(This is going to be a long and detailed review, so buckle up.)
We first got a solar photovoltaic quote from one of the larger companies in the industry. The quote was fairly reasonable, but the sales rep took sort of a “cookie-cutter” approach, and the system he proposed was not really tailored to our individual needs and wants. (I think it was largely a software-driven analysis.)
Based on a couple of recommendations from neighbors, we then got a bid from NexGen, a very experienced and successful local company right here in Los Alamitos. Eric, the owner of the company, came out and spent a lot of time with us asking about our present electricity consumption patterns and our future needs (since we were installing air-conditioning). He prepared three different proposals: one that would take care of 91% of our anticipated power consumption, one that would cover 100%, and one that would cover 120%.
Interestingly, he advocated the smallest of the three proposals, even though that was the lowest-cost alternative (and the least profitable, from his perspective). He explained that the terms of the Southern California Edison solar power buyback program meant that if we were to generate a lot of extra power and sell it back to Edison, it would take us a long time to recover the extra cost of the surplus solar panels. Thus, it is smarter to have a system that covers most (but not all) of the homeowner’s annual consumption — much better “ROI” (return on investment).
Frankly, I was very impressed with Eric’s candor. It was in his interest to “upsell” us, but he refused to do so, even though I was initially in favor of the “bigger is better” theory.
I should also add that we were impressed with his choice of equipment: he uses EnPhase panels, each of which comes with a “micro-inverter.” By contrast, the larger company’s proposal involved a single “string inverter.” The problem with one big inverter is that if there are performance problems with any one of the solar panels, the entire system’s productivity is either reduced or eliminated. With “micro-inverters,” each panel is essentially independent of the others in the array. (I may have gotten some of this terminology wrong, since I am not an expert, but you get the idea.)
After we accepted NexGen’s bid, their crew came out promptly and did a great job on the installation. We were getting a new roof at the same time as the solar was installed, and the crew worked well with the roofing contractor to coordinate their projects. Eric and his technicians were very responsive whenever we had questions or comments. His chief installer, Zach, was particularly impressive — a real expert.
Just to show this is not a phony “canned” review, I do have one minor complaint – because our home has no attic and no crawl-space, some of the conduit for the solar array had to be strung under the eaves of our house. There was no way to avoid this, but I wish they had warned us in advance that the cables would be exposed.
The same is true of the new solar circuit breaker box mounted on the wall of our house: it is required by the building codes, and it is not small. We will figure out ways to disguise both the conduits and the control panel. But just be aware that depending on how your house is configured, the installation might look sort of industrial.
So far (after a month or so of operation), the solar array is performing at least as well as advertised, and probably better. We have not yet gotten an Edison bill that shows our net usage per month, but the data displayed on our new electric meter is very encouraging — the meter runs backward during the day, even when we are running our air conditioner.
In addition to our photovoltaic system, we also had NexGen install a new set of solar thermal panels for our pool. It is also performing well.
Bottom line: we are very happy that we went with a local but experienced solar firm. They have a great reputation in our community, and they have a strong incentive to provide good service in order to maintain that reputation. I do not think that a bigger company would have been as responsive or as honest. (Plus, with the big firms, you have to pay for all of their advertising and sales expenses — all of that overhead is baked into the price.)