Solar in Virginia

 Last week the Potomac Watershed Roundtable met virtually. The speaker was Aaron Berryhill who is the Solar Programs Manager at Virginia Energy (the renamed Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy) to reflect the refocus on clean energy and economic development after the recent passing of the Virginia Clean Economy Act that looks achieve 100% clean energy in Virginia by 2050. The Act plans for 16,100 MW of solar and onshore wind power generation by 2050.

Solar energy in Virginia and the nation as a whole is anticipated to grow exponentially in the next decades in response to the carbon reduction policies and laws passing in various states and on a Federal level. The UVA Weldon Cooper Center is partnering with Virginia Energy on the Virginia Solar Initiative. Most solar growth in Virginia has been since 2016  utility scale (>5 MW). Residential and commercial  solar (< 25KW) has been growing slowly as can be seen in the graph below. 

In 2020 renewable resources generated less than 7% of Virginia's electricity, so we’ve got a ways to go.  Virginia does not have any wind-powered utility-scale electricity generation, yet.  Virginia does have some solar power. Although solar PV electrical generation is less than 1%, it is growing rapidly as seen below. The largest share of solar PV generation in Virginia is provided by utility-scale facilities built in the last several years. So we will look at those.

The utility scale solar facilities or "solar farms" as they are more commonly known, require 8-10 acres of land per MW. Since development of utility scale solar began in Virginia about 58% of the land used has been forested land the remainder was agricultural. If Virginia continues on in this fashion between 129,000 and 161,000 acres of forest could be destroyed to achieve our clean energy goals. This will have very broad impacts on local ecologies and the ecoservice provided by the forested land. Solar panels are designed to absorb as much heat as possible (solar energy) will they impact temperature creating heat islands. A solar farm has hard surface coverage over much of the land and can change the hydrology if the water resources and groundwater recharge are not part of the planning process.

When you convert agricultural field to a solar farm, land that would be open for stormwater infiltration and see minimal disturbance until planting is converted to a site that requires year-round accessibility by machines and workers during construction and operation The key issues are the amount of hard surface and change in water infiltration and the amount of stormwater and sediment runoff and subsequent impact on surface waters.

Development of utility scale projects has many steps and challenges. Often one of the two major utilities are partnered with the developer to make it happen and guide the project through the steps.

Beyond permitting, there are local challenges, from siting to storm water management. Virginia Energy estimates that the capacity of existing transmission lines will be tapped out in this decade. Virginia Energy and UVA have jointly launched a Virginia SolSmart no-cost technical advisor program with support from The Solar Foundation to bring solar-specific resources and technical assistance to localities across Virginia to help their work towards the goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. 

Below are the regional projects that are in various stages of development. 

There is a tremendous amount of work and investment that needs to take place to meet the goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. Virginia Energy has resources that could help us along the way. 

10 Years with Solar Panels

I had imagined that solar panels without any moving parts would make free energy from the sun without any problems. However, that has not been my experience. Starting in the second year of ownership I have had an ongoing series of failures of micro inverters, panels or wiring and in the past few years a series of roof leaks as the Black Jack used to seal the racks dried out and failed.

To make matters worse, problems with the system have been hard to address because of the difficulty of finding a capable and willing repair company. Companies are much happier to install systems than repair them, and the cause has not always been obvious to whoever was trying to repair the system. There has been a continual stream of problems that all come down to installation (the roof leaks), wiring, and Enphase micro inverters. The micro inverters seemed to be failing with increasing regularly. During the first five years of ownership, the original installer worked with me to honor his 5 year warranty. He paid for the repairs from a series of fledging installers, but I had no control over the process nor the solutions he chose to implement.

Nothing seemed to solve the increasing number of problems. At the end of year five, the original installer bid me farewell and I was left to my own devises to try and solve my solar issues. Between years five and ten (this past May) I paid a total of $12,782 for repairs though all the Enphase modules were still covered under warrantee.

