Solar Southwest Florida

Call me, of course! Seriously though, it is so vital that you contract with a reputable company. I went out today on a service call in Port Charlotte from a customer of a former competitor who closed up shop. It’s a common call.

Incorrectly Installed Solar Breakers

We replaced an inverter under warranty. The manufacturer recommended Fafco Solar based on our previous work for them. These situations are a great opportunity to learn how the competition does things.

Unfortunately, I’m often put in a position where I am obligated to tell the system owner that there are deficiencies in the system. Most issues are related to code compliance. Among other things, this installation did not have the photovoltaic breakers at the end of the bus bar, as required by the National Electric Code. It also did not have proper labels.

While this system was permitted and passed county inspection, the owner wisely asked me to propose corrections. I will be giving him a very fair price to make the repairs, and will hopefully earn a customer for life!

In case you haven’t heard, there is a big hullabaloo in Washington over the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a solar energy manufacturer that was developing a new product. The U.S. taxpayer is on the hook for a half-billion in loans, and the company executives are being hauled in before congress for hearings. As a result, congress is talking about cutting green energy research loan guarantees.

Let’s get something straight. The technology that Solyndra was developing was no miracle product. They were taking existing thin-film solar electric technology and stuffing it into a glass cylinders assembled into large panels. Ok, that is an over-simplification, but generally there was nothing earth-shattering about the technology. There was no huge leap in efficiency or cost to be had. Moreover, this was no secret.

To be clear, this is NOT one of the same proven solar energy products that is installed every day in Southwest Florida.

There are two basic types of solar electric modules. The conventional solar module is with what’s called crystalline silicon. These are the glass covered, aluminum framed modules that you are probably used to seeing. The newer type is called thin-film. As the name suggest, thin-film is thin and flexible, and can be installed with an adhesive. That certainly sounds appealing, and the cost has decreased dramatically on a dollars-per-watt basis. In fact, the cost per watt is lower than the crystalline module counterpart. However, there is one major problem – thin-film modules do not produce nearly as much energy in the same amount of area as the proven crystalline modules. Solyndra was taking this relatively inefficient thin-film technology and embedding it into a relatively expensive glass tube assembled into lightweight panels.

I was at the Solyndra booth at Solar Power International in Los Angeles in 2010. I was actually impressed with the idea, and saw one fantastic application for the technology in Florida. Since there is virtually no wind uplift on the panels, they could be installed on flat roofs or the ground without heavy ballast or roof attachments, and still meet building code requirements. In fact, when I was asked to bid on the project to put solar on the Fort Myers City Hall, I briefly considered Solyndra panels. In the end, they could not produce nearly enough power in the space allotted to meet the specification. There was also a concern about glass breakage.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was that crystalline solar modules have dropped in price dramatically in the last couple of years. This drop in price made it impossible for Solyndra to compete with existing technology. The two technologies are nearing price parity, and thin-film has become a far less attractive alternative except in very specific circumstances.

I am not defending the actions of Solyndra executives. In fact, congress may be deflecting the blame for the debacle, but that is just speculation on my part. I know little about the civil and/or criminal legal battle that is sure to be in the media for quite some time. What I do know is that this kind of black eye is not deserved by the solar energy industry as a whole, and the collateral damage is likely to spread all the way to Southwest Florida where I have already heard people talking about how this solar energy company bilked the government to the tune of 500 million dollars. Rest assured that what we are doing around here has nothing to do with cutting edge pie-in-the-sky technology. The solar I sell is practical, real, and proven.

Roof Types and Zones

To design photovoltaic systems we need to meet 130 mph design wind speeds in most locations around Southwest Florida, and higher wind speeds on Sanibel, Captiva, and some parts of Naples. That means there are tremendous pressures acting on solar panels, particularly from wind uplift. The pressures in corner wind zones are even higher, especially on gable roofs.

The above pictures shows a solar array on a home in Port Charlotte, FL. the area where the gable eaves meet the ridges are corner zones known as Zone 3. The wind uplift pressure in this area are often more than double that of the pressures in the center zones of the roof. In most cases, it makes the most sense to avoid Zone 3 altogether, as the cost of attachments may exceed the benefit of adding an additional panel. The existing roof may also be inadequate to handle the loads imposed.

