We are currently in the beginning stages of looking for a new house. Yesterday we drove around the area we are interested in looking at some of the houses currently on the market. I’m sure that by the time we are seriously looking those particular places will be gone. Several of them had solar panels installed. This got me curious.
I’m not interested in having a green energy discussion. I don’t care if it’s better for the environment if it’s something I can’t afford. I would like to know from people who have experience with it what the pros and cons are. Things like maintenance, solar contracts, roof life etc. There is probably a lot I don’t know. I do know that a former work colleague had some difficulties selling their house with solar panels because some people don’t want to deal with it.
That is unusual. It is slightly more of a positive than a negative as the electric bills can be presented showing how much is saved every year. The only times I’ve heard of issues is with the panels owned by a company and they just give you a discount.
As to home solar, it works well and lasts for a long time.
They don’t really need cleaning, rain & snow take care of it.
If the panels are installed down to the gutter, snow melts right off.
If there is a section of roof between the lower panels and gutter/edge than you may need a snow rake to clear the panels or just wait for the thaw. Snow rakes are cheap, I bought mine at Ocean State Job Lot for under $30 about 14 years ago, it looks like they’re up to $60 but it is also July.
The panels should have a screen around the edges to keep squirrel out for underneath. Squirrels sometimes decide to gnaw on the wires and thus cause issues.
If the roof is older, the panels can add an extra $5000 to the cost of roof replacement as the panels need to be taken down and put back up after.
If you want an in depth info dump, PM me and I’ll send you my phone number for an easier Q&A.
Where I lived before, (and hosted the Jersey Dopefests) my first set of panels paid off in about 6 years between electrical savings, rebates on the install and green credits. They worked great. The additional set just barely paid off in 9 years and then I sold the house the next year. So maybe not the best idea for me. But again the first set really worked out great.
If you don’t have a battery system, the panels are annoyingly useless during power outages. 11 days without power after Sandy was extra aggravating. I hear the battery systems are cheaper now.
Real world example of summer savings. We have an air conditioned ranch with 5 people living in it and a lot of electronics. Our worst bills ran maybe $80. Nearby was my wife’s aunt who lived by herself in about the same size house, but not a ranch and kept it warmer than we did. Her bills that months was over $300. As electric has gone up a lot since than, the savings can be substantial.
I’ve never had solar and don’t know much about them. But if I were looking at a house w/ solar panels on the roof, I would be concerned about any leaks or damage due to neglect or incorrect installation. I would also want to know when the roof was last installed, and how many layers of shingles are on the roof (assuming shingles are on it).
If you don’t have, and don’t plan to ever purchase, an EV, then you don’t have to factor that in.
If you do ever intend to have an EV, you might want to confirm that that are enough panels/batteries to make charging your car at home straightforward.
I have solar panels on my roof. No issues or complaints. But this anticipates something I was going to say:
The situation with solar will be highly dependent on local circumstances, considering the state and city jurisdiction and perhaps the individual house, per above. In my country and commune (a level of administration halfway between an American county and state), the bureaucracy is easy and responsive, the rebates are generous, and the billing is clear. So I’d enthusiastically recommend getting solar panels … here in Luxembourg. But I don’t think my experience tells you anything about what to expect where you are. Maybe if you have specific questions?
Hmm. I’d break it down into a few separate spheres of concern…
(Disclaimer: I’ve worked on and off in the industry, for resellers, installers, manufacturers, and nonprofits. I’ve never owned my own system — because I don’t own a home — but I’ve designed, configured, evaluated, and installed a few.)
Is there a preexisting contract?
This is the #1 thing I’d watch out for.
If the solar system is owned outright by the home seller (i.e., it’s just part of the house and you would inherit direct ownership of it along with the house), then this isn’t a concern.
BUT if it isn’t owned by the seller, but rather by a leasing company or a bank or whatever, separately from the house… I would stay FAR away from such a setup. It just adds too much legal complexity to the transaction, since you’re basically “leasing” roof space to some other company and might have to honor whatever agreement the home seller entered into previously. Usually those contracts are scams meant to prey on the unwary, and are a bad deal — both financially and legally — to inherit. That’s not always the case, but more often than not they’re bad. Homebuying is complicated enough without worrying about that, so I’d just steer clear of those unless you really, REALLY like a particular house.