Concentric (and its predecessor firm) had been doing the solar repairs for me for the last few years and I was happy with their abilities. However, last summer when I had two panels not reporting, they were too busy with new installations to deal with a repair. After several attempt to try and schedule a repair, I decided to call back in the new year when the Tax credit stepped down. By January I had four failed Enphase Micro Inverters. Concentric was finally able to find the time to come out to replace them. The micro inverters were still under warrantee, but the labor to install them was not. Within two weeks of the replacement of the four, I had two other micro inverters not reporting. The lack of reliability has made the Enphase micro inverters very disappointing.

Apparently, Enphase knew this and offered all first generation purchasers (including me) a discount on the newest generation Enphase Modules. I pulled out my records of Enphase module failure and associated expense of replacing the failed modules. I discovered that in the previous four years I had paid $4,040 in labor alone to replace the failed modules which is by the way nearly what the value of the electricity the solar PV system produced over those four years. After several conversations Enphase decided to simply give me 32 micro inverters and a new Envoy unit to tie it all together for free, which was really nice. I paid NOVA Solar, a local installer with good references and at this point over a decade of experience, $5,000 to install the replacement parts. That was four weeks ago yesterday. 

For the first time in years I have all 32 solar panels reporting and functioning normally for the entire four weeks. I am hopeful that the system will be more reliable in the future, but I am weary of getting my hope too high and being disappointed again. Honestly, as troublesome and annoying as they’ve been, my solar panels still make financial sense. My system is just over 10 years old. When I signed the contract to purchase my roof mounted solar system in late 2009 the cost per kilowatt for the Sharp panels I bought was about $6,700 plus permits and installation. However, back in 2009 I was able to obtain a state rebate of $12,000. I also used the 30% federal tax credit which was recently stepped down. The net cost of the solar system in 2010 after rebates and tax credits was $32,578.

In addition, I obtained a property tax exemption in Prince William County (and most counties in Virginia). The exemption is based on the Energy Efficient Buildings Tax Exemption (Code of VA §58.1-3221.2) which allows any county, city, or town to exempt or partially exempt energy efficient buildings from local property taxes. In Prince William County the amount of the exemption is based on the installed cost of solar array. That translated to a savings of $656.82 a year for 5 years. I have one more year of the tax credit.

The largest portion of the return is from something called a SREC, a solar renewable energy credit. A SREC is a credit for each megawatt hours of electricity that is produced, but used elsewhere. SRECs have value only because some states have solar set asides from their Renewable Portfolio Standards, RPS, which require that a portion of energy produced by a utility be produced by renewable power. There are currently no RPS solar requirements in Virginia, thus no value to SRECs in Virginia today beyond the $10-$15 that a RPS credit is worth, though that may change under the new Clean Energy Virginia laws.

When I installed my solar panels, my system was eligible to sell SRECs in Pennsylvania and Washington DC and I registered my system in both markets. The Pennsylvania market has since collapsed, but the District of Columbia passed a law in 2011 which made the SRECs quite valuable. The law prevents out-of-state systems from registering after January 31st 2011, but my system was grandfathered. DC is currently the only under-supplied SREC market in the nation There ae no large commercial solar farms, no large industrial installations. Thanks to the Washington DC SREC market my solar panels have earned $33,329.29 (after fees but before taxes), dwarfing the $11,800 in free energy they have produced. Even with a total of $12,782 I have paid out of pocket in repairs (more than the total value of the electricity produced), the system has paid for itself and I am more than $2,000 cash positive on the project so far with everything working.

The Costs of My Solar

Clean Energy Virginia

Last week Governor Ralph Northam officially launched Clean Energy Virginia,  to direct investment to renewable energy and energy efficiency and help meet the Commonwealth’s goals for clean energy production, which include powering "100 % of Virginia’s electricity from carbon-free sources" by 2045.

