How To Make Decisions On Your Solar Project

This is information about some decisions you will need to make for your solar project.  Use this tool to generate a task list, equipment list, and decision flow documents.

Where You Will Put It?

You need to decide where you will put your solar equipment.

• Stationary

  • Rooftop

    • Angled (e.g., house, shed, cabin, barn, pavilion, cabana, gazebo, etc.)

    • Flat (e.g., building, carport, arbor, pergola, tiny home, shipping container, etc.)

  • Ground Mount

• Mobile

  • Powered (e.g., RV, motor home, camper, van, bus, moving truck, truck camper, etc.)

  • Non-powered

    • Roofed (e.g., travel trailer, toy/car hauler, pop-up trailer, fifth wheel trailer, semi trailer, etc.)

    • Non-roofed (e.g., flatbed trailer, gooseneck trailer, solar trailer, etc.)

Who Will Do The Work?

You need to decide on how much you want to do yourself and how much you want to hire someone else (usually a solar installation company) to do.  If you chose a stationary option previously, you have many more options for getting help.

Services typically include:

• Equipment Purchase

• Equipment Delivery 

• Permitting

  • City Permit

  • Power Company Grid-Tie Approval

  • HOA Approval

• Installation

  • Racking/Mounting Hardware Installation

  • Solar Panel Mounting

  • Wiring

• Financing

• Warranty

• Tax Credit

These service models are referred to as Full-Service, Hybrid (A La Carte), and DIY.

What Equipment Will You Need?

You will need to decide on what equipment you want and how big of a system you need.  You can use the equipment checklist.

Based on the type of system you want:

• Generation

  • Solar Panels

    • Price (e.g., $0.20/W, $0.45/W, etc.)

    • Brand/Warranty (Trina, Canadian Solar, JA Solar, Jinko, Yingli, Qcells, REC, Longi, Aptos, etc.)

    • Wattage (e.g., 250W, 300W, 370W, 400W, etc.)

    • Performance/Efficiency (e.g., 16%, 20%, 22%)

    • Durability (e.g., flexible, tempered glass, etc.)

    • Dimensions (e.g., 67.80 × 44.65 × 1.18 in)

    • Connector (e.g., MC4)

    • Module Color (e.g., Black, Blue)

    • Back Color (e.g., Black, White)

    • Frame Color (e.g., Silver, Black)

    • Faciality (e.g., Monofacial, Bifacial)

    • Cell Type (e.g., Mono, Poly)

    • Type (e.g., Residential, Commercial)

    • Cable Length (e.g., 1200 MM)

    • Quantity (e.g., 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, etc.)

  • Storage/Inversion

    • Grid-Tie

      • ​Grid-Tie Inverter

        • Micro Inverters

        • String Inverter (e.g., SunnyBoy/SMA, Tesla, etc.)

      • Mounting Hardware

      • Wires

      • Combiner Box

    • Off-Grid

      • All-In-One Device

        • Portable Power Station And Power Kits (e.g., EcoFlow, Bluetti, Jackery, etc.)

      • Multiple Devices

        • Off-Grid Inverter

        • Charge Controller

        • Batteries

    • Hybrid

      • Hybrid Inverter (e.g., EG4, Sol-Ark, Growatt, Sungold Power, etc.)

      • Charge Controller

      • Batteries

  • Mounting Hardware

    • Racking Hardware

      • Lumber - $20/panel

      • Strut Channel (e.g., Unistrut, Superstrut, etc.) - $30/panel

      • Solar-Built Aluminum (https://snapnrack.com/, https://unirac.com/, https://www.ironridge.com/, etc.) - $50/panel

    • Clamps (e.g., mid-clamps, end-clamps, etc.)

    • Mounting

      • QuickBolt (https://quickbolt.com/)

How Large Of A System Do I Need?

Some questions to consider when sizing your system are below.

• What will fit in the space you have?

• How many kW do you need?

• How much is your electric bill each month?

• How many square feet is the home or vehicle?

• Keep it simple - small, medium, large - don't overthink it

• A good rule of thumb is 120% if you are doing grid-tie

• Even if you can't get a system that covers all your power needs, it will save money and keep you out of the expensive tiers, so just do what you can afford

How Will You Pay For It?

You will need to decide on what ownership model you want and how to pay for it.

• Own It

• Pay cash

• Get a loan - Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC), personal bank loan, credit card, etc.

• Lease It - lease it from the solar company

• Do a Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) - instead of paying a power bill, you pay the solar company each month

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