If there is ANY sort of non-ownership on the solar system, IMHO you should steer clear of that house. If you absolutely must have the house, I’d at the very least read the contract in detail and maybe get a lawyer to take a look too. You’re probably inheriting something shitty. Don’t do that if you can help it.
Equipment maintenance & failures
You should ask when the system was installed and what the remaining warranty on it is, if any — but note that the companies are unlikely to survive the full term of the warranty.
If the system is < 5-10 years old, you’re probably fine and it’s most likely a net positive. If it’s nearing 15-20 years, you might want to factor the cost of replacement (in a few years) into the purchase. If it’s older than 20 years or so, I would stay away, or else factor the price of immediate replacement into the purchase.
The inverter(s) are the most likely thing to fail. They have a finite lifespan, usually 15-25 years, after which they will need replacement. If the system has a string inverter (it’s a big box that lives somewhere inside the house), it’s easier to replace since you probably won’t have to do much if any roofwork. If the system has individual micro-inverters or power optimizers under each module (or set of modules), an installer will have to individually take them off, replace the micro-inverter, and reinstall the modules. This is quite a bit of work.
The panels themselves (“modules”, in industry lingo) are pretty unlikely to fail, and easy enough to replace or reroute around if one does fail. You generally don’t have to worry about this.
If the system has a battery bank / backup battery, it’s more complicated. If it’s a newer lithium-ion battery system direct from the manufacturer/installer (like a Tesla Powerwall or Generac or SolarEdge) < 5 years old, I would generally consider it a positive and not worry too much about maintenance — the utility it adds in case of a blackout is a pro, as is the ability (in some models) to time-shift your usage to optimize for different electricity costs through the day.
If the system has other side components (monitoring, apps, etc.), well, you can ask for more details, but generally they aren’t a huge concern.
TLDR You must ask about the inverters and see how much life they have. They will need replacement — it’s a when, not an if — at the end of life, so plan accordingly. Batteries are significant too; good when newer, but will eventually need replacement.
Warranties and installer support contracts…
…are unfortunately quite worthless in this industry. Home solar is an incredibly volatile business, with installers, resellers, distributors, and manufacturers always just barely one step ahead of bankruptcy. Chinese price-dumping and government subsidies, combined with tariff uncertainties, adds a lot of volatility.
Personally, I would consider any extended support or warranty contract to be worthless, and plan to pay for the complete out-of-pocket costs for any imminent replacements. It’s likely some or all of the companies involved won’t be solvent in 10-20 years.
Currently, some of the bigger / more reputable manufacturers are SolarEdge, Enphase, Tesla, SMA, Schneider. Those have been around the longest, but are still subject to uncertainties… Enphase is now one of the leaders, but was nearly bankrupt a few years ago. There are also relative newcomers to the market, like Generac in the US or LG or some Chinese brands. Note that these are manufacturers for the rest of the system (not the panels/modules), namely the inverters.
The modules themselves are overwhelmingly manufactured by no-name Chinese brands that pop into and out of existence. They are unlikely to still be around in even 3-4 years, much less any longer than that. That said, the modules are also pretty unlikely to fail anyway, so not a major source of concern.
Labor (installation, roof work, etc.)
Working backward from the age of the system (especially its inverter & batteries), you should also make sure the roof itself is recent-ish. Usually installers would insist on a roof replacement prior to solar system installation if it’s too old, so they are usually pretty close in age. If not, that’s a bad sign — means the home seller wanted to cheap out on doing it “right”, and you’ll be left with the expense of having to remove the solar to replace the roof (and then optionally re-install the solar on the new roof). That’s not a good situation for you to be in.
I would also not count on the previous installer to still be around when it’s time for a replacement. It’d be nice if they were, but many installer companies don’t live for more than a few years. Again, extremely volatile industry.
Why even consider solar?
