Home Builder Looking to Offer Solar for our Customers

[AbleEnergies]

I'm a small home builder at 3 to 5 homes per year. I have a lot of customers that keep asking me to start offering them Solar Systems. I do a lot of Roofing and have a good reputation.

I have distribution, Products, and a very basic understanding but I'm don't want to disappoint any of my Customers buy installing something wrong or charging to much.

We want to offer 4 basic kits. 5, 10, 15, and 20kw systems that are Gride Tie or Off Grid, Roof Top or Ground Mount.

I don't what to offer hundreds and hundreds of products on our website, just 4 Systems mentioned above in the few variations above.

I am looking for mentors, training, and confidence to be a competent installer. I want to offer quality and fair pricing to my Customers. I have had some of these customers since I was a youth and they are more like family.

If this is not the place to find this Please just delete this post, and I apologize in advance. I am definitely not trying to step on any toes of speak out of turn.

I'm fascinated by All forms of Alternative Energy and Hope to build lasting Friendships

 

[45North]

Your post raises more questions than answers.
First of all: Where are you? Presumably in the US somewhere?
If you're just looking to become a solar installer there are courses you can take and mebbe some kind of an apprenticeship?
Or are you looking for employees experienced in Solar?
You seem to have lots of potential customers already.
So, basically you're looking to offer 16 off-the-shelf solar designs? (4X2X2) as add-ons to your existing residential construction business?
Have you looked at Will's "DIY Solar blueprints"?
Do you really expect some nice volunteer on here will spec out your 16 designs?

 

[AbleEnergies]

45North,

Thank You for your reply. I do have a lot of previous customers who keep asking me to get involved in solar. They want me because they know I'm not going to shortcut them or gouge them.

I'm in the Dallas, Texas area. I am definitely looking for experience, but not volunteers or a hand out. I just don't operate that way. I understand a few natural law principles, and a workman is always worth his Hire, and the Only thing in life we get to keep is what we give away........such as Honor. I have looked at Wills Plans and kits but he is sold out. I am fascinated by that guy. He is definitely a mentor but also way too busy for small frys like me.

I make a good living but definitely not rich in money. So taking off work to go to school is just not an option at this point.

I'm here because I love Wills videos and I have learned a great deal from Him, also because, (Although I'm a paying customer), I have to really watch my spending to be sure I can maximize what I can do.

I believe alternative Energy is crucial to the Survival of our People and I want to help as many as I can. I am part of a network of like minded men and women who are all working towards the same goal in different ways. We each contribute in our own way to Help Grow Each other.

Will has Given so much I believe it is now starting to come back to him.

45North what can I do for you? I would like to help where I can.

 

[Hedges]

Check out the Alt Energy store, and forum member SolarQueen who works for them and designs systems for people. She sells plans for people who need those.

You might have a couple flavors of basic systems (grid tie microinverter, grid tie string inverter, battery backup) but likely each one would be at least slightly customized due to available area.

 

[45North]

You could touch base with the Texas Solar Energy Society

Texas Solar Energy Society

Donate 16.43 kW system Austin TX | Wells SolarLost Pines Art Center, Bastrop, TexasBarley Pfeiffer ArchitectureSolar installation, Alpine TX | Off-Grid Hardware3.6 kW Solar Canopy, Houston Zoo | Lighthouse Solar, Austin TX Our Vision To educate and inspire every Texan to adopt solar energy as...

txses.org

Plus, I'd take a look at what the builders in California are doing to meet the state's new solar requirements for all new residential construction. So builders there are in the same position as you and you may be able to partner with someone or at least learn from them.

(I'm a long way from Texas but thanks for the offer!)

 

[Supervstech]

Most likely, you would be FAR better off finding a solar install company and sub contracting them for your builds.

solar, and electrical in general, is not something to be added to a job description. It takes training and licensing.


To install your own home, is not an issue. But working on someone else’s property requires a lot of red tape.

 

[Q-Dog]

Just like you would hire a plumber or electrician or a mason, hire a solar installer.

 

[Supervstech]

I'm a small home builder at 3 to 5 homes per year. I have a lot of customers that keep asking me to start offering them Solar Systems. I do a lot of Roofing and have a good reputation.

I have distribution, Products, and a very basic understanding but I'm don't want to disappoint any of my Customers buy installing something wrong or charging to much.

We want to offer 4 basic kits. 5, 10, 15, and 20kw systems that are Gride Tie or Off Grid, Roof Top or Ground Mount.

I don't what to offer hundreds and hundreds of products on our website, just 4 Systems mentioned above in the few variations above.

I am looking for mentors, training, and confidence to be a competent installer. I want to offer quality and fair pricing to my Customers. I have had some of these customers since I was a youth and they are more like family.

