Can you get solar panels fitted for free?

[geek84]

Hi Folks

I have seen a fair few adverts which claim that you can get solar panels fitted for free, and it won't cost you a penny.

Is that true? Has anybody you know had panels fitted free of charge?

I'm sure there are strings attached to it?

Thanks

[SunEagle]

Depending on where you live they may be free, but mostly the advertisements indicate no up front costs but then you have to pay them.

[J.P.M.]

To answer your question: No. The adverts are a scam. Period. Full stop.
You will only get what you pay for or less.
Always read every part of a contract, especially the fine print and do not sign without a thinking over/consult period of at least a few days.
Do not sign anything you do not fully understand.
All this is kind of a no brainer.

[Rade]

I call those the "Door Knocker" marketers. I neighbor of mine went that route; she is on a limited income and was intrigued by the notion of "leasing her roof" and getting an energy credit for the power. Her deal was for the "free installation", the she would get $200 taken off her electric bill in credits and the solar company would get the remainder of what was generated. Her installation has been rife with problems; 3rd party installers with assorted components, and the installing company "sold" her agreement to another broker who has nothing to do with any warranty work shortly after the panels went up. Net: Her system went offline about 2 months after being installed and she spent 6 months dealing with finer-pointing before someone finally came out to effect repairs.

We put out for several professional bids before deciding. The bids all came back with full and partial finance options if we wanted to go that route. I would suggest you go that route if money is tight or credit is uncertain. I have another neighbor who did that; they just bought the house next to us, had a minimal solar installation put on shortly after the closing and had it designed so they can expand when the finances free up. They have been there two years and he's kicking the tires on adding another array.

[Keiichi25]

Joining in a little late, yea, the 'free' part is more of the fact you are going to be part of a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement), which is often going to put you on a contract up to 20 years and the solar system will be, for the most part, leased to you for that time.

During that time, you basically paying a different person for your power, where they promise your cost will be a fixed rate and it should be 'covered' by your usage payment.

The drawback to this is you will not get your tax credit incentive, the company putting it in will and there is a chance that their costs may be MORE than what you were paying before you had solar (Horror stories I got from my coworker with his neighbors who did go solar and is in a PPA agreement contract.)

If you are seriously looking into Solar, you will hear people strongly say 'cash' or get a financing loan. This is so you avoid the other headache that will come if you plan on selling the house before the contract/lease is up. Because the PPA/Lease is considered a 'lien' on your house and the buyer would need to qualify to 'inherit' the system, otherwise, it needs to be taken out, which means a big ding to your selling price.

Depending on where you are at too, you may need to also consider a battery storage system. As an example, Tax Credit for going Solar can be up to 30% (Using California Tax Credit for this number) as long as it also includes a battery system to store excess power. Note - Solar + Battery == More cost upfront, but has the potential of long term savings as the battery system would reduce the pull on the grid at night (As you would be using the battery to power most of the basic electric usage when not getting power from the sun).

One last thing to consider - Planning on making money selling back your excess to the Power Company? Depending on where you are at, the returns may not be as great, as some states, like California, are changing 'buy back' rates for newer installs, where you won't get as much credit in comparison to what you pull from the grid (Like $.001 or less per kW pushed to the grid versus say $.33 pulling from the grid during the off-peak to maybe $.03 per kW pushing to the $.67 per kW pulling On-Peak.)

[geek84]

Thanks for all your responses folks.

Much appreciated.

[Keiichi25]

One additional thing (Coming from a person who just recently went solar) - Do your research.

There are a lot of people trying to sell solar, some of them are going to be the scammers or the 'fly by night' type people.

Read up on your state's consumer laws about solar. California, for instance, has a required thing you have to sign off on before entering into solar, namely, one of the recommendations is to inquire with at least 3 solar companies and that by signing it, you agreed after checking out other groups. Most of them will tell you to 'check off everything' on the paperwork. But in all honesty, do inquire with two other solar companies before you commit to anything to get an idea of what you are getting into and see what they will give quote wise.

Check how long they have been doing solar too. There are some that have been doing it for 15 years or more.

Read up on them as well. For instance, in my area, Sunrun has a sort of bad reputation, despite being a national Solar installer. This is mostly due to them subcontracting installers to do the job, and often times it isn't the 'best'. If the solar installer has their own team, you might have a good chance of holding them to the job.

Also - Consider your roofing - if you roof is old, before you go solar, consider re-doing or checking your roof. Solar installers mostly don't do roofs, and in the case for some, depending on the roof, there is a chance additional concerns may be needed.

A lot of 'gotchas' that people bring up is the fact that solar designs will involve:

• Roof Penetrations - So you may want roofers involved to properly ensure your roof is good for it due to the solar panel racks and/or conduit running from the panels to the solar electrical panels.
• Pre-check your electrical - Older houses may not have the proper main panel to support solar, this in turn, adds more costs due to a panel upgrade. Ideally, your main electrical panel should support 200 Amps and have the breaker space for a double breaker for the solar system.
• Space where the system can go, as well as potential battery storage if you decide to do solar + battery. The preference for most solar installs is place the system close to the main electrical panel and unobstructed as much as possible (Either the wall behind it or beside it)
• HoA concerns - If you have an HoA, got to make sure they are okay with it or make sure you know if you have an HoA and they have concerns.
• Most solar systems designs WITH battery will not take into account heavy draw systems without you specifically requesting that, but that will incur higher costs. Those being:
  • Electric Stoves
  • Electric Ovens
  • HVAC
  • Pool Heater/Pumps
• EV charging - If you plan on doing EV charging, determine the system you are using and what vehicle you are charging with. For example, most systems tie the EV charger to the Solar's battery system. So you can actually deplete your battery if you try and charge any other time than during solar, losing some of your savings in the process. Tesla Powerwall based systems can charge a Tesla using ONLY solar, but only the Tesla Cybertruck at the moment, you have to 'tweak' your charging method for other cars and pick the right time to do it, otherwise, you end up hitting the battery and grid.

The last part was something I learned as I have a Tesla Powerwall 3 with a Tesla EV charger. I have a Rav4 Prime and hooked it up, not adjusting my car's charging ampage. I ended up depleting the Powerwall down to backup level power and drawing from the grid because I started charging before the 'peak' time and using max amp. The most my system could power was 5 kWh from solar, but the EV charger at max amp was going close to 9kWh, thus drawing from the battery while also not at the highest solar peak, thus drawing from the grid to do so.

And lastly, don't expect solar to make you be 'off the grid' completely in most cases. Short of seriously oversizing the system or having a lot of battery capacity with a larger system, you will still need the grid for situations like overcast or low productive-days, especially if your system is sized to 100% of your usage. Decent solar companies are going to shoot to cover your 'normal' usage, but in most cases, that doesn't take into account weather that can and will affect your production, so you can expect to touch the grid once in a while, especially in the fall and winter months.

[Anchyyn]

I’ve seen those ads, too, and it does sound too good to be true. From what I know, there are usually some strings attached, like having to sign a long-term contract or sharing the energy savings with the company. In Ireland, I didn’t find any completely free offers, but there are grants that help reduce the cost. I got my panels from solar panels cork, and the process was pretty smooth. They helped me with all the paperwork, and now I’m saving on my energy bills!