Solar Panels on Dutch Gable Roof

Dutch gables are even more challenging because they severely limit the amount of available roof space once roof zones are taken into account. However, with careful planning, a sizable system can successfully be installed on this roof type. On this particular roof, we could have installed one additional 230W module, but it would have been well into Zone 3, requiring significantly strengthened supports to meet 60 pounds per square foot wind uplift calculations. It is highly likely that the existing roof trusses would not have been adequate to meet this requirement.

The good news – you don’t have to worry about this stuff. Hire a solar professional and they will take care of these details!

At the moment this post goes out, I am beginning the 6-1/2 hour examination (the second of two required tests) that will earn me my solar contractor license. My employer already has two Florida State Certified Solar Contractors on staff. I will be the third.

Why am I pursuing a solar contractor license if my company does not need it? Really I am doing it for my personal satisfaction and to add another credentialed name to my employer’s list of stellar employees. We endeavor every day to prove that we are THE BEST solar company in Southwest Florida. We can say that we have the longest history and that we’ve been on tens of thousands of roofs over the last 37+ years all day. But we need to prove it every day, and we intend to do so!

I am excited to add this credential to my personal resume and for Fafco Solar.

How low can it go? That is the question that solar contractors and customers have been asking for the last year. In the last 6 months alone, the cost of solar photovoltaic modules has come down 20%! Every time I get a new price sheet from a manufacturer, I am amazed to see a new low.

That is not to say that the total cost of a solar photovoltaic system as a whole is nosediving. The modules are now a small percentage of the total cost of system ownership. Just two years ago, the solar modules could be upwards of 60% of the total price. Now the modules represent under 1/4 of the cost of the installation! That means further price drops on systems will need to come from other areas.

Unfortunately, as I pointed out in yesterday’s post, some costs are actually increasing. There are some fixed and semi-fixed costs that are unavoidable, like design/engineering, permitting, travel time, etc. We can look to the inverters for price savings, but competition is quite high already and component and material prices are not expected to drop significantly. Mounting systems are another significant cost, but with ever-increasing requirements for storm sustainability in hurricane prone Southwest Florida, we are seeing the need for more material and attachments in our rack systems, not less.

There is already a good level of competition in the solar contracting industry with several businesses in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples. Labor costs are already a small percentage of the system price. Overhead and profit are at minimal levels to sustain business and adequately support customers with service after the sale and warranty allowance.

Although solar module prices have plummeted recently, there has never been a better time to go solar. True, the price of modules may continue to go down – nobody can say for sure. However, with modules making up such a small part of the overall cost of the system, there is little incentive to wait and see.

I deal with over a dozen jurisdictions in which my employer does business. Each one has it’s own idiosyncrasies, costs, procedures, and problems. One county, which shall remain nameless, is now requiring a higher level of engineering than any other jurisdiction in which we operate. I can’t say that I am surprised, and it is absolutely the prerogative of the building official in that building department. However, I don’t have to like it!

The effect is not earth shattering – it amounts to approximately 1% increase in price for a solar electric system on a typical home. However, it highlights something that the solar contracting industry has been struggling with for quite some time. The permitting and inspection requirements of various jurisdictions in which we operate are wildly different. There have been some well thought out national guidelines developed that propose an expedited and simplified permitting process. The Solar America Board for Codes and Standards is one organization that has worked with building officials to develop a great set of guidelines for permitting. Sadly, it has not been widely adopted, at least in Southwest Florida.

Adding to the confusion is new technology, like microinverters, which are not fully understood by many building departments and inspectors. These new products are not addressed in a simple manner in expedited permitting guidelines. I digress…

The issue with the building department in question is whether signed and sealed site-specific engineering documentation is needed to evaluate if existing roof trusses are adequate to meet the wind loads added/imposed by a solar electric system. It is my contention (keep in mind that I am not a licensed professional engineer) that the stresses added to a roof with a typical solar electric system are well within the capabilities of modern engineered trusses. I have never run into a design where the loads imposed exceed the existing roof’s capabilities. Every professional engineer with whom I have consulted has agreed with me.

