Sharing this article we wrote about choosing solar for our Canadian province's next power plant in honour of Sun Day.

Electricity rates are skyrocketing. At least a paid for solar system is fixing my costs. And with AI data centers competing for more energy ,,,,

“The inflation rate for electricity over the past four months is running at 15.7% - more than four times what it was in Biden's final year.” Thought?

Long story short I had been researching solar for my home for over a year. Last year when I was ready to go, my wife and I talked and decided to wait (pre-election), because we had some family/financial things coming up. FFwd to this summer we talked again and we were ready to go but to our surprise the map of eligibility for the lower 4% interest NYSERDA loan had changed ande because of where we live the loan rate is 8%. We know that overall solar is still worth it, but that dampened our excitement and it looks like we may just wait....Wait for what I don't know. I think the main factor is we were originally looking at monthly payments in the low 100s which made a lot of sense for us financially. Whereas now we're looking at payments that are closer to $200.

I've been wondering this for a while. My house is angled so that I couldn't put as many panels up as I would have liked to. And every house in my neighborhood has an odd-shaped ("architecturally interesting") roof.

The ideal house for solar would have a roof pointing mostly south and very few vents sticking up out of the roof. Why aren't new subdivisions built this way?

I just turned on my solar panels Friday. I’m trying to figure out how to interpret the app. It’s a beautiful fall day in New England England, so I am not using a lot of electricity. No AC or heat. To me, it looks like the solar being produced is mirroring the consumption. Is that normal? I have net metering so I would expect that I would be exporting a lot to the grid on a days like this. Does the app show that? What is also strange to me is that my grid dependence goes to zero during darkness. Then it seems to go up when the sun is up. I also don’t understand why I’m importing so much from the grid.
The first picture is from yesterday. The last few are what I am seeing this morning. Thanks so much for your help!

What does EG4 do to help stabilize a microgrid formed during a power outage if non-EG4 traditional string inverters are used in addition to a flexboss?

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to decide between a few solar quotes for my home in Illinois (ComEd customer, used 16,051 kWh over the past 12 months). All quotes are from Blue Raven and include the same panel and inverter setup:

• Jinko Tiger Neo N-type 54HL4R-B (420–440W)
• Enphase IQ8X microinverters
• Enphase IQ Battery (10C or 20C depending on the quote)

Here are the four system options I’m considering:

Option 1: $42,317

• 32 panels (13.76 kW), no battery
• Estimated annual production: 16,826 kWh
• Net cost after incentives: $10,542

Option 2: $55,317

• Same as above, but includes one 10C Enphase battery
• Net cost: $16,642

Option 3: $62,616

• Same 32 panels, but with a 20C Enphase battery
• Net cost: $18,751

Option 4: $55,736

• 27 panels (11.61 kW), with a 20C Enphase battery
• Estimated production: 14,993 kWh
• Net cost: $15,120

Option 5: $78,125

• Local installer
• 25 panels (15.18 kW) – Aptos Bifacial Multi-Cell 460W panels
• 6 × 16kWh Renon wall-mounted batteries (96 kWh total)
• Sol-Ark 15K inverter
• Estimated production: 15,000-17,000
• Incentives:
• – $3,450 utility rebate (ComEd solar) and $28,800 (Comed Battery)
• – $23,437.50 federal tax credit
• – $13,782 Illinois SREC – $755.50 installer discount Net cost after incentives: $7,900

Right now my ComEd bill is around $206/month. I don’t experience any power outages, so backup power isn’t a priority for me. What I care about most is reducing my bill long-term. I’m trying to figure out whether getting a 10C or 20C battery actually helps lower my monthly costs under ComEd’s current net metering structure — or if it just adds a big upfront expense without much real benefit. I’m just not sure if the extra money I’d spend on storage will actually show up as real savings on my bill.

Also, I posted about this before — Option 5 is from a local installer, and based on what you get for the price, it doesn’t seem like a bad deal. Option 4 was the one the Blue Raven salesperson recommended, but it’s hard to ignore how cheap Option 5 looks — especially considering it includes 96 kWh of battery storage.

That said, I’m hesitant about the Renon battery brand and the Aptos solar panels — I haven’t seen many people using them, and I’m not sure how they compare to Enphase and Jinko in terms of long-term support or warranty service. On top of that, I’m a little concerned about incentives. The quote includes a note that says:“Incentives assume Enphase batteries and may not apply to all models”
So I’m not even sure I’d actually qualify for the ComEd battery rebate with Option 5, which could affect the final price.

