How a Greenwala User decided to go with Solar Panels - Interview with Duncan Mathison

Hello Wala's - A good friend of mine, Duncan Mathison recently installed solar panels on his home. We got to talking about why he made the decision, who he went with and what the benefits have been so far and it hit me that we should share that with you. So in an effort to make sure that we all learn from each other, here is an interview with Duncan. Please feel free to ask your own questions down in the talk back/comment area.


Tell the Greenwala community a little about yourself and why you decided to go solar?
We are a family of four including two teenagers, a pool, air conditioning and a huge electric bill to match.  When I took a close look at our bill, I realized we were using so much power our bill was hitting the top tier of rates.  Even after a campaign to replace bulbs, install a high efficiency A/C system the bill was not going away.  While I am sure the folks at SDG&E are nice, enough already. (Plus we were feeling pretty guilty about an out-of-control carbon footprint!)

I also knew I had a perfect setup for a solar installation - a south facing roof!

How did you come to the decision? Who did you go with and why them?
I had been following solar technology for a while and knew it was both proven and reliable.  I know two people who had installed systems and it was clear they were thrilled with the results.  With amazing rebates and tax incentives I decided this was the year to take a hard look.  I did the usual drill of getting three quotes and picked a company named REC Solar (http://www.recsolar.com).  I judged them for their knowledge, price, attention to detail throughout the quote and in particular, their integrity.  I asked them specific questions to “shortcut” the installation to save money.  They offered alternatives but made sure I understood the tradeoffs.  Other vendors said, “Uh-huh, you bet, sure thing, no problem”.  Clearly the sales people were not well trained as compared to the REC sales person.  He was a real pro.
 
Would you recommend them to the Greenwala community?
Yes, in a heartbeat.  These guys did a gorgeous job on the installation, everyone was very professional.  No exposed conduit or cabling.  We really worried that the installation would look “industrial”.  We used Kyrocera panels for their low profile and clean look because the panels had to be on the front of the house.  They look good.  The SMA Inverters run very efficiently.  This is a big system so we needed two of them.  I researched their reputation – they are quite reliable.  I heard of one story of a problem, owner said the unit was replaced immediately at no charge.
 
Did you miss anything in the process or did you get it right the first them?
Our roof was old and had some issues. We decided to replace it although we could have gotten away with some repairs.  This meant we spent money on a roof replacement earlier than we intended (about 2 years earlier).  This is because roof replacement is more expensive if you have to remove and replace panels.  Since we would have had to do some repairs now it made sense.   Now life of roof and life of panels is probably about the same: not an issue in my  lifetime.  We also had to upgrade the electrical panel – not that big of a deal.  Other than that, the installation was very smooth, looked better than we hoped and performed better than we hoped.  I love to watch the electric meter spin backwards!

How much was your installation before and after rebates? What was your bill before and after?
The numbers REC Solar gave us to calculate the return on investment are based on the estimated power production that determines the State of California rebate.  Their numbers were very conservative and appear to be about 18-20% below actual performance.  These are similar to numbers to other people we spoke with.  We save about $400/month.  At that rate the system will pay for itself in about 7-8 years.  It appears it will meet between 70-100% of our power generation needs based on actual performance.  August and December are less due to heavy AC use and short days in each respective month.

If someone wants to contact you about your experiences, are you open to connecting with them?

I assume they contact me through the Community on Greenwala - I am of course a member.

Photos of Duncan's installation:

Thanks Duncan!

Chief Wala
Live Green & Prosper