Solar Power - April 30, 2015

Wow, it's been over six months since my last post! I've been meaning to post dozens of times, but, as they say, life happens and some more pressing things need to be taken care of.

After our landscaping project, we added solar panels. We've been considering switching to solar energy for years, but years ago, it was not affordable for us. Nowadays, you can get them at a low monthly fee and get homeowner tax credit when you purchase vs lease the panels.

I've done some research and talked to a few companies and compared their programs. In the end, we opted for SolarCity. I will not delve into what deal we got or how much money we are paying for because our needs are based on our consumption, which may differ from others. What I can say is that we opted for 17 panels, although we qualified for more. We decided to do fewer panels so that when we move in the next couple of years, if we sell or rent out the home, it wouldn't be too costly.

It has been six months since our installation and we have been very satisfied from the initial discussion, to the design phase, installation, and finally activation. It took us only a couple of days from the installation to final inspection and activation. Our SolarCity agent said that was his record one.

What took a while is our back and forth communications with our homeowners' association. Fortunately, I found some helpful articles online about protecting my rights to install solar panels. In other words, they cannot say no to solar panels. I did not even have to wait for their so called architectural review to get them installed. I did my part, I provided them the design, which, they approved two months later! Imagine if I had waited. The better part of summer when solar production is high would have passed!

Anyway, enough of my HOA rant. For the most part, I love HOAs. They look after our best interest and the community as a whole. They also ensure that our properties are well maintained. The only part I don't like is bureaucracy and politics, which, again, I wouldn't delve too much into either. :)

Here's the picture of our home on the right side and a picture of our SolarCity meter.We're still connected to the electric grid as a back-up in case of some kind of malfunction or if we don't have enough power stored to use.  Our system has not failed yet-- knock on wood! We've also been producing enough for our needs. So, I can say with all honesty that we are doing better. Comparing our electric bill from before, it is much better today with solar.

 I would urge any of you to join in and help improve our environment by going solar versus fossil. You can email me if you're interested. I'd be honest, I will get a referral fee if you sign-up with SolarCity through me, but I wouldn't do the talking, I'll let the agent give you the rundown and I can provide you with my personal experience. No BS! Anyway, my email is borlonganventures@yahoo.com in case you're seriously interested. If I refer you, your first month is free!