“Virginia has a unique opportunity to fundamentally transform the state’s electric grid in ... our COVID-19 economic recovery and drive down harmful carbon pollution,” said Governor Northam. This initiative follows on the recent enactment of the Virginia Clean Economy Act and related solar, wind, and energy efficiency legislation passed in the last legislative session. These clean energy policies require most carbon emitting sources of electricity to be discontinued by 2045, and replacing them with new investments in solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, energy efficiency to reduce overall demand, and battery storage to smooth out energy production by solar and wind versus need timing mismatch.

The Virginia Clean Economy Act accomplishes the following broad goals:

• Establishes renewable portfolio standards.
• Establishes energy efficiency standards. The Act sets an energy efficiency resource standard, requiring third party review of whether energy companies meet savings goals; and creates a new program to reduce the energy burden for low-income customers.
• Advances offshore wind. The Act requires Dominion Energy Virginia to generate 5,200 megawatts of offshore wind generation and prioritize hiring local workers from historically disadvantaged communities.
• Advances solar and distributed generation. The Act targets generating 16,100 megawatts of solar and onshore wind power. The Act requires Virginia’s two largest energy companies to construct or acquire more than 3,100 megawatts of energy storage capacity.

According to U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) Natural gas fueled more than half of Virginia's electricity net generation in 2018. The state's two nuclear power plants supplied about 30% of Virginia's generation. Coal provided most of the rest, but biomass, hydropower, petroleum, solar photovoltaic (PV), and other energy sources also generate some electricity.

The EIA reports that renewable resources generated less than 7% of Virginia's electricity in 2018. Unfortunately, not all renewable energy is carbon free. Biomass fuels generated the largest share of renewable electricity, followed by hydroelectric power. In 2018, biomass fueled more than 4% of the state's total electricity net generation and hydropower supplied under 2%. Municipal solid waste and landfill gas are common forms of biomass used for electricity generation in Virginia, but the largest share of generating capacity is at facilities that use wood and wood waste (paper plant and forestry product waste). All these renewable biomass sources emit carbon, though the Act does not eliminate them. It appears that the language of what qualifies as renewable energy under the Act includes solar, wind hydropower, landfill gas-fired generation and a limited amount of biomass.

The largest share of solar PV generation in Virginia is provided by utility-scale facilities built in the last several years. Although solar PV to Virginia's net generation is very small (less than 1%), it doubled in 2018. Virginia does not have any wind-powered utility-scale electricity generation, yet . A test project, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, is to come on line this year in federal waters 27 miles off Virginia Beach.

As the Washington Post pointed out the Act defines “ total electric energy to mean the electric energy sold by Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power in the previous calendar year, excluding nuclear power generated by plants in service in 2020, and excluding carbon-free (but not renewable) electrical power sources established after July 1, 2030.” This definition allows Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power the flexibility to ensure that they can provide reliable power 24/7 to a future that includes the needs of data centers, and envisioned to have increased demand from the electrification of cars and other portions of the transportation sector as well as electrification of space heating. The nuclear power that provides over 30% of Virginia’s needs will stay in the mix and provide the base power.

Under Virginia’s electricity regulations, utilities are allowed to recover the costs they invest in the grid as well as a “fair rate of return” on equity to customer bills to pay for particular projects. Dominion and Appalachian Power will be permitted to pass along the costs of their new solar, wind and storage projects to the customer base; and sunk costs of any abandoned infrastructure or closed plants can continued to be recovered in full. The State Corporation Commission has estimated ratepayers could see at least a $23 per month increase on their bills by 2027-2030 this includes cost savings from energy efficiency.

Electricity consumption in Virginia is greater than electricity generation within Virginia. The additional power we need is purchased from the regional grid managed by the PJM Interconnection. All but four counties in southwest Virginia are within the PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of electricity in all or parts of 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states plus the District of Columbia. The four counties in southwestern Virginia that are not served by PJM are supplied by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Under the Act at least 75% of all of the energy that counts towards the renewable goal have to come from facilities in Virginia. There did not appear to be hard limits on power supplied from outside the Commonwealth to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity.

