How Solar Works - Photovoltaic

This method converts the sun’s energy into electricity. Solar cells, or photovoltaic cells are often silicon-based pieces of material that absorb the sun’s light – not warmth as in a thermal application. Solar energy excites the electrons in the solar cell and electricity is produced. Solar cells are often combined in solar panels and numbers of panels linked to produce greater power.

How much money will I save on my electric bill?

Will solar increase my property value?

Will my homeowners association allow me to put solar on my roof?

Will the surrounding trees be a problem?

What is the best orientation of my roof?

Does it matter what type of roof I have?

What size solar electric system do I need?

How long does a solar system take to pay for itself?

How long will my solar electric system last?

What is the warranty on your installation?

What does Solar Impact mean by “Turn-Key”??

Is there any system maintenance required?

Can the homeowner sell power back to their utility?

What are Renewable Energy Certificates (REC)s?

Will a solar system provide power during an electrical power outage?

Doesn't it take a lot of energy to produce solar system?

What is the GRU Solar Feed-in Tariff program and why will GRU PAY ME top dollar for power produced by my solar electric system??

What’s in it for me?

Why Solar Impact?

How do I get started?

 

How much money will I save on my electric bill?

It will depend on the size of the system and your "site efficiency", meaning how efficient is your roof at capturing the suns energy. A typical 5kW system (5,000 watts) will produce approximately 600 kilowatt hours per month. The average U.S. home uses about 1,200 kilowatt hours each month, so a 5kW system would reduce your monthly utility bill by 50%

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Will solar increase my property value?

According to the Appraisal Institutes “The Appraisal Journal” of October 1998, the substitution of renewable energy systems for purchased utility services will raise the value of your property by a multiple of twenty times a dollar of avoided utility cost per year. In short, if your PV system makes $1000 of electricity per year, your homes value increases by $20,000. To read the report go to:http://www.ongrid.net/AppraisalJournalPVValue10.98.pdf

This means that your home would increase in value immediately by about the total net cost of the system. If you plan to sell your home, the buyer of your home will be able to afford a higher monthly mortgage payment because of the energy savings produced by solar system. In addition, realtors agree that in this challenging real estate environment, any feature that gives your home a competitive advantage over other homes will help your home sell faster.

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Will my homeowners association allow me to put solar on my roof?

Florida State Statute 163.04 clearly states that homeowner associations are expressly prohibited from disallowing a solar electric system to be installed. (Please ask us for a copy of the statute.)

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Will the surrounding trees be a problem?

Unless there are tall trees in the SE to SW window of your sites location, tree shading should not be significant enough to prevent you from exploring solar options. A rule of thumb is to have no shading from 10AM to 3PM. Since the sun is higher in the horizon during the summer, tree shading usually provides more obstacles during the winter than in the summer. Solar Impact can provide a complete site analysis to determine the exact shading and impact that any trees will have on your system.

Most people seldom see 100% full-sun conditions. If you are not getting full, bright, shadow-free sunlight, then your PV output will be reduced. If you are not getting bright enough sunlight to cast fairly sharp-edged shadows, then you do not have enough sunlight to harvest much useful electricity. Most of us actually receive 80%-85% of a “full Sun” (defined as 1,000 watts per square meter) on a clear sunny day.

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What is the best orientation of my roof?

The best roof orientation is SE to SW with South being the best. SE to SW orientations will result in only a slight annual energy reduction of 2% to 4%. Even due West or East orientations are workable, but you can expect anywhere from 12% to 18% less production than a Southern orientation, if you have no shading issues then adding a couple more solar modules to your system size will compensate for these losses. The best roof pitch or tilt angle is 15° to 45°, with only 2% to 4% loss compared to the "perfect" pitch. Even a flat pitch will only result in about a 10% annual output reduction; however, we recommend to never have a

flat array due to major soiling issues that will require unacceptable maintenance schedules and reduction of the system life.

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Does it matter what type of roof I have?

Yes and no. Yes in that different roofing materials require different methodologies which can impact the systems installation costs. Never allow amateurs or un-experienced contractors with these roofs to penetrate a torchdown (membrane) or flat roof, only experienced professionals should ever work with these difficult roofs. If your roof will need to be replaced during the next ten years we recommend that you either replace it before having your systems installed or replacing it now. All roofs can be installed with solar with flat and wood shack being more difficult and standing seam metal and composition being easier.

