California’s communities have some of the highest average sunny days per year (many with more than 250 days a year), so it’s no surprise the state is leading the nation regarding solar energy. There are certainly a lot of benefits to signing up for solar, many of which we discussed in our recent blog about taking advantage of the tax credits, and if you’re looking to buy a new home built after 2020, your home will already have them installed. But if you’re considering undergoing the solar installation process, what does that mean for you? We’ve broken it down to these five easy steps.  

The Solar Installation Process: 5 Easy Steps

1. Research & Site Assessment

Before we discuss the importance of our site assessment, we wanted to address the importance of research. We know that you will be researching multiple companies in addition to whether or not solar is the right decision for you, that’s why we will meet or beat any solar price policy in writing AND offer a lifetime warranty. This is where the site assessment comes in: our team will come out to your property – whether it’s a residential or a commercial property – and assess your estate. This is necessary for a couple of reasons: 

• To gather the information needed to customize a quote that will ensure this project will meet all your solar energy needs.
• To evaluate how much sun your roof receives. This will help us determine what your production will be and evaluate what size system you’ll want to meet your energy needs. 
• To discuss the duration of the project. The length of time for any solar installation process will vary depending on the project.
• providing significant shade or the position of your house (i.e.- it receives minimal sunlight).
• If your roof is too old we may recommend that you address that need prior to installing solar panels. All solar panels are warranted by the manufacturer to produce power for 25 years and will continue to produce power in excess of 30 years as they have no moving parts

2. Determine the Best Solar System

No two properties are the same, which means no two solar system solutions will be the same for those properties. Part of this step is to review your various options and discuss financing and purchasing options for your solar installation. We even offer our own “energy-efficient” financing option to help increase your rate of return. Another option is the Renewable Energy Tax Credit, which won’t expire until December 31, 2021. The good news is that overall, California has one of the better returns on investment for solar panels. However, it is important to act fast because the 22% tax credit you would have received on your commercial solar investment in 2021 is dropping to just 10% in 2022 and onwards. 

3. Agreement

Once we’ve discussed and agreed upon the right solar system for your property, we will create an agreement that contains the quote for our solar installation, as well as any additional specifications discussed during the first two steps. After all, adjustments have been made and you’ve signed the agreement, we’re ready to move forward with permitting. 

4. Permitting

At this point, our team will submit your personalized plan to the property AHJ or authority having jurisdiction in the city or county that your property resides in order to gain proper permitting and approval to move forward in our solar installation process. This step is necessary because we ensure all of our projects to be up to code before we move to our final step. 

5. Installation

Once we have obtained your permit and material and are ready for installation a member from our team will reach out to you to schedule the solar installation around your schedule. Our team takes the utmost care once the installation has begun to ensure everything has been done to meet or exceed code requirements. Once the installation has passed the final inspection, we will submit for interconnection on your behalf and before you know it you will be producing your own electricity and receiving credit for any produced in excess!

Our team will be with you every step of the solar installation process because it’s important to us that you have the best experience possible. We also are more than happy to sit down with you and review all the information you have gathered along the way of the decision-making process and help you make sense of it and make the right choice. We look forward to hearing from you!