So with all these risks… why even consider solar? It’s really only a pro if you 1) use significant enough amounts of electricity 2) that can realistically be offset by solar, meaning there is enough sun in your area AND the utility payback rates in that jurisdiction is favorable enough.
2 is the hard part… as solar gets more and more popular, the utility payback schemes get worse and worse. A payback time of 5-10 years is still possible, but it depends on the specifics, like whether the sale grandfathers you into older, more favorable terms.
If you can provide a zip code and the local utilities associated with the houses you’re looking at, you can get better payback estimates online.
Also, “payback” is a bit hard to estimate when it’s just rolled into a house purchase price anyway.
I’d probably look at it like “how much money will solar save me on electricity bills over the next 15-20 years, vs what is the likely replacement cost for the system in that same time period”.
If that area has the potential for frequent outages (from wildfires or a shitty grid, like California or Texas), a battery backup is a nice-to-have, but also an additional replacement expense once the battery degrades — like inverters, they also have a finite lifespan.
It’s a lot to think about.
I think a good rule of thumb is that if it’s a relatively young system and roof (less than 5-10) years old, it’s probably a net positive as long as it’s outright owned by the seller. Do NOT inherit any sort of lease or rental contract. Do NOT buy a system/roof older than 20 years old. If in between, you just have to look at the specifics and use your best judgment…
Oh, and never never never never enter into a solar leasing agreement. They are overwhelmingly scams and bad for both the residents and future home sales. Again, if you’re buying a house, make sure the solar is OWNED by the seller and part of the house sale, not leased by/to a third party.
That depends on their setup, i.e. whether it has a battery backup, auto-switchover, etc. It takes a specific system configuration to be able to automatically fail over to battery power during a grid outage.
Some leasers do offer that as an option.
I would still stay away from leasing. (i.e., if you want battery backup, buy that yourself too).
EDIT: To be clearer: Whether a solar system can be used during a grid outage is usually an electrical & safety concern, not a “will the solar leaser let me do it” concern. Whether a system is owned or leased, it still ties into the same grid as everything else.
There has to be a special configuration for that system to ensure the safety of grid workers during an outage, and almost always a battery system (to act as a buffer between the second-by-second volatility of the sun and your sensitive electronics). It would be very rare to see a solar system that can provide power during an outage without a battery (it’s technically possible, just complicated, fragile, and likely less than legal in many jurisdictions).
Sorry, I edited my post after you already replied.
Basically, regardless of whether you own or lease, you would have to buy special equipment to enable this sort of usage. It’s to protect the grid workers more than you.
You would probably also need a battery system. It’s extremely rare to power a normal house directly from the solar panels without a battery. The grid usually acts like a battery when it’s up and running.
It’s probably not easy to find an installer who would be willing to set you up with something that 1) works grid-tied normally but 2) can directly power AC electronics during an outage 3) without a battery. Such systems do exist, especially when you DIY them, but they’re much less common than grid-tied + battery backup. From a usability standpoint, they also kinda suck… a moment of clouds and everything shuts down or browns out. Much better with a battery pack.
You just charge that normally like you would anything else, and in the event of an outage, you can plug your fridge or laptop or whatever into it directly. No fussing about with fancy solar electronics that way. You can also wheel it away to the refugee center when all hell really breaks loose…
Probably in most places, yes. In my spot down in socal, the long dry period and the generally dusty nature of the area means that I see a benefit of going up once or twice each summer with a hose.
The first time I cleaned the panels they were noticeably dirty and I got an immediate 8 or 9 percent increase in output. The rain wasn’t enough to get the job done because the dirt had baked on over the dry months and just wouldn’t be washed off by the drizzle.
AFAIK you need different inverters for a grid-tied vs off-grid system, so you can’t just switch over. You’d need some complicated set up with batteries and both types of inverter.
We have an off-grid system, so power cuts are not a problem. We do have a big (white) switch to move to using grid power if something fails, and in the winter we top up the batteries from the grid at night when power is cheaper.
I’d just need a big red switch that moves from the power going to the grid to the power going to my house