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What size solar electric system do I need?

The recommended size of your system depends on your power consumption. If you want to completely offset (replace) your current electrical usage (purchases) from the utility with a solar electric system, the first step is to review your annual energy consumption which can be obtained from your utility bill. If you design an energy efficient home and use energy efficient appliances and lighting, you can reduce your electricity usage dramatically. The typical home system ranges from 5,000W to 10,000W, or 500 to 1000 square feet of solar modules.

How much do these solar power systems cost? It depends on your electrical usage and your service area. For example a 5kW solar system in Gainesville would remove the majority of a $100.00 per month electrical bill. Winter months are a little less and summer months a little bit more.

A 5kW Grid-tied system costs approximately $21,000 to install after the 30% Federal Investment Tax Credit. If you were to purchase this solar power system as a business, besides the 30% Federal tax credit you would receive accelerated depreciation on the balance. Of course, this would be different for each person and tax bracket, and should be examined by your tax professional...but you get the idea. We're looking at a 3-7 year break-even and a positive cash flow for 30 years. Another benefit here is solar power systems are exempt from property taxes, a good thing to remember when the tax man cometh.

A solar electrical system protects you from future rate increases and allows you to “fix” your utility rates for the next 30+ years. Systems are designed to lower—or in many cases eliminate--your monthly electric bill

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How long does a solar system take to pay for itself?

This depends on a number of factors including your current cost of electricity, the rate structure of your electrical service, the incentives available to you, and the cost of money on your investment. When paying cash, a typical residential system may see a simple payback in 8-12 years. If you are financing the purchase of your solar system, you may see immediate positive cash flow or you may initially see a slight negative impact on monthly cashflow when factoring the cost of the loan against the initial savings. As electrical rates increase, and with your loan payment staying fixed, you will eventually see positive cashflow, a break even point, and then a positive rate of return. Financed systems typically either see immediate positive cashflow or will attain positive cashflow within three years or so.

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How long will my solar electric system last?

The main component of a solar system, the solar modules, are typically warranted for 25 years but have a design life of over 40. There are modules still operating today that were manufactured in the 1970's. The inverters are typically warranted for 10 years. It is not certain how long they may last beyond their warranty period. A conservative set of assumptions when considering the long term financial performance of your system is to figure the performance at 30 years with the replacement of the inverters at year 15. The inverters may represent roughly 5-10% of cost of the system depending on system size, configuration and system installation cost.

However, keep in mind that PV modules are seeing only six to eight hours of active use per day, so we may find that life spans of 60-80 years are normal. Cells that were put into the truly nasty environment of space in the late 1960s are still functioning well. The bottom line? We’re going to measure the life expectancy of PV modules in decades - how many, we don’t yet know.

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What is the warranty on your installation?

We guarantee your solar panels for 25 years, your power inverter for 10 years, and our workmanship for 5 years

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What does Solar Impact mean by “Turn-Key”??

Solar Impact will handle every aspect of the project for you, from the system design, filing of the permit paperwork, installation and the final inspections. Solar Impact is proud to offer a comprehensive turnkey package to every customer to ensure that installing a solar power system is an easy, pleasant experience for you.

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Is there any system maintenance required?

It’s almost laughable how easy the maintenance is for PV modules. Because they have no moving parts, they are virtually maintenance free. Basically, you keep them clean. If it rains irregularly or if the birds leave their calling cards, hose the modules down. Do not hose them off when they’re hot, since uneven thermal shock could theoretically break the glass. Wash them in the morning or evening. For PV maintenance, that’s it.

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Can the homeowner sell power back to their utility?

Yes, through "net metering" any excess electricity generated will spin your meter backwards which has the effect of selling your excess power to the utility at a full retail rate. On a monthly basis, you pay only the "net" of what power you used. If you generate more power than you in a month your utility company will forward your excess solar energy credits to be used during the next month. This allows any excess energy generated in the summer to be used during the winter when there is less solar energy and usually higher energy usage.

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What are Renewable Energy Certificates (REC)s?

