PPM Solar is the top solar energy installer in Gainesville

We have performed over 50,000 roof penetrations over 15+ years and had less than 20 roof leak service calls that we immediately addressed. Those roof leaks after installing solar panels have resulted from earlier generations of roof penetration hardware and methodology that have since become more robust, resulting in an even lesser chance of ever having a roof leak event. Remember that you’re covered with our ten years workmanship warranty.

Net Metering availability and terms vary by utility. Investor-Owned Utilities (IOU’s) all offer net metering in the state of Florida. They include Duke Energy, FPL, TECO, and FPUC. Additionally several municipal utilities offer net metering process, but the terms may vary. PPM Solar operates a comprehensive rate schedule analysis tool that will take all of those variables into account and present an accurate solar offset rate schedule and the resulting payback calculation.

Yes, you can sell your power back to the utility, but not beyond what you would typically use on an annual basis. In other words, the solar system size is typically limited to match the consumption profile. However, excess energy generated on a daily and monthly basis is either purchased at the point of production or credited forward, and that is what the terms of the interconnection agreement will dictate. This makes solar system right-sizing that much more important because you cannot monetize excess energy at full rate, as you will not have the option to sell excess energy that you don’t use on an annual basis.

Whether or not you can use your solar panels when the grid is down depends on whether your solar installation has batteries. If your solar panels are connected to a battery storage system, you can still access the electricity generated by your panels even when the grid is down. This is because the batteries store excess energy produced by the panels, allowing you to utilize it during power outages. However, suppose your solar panels are not connected to a battery storage system. In that case, you will not be able to use them when the grid is down since the electricity generated by the panels is directly fed into the grid and can cause damage or injury during repair by the utility company. The system will automatically turn off and come back on with the gird, no action is required bby the homeowner.

There are newer technologies that allow EV’s to be used for home backup, but very few are commercially avaialble at this time. Additionally, Enphase Sunlight system does allow the solar panels to be used without batteries, but there are nuances to every situaiton, please contact us for full information.

Financed: The payback may be immediate if the solar payment is approximately matching the utility bill, a so-called “Bill-Swapout.” In this case, the solar finance payment will remain the same, and the utility rates keep going up and up, resulting in ever-increasing monthly savings for the life of the solar system. It is not possible to estimate a payback on a cash-flow-positive asset, as technically, there was never an initial investment.

Cash Purchase: In the event that a 30% solar tax credit can be monetized, the net initial investment is 70% of the cost. The remaining amount is typically paid for within 6-9 years in a residential application and 2-5 years in a commercial one. It is important to recognize utility inflation as an important part of the ROI analysis. The cumulative nature of electric bills is often overlooked, and a person paying $250/month may not realize that they will pay $116,000 over a 25-year period under just 3.5% utility inflation, or $143,000 with a 5% inflation rate. Solar offers a solution to a problem that we are very used to and is served to us in small doses, making it less noticeable, however if addressed solar carries a tremendous financial potential, and that doesn’t include the property value increase (without increasing the property tax), and other tangible and non-tangible benefits.

There are three main criteria to consider:

Consumption and consumption trends. Accurately establishing consumption can sometimes be challenging and needs to be done accurately with the future in mind. Will there be people moving in or out of the home? Will an EV be purchased in the near future? Is energy storage a consideration? These and many other questions need to be addressed in addition to evaluating the historical usage.

Site Conditions. Based on the site-specific conditions, the efficiency of the solar panels will vary. Those conditions include shading, azimuth, orientation, tilt, and other site considerations. An accurate design is critical to assure that the system is able to achieve all the goals set forth by the project while not oversizing due to the inability to monetize excess power.

Utility considerations and maximizing the payback. Oftentimes, energy use profile and self-consumption will affect the feasibility and ROI and need to be taken in consideration when sizing a system. PPM has advanced tools designed to solve this problem and tweak the sizing to achieve the best financial/production/autonomy ratio for the project.