NJ newbie here! Saying hello!

[flowing]

Ampster yes it is. Thats what I originally wanted to do. Build off-roof.... but was scared away by costs.
If I could fit some panels on the little roof on the side. Or extend that roof two fit 2 rows I would be very happy.

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This is a bit too optimistic. But If I could do it. I think it would make a difference.

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[Ampster]

Structurally that is not that difficult. You have the house for sheer strength. The calculation are going to be primarily for wind. As you found out it will probably involve several trades, a srructural engineer, a contractor/carpenter and the solar company. A cantilever design would be expensive but a short shed roof design supported by a header and posts set in concrete for uplift load could work.in your area you might need snow load calcs as well. A design build contractor with acess to an engineer would be perfect.

[JSchnee21]

All good ideas. But, you'll end up taking a project which was barely cost effective at $3.23 / W and turning it into a boat by the time you are done. You know what a boat is right? "A boat is a hole in the water surrounded by wood into which you pour money."

I'm not in construction, but here in NJ, I've found a good rule of thumb to estimate the cost of trade's people. $1200 per person per day. It doesn't matter whether its electrical, plumbing, roofing, sprinkers, deck repair, fencing -- I've had them all. $1200 per person per day.

Given the proximity of your garages and the need for clearance when pulling in and out, I'd wager your up in the $6+/W territory just to get started. Saving all of that money, investing it, and using it to pay your electric bill for years to come would be a much more prudent investment.

[J.P.M.]

All good ideas. But, you'll end up taking a project which was barely cost effective at $3.23 / W and turning it into a boat by the time you are done. You know what a boat is right? "A boat is a hole in the water surrounded by wood into which you pour money."

I'm not in construction, but here in NJ, I've found a good rule of thumb to estimate the cost of trade's people. $1200 per person per day. It doesn't matter whether its electrical, plumbing, roofing, sprinkers, deck repair, fencing -- I've had them all. $1200 per person per day.

Given the proximity of your garages and the need for clearance when pulling in and out, I'd wager your up in the $6+/W territory just to get started. Saving all of that money, investing it, and using it to pay your electric bill for years to come would be a much more prudent investment.

FWIW, +1. Overall, and IMO only, this is not a good application for PV.

[Mike90250]

Stop it fellas. I've pulled some posts, and if I have to pull more, I'll close the thread and nobody wins

[macaddict]

@macaddict I see that yous install was done via GPE. How close was their estimate to the actual production you have been getting?

Thanks!

Just saw this, sorry for taking so long.

GPE's estimate was 11,284 kWh / year. I created two other estimates, one using the Solar Edge Designer app and gave me an estimate of 12,470 kWh/yr. The other estimate I created was with PVWatts and that one was 11,890 kWh/yr.

In 2018, which was my first full year with the system, it made 11,285 kWh so it was right in line with GPEs estimate but we also had a lot of rainy days. So I would say, at least for me, the GPE estimate was on the low range.

I'm using the PVOutputPro app to visualize my production and as you can see, I ended up -5% from my highest estimate last year. But this year, I'm up 7% since we have had much better weather. Ignore 2017 as that's when I got my system installed as it is a partial year.
Image-1.jpg
Here you can really see the difference. February was horrible last year but this year, I did great:

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[flowing]

So finally installed, not active... But fully installed.