TOP SEVEN MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE WHEN GOING SOLAR (II)

Mistake number five:leasing solar power is a soundinvestment

When you lease your system from a third party, the value of that investment in your solar setup pretty much vanishes. The first thing to understand is that the lender owns the system. This means they're the ones eligible for all the incentives, from the 30% federal tax credit to any local rebates available. Furthermore, you’ll also pay a premium rate to lease the solar panels, which includes interest. When all is said and done, you might find yourself paying nearly twice as much to lease a system as it would have cost you to finance and own the system yourself.

Leasing also makes it more challenging to sell your home, you must transfer the lease through the buyer upon sale or you can pay off the remainder of the lease balance and add that amount to your asking price, but both options limit the pool of potential buyers for your home. There are a lot of ways to finance your solar system, but leasing is recommended the least of all.

Mistake numbersix: not planning ahead

Most panels are warrantied for 25 years. That's a long time to go without any big changes in your life. When people start planning their system, they think about what they need right now at that moment, but not as many people think about how their needs might change in the future. What happens when you have kids, build a new workshop, or buy an electric car that needs charging? You'll start consuming more energy. This is why it’s important to look to the future when designing your system.

Some things to think about:

Do you have space to expand upon the installation if necessary? For example: Let’s say your system takes up your whole roof, what happens when you want to add panels layers but have nowhere to put them? Is your system designed to be expandable?

People often think they can just add more panels without realizing that the other components of a solar system, such as an inverter for example, need to be sized to match. Central inverters have a limit to the number of panels they can support, so it's often not as simple as just adding panels. Micro inverters are a great option to facilitate expansion for grid-tied systems. They work on a one-to-one basis, as each panel is paired with its own micro inverter, and when you want to add on, just pair another micro inverter with a new panel and mount them on to your array for off-grid properties. You should also carefully think about your battery size. Depending on the type of battery and the age, it might not be possible to expand upon your existing battery bank. Lithium battery banks can be expanded but lead acid batteries have limited options for increasing storage capacity.

It’s not recommended to add new lead acid batteries to an old battery bank, because the new batteries start to absorb the characteristics of the old one and essentially age themselves prematurely. Opposingly, lithium batteries are the exception as they have an integrated circuit controlling the charge parameters and the old batteries charge independently from the new ones, so you don't run into the same issues. Lithium batteries come at a higher cost so make sure to discuss these options with the solar tech to ensure that you find the best solution that works within your budget.

Mistake number seven: overpaying for installation

When you start to think about going solar, the first option that comes to mind is a turnkey installation from a national provider like Tesla, Vivint Sun Run or Sun power. They offer an all-in-one solution to design your system, source your parts and install it for you. You can't beat the convenience, but you also pay a premium price for the catered experience. Turnkey installers charge anywhere from a hundred to two hundred percent of the cost of equipment to install your system. For a system worth ten thousand dollars in equipment, they might charge another twenty thousand dollars to install it. Big solar installers need to charge this premium to cover their back end costs, insurance labor, marketing and other expenses required to run their business on a national scale. What many people don't realize is that you can buy a package solar system from a wholesale distributor and install it yourself. You can also work with a local contractor which can save you a lot of money, if you are willing to organize the project and take on some of the easy tasks.

If you decide to take on the project yourself, we also recommend getting multiple quotes before selecting the one you're most comfortable with. Contractors can charge an arm and a leg depending on their specialty and the complexity of the project. Even the slightest rate difference of twenty-five cents per watt can alter the bid by a couple thousand dollars. It's smart to use a service like solar power rocks to compare quotes from local installers and make sure you're getting a fair bed.