August 31, 2024

How to assess the solar potential for your home

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Assessing your home’s solar potential can lead to multiple decades of electricity production and energy savings.

With all of that potential on your roof, why wait any longer?

Over the past 15 years, the solar industry has experienced exponential growth in the U.S., alongside steadily decreasing adoption costs and improvements in equipment quality and efficiency.

This has given homeowners easier access to cost-saving renewable resources than ever, and incredibly, 15% of American homes are projected to host solar panel installations by 2030.

If you’re interested in evaluating your own home’s potential for solar, this article outlines the initial assessments you can perform to determine if your property is suitable for solar energy.  

Primary assessments for home solar  

Solar panel systems transform sunlight into usable electricity. Therefore, most of the factors influencing your home’s solar potential revolve around one basic principle: the amount of direct sunlight available. Within this realm, the amount of sunlight available depends on your geographic location and several site-specific influences. 

1. Your location  

In addition to local weather conditions, the number of annual sunlight hours shining on your home depends primarily on your property’s latitude. For example, a solar panel on a bungalow in Los Angeles would produce more annual electricity than the same panel on a cottage on Cape Cod, as the city of L.A. experiences a higher amount of clear sunlight hours per year than coastal New England.  

Further, any local regulations, permitting processes, or zoning laws can also affect certain aspects of your installation, such as the exact system design or total costs of your solar permit and interconnection fees.  

To quickly see an accurate solar potential report for your property, feel free to use our solar calculator

2. Orientation and slope of your roof 

In the Northern Hemisphere, south-facing roofs receive the most direct sunlight and are therefore ideal for solar panel placement. East and west-facing roofs can also be utilized if they are directly sunlit for most of the day. 

For maximum efficiency, residential ground-mounted solar panels are usually installed facing due south at an angle equal to the property’s latitude. Although there are exceptions, most ordinary roof slopes in the US—angled between 15 and 40 degrees—are suitable for efficient solar power generation. Solar racking hardware can also be used to optimize panel installation angle within the constraints of local building codes.

3. Available space for solar panel placement  

For solar panels to be viable on your roof, the proposed installation space must be free of shading from nearby trees, buildings, or structures. Solar panels must also be installed at an appropriate distance from roof edges and obstructions like dormers, vents, or chimneys. When shading or obstructions are present, Enphase IQ Microinverters can maximize solar energy production.

Optimizing your solar panel installation 

In assessing your home's solar potential, your return on investment, also known as ROI, may be affected by your energy habits, purchasing decisions, and the present condition of your property.

Roof age consideration

Your roof’s age can potentially lower your solar ROI if a repair or replacement is necessary during the long functional lifetime of your panels. As your energy system will need to be removed, stored, and re-installed during a re-roofing project, most contractors advise homeowners to replace aging shingles or tiles before going solar to avoid future costs of up to several hundred dollars per panel.  

System size and financial implications 

When you finalize your solar design, the capacity of your system may be determined by the physical limiting factors of your property. However, if available installation space is abundant, your system should be designed to produce roughly the same amount of electricity that you consume on-site annually—or even slightly more, when possible. 

Financially, your solar panel ROI will depend on several project-specific influences. These include:

  • The total costs of your installation, whether bought outright, financed, or leased 
  • Your eligibility for federal or local solar tax incentives and rebates
  • Available utility net metering or billing programs.

Warranty, support, and maintenance  

Even if your home is ideal for solar, choosing the wrong provider can lead to wasted potential and missed opportunities for savings. Therefore, it’s critical to evaluate the warranties included in your installation before signing a contract, including guarantees for workmanship and ongoing solar panel performance.  

Key takeaways: Assess your home’s solar potential 

Ultimately, if you’re unsure whether your home could have solar potential, reaching out to reputable solar installers in your area can get you answers and help lower your property’s ongoing carbon emissions and electricity expenses. With enough annual sunlight, financial incentives, and the right roof conditions, achieving solar savings can be easy. Enphase is here to help ensure your system’s efficiency and performance through powerful technology and unparalleled customer service. 

Ready to go solar

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

How do I determine if my house is good for solar?  

If some of your roof receives full sunlight exposure for most of the day, then your house may be good for solar. To make precise solar panel return on investment (ROI) calculations, we recommend reaching out to multiple providers for first, second, or third opinions and estimates.  

How much roof space do I need for solar? 

The amount of solar roof space you need depends on your system's size. For example, if you install an average 7.2 kilowatt system with eighteen 400-watt solar panels, at 17.5 square feet per panel, you'd need approximately 315 square feet of unobstructed roof space—approximately the floor size of a one car garage.  

Can you put solar panels on an old roof? 

Yes, you can put solar panels on an old roof. However, you will need to remove and reinstall the system later if your roof must be replaced within the lifetime of your panels. This can cost between $2,000 and $4,000, depending on your system. 

Which types of roof are not compatible with solar panels? 

Most home roofing materials are compatible with solar panels, with only a few exceptions. For safety reasons, solar panels should not be installed on thatched roofs or any material that may not support the system's weight.

Questions? Contact us. We’ll help you build your system, today.
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