36 inches back from the ridge of the roof and require a three foot pathway along one of the edges. This is a standard code for building fire safety.
During this part of the process, the associated cost for your solar energy system include the time and equipment for creating the final design, the cost of purchasing all supplies needed for the system build, and paying for permits required by cities and counties to install solar.
Installing Your Solar Energy System
After everything is designed and permitted, we send out our professional installers to place your solar energy system. They’ll make sure everything is installed properly and up-to-code, with the proper racking, wiring, and panel placement.
Installation usually takes no more than a day or two at most. Then we get in touch with your local utility provider and your city/county to coordinate the final inspections.
Once that is done and inspections are passed, we send our dedicated customer service team to make one last visit to make sure you’re happy, and to show how to monitor your solar system.
Then your solar energy system is up and running, and you’re powering your home right from the roof.
If there is ever an issue with your solar system after installation you’ll be glad to know we have a dedicated Post-Installation Support Team. They keep a close eye on each system that we install. You can always reach them with any questions or concerns at support@purelightpower.com.
At this point, costs associated with going solar would be the Installers time.
Purelight is Your Local and Professional Solar Installer!
Ready to go solar with a professionally designed and installed system? Our local, professional solar experts make your switch to solar simple and affordable!
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