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Solar Experiences with Sol-Up

Main Post:

Hi everyone!

My post about my experiences meeting with other Solar companies in my area - https://www.reddit.com/r/Reno/comments/wslfoo/solar_experience_with_other_solar_companies/

This is my solar system which includes the cost and what components I have.

Below is my detailed experience from when I signed the contract all the way to when my solar got activated. The goal of this post is to inform everyone who may be interested or curious about getting solar with this company in Reno, NV, or any area they service! It also includes the crew I worked with on this project with the company's permission.

My Solar Installer Crew, Solar Build, Components, and Costs -

Installer - Sol-Up

Project Manager - Thomas Donoso

Sol-Up Solar Installer - Austin Arreola

Sol-Up Electrician - Elison Crew

System Size DC - 8,360 W

System Size AC - 7,782 W

Solar Panels - x22 MeyerBurger Black 380 W - $9,651.66

Solar Inverters - x22 Enphase IQ8A-72-2-US - $5,525.31

Battery - x2 Tesla Powerwall 2 - $25,191.38

Combiner and Monitoring Box - x1 Enphase Combiner - $816.81

Solar Racking System - Flush Mount Solar Racking System - $2,316.02

Standard Install (Labor, Material, 2D/4P/33BH) - $7,644.88

Engineering (Drawing, Permits) + Engineering Letter for Oversized System - $1,475

Administration (HOA Approval, Net Metering) - $2,260

Main Electric Panel - Span Panel 32 Circuits - $5,697.44

Extras - Pearl Certification/ Military discount $500

Total Project Cost - $60,018.19

NV Energy Battery Rebate for TOU Rate - $3,000

Cost after Rebate - $57,018.19

30% Tax Credit - $17,105.46

Total Cost after Tax Credit - $39,912.73

$/W (Whole Project) before ITC and after Rebates - $6.82/W

$/W (Whole Project) after ITC and after Rebates - $4.77/W

$/W (W/O Batteries) before ITC and no Rebates (Same install/labor costs) - $4.17/W

$/W (W/O Batteries) after ITC and no Rebates (Same install/labor costs) - $2.92/W

$/W (W/O Batteries and Span Panel) before ITC and no Rebates (Same install/labor costs) - $3.48/W

$/W (W/O Batteries and Span Panel) after ITC and no Rebates (Same install/labor costs) - $2.44/W

(Final Update - December 21st)

Ongoing progress and updates with Sol-Up -

July 28th - Site Survey completed. It took 45 minutes - 1 hour. The Sol-Up team looked at my attic, roof, and desired placement of the Tesla PW and SPAN panel in the garage.

July 31st - More questions all answered by my energy consultant. The agreement was signed and sent back to Sol-up.

August 4th - I submitted the Loan Application. Waiting for Sol-Up to send the loan agreement from their end to Loaner.

August 5th - I called my energy consultant to follow up on the solar loan status. I was approved. I requested additional panels on the quote and so my new agreement has to be signed again.

August 9th -11:30 AM - Updated quote received reflecting additional panels and military discount. I also decided differently on my solar loan. I took the higher interest rate instead of the lower rate but with dealer costs.

4:50 PM - I received the new agreement and signed it. Called the main office for the next steps and all my questions about the new agreement were answered.

August 10th - Solar loan Agreement signed. The sol-Up agreement was signed by sol-up.

August 11th - HOA ARC form required by the project coordinator. I had to get neighbor signatures (required by HOA). I sent the required paperwork a couple of hours later.

August 15th - I called the project coordinator to follow up as I have not yet seen any submitted HOA paperwork to my HOA. No answer. I left an email and voicemail.

August 16th - I called my energy consultant. He will check with my project coordinator regarding my follow up and he also mentioned they submitted the required permits.

August 19th - Received a call from my new project coordinator. My previous project Coordinator no longer works there. Had to resend the HOA paperwork to them again.

