Generally speaking, if you don’t own your property, a solar system probably isn't a good fit for you. The decision to add solar to your home likely belongs to your landlord. You would need to work with your landlord, and there will be more complications around who pays for the system and who owns it, especially if you move out. You may also be eligible to participate in a community solar program if that’s available in your area.

Community solar projects generate electricity that flows through a meter to the utility grid. Community solar subscribers pay for a share of the electricity generated by the community solar project, typically through a monthly subscription fee.

The local utility pays the community solar provider for the energy generated, and each subscriber receives a portion of the dollar value generated by their community solar subscription as a credit. This credit is applied directly to a subscriber’s monthly electric bill, helping to reduce customers’ electricity costs.

If you own a condo or mobile home, you’ll need to check with your homeowners association to see if there are any restrictions or limitations around adding solar panels to your roof.

But if you own a single-family home, going solar is much simplier.

You can benefit from solar just about anywhere you live. However, there are factors that vary from region to region that will affect your solar system’s performance and value. Let’s start with geography: everywhere gets roughly the same number of daylight hours over the course of a year, but those hours are broken up differently depending on where you live. Farther north, like Seattle, has longer summer days and shorter winter ones compared to Los Angeles. But it mostly balances out. So, in that respect, where you live is less of a factor.

Where your location matters more is how you’re affected by local or regional weather. If you live somewhere that gets more cloudy days, like Seattle, than sunny, like Phoenix, it’ll affect your solar production. Heavy snowfall can affect panel production as well, but light snow during the day usually isn’t too detrimental because the panels can still absorb sunlight through a thin coating of overnight snow. And since the panels heat up with sunlight, they’ll actually help melt snow or keep it from sticking on the panels altogether, which, in turn, helps production. And colder temperatures don’t have a detrimental effect on panel production (whereas excessively hot temperatures, like those in Phoenix, for instance, can slightly reduce panel efficiency if the panels get too hot).

The other geographic considerations are economic: what are your electricity rates? If you live in a state with low rates, the cost of solar plus storage may not pencil out as well because the payback period will be longer. This isn’t to say that you won’t still break even or save in the long run, especially with electricity costs expected to rise most everywhere. It’ll just take longer. But if one of your considerations is also resiliency in the face of power outages, then you may be less concerned about a shorter system payback period, and more about protecting against power outages.

The other economic factor is what kind of incentives—beyond the 30% federal tax credit—do your state and local governments and your utility offer; things like rebates or programs like net energy metering (NEM) to add solar and battery storage? Any incentives beyond the 30% federal credit will help lower the upfront cost of your system and shorten the payback period.

One final consideration is environmental impact. Where you live often dictates what sources produce your electricity. While the national average of electricity generation from fossil fuel sources is around 60%, some states have higher percentages of electricity derived from polluting fossil fuels like natural gas and coal. So if environmental impact is also one of your considerations, then where you live can have a greater beneficial impact when you go solar.

This next consideration is very specific to your home, and it will take a little analysis: does your roof have good exposure to the sun? Do you have trees around your home that shade it at times during the day? Are there other buildings nearby that create shade on your roof? To get the most out of a solar array, it should have full sun exposure for a significant portion of the day. With Enphase microinverter technology, shade is less of an issue since each microinverter operates independently to produce the maximum amount of energy.

There are a number of tools out there that can help determine your sunlight exposure, including Enphase Solargraf software, which helps your Enphase installer determine how to design your solar system.

The angle or pitch of your roof can also affect solar production. Flatter or steeper roofs are less ideal, but your Enphase installer will have mounting options that help even things out so you still benefit from having solar on your roof.

Another consideration is the amount of space available for solar panels, accounting for things like vents, chimneys, and attic fans that can limit space or panel orientation flexibility. The more unobstructed space you have on your roof, the more flexibility you have to design a system with the maximum possible energy output.

If your roof space is limited, do you have space on your property for a ground-mounted system instead (or in addition)? In some cases, it makes more sense to go with a ground-mount system than a rooftop system.

