By now, you almost certainly know someone who has residential solar panels installed on their Arizona home—a neighbor, a relative, or maybe a co-worker. They’ve told you about the many benefits of solar, and you’d like to know more. But where should you start? For the uninitiated, navigating the technical aspects of solar panel installation can be confusing. How many solar panels do I need? How much sunlight does my roof need for solar panels? What kind of roof do I need for solar panels?
Let’s take a look at the best ways Casa Grande and Maricopa homeowners can plan to maximize their solar panel energy savings for their homes.
Determine Your Solar Potential
Before you go sticking solar panels all over your roof, you need to determine how much solar energy your home could possibly harness. There are a number of questions you can ask yourself to determine how solar-ready your home and roof actually are and could affect your overall solar power savings.
Are there large trees near your roof that could block sunlight from hitting your solar panels for part of the day?
Do I need a new roof for solar panels? If you’ll need to replace your roof in 5 years, you won’t want to install panels on top of the old shingles.
If your roof isn’t a good candidate for panel installation, is there sufficient space in your yard for ground mounted solar panels?
Do you live in a HOA community? You’ll want to check to make sure there aren’t any restrictions about solar installation on your home.
How Much Electricity Do You Need Your Solar Panels to Produce?
Any solar installation contractor is going to want to know how much electricity your home uses every month. Most often, they’ll be looking for the kilowatt-hours, or kWh, so having copies of your electric bills will come in handy. When it’s time to design a solar panel system for your home, you’ll want to know exactly how much energy it will likely produce, and how much that free electricity will offset your energy bills by.
Don’t forget to think about the future. The solar panels for your home will last a long time—do you anticipate the energy usage in your home dramatically increasing down the road? Will you be building a home addition? Planning on buying an electric vehicle? Factor those variables in your solar planning.
How Much Will I Save With Solar Incentives and Financing?
In the long term, a home solar system is one of the smartest and energy-saving measures a homeowner can take. As long as your solar panels are still working–and they will be for decades to come–you’ll be benefiting from free power!
But solar panels do require an upfront investment. Luckily, there are many incentives and low-interest solar financing available to help defray the higher upfront costs. The federal solar tax credit can save you as much as 30% off your installation costs, and local Arizona solar tax credits can save you even more.
Leave the Estimating Behind, and Get an Actual Solar Quote
Planning for home solar energy is a smart early step for interested homeowners, but once you’ve gathered some additional information, you’ll want to reach out to a solar provider near you for an actual quote. As the leading solar contractor in Arizona, Energy Solution Providers can walk you through all the details of solar installation, from pricing and capacity to the pros and cons of add-ons like back-up solar battery cost.
Don’t want to wait to get a ballpark-idea of what solar might cost for your home? Check out our online solar estimator here, then discuss the results with one of our solar energy experts.