Virginia is offering a Clean Energy Virginia Five-Part Webinar Series hosted by Governor Ralph Northam’s Office and the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME). The focus of the webinar series is on the recent legislation. You can sign up for at this link and see what it's about.  The snap shot of Virginia electricity generation by fuel type for March 2020 from the EIA shows the basic challenge ahead. 

Yet More Solar Repairs

Solar Panels have turned out to have regular problems and be far from trouble free. Starting in the second year of ownership I have had an ongoing series of failures of micro inverters, panels or wiring. For two and a half years I struggled to resolve the continual failures of random panels or micro inverters. I ended up having the entire solar photo voltaic system rewired the winter before last. That seemed to solve the problems I had been having for more than a year. However, this spring when I finally had the shingles on the roof that were damaged by the solar repair work replaced, I started once more to have solar panel problems. At the moment I have two panels that are not reporting. I called my solar panel repair guy, the subcontractor of the original installer and he came out to look at the situation.

My relationship with my solar panels is a turbulent one because problems with the system are so hard to identify and address; and there have been problem after problem. The original installation was problematic, the electrical wiring was not correctly done, many of the components used in the installation turned out to be rated for interior use and the system was not set up correctly. Ultimately, I had the system rewired using rain tight fittings, replaced conduit with prefabricated fittings and proper grounding. When they were finally done and the system turned back on I had all 32 solar panels producing and reporting. Just in time for the sunny spring last year.

All seemed well until this spring when I had to have some roof repairs done to repair the damage all that climbing on the roof caused in addition to the damage from the harsh winter. When the roof work was finished, suddenly I had one panel not reporting. The roofer came back and checked the plugs. Two days later the panel was once more reporting, but shortly after that the panel seemed to fail again along with a second panel. I called the solar repair company. They got back to me a couple of weeks later.

After climbing on the roof and examining the system, the repairman showed me pictures of what he believed to be the latest set of problems. Half of the racking system that holds the solar panels on the roof had lifted up slightly. It was probably all the snow last winter. In addition, there was at least one Enphase inverter that had failed. The repair people assumed that the second inverter had also failed, despite having a green light.

So the newest proposal is to Replace & Repair the solar panel racking for ½ of the system, 16 panels, for  $ 3,742. The scope of work is:

• 16 PV panels & inverters will be dismounted to be tested & cleaned
• All L-Feet & associated flashing will be removed & roof penetrations sealed
• New IronRidge Flashing Feet will be installed on an off-set location from original feet locations
• New IronRidge Mid Clamps will be installed to secure PV Panels into new Rails
• All mounting rails will be replaced with IronRidge XR-10 series rails
• In addition, the 2 malfunctioning Enphase Micro Inverters will be replaced.

The charge for the materials for the work are 60% of the expense - $2,242 (Items: $1,892 + S&H:$350)

• IronRidge XR-10 Series Rails
• IronRidge L-Feet with Flashing
• IronRidge 2.0” Mid Clamps
• Electrical Grounding Hardware
• Roof Sealants
• Roof Shingle Flashing

The solar photo voltaic array turns out to need regular maintenance and repairs, and is subject to damage from snow, rain, wind and roofers. There is no certification or license for solar panel installers or repair companies that I can check.  The solar company is working under a valid class A contractor’s license, and have all the proper insurance. Since this is the repairs to the racking system and the lift of the system could be seen in the pictures that they took, it is a safety issue; the solar panels could fall off of the roof and injure someone. This should be addressed as soon as possible. We will move ahead with the repair. Though, I look ahead and see a continual series of repairs. I need to understand at least in my own mind, how I would determine the point I give up. It comes down to money and time.

Though troublesome, my solar panels still make financial sense. The market cost of solar panels and installation has been falling for years, but so have the financial incentives. When I signed the contract to purchase my roof mounted solar system in 2009 (though it was not installed until May 2010) the cost per kilowatt for the Sharp panels I bought was about $6,700 plus permits and installation. These days that cost is about $1,800 and may be even lower. 

