Solar Energy

Xtant12

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So I have seen all these posts for free government no money down installation for solar panels. I actually filled out the page for more information, the called me back and we talked for a bit. They did a payout of my house and where they would put the panels. we did a internet/phone call and they showed me the break down. The said with average usage for the last year I would be making 87 percent of the energy I use with the 25 x 360w solar panels. I would also be able to add energy to the grid if I make more then I use. Now they said I need a credit score for more then 630 to get the government free no money down program. Something just doesn't seem right. Does any one know about this program and have any additional information?? I don't want them to run my credit until i'm sure im not going to owe a ton of money. One thing I thought was cool was a official partner of them is Mike Holms. He is even on the web site.
 

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Why only 87%? I’m getting a 103% system installed in less than a month.

Are you talking about a lease? They do 20 year lease systems on either a fixed or escalating rate for zero down. Thing that sucks about that is you don’t get the SREC credit or federal tax break of 30%.

I bought my system and get a special bridge loan that allows me to wait for my SREC and federal loan to use it as a down payment, so essentially i still have no money down
 

Xtant12

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May 31, 2007
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Why only 87%? I’m getting a 103% system installed in less than a month.

Are you talking about a lease? They do 20 year lease systems on either a fixed or escalating rate for zero down. Thing that sucks about that is you don’t get the SREC credit or federal tax break of 30%.

I bought my system and get a special bridge loan that allows me to wait for my SREC and federal loan to use it as a down payment, so essentially i still have no money down

do they offer different packages? I want a 103 package!
 

Flyn

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Why would they need a credit score if they are giving you something for free?

They want to sell you the panels and put you on payments so they need your credit score.

The free part probably comes in because of years of energy savings.

Sounds like pretty scummy sales tactics.

Ask them straight out why they want your credit score and how much you are going to have to pay each month.
 

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They need your credit score because they don’t want to waste their time if you can’t get a loan for the cost of the system.

To the OP: you really need to find out if you are buying the system or leasing it. There’s advantages to both but you need to be aware what you’re getting into. Also, both can be had for zero down using the massive incentives in IL and federally.
 

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Also, solar geeks is just the name of the company selling the brand that you’ll be getting. Kinda like a Chevy dealer sells chevys, but is independently owned. Find out what brand of equipment you’ll actually be getting. 360 watt panels are the “good ones” but you’ll want to know if they are monocrystallyne or not, and if you have microinverters or 1 big inverter.

The company I went with (sunpower) has the best looking panels and are able to run the wiring through the roof and put equipment inside so I don’t have a bunch of ugly conduit running on the outside of my house. That was a big selling point for me
 
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do they offer different packages? I want a 103 package!

So comEd has a restriction of 110% output for the last year of your usage. It’s lot a law or anything, they just won’t approve the interconnection permit if they think you are gonna be producing too much electricity. Basically they want you to use everything you’re making. My original plan was to do 110% but it was denied by comEd and put down to 98%. But we did a new plan for 103% and it was approved. Now let’s say I get another electric car and my usage greatly increases.... I can scale up my system after a year (assuming I have the roof space) by getting a new interconnection permit.

Only reason I can think of why your system was created in the 80’s% is maybe your roof real estate isn’t as ideal as mine and they couldn’t physically fit the panels needed for 100% on your roof. I have a completely shade free roof with no interruptions facing south/southwest at almost the perfect azimuth for our lattitude. So I got lucky.
 

Xtant12

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May 31, 2007
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Also, solar geeks is just the name of the company selling the brand that you’ll be getting. Kinda like a Chevy dealer sells chevys, but is independently owned. Find out what brand of equipment you’ll actually be getting. 360 watt panels are the “good ones” but you’ll want to know if they are monocrystallyne or not, and if you have microinverters or 1 big inverter.

The company I went with (sunpower) has the best looking panels and are able to run the wiring through the roof and put equipment inside so I don’t have a bunch of ugly conduit running on the outside of my house. That was a big selling point for me

Sun power was the ones I was told I would get. I'm going to back out i'm sure. I'm not trying to finance anything. I pay for day care, that's enough!
 