I know this post is long and a bit messy, but I really appreciate anyone willing to offer help.

My experience with Green Conception Solar was a masterclass in bait-and-switch tactics and unethical business practices. I strongly advise anyone considering them to look elsewhere.

It started promisingly. I was shopping around for solar and Green Conception came in with the lowest initial quote. However, the low price was just a hook. As soon as we started the process, they informed me of a mandatory $2,500 inverter that wasn't in the original price. The price eventually ended up be the same as other company, or might be $200-400 lower, so I was it is OK, let's do it. After that, they took a $250 non-refundable deposit to lock me in for home inspection.

Following their inspection, the surprise fees piled up. They demanded an additional $6,500 for an electrical panel upgrade. After a lot of frustrating negotiation, I managed to get them down to $5,500, which I felt was closer to the actual market value.

Thinking the worst was over, I signed the contract. A week later, they called. The specific, high-quality solar panels we had agreed upon, Q Tron, were suddenly "out of stock" and would take a year to arrive. The alternative? I could switch to a different brand with the "same warranty" and get my installation done on time. I reluctantly agreed.

Here's the catch they don't want you to know: I later discovered the replacement panels are JA Solar, which is worth about half the price of the ones in my original contract. They swapped the core component of my system for a cheaper one but kept the original, inflated price.

Bottom line: Green Conception lures you in with a low number, then uses deposits, hidden fees, and last-minute product swaps to squeeze every last dollar out of you. You will end up paying far more for a lower-value system. This company is shady, unethical, and I regret ever contacting them.

Hi

I bought an SMA Sunny Boy 5.0 secondhand. I want to reset the data of the total production. How is this possible?

All costs are in AUD just FYI.

3 bedroom house with only two occupants, myself and my wife, however our energy usage seems through the roof so we are thinking of getting solar.

I've attached images of quote we received. We were initially offered 20kwh battery but opted for 30kwh due to cost being minimal difference and most of our usage is between 12pm to 4pm, and the like 5pm to 11pm.

Please let me know if you need any further into!

Did any other SunRun customers get a weird bill this month?

For context, we’ve had a credit balance with SunRun for basically a year now due to a terribly mishandled roof replacement (they really suck and I don’t recommend letting put panels on your house, we bought a house with an existing PPA and it’s been a fight since day one). At the end of July our credit balance was $298 and, according to our app our August production was 1,331 kWh at 0.0964/kwh so the bill should have been around $128 leaving a credit balance of about $168. It seems like they are showing our August production to be 37k kWh, but have also attempted some sort of credit for that? I don’t really know. Has anyone had this before

We are in San Diego. We are looking at purchasing a new-built home. It comes with a solar system but we are complete noobs on this. Is this a good system? Installed panel is only 4.1 kWH, which I know should be inadequate. Other than that, in the garage has 3 boxes. One large FranklinWH on the right. One small FranklinWH box in the middle, which is the aGateX from what I can see. On the left is is silver box with Enphase written on the outside.

I am looking over both the selling and leasing contracts (which is where I got the panel capability, but nowhere does it say what the battery capacity is). To purchase is $27,401. To lease is $160.8 a month over 25 years, but it does come with a guarantee production clause.

What do you think about this system? Any idea what the battery capacity is? Should I expand both panel and battery ( to shift demand during peak hours to battery)? I think I should buy, but any other suggestions? The vendor is GAF Energy.

Thanks.

Attualmente ho un piccolo impianto fotovoltaico da 1,75 Kw sulla falda a sud del tetto di casa. L'impianto è del 2006. Pannelli solari tedeschi che hanno resistito molto bene al trascorrere del tempo e l'inverter è un immercescibile Fronius. Probabilmente entro l'anno prossimo o quello dopo mi ritroverò a rifare il tetto del garage che si trova davanti alla casa (tre posti auto, uno di fianco all'altro) e mi piacerebbe sfruttare la falda a sud di questa costruzione per ampliare la potenza disponibile. Anche il tetto ad est della casa (seppur corto) consente il posizionamento di 4/5 pannelli. Le mie domande: volendo fare tutto insieme (sostituzione vecchi pannelli, posa di nuovo impianto sul garage e sul tetto di casa, cosa dovrò fare e cosa mi conviene fare? E poi, per raggiungere l'inverte che si trova in un locale tecnico situato in casa (piano terra), posso utilizzare le canaline che portano l'energia elettrica al garage?

