First, “kWh/Year” stands for kilowatt-hours per year. Now, you need to understand a few things to know what this means, and why it’s worth it to move on to the slightly more detailed calculation. In all, there are nine factors you can enter to fine-tune your PVWatts calculation, but for first-timers, all you need is your home’s address and a few simple measurements to get a pretty darned good estimate of your home’s solar potential. PVWatts also takes into consideration multiple site factors, such as the slope of your roof and its position in relation to the path of the sun. And there’s more to it than just weather. The tool uses historical weather data for your area to estimate how much power solar panels would produce for you on an average annual basis. PVWatts is a free online calculator tool created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL (which happens to be located in a big, sunny field in Golden, Colorado, my hometown). “What magical source can tell me this?” you may wonder. If you have 10 minutes (and a smartphone), you can get a much more accurate estimate of your property’s power potential. If you have a couple of minutes - literally two minutes - you can get a rough estimate of how much solar power you can produce at your house. We would give ICON Power more than, 5-Stars if we could.Photo © Heshphoto, inc., excerpted from Install Your Own Solar Panels I came home that night to find they had gone out and purchased paint to match and painted the conduit, no additional charge! (See picture.) After watching our installation and talking with the ICON crew, our neighbor purchased a system from ICON, too. I told them not to bother and went to work, as I just figured I would paint it in a year or two when I repaint the house. They asked if I had any house paint so they could color coat the conduit they installed so it would match the house. They did such a terrific job – and fast, too! We could not be more pleased. They were the nicest guys, professional, courteous, and so very efficient. The fact that APS is owing us money, too, is just icing on the cake! LIFE IS GOOD! We also want to give a shout out to Brandon and his installation crew. The bottom line is that our monthly payment (out of pocket) is 30% less than before solar. We also knew it would be a safe bet that if we did not go with solar, we could count on our APS bill to continue to increase for the next 20 years and beyond. We are comforted to know that our monthly solar payment will not increase for 20 years, at which point it will be reduced to $0.00. Our monthly payment for solar is $137 less than what our APS budget bill was. We financed 100% of the purchase of our solar system over a 20yr term. We were on APS’s budget billing plan where we paid the same amount to APS every month. Are you following this!!! Yes, so far, APS owes us for each month we are fully on solar! Despite all the cloudiness we have experienced during the last few months. Our February APS bill was $17.93, $12.69 of which was taxes and fees. Our system was activated in January 2019 – so our February bill represented a half-month of solar service. But, we have to say, a KEY factor in our decision was our confidence and trust in Gentry. We installed 72 panels, mostly on our South-facing roof (see picture) with the rest on our West-facing roof. At the end of the day, we decided ICON was financially and functionally the best value for us. Some of the other solar people were downright obnoxious. Gentry was patient with us – he kept in touch, but there was no pressure. Our sales associate, Gentry, was absolutely terrific! Over a period of a year we interviewed 13 solar companies, while I conducted serious research about solar to be able to make an informed decision. “We could not be more pleased with ICON Power. From design and sales support from Jordan, to the meticulous installation by Hector - who by the way very patiently explained and answered every question I had while working on the install and leading his teams. They are a local Arizona company, and I like to support local business. They don't use contractors, all the crews are employees of ICON POWER - and the pride in the company and attention to detail shows. After every day, the crew would cleanup, and sweep. I appreciate the suggestion that I would have a better performing system if I put some of the panels west facing to take advantage of the longer summer days, and extend solar production later into the Summer Peak Demand with SRP. But they also listen to customer input and expectations, and work that in to the design. I interviewed 7 solar companies before choosing ICON POWER! They are turnkey and provide great designs, working with the city and power company, and installation. “Finally a company which understands customer service.
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