Solar 101

In this article, I will discuss what solar is and why it's important.

How Do We Get Electricity?

Electricity is brought to your home by the utility. 

A generator (Powered by gas, nuclear, coal or other type of plants) “pumps” electricity from the plant through a system of high voltage wires and transformers to come to your home. 

In order to charge you for using their power. The utility has installed a meter on the side of your home. As you use power, the meter spins forward. The meter is read on a monthly basis and you are charged by the kWh. That cost changes often and varies from utility to utility.

A kWh is a measurement we get by how many watts the home uses in 1 hour.

There are typically two types of charges that are measured by the kWh – Delivery & Supply

How Does Solar Help?

We install solar modules like the one you see here. Electricity is created by the module’s cells when the sun’s photons hit the cells. The electricity created by the solar modules offsets and often overpowers the electricity brought to the home by the utility.

Solar saves a lot of money because of something called NET Metering. During most days, when the home is using less power, like when everyone goes to work/school, power created by solar is pushed back into the grid. Then when we come back home, the sun goes down, and we pull that energy back from the grid. Essentially using the grid like a big storage unit

The utility will install a new bi-directional meter to now meter the power going in and out of your home. Your new bill will look something similar to this. 

This shows how much energy you pulled FROM the grid

This shows how much energy you pushed BACK INTO the grid

If we subtract how much energy you took from the grid from the amount of energy you put back, you have a NET of 242kWh that will now be added to your "bank" of kWh credits. This line shows that kWh bank from September had a credit of 1,417kWh.

Now with the added 242kWh… this client now has a bank of 1,659 kWh credits!

Basically this customer did'nt have an electric bill at all (Besides the Consumption charge) and now this customer has a bill of $0.43 and still has a bank of 1,659 kWh to use for the next several months.

How Do I Go Solar?

There are two ways to go solar

Ownership

With owning the system you get ALL of the benefits. 

• Incentives

  • 30% tax credit on the entire cost of the system

    • When you purchase solar, 30% of that cost will come back to you in the following year’s income taxes

  • SREC-II (SuSi) 

    • For every mWh that your system produces, you will get approx. $90. The average home sees about 10 of these a year. 

• Electricity bill savings

• However, there is a large upfront cost. 

• The average system costs around $30,000.00

• The typical payback period for cash system buyers with the incentives is 6-7 years. 

• This can be financed through special solar loans where the cost of the system is not up front and can be paid off over time up to 20 years. 

Third Party Ownership (TPO)

• With a lease or PPA there is no large up front payment. 

• Instead of paying a varying and increasing rate to the utility over time, you will pay a flat consistent rate to the TPO company over 25 years. 

• That rate is typically much lower than the current rate you pay to the utility. 

• However, you do not get any of the incentive benefits as those go to the TPO company.

How is it Installed?

• Solar can be roof mounted or ground mounted

• When its roof mounted we attach rails directly to the roofing structure’s rafters through the existing roof. 

• The penetration is flashed and sealed from any potential water leakage.

• Rails are installed and wiring is run from the main panel.

• Finally the modules are installed and the system is commissioned.

• Once all inspections have passed and we get approval from the utility to turn the system on, that's it!!! Start saving money!

• The system is monitored through an application that can be accessed 24/7

Is There Anything That Can Stop Me From Going Solar?

• You need to have a roof that is in decent shape. Typically less than 10-15 years old.

• We typically do not install on a roof that has a lot of trees that shade the roof for a good portion of the day.

• You should be spending more than $100 a month in electricity, if not, then it may not make sense financially.

• If you are in Atlantic City Electric or PSEG territories, you should check if your grid is blacked out and solar is allowed.