Danger Zone in San Diego. Please help.

[JackCheckin]

New member here. I have a lot to learn but I'm feeling like I don't have enough time to do this right and I'm hoping someone could PM me a few contacts to make sure I don't screw this up.
I'm anxious to get a project started and I'm afraid I'll do something stupid in order to improve my chances of making the net metering cut-off. Or am I already too late?
The only bid I'm slightly comfortable with at this point is from one of the big companies in San Diego that is fairly well reviewed on solar reviews.com but the $/Watt is coming in at $4.28 and they won't install until January/February. It is for an 18 panel X 265 (4.7 kW) Kyocera system with a string inverter (concrete tile roof, free of shade). I do have two more bids set up for this week with reputable companies according to solarreview and mentioned in another thread I found showing who san diego members appear to be using but over the phone they all sound very busy and are scheduling installs in Jan/Feb also.
Bottom line - I'm wondering if I've put this off too long to now expect to get a reasonably priced system in time for net metering.
Thank so much in advance for any advice.

[Mike90250]

Welcome,

Check out this forums sponsor http://www.solarreviews.com/ for feedback about installers. (the link shows on the forum home page, and is easily overlooked)

[ulrich]

[...]
Bottom line - I'm wondering if I've put this off too long to now expect to get a reasonably priced system in time for net metering.
Thank so much in advance for any advice.

Whoa! Take a deep breath...

Does SDG&E provide your electricity? If so, they have a status page for the net metering cap: http://www.sdge.com/clean-energy/net...erview-nem-cap

As of today, it looks like they still have 158 MW of capacity before they hit their cap. For reference, the busiest month this year, they approved 16.4 MW. In the first 10 months of this year, they approved 127.7 MW.

You should have plenty of time to make your choice.

[Alanpacbch]

Great information

Whoa! Take a deep breath...

Does SDG&E provide your electricity? If so, they have a status page for the net metering cap: http://www.sdge.com/clean-energy/net...erview-nem-cap

As of today, it looks like they still have 158 MW of capacity before they hit their cap. For reference, the busiest month this year, they approved 16.4 MW. In the first 10 months of this year, they approved 127.7 MW.

You should have plenty of time to make your choice.

Thanks for posting this link

[J.P.M.]

Whoa! Take a deep breath...

Does SDG&E provide your electricity? If so, they have a status page for the net metering cap: http://www.sdge.com/clean-energy/net...erview-nem-cap

As of today, it looks like they still have 158 MW of capacity before they hit their cap. For reference, the busiest month this year, they approved 16.4 MW. In the first 10 months of this year, they approved 127.7 MW.

You should have plenty of time to make your choice.

Probably, but as things approach the 5 % cap, I'd not be surprised to see some weeping and gnashing of teeth, and some price increase as the supply of vendors and their time is oustripped by demand that's either real, or fearmonger generated, or both.

To the OP: There are a lot of informational tools at your disposal, and as Ulrich's example about net metering info, and respiration suggestion make abundantly clear, there for the looking and a few keystrokes. Don't get your knickers in a bunch just yet.

[sensij]

Whoa! Take a deep breath...

Does SDG&E provide your electricity? If so, they have a status page for the net metering cap: http://www.sdge.com/clean-energy/net...erview-nem-cap

As of today, it looks like they still have 158 MW of capacity before they hit their cap. For reference, the busiest month this year, they approved 16.4 MW. In the first 10 months of this year, they approved 127.7 MW.

You should have plenty of time to make your choice.

You might want to scroll down when you look at that link. The report at the top updates daily, and is new, but shows only the total of PTO or city approved installations. Towards the bottom of the page, you can see how SDG&E is tracking if you include the applications for which PTO or city permit approval have not yet been given, leaving only 126.3 MW remaining. Of some interest is the fact that the 607 MW cap increased to 617 MW this month, so there may have been a spike in aggregate demand last month.

Anyway, in the first post of this thread, I've tracked the data for something over a year, and you can see the acceleration in installation rate. I've been predicting the May 2016 time frame for the allocations to run out, which has held steady for several months. The daily update should prove to be a better reference as we get close to the deadline.

Anyway, an early 2016 installation date should still be OK.

[J.P.M.]

You might want to scroll down when you look at that link. The report at the top updates daily, and is new, but shows only the total of PTO or city approved installations. Towards the bottom of the page, you can see how SDG&E is tracking if you include the applications for which PTO or city permit approval have not yet been given, leaving only 126.3 MW remaining. Of some interest is the fact that the 607 MW cap increased to 617 MW this month, so there may have been a spike in aggregate demand last month.

Anyway, in the first post of this thread, I've tracked the data for something over a year, and you can see the acceleration in installation rate. I've been predicting the May 2016 time frame for the allocations to run out, which has held steady for several months. The daily update should prove to be a better reference as we get close to the deadline.

Anyway, an early 2016 installation date should still be OK.

IMO, good info. I wouldn't be surprised if that May 2016 date moves in by a month or so as the scramble starts.

[Alanpacbch]

IMO, good info. I wouldn't be surprised if that May 2016 date moves in by a month or so as the scramble starts.

My first quote last week I was told we needed to get approved by Febiary and make a decision in next 2 weeks due to backlogs. Getting another quote this week. Payback was quite long on first quote.

[JackCheckin]

Thank you all!

[J.P.M.]

My first quote last week I was told we needed to get approved by Febiary and make a decision in next 2 weeks due to backlogs. Getting another quote this week. Payback was quite long on first quote.

$3.50/Watt or less is the going price. Get informed and stay watchful.