August 22nd - Sol-up followed up with HOA, but still no response from HOA.

August 31st - Sol-Up followed with HOA again, but still no response from HOA. I checked my HOA website and it actually got approved 4 days ago, HOA just didn't communicate this to us. I immediately sent the HOA approval letter to my project coordinator. Sol-Up is waiting for warehouse confirmation if they have all the materials needed for installation.

September 6th - Followed up with Sol-Up regarding status.

September 7th - energy consultant responded, the permit is still under review

September 13th - project manager responded (came back from OOO), still waiting for permits. The city permit status is pending review still.

September 14th - NV Energy application sent. Application fee paid by sol up, and now under review.

September 21st - NV Energy incentive application approved. The city permit application needs revision as our project manager seems to have submitted an application that shows we're getting Enphase inverters but the specs show solar edge products and they also needed to provide combiner specs. I emailed the project coordinator to make sure he knows we are getting Enphase, not Solar Edge.

Oct 13th - Received a call from the Project Manager to schedule the solar installation.

Oct 14th - Solar Panels, Inverters, and solar wires ran to the Combiner box from the exterior wall, and the combiner box was installed. Started at 11 AM, and finished at 4:30 PM the same day. Just waiting for them to schedule the following installation - Tesla Powerwalls and Span Panel

Oct 25th - Still waiting for the rest of my solar orders (Span Panel and Powerwall). I received a notice of completion from my solar loan, meaning I have a due date for payment in 3 weeks already. I reached out to my project manager and asked him if the installation, at least, will be completed before then.

As per my agreement with them (very important to read all this!!), I can expect this during the PTO wait but not before all installs are complete.

Of course, I contacted my project manager about this. He responded right away about what's the status of the materials they're waiting on.

Oct 27th - I responded and emphasized to him I don't mind the long wait for installation but I do mind having a payment due date already when not everything is even installed yet. He replied back with him saying, "let me see what we can do to make this right, I have reached out to management to see the solution."

Oct 31st - He called me and ask me for a copy of the payment due and he will it send to his management.

Nov 3rd - The project manager called me to set an install schedule. All installs are scheduled for Monday, Nov 7. Expected completion in two days, Nov 9. He also mentioned the check to pay for the first payment has been approved. I thought due to the payment due, they pushed to get the installation done which was fine with me. But they still decided to cover the 1st payment, very surprised and happy about this!

Nov 7th - The install crew (led by their electrician, Elison, who is very knowledgeable and a great person) installed the power walls, span panels, tesla gateway, battery disconnect switch, and needed sub-panels. The next day's plan was to run the wires and conduit in the garage and all the wiring needed and then cut the power off to move all breakers from the original electric to the Span panel. It was expected to snow the whole day too.

Nov 8th - Due to heavy snow, everything was done in the garage (conduit install, wire runs) except the transfer of all breakers to the Span Panel as the original panel was outside.

Nov 9th - Dry but cold day. Elison came in at 8 AM, started prepping everything for the breaker move to Span Panel, and power was cut off at 9 AM. He was done before 12 PM. I went ahead and made sure all the circuits in our house were working. Everything went great w/o issues.

He then started working on registering me an account on Tesla power walls, Enphase, and Span panel! He just needed our wi-fi password to bring the devices online and connected them to my network and started updating them. All the accounts were configured successfully without issues. He then started putting back the circuit breaker labels in the span panel after setting up everything for me.

The best part after all this was simulating the solar and testing them as well as the batteries by putting my house off-grid. I was surprised by how smooth the power cut-over from on-grid to batteries was and how instantaneous I got the tesla notification.

Made me even more excited about getting it all up and running officially!

While Elison was starting to put away all his tools and clean up in the area, the project manager called to ask about my availability for the city inspection this Friday, Nov 11. I was very surprised at how fast that can be scheduled. I actually expected the city inspection to take longer to be done than the utility provider inspection. Of course, we set it up only to get a call back from him again that Friday was not actually possible due to Veteran's day so it got set up to Nov 10, Thursday, instead! The date was set but no time yet though. The project manager assured me that he will let me know in the morning ASAP what time.