The newer the roof, the better. If your roof is nearing the end of its life, it may be a good idea to have it replaced before getting solar panels, especially given the 25+ year lifespan of the panels we’re talking about installing on your roof. There’s more work and expense associated with replacing a roof after solar panels have been installed; depending on the size of your system, there may be anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 in additional costs.

But because solar can start saving you money immediately – sometimes $2,000 or more per year depending on the size of the system and how much energy you use – if your roof still has at least five years of life left, it may still pay to get solar right away to maximize savings now.

Enphase IQ Batteries are a great way to maximize the output from your Enphase solar panels because they can store excess solar energy you don’t use during the day and power your electric appliances overnight after the sun goes down. This means you can save money by not using grid power in the evening and overnight.

You may also be able to participate in Grid Services or Virtual Power Plant (VPP) programs that pay you to put energy from your batteries (and your solar panels) back into the grid during high-demand periods, adding further savings. VPPs use cloud-based software to essentially aggregate your solar and storage system with others in your area into a single, virtual power plant that supplements the grid to help prevent brownouts and blackouts, say during a hot summer afternoon when folks get home and crank up their AC units. VPP components can also include EVs using vehicle-to-grid technology, wind turbines, and more. And they’re an important tool in furthering the electrification and greening of pretty much everything.

So check your side yard, inside your garage, and down in the basement to see where Enphase IQ Batteries will fit best for you.
 

Another factor that can help you benefit more from a solar energy system is the energy efficiency of your home. That goes for whether you’re adding a system to your home or buying a home with an existing system. Some areas to consider:

Windows: How new are they? Are they double- or even triple-paned (also called glazed) to help prevent drafts? What material are the window frames? Vinyl and fiberglass frames have cavities that can be filled with insulation for better thermal performance. Wood frames have good thermal performance but do require maintenance. Metal or aluminum frames are maintenance-free but make for poor insulating material, so they work best if they have some form or thermal break like an insulating plastic strip between the inside and outside of the frame and sash. Also, windows with low-emissivity (low-e) coatings can help reduce energy loss by as much as 30–50%.

Insulation: A well-insulated home can help keep heat in during the winter and cool air in during the summer. This goes for insulation in walls, attics, and ceilings, and for two-story homes, the ceiling/floor between the stories. Insulation is measured in R-value. The higher the R-value, the higher the insulation. The level you need will depend on where you live. Colder climates benefit from higher R-values; upward of a 60 R-value. Places like California – at least outside of the higher Sierra Mountains, will be fine with at least an R-38 rating, but can go up to R-60 depending on how cool the area can get.

Radiant barriers: Often in conjunction with attic insulation, especially in warmer climates, adding a radiant barrier will actually help mitigate heat from sunlight. Couple that with an attic fan or two that draw hot air out of your attic through the roof and you can help moderate summer afternoon heat in your home. This may allow you to run your air conditioning less or at a bit higher temperature to save energy.

HVAC: How efficiently you heat and cool your home will affect your energy use and expenses. And an older gas furnace or air conditioner will be much less efficient than newer units due to significant advances in technology. To enjoy the greatest boost in efficiency—and take advantage of all that clean electricity your solar energy system generates—it’s best to use a highly efficient electric heat pump system to both heat and cool your home. Not only will it use less energy, but switching from a gas furnace to an electric heat pump powered with clean solar will also significantly reduce your environmental impact.

Appliances: Laundry machines, stoves, dishwashers, and other appliances have improved significantly in efficiency over the past few years. If you’re going solar or already have a system, switching to electric will save you money and reduce your environmental impact. When replacing and upgrading, always look for Energy Star-rated appliances to ensure you’re getting the most efficient appliances possible.

Electric heat pump water heaters: In the past, many people switched from gas water heaters to solar for heating water. Solar water heaters rely on a complicated, costly pumping system and a heavy copper-piping paneling system on the roof to collect heat from sunlight. But with changing technology, more and more people are installing a highly efficient electric heat pump water heater and powering it with their solar electric system. Along with using less energy, most heat pump water heaters are eligible for significant federal, state, and local incentives.

