To date, over a million homes across the U.S. have made the conversion to solar power in Frederick and elsewhere. As a result, we’re likely to see more and more additional households looking to get their own installation done. If this applies to you, it’s important to understand what a solar company in Erie, CO, does exactly to put things together, or what you need to do to make your own installation. There’s a series of steps that take place before the panels ever go on, and most of it you can’t see. Here’s how the process takes place. Note that this doesn’t all take place overnight, and you can expect to spend about one to three months from the time you sign a contract to the time your installation is ready.

Initial Steps

So, with that in mind, what’s the first step to getting to solar energy in Firestone? After you sign your contract, an engineer will head over to your property.  Their goal is to see exactly what electrical setup your home has, and to ensure that what a solar company in Louisville, CO, is able to provide is compatible with said setup. Most of the time, the engineer is an employee of the installer, but there are some independent contractors brought on for this step as well. In either event, the engineer will be checking your roof to make sure it has enough structural integrity, as well as checking your electrical panel to see if an upgrade is needed.

As a side note, don’t confuse this visit with a general site visit that the installer may provide around this size. That visit is more about a general property evaluation to find the best system size that matches with your roof or shading. Sometimes, the installer will take photos/measurements for the engineer to look at and approve without ever actually going onto your property.

Another thing that may be going on, not necessarily in front of you, is the paperwork required for your installation. The installer handles most of this, but you want to know what’s taking place behind the scenes. One main example is applying for any relevant federal or state solar incentives. Depending on where you live and the nature of your installation, you could save a lot of money. However, there’s a lot of other work involved that you need to be mindful of, like getting the right building permits. The type of permits involved are largely dependent on your state. Some states say you need to have three feet of space around the panels, while others don’t. Your installer already knows the rules on the books for your state, and will work with you to get the permits you need, or just do it themselves. If you want to get past this step faster, follow up to see how the paperwork is going.

Next up comes taking the time to actually put together the equipment. When the paperwork is in place, they will get the ball rolling by putting an order in for equipment for their distributor. By the time the order is in, you already know what you are getting. That’s generally decided before you sign a contract. However, let’s rewind and look into what goes into this decision. Inverters and panels are the most important things that you’ll need to decide on. Most installers will provide a brand they favor, and some alternatives. You should base your ultimate choice on energy efficiency, durability, and how it looks with your home. Try and spend some time looking at market standouts to make your decision a bit easier.

When the equipment is properly ordered, your installer adds your property to their general queue. The equipment you use, inverters and panels, will generally come in on the day of installation, which happens whenever you get paperwork approved. The time until your install is done may also be dependent on other customers your installer is servicing. Winter is generally the quieter season, so keep that in mind.

The Actual Installation And Beyond

With the equipment and property ready, it’s time to move to the actual installation. Generally, your installer will begin by going to your roof and making sure all shingles/tiles are attached. Then, they will lay down the wiring that will connect your panels to your basic power system. After the wire work is done, they’ll put in racking, which is designed to support panels. When it’s safely attached, the panels go on. The final step is getting the inverters connected. These will connect DC energy into an alternating current used in your home and through the greater grid.

Generally, installation takes you around one to three days. This is based on the size of the system you’re installing. Another factor that can add additional time to this process is a meter for net metering. If you want this done, get ready to wait another few hours.

So, at this point, you have your entire system set up, but you’re not actually creating any energy yet. The next step to managing this is going to actually be turning this on, but there are a few things that need to take place first. First, someone from the local government will need to do their own inspection and provide some approval. This is essentially making sure that your installers are doing their job. Their work will make sure the wiring, mounting and other factors are all up to code.

When the inspection is done, it’s time to connect you to the greater grid. Someone from your solar company in Louisville, CO, will do the honors of their own evaluation of the solar panel system. So long as there isn’t a major red flag, they will connect the system to go live. Generally, this entire approval and connection process ranges from another two weeks to a month.