Nov 10th - Time was set between 12:30 PM - 2 PM for city inspection. I received this confirmation from the project manager at 8:30 AM. The Sol-Up person came by at 12 PM to do a quality inspection on all the work prior to the inspection. City inspection passed with no issues! I received all copies of the electric diagrams from Sol-Up after. I received an email from the project manager a couple of minutes later about this and was informed to keep an eye out for the utility provider's email to set up an inspection time and date with them as they will need a signature from me. I was told the max wait is up to 20 days from the utility. I hope not!!

Only utility inspection and PTO are left!!

Nov 14th - NV Energy Incentive application status was updated. Waiting for NV Energy to review the application and final approval. Approval says can take up to 10 business days.

Dec 1st - Unfortunately, approval from the utility took longer than 10 business days due to the Thanksgiving holidays, regardless, it has been approved and is now pending utility inspection and installation of new meters!

Dec 8th - The utility inspector came by to inspect the system and install the new meters. Unfortunately, they failed due to the battery setup being wired in reverse from disconnect to the meter socket. Utility inspection has to be rescheduled again after the issue is fixed by Sol-Up.

Sol-Up did fix it 30 minutes after the issue was found and I was told they will take care of it by taking a picture and sending it to the utility for inspection to be rescheduled ASAP.

Dec 13th - I called NV energy to check on the schedule of another inspection only to find out they weren't updated about the issue found during the 1st inspection and that it was already fixed on the same day. I was very disappointed because my project manager assured me they will be updated but it wasn't the case. Regardless, I've informed NV energy that the issue was fixed already and have the inspection scheduled right away. I also informed my project manager of this mistake and they will compensate me by paying my Solar loan bill for the 2nd time.

Dec 14th - I received an email from NV energy that the status is pending utility inspection.

Dec 20th - The utility inspector came by, passed the inspection, and installed the new bidirectional meters for my home and battery! Solar is now up and running! All are good except for my Enphase as it's not associated with the system yet but everything else is working!

I hope the experiences with my installer, Sol-Up, I've shared can give insight to anyone looking to get a solar here in Reno or with Sol-Up Solar company! Sol-Up does offer a military discount too. If anyone has any questions, ask away!

Thank you for reading my post!

I will post images sometime this week!

Top Comment: Definitely not a paid advertisement 🙄

Forum: r/solar

Spoke to my roofer who advised against solar from his perspective, please advise

Main Post:

I was preparing to go solar, but recently had a replacement roof installed - I can't call it "new" because only several pieces of plywood were replaced, the rest are either from the last roof (installed by the same company about 12-14 years ago) or from the roof before that on a home build in 1979. Underlaymennt and shingles all new.

I would very much like to have solar to offset and hopefully zero out energy bills that average around $450/month yearly, with Summer bills right now hitting $650 with taxes included.

The roofer said that he would never put solar on his roof because about 85% of the time they go to re-roof the homeowner's solar company has 'gone out of business' voiding any and all warranties and responsibilities for taking down and putting the solar system back up. I'm told this is common in the industry, often done for government incentives, companies will close and then reopen under a different name.

Before posting solar quotes, I wanted to know if this was a valid concern, as roofs down here in Central Florida average around 10-15 years with shingles, and I couldn't afford going with a metal roof..

Most of the warranties I'm seeing through Energy Sage quotes are for 25 years on panels, which I do believe includes labor, and 10 years on Batteries, more to follow on that, as I have other questions as to how long and how much you can run in your home with a Tesla 13.5Kwh battery or a Franklin 15Kwh.

Bottom line, no way I have the cash, so I'd have to get a loan either through their preferred provider @ 7.5% APR, or attempt to secure one outside or through a HELOC.