If you’re buying a home that already has a solar system, congratulations on your new, clean-energy home! While you’ll be saving on your electricity bills from day one, there are some questions you may and should have when you get ready to move in.

We recommend you do some due diligence on the system you’re inheriting. For starters, how was the system financed? Did the home seller buy it outright or finance it with a loan? Or is it owned by a third party under a lease or PPA? If it’s either a cash or loan purchase, the ownership will just transfer to you with the home, though there may be an outstanding balance on the loan to pay off. With third-party-owned systems, you’ll need to take additional steps with the third party to assume ownership or transfer the system contract over to you.

Another question is how old the system is, and related, how old the home’s roof is. Solar panels typically last 20-25 years (or more), so it’s good to know if your roof will need repair before the system starts to lose production efficiency.

You should also ask what type of inverter the system has. The system’s age might tell you that, too. There are two types: String inverters use older technology and are becoming less common now than in the past. They take all the DC power generated by the panels and convert it to AC power through a central location. String inverters typically last 10–15 years, so if your system utilizes one, it may need to be replaced at some point. This is important because if the string inverter fails, the whole system stops producing.

Many modern solar panels now feature advanced microinverters, such as the Enphase IQ8 Series. These microinverters are installed directly behind each panel, enhancing efficiency and performance. They convert DC to AC at the panel, so if one fails, the other panels keep producing power. They also have a lifespan similar to solar panels, so they rarely need replacing unless one fails, which is also rare.

Check with the current homeowner to see if the system’s components are still under warranty, and whether they have all the documentation for the system in order. Also, find out who installed the system from the homeowner. They can provide much of the information about the system, including its age, purchase terms, and any maintenance they’ve done on it. If you can't reach them, you can contact the system components’ manufacturers to get information on the system and see if there’s any maintenance required. You may also be able to contact a different certified local installer to have your system checked to ensure everything is working properly.

You’ll also want to find out from the homeowner how much energy the system produces and, ideally, get access to production data over time from the homeowner. If data shows a drop in production that’s higher than 10% year-to-year, then the system might need maintenance. To manage and monitor the system yourself, you’ll likely need to contact the manufacturer of your solar system equipment to have the system transferred to your name.

Does the system also have a solar battery? Pairing solar and battery storage is becoming far more common. Batteries can store excess solar production and power your home overnight once the panels stop producing. Just as important, they can protect you from power outages. If there is a battery, find out its age, who installed it and whether it’s under warranty, too.

Finally, work with your installer to determine whether the system is expandable. If it doesn’t have a battery, can you add one or more? If your electricity needs are different—for instance, do you drive an EV or are you making improvements like replacing a gas furnace with an electric heat pump—can you add more panels to the system to increase solar output? (You also need enough roof space with good sun exposure to add panels, too.)

There are also a couple of things to ask your new electric utility if you do buy a house with solar. For starters, find out if they offer net energy metering (NEM), which provides bill credits for exporting excess solar production to the grid. If so, make sure the NEM credits transfer with system ownership. Also, check your electricity rate plans to ensure you’re getting the most savings out of your system, especially if you have a plug-in vehicle.

Many utilities will offer rate plans that help you optimize charging so you can do it at the lowest rate possible, while also taking advantage of solar production for charging. If you plan to expand your system, check to make sure you receive all the local and utility incentives (along with the 30% federal tax credit), and see if adding solar panels and expanding production will affect your NEM plan. (This is especially important in California, among other states, where there are limits in place for how much production you can add while remaining on a “legacy” NEM plan.)

If the home you’re buying has an Enphase Energy System installed, then you’re definitely getting a quality system with superior technology and easier system expansion. It should also come with Enphase warranties for the microinverters and any other Enphase components like batteries and combiners. You may also be able to sign up for Enphase Care or Enphase Care+, which offers more comprehensive coverage for all your Enphase components, including covering labor costs for system-related repairs. All to ensure you and your system are taken care of.