The shape of your roof will definitely have an impact, but generally speaking, solar pays for itself in spades.

The other thing to consider is that solar is ideally tailored to your personal electricity requirements, which you won't know for sure until you've been in the house a few months (a year, for a complete picture). You're probably safe installing a smaller system (which is what you usually find on new construction), but you'll likely find it won't cover everything. If you decide to go forward now, just make sure the system is expandable down the line; this is one of many reasons you'll want microinverters as opposed to a string inverter.

Good luck!

Here's the scoop:

It all depends on your usage and how much room you have for panels, but we routinely knock out 100% of our clients' electricity bills.

However, the system will almost certainly be what we call "grid-tied", meaning that you will still be connected to your utility. This is important as solar tends not to work so well at night. So what will happen is you will produce more during the day than you need, pouring the extra power back into your utility and running up a credit, essentially using the utility like a "power bank". You then pull power from the "bank" at night. Note that this may happen on a daily level, or over the year, with your system producing a net surplus some months, and using that surplus in months where production is less.

The upshot is that, while your net consumption of power from your utility over the year may be zero (or close to zero), you will still "need...power from your local power company" in order to compensate for variances in solar production.

In addition, different financing methods may work best with different production goals, due to the way your utility prices the power you use, i.e. in a tier structure, versus how your solar is financed. This is a bit more complicated, but I'd be happy to walk you through it if you want to give me a call - John Cook, (888) 603-4255.

I hope that wasn't too technical or convoluted, but I wanted to make sure you had the facts. Good luck!

Hello John,

STEP 1.  This is a very common for homes with room(s) obove a garage.  Replacing the window (s) in the bedroom  may not solve your entire problem if the glass package you select does not include a high performance  heat reflectant type glass.   Which ever manufacturer you decide, its best to pay the additional cost and upgrade to thier best performance glass.  If you have already invested in new windows then check your paperwork to see if there is a greater performance glass option you can upgrade with for that type window .   This is a simple process and can greatly reduce your Solar Heat Gain for minimal investment.

STEP 2.  Select a certified insulation professional in your area to provide you with a "critical point air seal".  Properly applied by a certified professional at upper and lower rim joists in this room aproximatly  1' in width by 2" in thickness. Air sealing the upper and lower rim is a minimal investment  and provides  a significant and noticable change in comfort with a quick ROI.  Consider this service for the entire home.

Warm regards

Colorado Home Exterior

Solar panels are a great "green" addition to any home. That said, the roof underneath the solar panels is just as important. With an asphalt roof, the homeowner is going to be removing the solar panels to replace the asphalt roof long before the solar (PV) needs to be replaced. This wise choice would be to install a lifetime aluminum energy star rated roof and attachthe PV solar to the new metal roof. When the PV needs to be replaced or removed the roof will still be in service. In fact will last for many years beyond the life of the solar panels. On a different note, if you decide to install solar be sure you have a landing area for the snow slides coming off the panels. It is a little known problem that is just coming to light by the industry. Snow slides coming off a roof with solar can cause significant damage or injury. Be sure to address this issue with your solar contractor.

Get with a local solar company and have them look at your plans.  You may be building a home that cannot work with solar due to your roof pitch, orientation or shade.  Let them give you a site assessment and run the financials based on your available incentives.  You can look them up here:  http://dsireusa.org/

Your federal tax credit is 30% through 2016.  For your state tax credit see http://dsireusa.org/

In Louisiana you can get 30% plus 50% on a system that costs $25,000, so you would get $20,000 here!