Fish

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Why only 87%? I’m getting a 103% system installed in less than a month.

Are you talking about a lease? They do 20 year lease systems on either a fixed or escalating rate for zero down. Thing that sucks about that is you don’t get the SREC credit or federal tax break of 30%.

I bought my system and get a special bridge loan that allows me to wait for my SREC and federal loan to use it as a down payment, so essentially i still have no money down

So comEd has a restriction of 110% output for the last year of your usage. It’s lot a law or anything, they just won’t approve the interconnection permit if they think you are gonna be producing too much electricity. Basically they want you to use everything you’re making. My original plan was to do 110% but it was denied by comEd and put down to 98%. But we did a new plan for 103% and it was approved. Now let’s say I get another electric car and my usage greatly increases.... I can scale up my system after a year (assuming I have the roof space) by getting a new interconnection permit.

Only reason I can think of why your system was created in the 80’s% is maybe your roof real estate isn’t as ideal as mine and they couldn’t physically fit the panels needed for 100% on your roof. I have a completely shade free roof with no interruptions facing south/southwest at almost the perfect azimuth for our lattitude. So I got lucky.

I want to say one of my coworkers ended up talking to one of these companies to do a lease. It was IIRC a 20 year lease that locked his comed bill to something stupid low and no money down. Ill have to ask if he went through with it.
 

Xtant12

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I want to say one of my coworkers ended up talking to one of these companies to do a lease. It was IIRC a 20 year lease that locked his comed bill to something stupid low and no money down. Ill have to ask if he went through with it.

Yeah, so here is the thing. Say ( I'm doing an example ) your system makes 1000 k/w a month.

You use 800, then 921, but the way it was told to me is that if you go over what your system makes, it builds up and at the end of the year your billed from comed for going over and its at what ever rate electric is at. No payment plans, they want it all. If you use less and they got power from you in the grid then they cut you a check.
 

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They won't cut you a check. They'll credit your account accordingly and it'll be per month. It won't accumulate to an end year "This is what you owe/we owe" kind of thing. If your system puts in more than you use, comed should credit your bill for that month. If you use more electricity than what your system puts in, then you're charged for that usage at the going rate.
 

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Sun power was the ones I was told I would get. I'm going to back out i'm sure. I'm not trying to finance anything. I pay for day care, that's enough!

Theoretically though, you wouldn’t have an electric bill so it evens out and after a few years works out in your favor (at a 100% system). Sunpower is the best panels though. I’m getting mine through “Certasun” which is a company out of buffalo grove
 

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I want to say one of my coworkers ended up talking to one of these companies to do a lease. It was IIRC a 20 year lease that locked his comed bill to something stupid low and no money down. Ill have to ask if he went through with it.

The lease is cool because you don’t worry if something happens to the panels (hail, neighbor kids baseball). You’ll always owe ~$15/mo on your electric bill due to the fees and taxes for being hooked to the grid.
 

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They won't cut you a check. They'll credit your account accordingly and it'll be per month. It won't accumulate to an end year "This is what you owe/we owe" kind of thing. If your system puts in more than you use, comed should credit your bill for that month. If you use more electricity than what your system puts in, then you're charged for that usage at the going rate.

Yeah, so here is the thing. Say ( I'm doing an example ) your system makes 1000 k/w a month.

You use 800, then 921, but the way it was told to me is that if you go over what your system makes, it builds up and at the end of the year your billed from comed for going over and its at what ever rate electric is at. No payment plans, they want it all. If you use less and they got power from you in the grid then they cut you a check.



This is called net metering. It runs your meter backwards when you aren’t using as much as you are making. In IL it’s great because net metering is a 1:1 ratio. Other states may only give you .7:1

For example in IL if you make 2000kw and use 1500 you’ll have 500 to use another month like the winter when you won’t be making as much electricity. But in other states you may only get 300 more left to use another month in the same scenario.

One thing you won’t get is a check. But once again in IL it’s not a big deal because you’re literally getting paid for the electricity you make for 15 years upfront. Like I said, I’m getting over $10K for my SREC credit.
 