However, back in 2009 I was able to obtain a state rebate of $12,000 which is no longer available in Virginia. I also used the 30% federal tax credit which was recently extended and is still available. The net cost of the solar system in 2010 after rebates and tax credits was $32,578. In addition, today there is a property tax exemption in Prince William County (and most counties in Virginia). The exemption is based on the Energy Efficient Buildings Tax Exemption (Code of VA §58.1-3221.2) which allows any county, city, or town to exempt or partially exempt energy efficient buildings from local property taxes. In Prince William County the amount of the exemption is based on the installed cost of solar array and I applied for the exemption and was approved recently. My property assessment will be reduced for five years by the cost of my solar array. Based on the county property tax rate for this year that translates to a savings of $656.82 each year for the next 5 years.

The largest portion of my return is from something called a SREC, a solar renewable energy credit. A SREC is a credit for each megawatt hours of electricity that is produced, but used elsewhere. SRECs have value only because some states have solar set asides from their Renewable Portfolio Standards, RPS, which require that a portion of energy produced by a utility be produced by renewable power. There are no RPS solar requirements in Virginia, thus no value to SRECs in Virginia today beyond the $10-$15 that a RPS credit is worth.

However, my SRECs have value. When I installed my solar array, my system was eligible to sell SRECs in Pennsylvania and Washington DC and I registered my Virginia based solar photovoltaic array in both markets. The Pennsylvania market has collapsed, but the District of Columbia passed a law in 2011 which made the SRECs quite valuable for a number of years. The law prevents out-of-state systems from registering after January 31st 2011 is registered mine well before that. DC is currently the only under-supplied SREC market in the nation, because of the lack of large commercial solar farms and large industrial installations. Washington DC is a city with limited non-governmental buildings and no available private land beyond the reservoirs and Blue Plains waste water treatment plant.

The dollar value of the solar power I generate from my solar panels is worth less than I have sold my SRECs for over the past five years. However, there is no guarantee that my SRECs will be worth anything next year and as more solar power is registered in DC and the penalty price of failing to meet the solar carve out falls the value of my SRECs will decrease. My SRECs potentially have some value until 2025. Once my system no longer has the solar incentives available to it, I will have to reevaluate how worthwhile the system is to maintain going forward, but for now, this just extends the payback time for the system.

Are Solar Panels Worth it?

Last Saturday morning I called the solar repair company in Maryland to come and look at my system, but shortly after that all the solar panels started reporting again. My recent roof repair seems to have caused a problem with the solar array that may or may not have been solved by reseating the plug. However, for two and a half years I had struggled to have my solar photo voltaic system repaired culminating last winter in having the system rewired that seemed to solve the problems I had been having. My relationship with my solar panels is a turbulent one because problems with the system are so hard to identify and address. The solar photo voltaic array turns out to need maintenance and be subject to damage from snow, rain, wind and roofers.

I have had my solar system for almost six years now and I’m often asked if they have been worth it or simply asked if they are great. It turns out that is a very complicated question. I like having solar panels, I feel good about reducing my net electricity use, but I have encountered problems in keeping the system operational and to be honest I look at the costs and the returns. I will hold off judgment until the current problem is repaired, but I assume that I will still feel positively about the system. Let’s judge the system based on the cost and return both then and now.

There are several components to the cost and return of a solar system. The first cost is the cost of the system. The market cost of solar panels and installation has been falling for years, but so have the financial incentives. When I signed the contract to purchase my roof mounted solar system in 2009 (though it was not installed until May 2010) the cost per kilowatt for the Sharp panels I bought was about $6,700 plus permits and installation. These days that cost is about $1,800 and may be even lower. The Piedmont Environmental Council has launched “Solarize Piedmont,” that runs April 5 - June 15, 2016, and has arranged very good pricing on solar systems. Go to pecva.org/solarize, and fill out the sign-up form to get a real estimate of the cost, but I think I could probably have the same system that cost me $58,540 installed for around $19,000 give or take.