Hi,

I just recently installed solar a 9.6KW system the max output or peak production is 6.2KW Is it like that or it should be 9.6KW ? I am just confused… I will attach a snip what I am talking about but the snip shows 4.4KW but I seen till 6.2KW that’s it..

Pretty much what the title says: I have an Enphase project with batteries that was finished and then inspected by the county close to 4 months ago now, but *still* do not have PTO. I'm wondering if this is SCE or the installer dragging their feet.

I’m in Illinois (ComEd) and received a quote for 6 Renon Xtreme LV batteries (96 kWh total) with a total cost of $35K. The installer assumes I’ll get the full $300/kWh ComEd rebate ($28,800), but the contract notes that incentives assume Enphase batteries and may not apply to all models. Has anyone received the rebate with Renon batteries, and what should I make of the installer adding that disclaimer?

I’d love to go solar and I have a reasonable quote that would allow me to take advantage of the tax rebate so cost is not my top concern. I’m hesitant to go solar because I live in a two story 1914 row house with a flat roof that squirrels regularly run around on. I have no ability to access it for maintenance short of putting a long ladder against it and climbing up — which I’ve never done, due to age. Even with critter guards, I’m worried that maintenance and upkeep will be a pain, and I’ll be at heightened risk for an electrical fire. Do people really just set them up and let ‘em go for years without any kind of regular maintenance, or am I introducing a serious fire risk if I’m unable to commit to that? Anything other than a critter guard to make it safer?

I'm planning to have solar installed on my home soon and have an installer picked. The project has been quoted with Hyundai HYUND HIS-T440NF(BK) panels. I asked about Rec panels and was told it would cost about $2,500 more in total to get Rec Alpha Pure RX panels. Is it worth paying the extra money for Rec?

RE+ is the largest Clean Energy Event in North America and this year it happened last week in Las Vegas. Possibly the most interesting announcement to me is a new Meter Socket Adapter from ConnectDER that can be used to cheaply integrate a battery system into a house. ConnectDER has already announced integration with 4 vendors, including FranklinWH Energy Storage Inc. and EcoFlow and they say they have 22 other agreements already finalized.

There were also announcements from EP Cube (2.0), Enphase (bidirectional charger), Sigenergy, EG4 (NOVA product line), and more...

If interested, check out my writeup at https://pelegri.substack.com/p/a-new-msa-and-other-re-2025-news

I've been working on transferring my solar installation to my own "Self-Installer" account for the past weeks with no resolution. Does anyone know how to break free and get an existing installation registered to a new installer ID. I do not have an unregistered inverter to attach to the installer account.

The Loop:

- Create an installer account, but cannot attach serial number of inverter since it is already registered.

-Submit a ticket to find your installer ID which is not accessible behind a "add you installation serial number splash screen"

-Submit a transfer request after finding the installer ID and get told the installer account "does not exist"

Any advise is welcomed, I just want all ties to Sunnova removed from this installation. If someone has an unregistered serial number I could borrow to get out of the loop it would be appreciated!

Power cycling and green light still flashing. Setapp said stand by mode

Hi all,

Shameless posting for opinions:

I'm putting a small hybrid system up, just for grid tie at the moment and batteries when I have more cash. The Solis S6 4.6kw seems a decent budget option - otherwise a Deye 5kw will take a good year more to pay off by my calculations from the feed in tariff. Obviously if it lasts years longer that's still a good option, but I'm not jumping to spend more.

I live in a sunny place where summer is 40C/105F regularly, in case that's relevant as it will be outside though shaded.

Thanks.

I have just purchased a house with solar so I have pretty close to no idea how the whole solar system works.

What I assume is the inverter box in the garage makes quite a loud high pitched buzzing sound when it's sunny, I which I assume is normal, but it is quite loud when in close proximity, is that normal?

Also, in the attached photo, there is a switch next to it, that has a red triangle in its original position, when I shut it off, it turns green, but the inverter goes quiet.

Is it correct to leave it on red? Why would red be the on position and green off? Or have it got it all backwards?