Why Grid-Tied Solar Installations Isn’t Your Best Bet

We get asked this question quite frequently: “Do you help with solar tax credit paperwork?”

The short answer is no. We don’t handle the paperwork because we specialize in off-grid solar that does not tie back to the grid, which is what those solar credits are about.

But why? The most important reason is that we serve the Caliente area, and grid-tied solar is simply not the best option for residents of this rural community.

Traditional grid-tied solar installers are in the paper-pushing business. 45% of all fees in an on-grid solar installation goes to paperwork and permits. Companies like Sunrun and SolarCity have a conveyor belt to rubber-stamp paperwork for the typical suburban clientele. However, their approach isn’t the best for rural areas.

We decided to stay out of that paper-pushing side of the solar business* because grid-tied systems don’t allow us to deliver the biggest bang for the buck for our clients and help them build independent resiliency in the face of increasing outages.

99% of mainstream grid-tied solar installations do not work when the power (Edison) goes out. Edison turns off everything, including customers’ ability to generate power from the solar panels, to prevent backfeeding. 

Yet, those rebate-pushing solar companies don’t tell you about the absence of function during outages. In our opinion, that’s just a hair away from being a scam for omitting this crucial fact. 

We received a slew of inquiries during and after the Borel fire. Quite a few folks had dropped $30k post-rebate on rooftop solar, expecting it to work during an outage — but to no avail. They were staring at a boatload of solar panels on their roof, doing nothing (while they paid for generator fuel through their nose). Imagine the frustration.

Can you make these grid-tied systems work during outages?

Yes, but with a cost. If you twist their arm and ask about the outage situation, traditional solar installers will sell you a Tesla Powerwall or equivalent for an arm and a leg. However, most of these power storage solutions charge from the wall (not from solar) and can only tide you over a typical suburban outage that lasts a few hours or half a day. Not the supersized ones we have here that can go on for days.

We’ve seen a setup with cold-start batteries that cost the owner $120k+. Well, if you have that kind of money, be our guest. But all is not lost if you have a grid-tied system and are sick of staring at your PV array during outages while you can’t squeeze a drop out of the socket. Our solution costs a fraction of the $120k price tag. 

And don’t get us started about power purchase agreements (PPAs) — we’ve never heard anyone happy with these arrangements. These homeowners are essentially pimping out their roofs for eternity and beyond so that solar installers and utility companies can leech off the arrangement.

The bottom line:

While traditional solar installers help with the rebate process, and their solutions work for typical suburban homes where outages are short and infrequent, their products are a poor fit for rural communities where resiliency is the primary driver for many to go solar. Moreover, the post-rebate out-of-pocket cost for a mainstream on-grid system is (almost always) substantially higher than the off-grid systems we build. 

For folks already on the grid (which makes it possible to consider grid-tied solar in the first place), our resiliency packages build (well,) resiliency against outages while shaving power bills. 

* So, how do we avoid doing the paperwork? Most of our offerings work under the same regulatory framework that governs the sale of appliances because we don't hardwire the solution into a house’s electrical system. Instead, they interact with the electrical system via a generator inlet (or equivalent). From a regulatory standpoint, they work like a generator you’d buy from Home Depot — for which you don’t need a permit or shoulder the associated fees. We put 45% of paper-pushing fees back into our clients’ pockets.