This is where the panels will be placed on our property.
We are taking the plunge and going solar! It took us a long time to make the decision but, we finally signed the paperwork and are moving forward with it. We decided to go with a ground mounted array, which will be owned and maintained by SolarCity. We will pay them a lump sum up front and then nothing else for our electricity for the next twenty years. If anything goes wrong with the panels they will take care of it. The one downside is that if our power goes out, we do not get the benefit of having solar power. The panels will be feeding into the grid, so our electricity won’t be directly from the panels, and we won’t be able to use it when the power lines are down. It would be nice if it was an option to use the solar panels as a backup if the main power lines are down. If they had some kind of switch that turned the flow of electricity off to the grid in the event of a power outage, and turned it on for our house. Alas, that is not so!
The SolarCity truck on the day of our site audit.
The first step in the process was to sign the papers with the sales rep. Then they sent out site auditors who came and spent four hours checking out the house and the property to make sure that the site and the house really would work with the panels. We passed the site audit and they marked off certain trees that needed to come down in order for the panels to get adequate sunlight. They also marked off where the array is going to go on our property. We then had the trees removed and cleared in the area where the array will be. We are now waiting for them to come back and photograph the area and take new solar readings. Then hopefully they will begin construction in the early spring. We are hoping that the panels will be in by March or April at the latest, so that we can take full advantage of the long (hopefully sunny) days in the spring leading up to the summer solstice.
Once the panels are in place, they should cover 100% of our electricity usage. If we go over the amount that they can cover, then we have to pay a per kilowatt amount, but we are pretty confident that we will be able to stay within the allotted amount. Stay tuned for more as we continue in the process to go solar!