If this is not the place to find this Please just delete this post, and I apologize in advance. I am definitely not trying to step on any toes of speak out of turn.

I'm fascinated by All forms of Alternative Energy and Hope to build lasting Friendships

Let me back up a bit.
What licensing do you carry now?
if a general contracting, you’re best to hire.
If you have an electrical license, then it is an easy transition to add solar to your offerings... but check with your insurance company.
Mine dropped me when I added solar, the liability varied too much for them, and I had to change companies.

 

[AbleEnergies]

Check out the Alt Energy store, and forum member SolarQueen who works for them and designs systems for people. She sells plans for people who need those.

You might have a couple flavors of basic systems (grid tie microinverter, grid tie string inverter, battery backup) but likely each one would be at least slightly customized due to available area.

Thank You!

 

[AbleEnergies]

Let me back up a bit.
What licensing do you carry now?
if a general contracting, you’re best to hire.
If you have an electrical license, then it is an easy transition to add solar to your offerings... but check with your insurance company.
Mine dropped me when I added solar, the liability varied too much for them, and I had to change companies.

We currently are Licensed, Boned, and Insured for 2 million as a GC. I also have OSSF installer "Sewer license" and I working on our Drilling License for water wells. I work closely with a couple of Master Electricians who pull permits and inspect the work for our jobs.....

 

[Hedges]

Me, I have the GC license. But I lean more toward electrical, less heavy work. In California, GC can personally do a job that includes any two disciplines (not including framing.) If only one such discipline, have to sub it out. But if PV, we can do ourselves (which includes with our employees, of course.)

The electrical aspect of grid-tie PV is pretty simple. Most of the work is putting up array of panels, and properly attaching to roof and making that waterproof is key.

If you already do roofing, and if you're capable of putting wires in conduit and installing a circuit breaker, that's all the skill needed to do grid-tie. If electrical isn't for you, you could install the panels and hang the inverter, have the electrician do wiring.

Battery systems are more involved. There are a couple products with packaged batteries (similar to Tesla Powerwall) that could be easy to install, but most are based on lithium chemistries that aren't as fire-safe. They are UL listed, but some have been recalled after fires. Design (sizing capacity) of battery systems is also more difficult.

 

[Ampster]

Most likely, you would be FAR better off finding a solar install company and sub contracting them for your builds.

That is a good thought but there is some infrastructure like putting in a solar ready service panel and providing conduit runs that the OP could do. I know an installer in Southern California that has several arrangements with builders. In addition to the minimum to meet the zero energy standards he gets some upgrade jobs because he puts in larger conduits for expansion. On flat roofs they do additional standoffs and let roofer warranty the roof reducing standoff roof leaks. .

 

[AbleEnergies]

Let me back up a bit.
What licensing do you carry now?
if a general contracting, you’re best to hire.
If you have an electrical license, then it is an easy transition to add solar to your offerings... but check with your insurance company.
Mine dropped me when I added solar, the liability varied too much for them, and I had to change companies.

We currently are Licensed, Boned, and Insured for 2 million as a GC. I also have OSSF installer "Sewer license" and I working on our Drilling License for water wells. I work closely with a couple of Master Electricians who pull permits and inspect the work for our jobs.....

Me, I have the GC license. But I lean more toward electrical, less heavy work. In California, GC can personally do a job that includes any two disciplines (not including framing.) If only one such discipline, have to sub it out. But if PV, we can do ourselves (which includes with our employees, of course.)

The electrical aspect of grid-tie PV is pretty simple. Most of the work is putting up array of panels, and properly attaching to roof and making that waterproof is key.

If you already do roofing, and if you're capable of putting wires in conduit and installing a circuit breaker, that's all the skill needed to do grid-tie. If electrical isn't for you, you could install the panels and hang the inverter, have the electrician do wiring.

Battery systems are more involved. There are a couple products with packaged batteries (similar to Tesla Powerwall) that could be easy to install, but most are based on lithium chemistries that aren't as fire-safe. They are UL listed, but some have been recalled after fires. Design (sizing capacity) of battery systems is also more difficult.

Thank You

 

[JoeHam]

I would strongly recommend you reach out to Sol-Ark.

A Texas company that will likely let you talk to an actual engineer for guidance.

Just an idea, I have no affiliation.

Home

Sol-Ark® provides solar energy storage systems with our battery-agnostic hybrid inverters for commercial and home applications. Learn more.

www.sol-ark.com

 

[AbleEnergies]

Thank You!

 

[Ampster]

A Texas company that will likely let you talk to an actual engineer for guidance.