As a solar power generator you are producing power from a renewable energy source -- the sun - which benefits the nation by reducing our reliance on non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels. State governments quantify those benefits in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates (REC)s with one megawatt hour of energy from a renewable source generator being worth one REC.

Currently in Florida, there is no Renewable Portfolio Standard but we believe that will change in the near future. The RECs are part of an incentive program enacted by many states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, to encourage the development of renewable source energy suppliers. You can learn more about the Portfolio Standard and RECs in your state by clicking on the link to your state above and looking under "Rules, Regulations, and Policies". Under this program, each state enacted Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS)s which set the minimum percentage of a utility company's power that must be produced from renewable sources. Because there is not enough renewable source suppliers from which the utility companies can buy power directly, they are allowed to buy RECs on the wholesale electricity market to make up the difference needed to satisfy state requirements.

Although there is a ready market for RECs, in reality it is difficult for small producers to sell their RECs outright on the open market because generation can't be registered in units less than 1 REC. Therefore, most small producers sell their RECs through aggregators who combine the kilowatts hours of many small producers and register and sell these as RECs for a commission on the wholesale market.

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Will a solar system provide power during an electrical power outage?

Most grid tied solar electric systems do not provide electrical power during electrical power outages. As a requirement of a grid tied inverter's safety listing, it must shut down in the event of grid power loss. Backup power systems can be designed into a grid tied solar system with the addition of a battery bank and a battery powered inverter. This option adds complexity and expense that should be weighed agaist the benefit of having backup power.

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Doesn't it take a lot of energy to produce solar system?

It certainly costs energy to produce (and mount) a solar panel. Research has shown that after approximately 2 to 5 years the electricity produced by a solar panel equals the energy that was necessary to produce it. This is called the energy pay-back time. Normally, solar panels have a life of 25 years or more.

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What is the GRU Solar Feed-in Tariff program and why will GRU PAY ME top dollar for power produced by my solar electric system??

GRU will pay a premium for your solar electric power for one simple reason – BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO. The City of Gainesville owns GRU and the city decided in 2009 to develop a program that financially incentivizes homeowners and business owners to install solar electric systems.

You pay GRU around 16¢ per kilowatt-hour for electricity. GRU will send you a check paid at 32¢ per kilowatt-hour for all electricity produced by your solar electric system. Simply, this means GRU will pay you TWICE what you are paying them for electricity!

When this program opened in 2009, it booked up quickly. For a number of reasons, it is temporarily reopening. Demand will be strong, and the space will be limited, so don’t miss out!

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What’s in it for me?

Money from GRU: You send money to GRU every month. Imagine getting a monthly check FROM GRU! These checks will average $200-$400 per month, depending on the size of your system. This is over an 18% annual return on your investment. How are your other investments doing?

Increase your home’s value: Nothing adds value to your home like solar. According to industry experts, your system will add $45,000 to $90,000 to the value of your house. Who wouldn’t want to buy a house that comes with a solar cash machine?

Take control of your power bill: After years of stable electricity prices, nobody knows what’s going to happen next. When you own a solar power plant, you no longer need to worry about rising prices!

Protect the environment and our county: Your solar electric system will reduce greenhouse gases and our dependence on foreign fuels. You’ll feel good knowing that you’re making a difference.

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Why Solar Impact?

Most experience – Our customers have more solar electricity than anyone else in North Central Florida. Each system is designed by our Florida licensed professional engineer, who is also certified by the National Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. There are only a handful of these professionals in Florida. Each system is installed by highly experienced, licensed, and insured solar, roofing, and electrical contractors.

Low price – Solar Impact has led the industry in driving down the cost of solar from day one. We love solar and believe that the only way that it will flourish is to make it affordable for everyone.

Extras – Even with our low pricing, we still give you extras that others charge for. You will get a web-based monitoring system so that you can see how your system is doing and it allows us to continually monitor your system to make sure that it is maintaining peak performance.

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How do I get started?

Call Solar Impact today at 352-338-8221 or email us at info@solarimpact.com. By simply providing a recent utility bill, we can deliver a detailed report that shows how much you can reduce your monthly utility bill and what rebates and tax incentives you are eligible for. Call us today!

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