I notice that the warranties all expire before the loan completes, and I'm not to thrilled with that, but frankly given my health and circumstances, I hope I'll be here in 25 years, but that would mean outliving my parents by at least 4 years - neither made it to 80, just shy for Dad.

My GOALS are

(1) To not have to keep worrying about increasing costs of energy each year, when we've already added insulation and will be replacing the sun-facing windows of the house. A new HVAC would be good, but it was that or the windows, and windows need to be done before we can address some storm damaged to the front of the house.

(2) Have enough backup power to run Oxygen Concentrator AVAPS, (BiPAP), Refrigerator, Freezer, and some AC if possible. More would be better, but we're not looking to run an oven, though HVAC would be nice.

I don't want to be face with what my roofer said was typically $15K - $18K to hire someone to come and take down the panels and then put them back up after the next roof, which is usually far sooner than 25 years in Florida when shingles are used.

I'd prefer ground mount, which he said if he were to go solar, that would be his preference, however, no room in the backyard, and the HOA will likely fine me into oblivion for putting it in the side of the yard.

So, all that said, I really need help. Everything is going up, except my monthly income, which actually has decreased from prior years,

I'm wanting a Battery mainly for those times when a hurricane or other incident leaves us without power - as well as the fluctuations/drops that occur frequently enough to be very annoying.

I honestly don't know if a 13.5Kwh or 15Kwh will run enough to cover the night, and if these systems are enough to completely power the house during the day. I saw a video that said "Solar Only" during daylight house will only run a very decreased load, and that if you wanted to run your home at night or during a blackout, you'd need something like 6-9 batteries.

I've also seen so "too good to be true" batteries like the Rhino and others from BatteryEvo that claim 21Kwh in a single, $6K unit with inverter.

Anyway, I know this is a lot, but quite literally, my health and future are riding on the right decision. Please help, if you can, and thank you for reading through. Images of my quotes below!

Companies that have provided quotes through EnergySage - Is ES simply a LEAD GENERATOR for them? Costs for each system in compare quotes, and those offering financing usually from the same company @ 7.5% APR Part 1 of the System Details - OVERALL DESIGN Part 2 of the System Details - NUMBER/WATTS/PANELS Part 3 of the System Details - PANELS Part 4 of the System Details - INVERTER and BATTERY Part 5 of the System Details - BATTERY Part 6 of the System Details - TOTAL COST Part 7 of the System Details - FINANCING Part 8 of the System Details - INCENTIVES - We're low income here, so I don't know if these help

Top Comment: There is no responsibility for the Installer to remove and replace your panels for a reroof unless it’s in your contract. Remove & replace is expensive, as putting the panels back on is like a brand new install, just with old equipment. All the penetrations need to be done again. It’s on you to make sure your roof will last the lifetime of the system, or to pay for the R&R. My company charges from $150-$300+ PER PANEL for an R&R, depending on the roof. We make sure to let folks know this prior to contract. And yes, EnergySage is a lead Gen company. I don’t see any details on if these systems will offset 100% of your electrical use. If not, you’ll have the loan payment plus your electric bill to pay. How much power do you use over the year, in kWhs? The dollar amount of your bill doesn’t help unless we know your electric rates.

Forum: r/solar

Tune up solar panel?

Main Post:

I tried to build 4 solar panel + a power control station in a room (it is indeed recognized as power plant room. My dup produced the chip but they seem to never touch the solar panel. Tried to lock them in that room but doesnt work either...can someone please tell me if its a bug or intended?

Top Comment:

I tried it too, did not work for me. I think it's some kind of bug, because the station says it is able to tune up solar panels. But right now it's not working in two of my saves.

Did you already use the whole surface for solar panels?

Forum: r/Oxygennotincluded

Solar Titans can pick up each other's throwing hammers again.

Main Post:

This was an issue when Forsaken launched, and Bungie fixed it not too long after, but with solar 3.0, Titans can pick up each other's throwing hammer melee again, which is kind of fun but ultimately annoying.