That is a good thought for Texas since there is likely to be interest in back up since the blackout. While this is a DIY forum, if I were a builder, I would want to pair the SolArk with battery modules like SimpliPhi, Fortress and/or any others that are known to integrate well with the SolArk. Keep in mind that the new NEC 2020 version also requires UL certification on battery storage. Whether your jurisdiction has implemented that or not may be an issue to understand well for the future in terms of having a consistant offering.

 

[svetz]

This thread reports new legislation in the U.S. supporting a ton of training for renewable energy, doesn't help you this year but it should be easier to either send people for training or hire folks who are trained later on.

I'd suggest looking at Enphase and Sol-Ark, they have great systems and top-notch support. Enphase offers training programs for installers, as Sol-Ark is a Texas based company, you might find them amenable to doing some training for your people. SolarEdge and Enphase are the two biggest players.

You might also be able to partner with Tesla, they offer turnkey solar services.

Enphase is a lot simpler for beginners, it's one microinverter per panel and you don't have to worry about shade effects, sizing/balancing strings, There are no fixed size limits (e.g, no need to restrict to 5/10,15/15 sizes) so add as many as you like, split-phase or 3-phase, RSD, and it has a 25-year warranty. A microinverter outage isn't a crisis like a hybrid inverter going out because there are many of them unlike a string inverter setup. The downside is to get power when the grid is down you need either a Teslas powerwall, their Ensemble solution, or an AC coupled system. SolarEdge I believe has similar issues.

...We want to offer 4 basic kits. 5, 10, 15, and 20kw systems that are Gride Tie or Off Grid, Roof Top or Ground Mount.

Depending on where in texas, a 20 kW solar array might generate 100 kWh of power per day, that's what two normal houses might consume.
Definitely check with your local power company and research the net-metering agreements. Here it's easy to go up to a 10 kW array, beyond that you have to start jumping through some hoops (e.g., changing out the service entrance) and you might find special insurance needs for homeowners.

 

[Hedges]

We want to offer 4 basic kits. 5, 10, 15, and 20kw systems that are Gride Tie or Off Grid, Roof Top or Ground Mount.

The size grid-tie system people can install is often limited by rules on how many amps of circuit breakers can feed a breaker panel.

NEC allows main breaker plus PV breaker to be 120% of busbar rating. Of course the busbar isn't allowed to carry more than 100% of its rating, but PV breaker is put at far end, away from main breaker. A 100A panel with 100A main breaker can have 20A PV breaker installed at far end. A 20A breaker can carry 16A continuous load. 240V x 16A = 3840W maximum PV inverter output. If 200A busbar and main breaker, 40A PV breaker, 32A PV, 7680W maximum PV.

Beyond that, need a larger panel, smaller busbar, or multiple panels.

Planning to have the right breaker panel (and maybe a sub panel for battery backup protected loads) would be part of your design.

 

[Hedges]

With time-of-use rates that vary during the day, or rates that vary with spot pricing, some customers will want a battery system that does peak-shaving: Recharge battery from PV when rates are low, use battery to supplement AC power draw when rates are high. Possibly sell power to the spot market.

Tesla PowerWall is one product for peak-shaving. SMA has battery inverters for this too, and communications systems intended to participate in spot market. These battery inverters don't provide backup during grid failures on their own, but with a separate whole-house or protected loads transfer switch they can.

Whether these products actually make financial sense depends on the price of batteries and how much utility rates vary. But some customers will want them.

 

[AbleEnergies]

This thread reports new legislation in the U.S. supporting a ton of training for renewable energy, doesn't help you this year but it should be easier to either send people for training or hire folks who are trained later on.

I'd suggest looking at Enphase and Sol-Ark, they have great systems and top-notch support. Enphase offers training programs for installers, as Sol-Ark is a Texas based company, you might find them amenable to doing some training for your people. SolarEdge and Enphase are the two biggest players.

You might also be able to partner with Tesla, they offer turnkey solar services.

Enphase is a lot simpler for beginners, it's one microinverter per panel and you don't have to worry about shade effects, sizing/balancing strings, There are no fixed size limits (e.g, no need to restrict to 5/10,15/15 sizes) so add as many as you like, split-phase or 3-phase, RSD, and it has a 25-year warranty. A microinverter outage isn't a crisis like a hybrid inverter going out because there are many of them unlike a string inverter setup. The downside is to get power when the grid is down you need either a Teslas powerwall, their Ensemble solution, or an AC coupled system. SolarEdge I believe has similar issues.


Depending on where in texas, a 20 kW solar array might generate 100 kWh of power per day, that's what two normal houses might consume.
Definitely check with your local power company and research the net-metering agreements. Here it's easy to go up to a 10 kW array, beyond that you have to start jumping through some hoops (e.g., changing out the service entrance) and you might find special insurance needs for homeowners.

Thank You for The Help!