That reduction in price goes a long way to make solar a reasonable purchase even with only the Federal and local property tax incentives. Back in 2009 I was able to obtain a state rebate of $12,000 which is no longer available in Virginia. I also used the 30% federal tax credit which was recently extended and is still available. The net cost of the solar system in 2010 after rebates and tax credits was $32,578 today it would be about $13,300 for the same 7.36 kilowatt system.

In addition, today there is a property tax exemption in Prince William County (and most counties in Virginia). The exemption is based on the Energy Efficient Buildings Tax Exemption (Code of VA §58.1-3221.2) which allows any county, city, or town to exempt or partially exempt energy efficient buildings from local property taxes. In Prince William County the amount of the exemption is based on the installed cost of solar array and I believe the county adopted the exemption in 2011 after I installed my system. However, when I was reviewing my property assessment this past winter I thought to apply for the exemption. The County Assessor’s office called me last week to tell me that my application for a solar property tax exemption has been approved and my property assessment will be reduced for five years by the cost of my solar array. Yeah! Based on the county property tax rate for last year that translates to a savings of $656.82 each of the 5 years. Unfortunately, the five year exemption will begin next year. I did not think of applying until after I got  my property tax assessment for this year. That little bonus has gone a long way to keep me feeling positive about my solar panels with the current problem.

As you can see below a large portion of my return is from something called a SREC, a solar renewable energy credit. A SREC is a credit for each megawatt hours of electricity that is produced, but used elsewhere. SRECs have value only because some states have solar set asides from their Renewable Portfolio Standards, RPS, which require that a portion of energy produced by a utility be produced by renewable power. There are no RPS solar requirements in Virginia, thus no value to SRECs beyond the $10-$15 that a RPS credit is worth.

When I installed my solar array, my system was eligible to sell SRECs in Pennsylvania and Washington DC. I registered my Virginia based solar photovoltaic array in the both Pennsylvania and Washington DC market in July 2010 and I can sell my SRECs in the Washington DC market. The Pennsylvania market has collapsed. The District of Columbia passed a law in 2011 which prevents out-of-state systems registered after January 31st 2011 from participating in the DC SREC Market. DC is currently the only under-supplied SREC market in the nation, because of the lack of large commercial solar farms and large industrial installations. Washington DC is a city with limited non-governmental buildings and no available private land beyond the reservoirs and Blue Plains waste water treatment plant. 

The dollar value of the solar power I generate from my solar panels is worth less than  I have sold my SRECs for over the past four plus years. However, there is no guarantee that my SRECs will be worth anything next year and as more solar power is registered in DC and the penalty price of failing to meet the solar carve out falls the value of my SRECs will decrease. My SRECs potentially have some value until 2025.

Based on my analysis my solar panels will have paid for themselves in 7.5 years (a new system will pay back in 10-11 years. With the expected life of a solar system at 25 years that could make the purchasing of a solar system worthwhile depending on your coast of capital. In a year and a half from now, my solar panels will have paid me back and all the power they produce, the property tax exemption for five years and any remaining SREC’s I sell are all free. A good deal overall, even with my system problems and repairs, I guess after all, they are “worth it.”

Solar Panel Failure

My solar power output on a cloudy morning-note the failed panel

On the back of my house facing almost dead south is a roof mounted 7.36 KW solar array consisting of 32 Sharp 230 watt solar photovoltaic panels and 32 Enphase micro-inverters. We decided to go with Sharp Solar PV panels because when I made my purchasing decision in 2009 Sharp had manufactured 25% of the solar PV installed at the time and had been in the business for over 40 years. Sharp had continued to invest in the research and development of photovoltaic solar panels at that time, but since has suffered crushing competition by less expensive manufacturers. The Sharp panels put out almost 10% more wattage using the same square footage than many competitors and allowed me to fit the 7.36 kilowatt array on the main roof section avoiding any shadows from vents. The Sharp panel sold in the United States was manufactured in their Memphis Tennessee plant, which in 2009 had produced over a million panels.