Top Comment:

Sharing is caring :]

Forum: r/DestinyTheGame

Has anyone signed up to Solar City / Solar Zero?

Main Post:

I'm keen to sign up to Solar City "Solar Zero" deal, my only concern is it too good to be true.

Pros: Guaranteed cheaper solar power with battery back up. Good for environment and cheaper too.

Cons: Have to sign up for 20 years, if there are fish hooks it could be a big problem.

Has anyone else signed up? I've been looking for a while and it seems to be ok.

Top Comment:

Got them to scope out an installation. Looked at system size and cost they gave in there proposal. Did the maths and it doesn’t work out a very good deal at all. The guarantee has t&c like using less power 5% annually I mean wtf on that alone.

Forum: r/newzealand

Best way to wire up multiple solar panels to multiple batteries? : Stationeers

Main Post: Best way to wire up multiple solar panels to multiple batteries? : Stationeers

Forum: r/Stationeers

help setting up solar tracking? : Stationeers

Main Post: help setting up solar tracking? : Stationeers

Forum: r/Stationeers

Considering Solar - what to watch out for?

Main Post:

I’m finding it very hard to differentiate between solar power suppliers that will rip me off, or suppliers that will install an inferior product in order to not lose out on price. It’s not clear where I can go to find out what I need and what’s genuinely right for my situation.

For those in the know; what should I look out for? Are there any brands or suppliers to avoid? Also, would you recommend the addition of a battery, considering current cost versus benefit?

Top Comment: I'd recommend having a look at SolarQotes . And avoid that mob that use old sportsmen has beens to push their systems, Sunboost I think

Forum: r/australia

Solar expert? Please help!

Main Post:

Hi,

Looking for some advice on if the quote we got is competitive.

21 X 370 watt Sumec Phono (25 year warranty) 6kw SMA inverter (10 year warranty)

$7050

Double storey, single phrase I'm pretty sure on tile roof.

Company is Apollo Solar

Are comparable systems? What was your Price and experience?

Top Comment:

everyone's getting into solar atm.

e.g. https://www.ikea.com/au/en/customer-service/product-support/solar-panels/home-solar-brisbane-pubdcabd5d0

Forum: r/brisbane

13kwh solar for $6500

Main Post:

One of my colleagues told me that she got her 13kwh solar installed for 6.5k. Is that the going rate? I thought solar is much more expensive.

She's based in Sydney.

Top Comment: $1k per Kw seemed to be the rate for good equipment / reputable installer. Lots of more expensive, I feel preying on the industries bad reputation and lots cheaper who are creating that bad reputation. I preferred to go middle of the range and have had zero issues. Had two systems installed in Sydney area.

Forum: r/AusRenovation

Solar electricity installers - recommendations?

Main Post:

I'm looking to get solar PV on my roof. Does anyone have good recommendations? There's a thousand people wanting to sell it to me (including dodgy cold calls), but your experiences would help.

Considering a battery too if it stacks up - probably through one of the VPP groups.

Not sure if this is right flair - it's not a loud bang and hopefully not political so I guess this will do

Update: thanks everyone. Lots of good experiences out there, which is good to see

Top Comment: Solar hub was good

Forum: r/canberra

Solar Panel & Battery suggestions

Main Post:

Hey guys, trying to assist my parents in making a purchase on a solar panel and battery package.

Was wondering if anyone here has any positive experiences with an Adelaide solar provider, if so who'd you go to and what kind of set up did you end up going for?

Cheers guys!

Top Comment:

As the owner of a battery they are great for the feelz but not the economic reals. Make sure to properly look at what a battery will cost and what its actual return could be.

Solar however is awesome. 10/10 would participate in unfair upper middle class welfare again.

Thanks for the upfront and ongoing subsidies renters and the poor. Keep up the good work.

Forum: r/Adelaide