Flyn

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Yep. With salesmen, you want to ask direct questions without warning. Get them out of their script and make them tell you the truth. Don't let them control the conversation.

Personally, I don't use deceptive or pushy methods but I know about many of them. If you say "yes" to a few easy questions, next thing you know you have a pen in your hand because they have gotten you used to saying yes.

I had some free time today and clicked into a robocall. The Indian woman tried to work her way through her script about their "credit card savings" and I stopped her cold by asking her several pointed questions in a row. She couldn't even answer what the interest rate would be. "Uh, between 5 and 0%." What kind of card will this be? Silence. "Visa? Mastercard? Colonel Sanders? She had no answer. She was just phishing for info. I asked her if she liked her job scamming Americans and she hung up on me. Satisfying to make their day a little worse.
 

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Yeah when I talked to the guy again today and told him we probably weren't going to do it. He said stuff to try to convince me, and I caught him say, if we move we could pay out the panels. BOOM, I knew there was a catch .

It’s not really a catch though, he was selling you a lease just like a car. If you want to get rid of it before the term is over, you need to pay what you owe. There are 2 options with the solar lease. You can either pay it out or transfer the remainder to the new homeowner (but that would likely be difficult to find a buyer interested).
 

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Biiiiiiggggg update. Got my system installed on Thursday. Guys showed up just after 7am and were done just before 5. The actual panels didn’t even come out of the van until after 1:00. They seemed to take almost no time to install compared to the electrical and mounts for the panels. I have lots of photos and I’ll try and edit this post to have a brief description of each photo


Here’s the van that showed up in the morning, I found it amazing that it held everything
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Here’s my panels waiting inside the van
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Starting to take the tools onto the roof.
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Most of the morning was spent with the electrician running conduit inside my house and 2 guys on the roof installing this mount system on the roof
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Here’s the backside of the panel. That silver box you see in the top right corner is the Microinverter. Some other systems use 1 large inverter mounted on the side of your house, but this system uses an inverter on every panel. For those that don’t know what an inverter is, it converts the power the solar panels make from DC (the kind in batteries) to AC (the kind your house uses). There are many advantages to using microinverters as opposed to a single large inverter but one of the biggest is aesthetics as you can run the power wires differently and don’t need large boxes on the side of your house. But also is function, as individual inverters allow each panel to operate independently so even if there is shade on 1 panel, every other panel operates at 100%
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Here’s the lift they used to get the panels to the roof. There are 2 panels on the lift in this picture. They weigh about 50 lbs each. And as you can see they are pretty large
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The panels seem to just quickly snap and bolt in as these are the only shots I have of them putting them up. Those 2 guys worked quick!
IMG_1047.JPG
 

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Here is where the wiring passes into the house. And as far as I could tell, the only penetration of the roof. I saw the flashing they used and I’m confident we won’t have leaks, plus there is a 10 year warranty for leaks

IMG_0553.JPG

Here’s the realistic view any passers by would see walking along the path. I don’t think I’d consider it an eyesore whatsoever. In fact I think the installer was proud of his work and was snapping a photo himself when I took this picture
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The finished product. We arranged the panels in the seemingly odd pattern to optimize space in the future if we were to ever need to add more panels. I only wish I would have had the guys take down the old satellite dish that is unused.
IMG_1052.JPG

So here’s a comparison of some other types of panels and mounting. As you can see, it’s the older style panel (polycrystalline) that have that dark blue, large crystal appearance. These panels are less efficient so you’d need more of them to power your home. Also they are on a different mounting system that is more visible and the wiring is run in conduit across the surface of the roof and along side of the house. While this works great and will still power your home, there are other options
Image1541985337.545078.jpg


This is like the setup we got. Monocrystalline panels are more efficient so you need less of them and have a very even black color. Also the mounting system and wiring are hidden.
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This is the monitoring unit, connected by Ethernet, WiFi, or cellular. Sends all data about power usage from grid and PV system to a phone app and web portal.
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