Solar Energy Pros and Cons

  Clean Energy Advocate (CEA):

  Let us help guide you through the process.

Here is what is involved:

• Will it increase or decrease in the future?  Can you reduce your energy requirements with energy efficiency improvements?

  Analysis of your energy usage
• Analysis of your site.  Satellite images provide a good look at available roof or ground areas for array locations.  Do you have a relatively sunny location to place the solar equipment?
• Analysis of financing options.   Is it better for you to pay cash, lease the equipment, borrow the money, or just buy the energy from the solar array on your property?  Can you utilize the available incentives?  We can help you decide what will work best for you.
• Equipment decisions.  Microinverters vs string inverters?  High efficiency solar panels vs standard efficiency?  Roof vs ground mounted panels?  Black frames vs silver frames.   American made vs Chinese vs the rest of the world…what is important to you? 
• Selecting your installer.  We can help you make informed decisions on which installer can best serve your needs.

Sonoma County is leading the way in solar installations. To see a map of solar projects in Sonoma county please see the link below. Please select California, then Sonoma County.

At Solar Sonoma County, we will:

• prepare an initial report for you detailing estimates on costs, equipment, energy and bill offsets, solar economics, carbon reductions, and financing options.

• answer your questions and help you decide your best options.
• put you in touch with 3 of our Qualified Installers, who will arrange to meet with you to give you specific information on their installation processes, costs, equipment selection and financing options.

Things to keep in mind

- Contract: Read the contract documents carefully.  Whether the contract is for the purchase of the system, or it is to lease the system, you don’t want any surprises.

- Learn how the contractor intends on attaching the solar system to your house or land.  How do they seal the penetrations?  How adapt are they installing on the particular roof type that you have? 

- Communicate: The owner, or owner’s representative, should talk with the contractor on a regular basis during the construction, and should inspect the installation to ensure that things are going as planned.  Even if you don’t know anything about construction, common sense can often identify issues before they become problems.

You have made the first important step by reading this page.  But buying a PV system is more complex than most people think.  We recommend that you hire an independent professional to assist you through the process.  You don’t want all of the information you get to come from the salespeople.  Even if you are leasing the system, or entering into a power purchase agreement, where you don’t actually own the system, it is still important to insure that the system is installed with quality.  A professional can help to streamline the process and avoid mistakes that can be costly.  Hiring a professional will almost certainly pay for itself.