People ask us sometimes if we do ground-mounted solar panels. Solar photovoltaic systems can be mounted on traditional solar rails with engineered racking systems. And, YES, we install solar panels on ground racks. Why You Should, Or Shouldn’t, Consider a Ground Mount It might seem like a great idea at first. However, there are pros and cons to mounting solar …
What Florida’s Net Metering Law Changes Mean
In case you missed it, the Florida legislature passed a significant change to the Net Metering laws in Florida. These are the rules that allow solar energy producers to “sell” excess energy production back to the utility grid. The new law, opposed vigorously by the solar industry, was written for the utility companies, by the utility companies. Fortunately, the final …
How Much Space do Enphase Encharge Batteries Require?
Solar energy with battery backup is increasing in popularity as technology evolves and systems become less expensive and more consumer-friendly. Enphase’s Encharge batteries, part of the Enphase Ensemble system, are a go-to option for consumers who have or are considering Enphase microinverters. The undisputed leader in microinverter technology for solar photovoltaic systems, Enphase dominates the local market. One of the …
Business Electricity Rates and Solar Panels
Demand Charges Change the Calculus I think you will agree – most people don’t really understand how utility companies charge for electricity. That is doubly true of business owners and executives because businesses are often billed in more complicated ways than residential customers. It’s hard enough to understand bank charges and cell phone bills. Electricity billing is often a nebulous …
How To Best Use The Enphase Enlighten App
The Enphase Enlighten app comes standard with every Enphase microinverter system we install. This app is free from the manufacturer and allows you to view your system performance. We create this video to help you navigate the app and demonstrate how to use it to best understand your energy flows. This video is best viewed in full screen on a …
Large Bubble in Pool – Solar Pool Heating Startup
Watch this video to learn what it means when you get large bubbles in the pool when your solar pool heating system starts up each time. When your pool pump shuts off or your solar panels shut off during the day, the water in the panels drains down to the pool. The panels fill up with air. When your solar …
Enphase Launches the IQ8 Microinverter – Backup Without Batteries
Enphase has launched the new IQ8 microinverter, which comes with the promise of allowing you to use your solar panels off-grid without batteries. Until now, solar panels were either grid-interactive which means they shut down with the loss of the grid, or they worked with batteries to provide backup power. Before you get too excited, let’s get something straight. Solar …
Solar Pool Heating Automated Valve Manifold Explanation
Automated Solar Pool Heating Valve Manifold Explained In this video, we explain how our automated solar valve heating manifolds work. The manifold shown here is based on our standard valve setup. Your valves may vary due to a variety of circumstances, but this is the most common arrangement for manifolds installed by Florida Solar Design Group. Keep in mind, your …
Solar Pool Heating Valve Actuator Toggle Switch Position
This video shows you how to determine if your solar pool heating valve actuator is in the correct position and how to change it with the toggle switch. While we use the Pentair SolarTouch solar controller and the Pentair CVA24 valve actuator, this video applies to other solar controllers, pool controllers, and valve actuators. It does not apply to Heliotrope …
Solar Panel Door To Door Sales
There is a practice in the solar energy industry that you should know about. Door-to-door selling has been around forever. The people that sell solar door-to-door really don’t sell anything. We call them “door knockers.” Solar Panel Door Knockers The idea of knocking on doors is simply to gauge your interest in solar energy. Once you are targeted with some …
Does A New Roof Qualify For The Solar Investment Tax Credit
Read the question carefully. What answer makes sense to you? Usually, the most obvious answer is correct. And that’s the case here. There are many solar contractors and sales outfits out there that are claiming that you can bundle a new roof with solar panels and take the tax credit on the whole thing. It sounds too good to be …
Solar Panel Power Clipping
The solar electricity term “clipping” refers to energy that is lost when a solar panel’s output potential exceeds the amount of power that an inverter can convert. That sounds bad, right? Well, maybe not. In good solar photovoltaic system design, the solar panel rating is almost always higher than the inverter (or microinverter) rating. The factor by which the solar …
When Building A New House, When To Get A Solar Contractor Involved
It’s a common call that we get – something along the lines of, “I’m getting ready to put drywall up and I was wondering, is there anything we need to do to prepare for solar panels we want to install?” That’s when we have to kick things into high gear. It usually involves getting us to the job site urgently. …
Solar Pool Heaters Are Weather Dependent
Unheated pool temperatures are essentially the average of the nighttime low and daytime high ambient temperatures. It’s well known, and not surprising, that swimming pool temperatures in Southwest Florida closely track the surface temperature of the Gulf of Mexico. The near-shore gulf temperature fits the same pattern. At times, unheated pools can lag large temperature swings, but for the most …
Sleazy Solar Panel Sales
Warning: You might need a shower after reading this article. The Solar Panel Sales Industry Is Sleazy Our colleagues may not like this airing of dirty laundry. Call it what you want – sleazy, shady, deceptive, disgusting. The solar panel sales industry has become extremely messy. There is a huge cash grab going on in the growing industry, and the …
Accounting for Solar Water Heater Investments
We have said it before – solar domestic water heating is dead. Heating water for household use in Florida sounds like a good idea, but is it really? To know for sure, you have to have an accounting system. In the world of energy, we call this a monitoring system. While solar pool heating may be the most economical use …
Commercial Solar Panels (Solar Electric) in Southwest Florida
If you’re wondering why it’s been a while since our last post, we’ve been insanely busy. We were fortunate enough to earn the business of some commercial customers and have been engaged in adding solar panels to some businesses and non-profits. These organizations are all committed to sustainability and the for-profit businesses realize the return on investment potential for solar …
Installing Solar Panels On Tile Roofs (Solar Photovoltaic)
You spent a lot of money on your tile roof. And now you want solar panels. Obviously, you want to make sure that your new roof will not leak. The process for installing solar panels on your tile roof sounds scary until you understand some of the realities of how your roof is installed and how far solar mounting products …
Pentair Superflo VS Pool Pump Updated With New Automation Options
The Pentair Superflo VS is being re-released with some new automation functionality. We previously recommended against this pump for a couple of reasons, primarily due to the analog automation options and 1.5 HP rating. The new automation options make it a good choice under certain circumstances. We have always recommended “oversizing” variable speed pumps so you can get the advantages …
Putting Battery Backup Capacity into Perspective
Grid-interactive solar panels cease to operate when the sun goes down. They also shut down when there is a utility outage. That is unless you have batteries. It’s a common misconception that solar panels can directly power your home during the day if the power company has a grid failure. Except in very limited circumstances, this is not the case. …