The final point in their favor was the Sharp modules met the intent for the “Buy American” provision in the stimulus bill which provided the funding for a renewable energy grant I obtained from Virginia. When I purchased my solar panels I also choose the Enphase micro inverter system. Though this system was more expensive than a single power inverter, it does two things for which I was willing to pay. The first is that the power cables running down the side of my house, albeit inside a pipe, are 120 current instead of 240. The second advantage to the micro inverters is that the energy production of each individual panel can be checked on the internet.

I have gotten in the habit of checking my solar panels production numbers every month when I get my power bill. I am on net metering with NOVEC my power cooperative to sell my solar renewable energy certificates. I managed to register my system and get grandfathered into the Washington DC SREC market before it was closed to out of city systems. My installation web page allows me to see the current energy produced by each of my 32 panels every minute, every hour, daily, weekly, monthly and the cumulative total power output. After two months of checking several times a day, I only spot check the solar panel midday on the day when my power bill arrives or after storms to make sure all the panels are performing optimally. The reason I chose Enphase was to be able to easily identify a problem with the system. Little did I know that barely three years after the installation I would be facing repair issues.

Shortly before the New York Times reported emerging problems with some solar installations in a story about solar panels covering a vast warehouse roof in California failing less than three years into their expected 25-year life span, one of my solar panels appeared to fail. While I was attempting to have my solar system serviced a second panel appeared to fail. The company I hired to install the system was no longer in the solar business- without renewable energy rebates and a viable solar renewable energy certificate market, there was not enough business to sustain a solar installation operation in Virginia. They were focusing instead on energy audits, but they referred me to a Maryland and Washington DC based installer, Lighthouse Solar.

All solar PV panels degrade and slowly over time produce less power, however there appears to be a spreading of failures at two to three years. Solar photovoltaic panels have no moving parts so that the operating life of the solar panels is largely determined by the stability of the coating film, the quality of finish and fit of the panels and the proper sealing of the edging and connectors. Quality control in manufacturing is essential to have a solar panel that will last 25 years in sun, rain, sleet and snow.

The quality across the industry (and not just on my roof) has been brought into questing by the rising number of panel failures being reported in the media, though I could find no statistics. It is not just the less expensive Chinese solar arrays that are failing, the California warehouse failure reported in the New York Times reportedly has panels manufactured by an American Manufacturer. Solar panel power generation capacity grew from 83 Megawatts in 2003 to 7,300 Megawatts in 2012 with over 3,500 Megawatts installed in 2012 alone.

The quality and life span of these rapidly produced solar panels is about to be tested in the next few years. Also, without micro inverters a failure of one panel in an array like mine is a 3% reduction in power production and might not be noticed, it could be attributed to decreasing efficiency of the panels or weather variations. In Ed Begley, Jr.’s Guide To Sustainable Living, he said that over the years he had four solar panels fail, his storage batteries were replaced after 15 years and the wiring for the panels were damaged and needed to be replaced at 18 years. So, these systems are not trouble free even in sunny warm California, you cannot just install them and forget it.

Enphase trouble report

It took almost two months for me to identify another company and get them to come out. They looked into my system and spoke to Enphase and determined that the problem was probably the micro inverter so they ordered a new inverter from Enphase. By the time they had scheduled my repair a second inverter had failed and they were able to replace both inverters on the same day. According to the Solar Guys who prefer to remain nameless, they have replaced many Enphase inverters. The good news is that the inverters had a 10 year warrantee and it cost me nothing. The bad news is that the new inverters only fixed one of the two panels. After some back and forth between Enphase, Lighthouse Solar and me, I appear to have a solar panel failure also. Though I am on the back burner, Lighthouse is attempting to get a replacement Sharp solar panel and I hope before winter to have the panel replaced. Otherwise it will have to wait for spring. Since it is only a 3% decrease in power production, I will attempt to remain Zen about the timing and hope that Nick can locate a Sharp panel soon.