Now, of course there are many roofs that are not suitable for solar electric panels. Porches, patios, pergolas, aluminum pool cages, and other structures that are not your plain-Jane cookie-cutter home may not be engineered to handle the wind loads imposed by solar electric systems. It is not uncommon to have design pressures of 50 pounds per square foot (uplift), or point loads on trusses exceeding 400 pounds (uplift). To be fair, the numbers are significant, and building departments in Southwest Florida are still operating with the memory of Hurricane Charley fresh in mind.

I believe that it is the responsibility of the solar contractor to evaluate the building and seek a licensed professional when justified. Florida Statutes allow contractors to submit shop drawings for permitting of a variety of structures without site specific engineering required. Statutes require building departments to accept such drawings. The jurisdiction in question here says that the contractor must prove that the shop drawings submitted meet the Florida Building Code requirements. The net effect is to require site-specific engineering for the addition of a solar electric system to an existing home. This difference of opinion is frustrating, yet understandable.

As a percentage of installed cost, engineering, permitting, and other fixed costs are increasing as the cost of photovoltaic modules drops. It is imperative that this type of avoidable cost is eliminated to reduce the overall price of owning a solar electric system.

Can solar pool heating panels be put on a two-story home? Of course! However, there are some considerations that we need to look at.

The first consideration is whether the existing pump is sufficiently powerful to lift water all the way up to the roof and keep an adequate flow rate to circulate and filter your pool. In most cases the answer is yes, but sometimes if you have a very small pool, a 3/4 horsepower pump may not provide sufficient flow. In this case, you best bet is to replace the pump with a variable speed pump that can operate at slow speed most of the time and ramp up its speed when solar pool heating is required. This can be done with an automatic controller to automate the process.

Two Story Home With Solar Panels

Secondly, two story homes sometimes have multiple roof heights. It is important that we can run plumbing to the panels in a way that the panels can drain automatically and completely. This protects the panels from damage due to freezing conditions, which is rare in Southwest Florida. If the panels are to be installed on the lower roof level of a multi-level home, we need to consider shading from the higher building sections.

Finally, it is obviously a bit harder to install panels on a second story roof. There may be a small extra charge. The installation may take two days in some cases, but there isn’t much extra material required. A mechanized hoist may need to be used, which required adequate access to the site. Generally these issues can be worked out with little difficulty.

Yes, solar pool heating panels can be installed on your two story house. With proper planning and design, they will work as efficiently at heating your pool as on any other home. Once we start talking about 3, 4, or more stories, the design considerations become more involved, but it can still be done.

I am lucky enough to be spending the morning with the amazing team at Internet Service Group of Florida. Charly Caldwell and his team have made this blog possible by setting it up and hosting it, but it would not have happened if for the last time we got together.

ISG Way is Charly’s quarterly “staff meeting” that is more like an internal sales pitch with a chance for his staff to get reacquainted and focused. He invites some current and prospective customers to see how they do business from the inside and to learn about the people at ISG.

At the last ISG Way, Charly gave all attendees a book, Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I had always wanted to start a blog, but this book pushed me over the top.

Crush It is all about finding your passion, social media, and building your personal brand – living and working your passion and doing it in the new media era. I’m loving what I am doing in the solar contracting industry, I’ve gained considerable knowledge and experience, and I want to share it in a productive way. The Solar Southwest Florida blog is a natural and obvious result of this.

Thank you Charly and the ISG team. I look forward to what this morning has in store!

Pine Island, FL home roof framing plan from a builder.

One of my favorite things to do is take a 2 dimensional roof plan for a home in the construction phase and pop it up into a 3D computer model to show solar energy products on the roof. It’s relatively easy to make 3D models using aerial and satellite imagery, but when I have access to architectural drawings, the accuracy of the roof size is nearly perfect. I can determine exactly how many solar panels will fit on a roof and the optimal placement.

The drawings can then be sent to the homeowner or builder as part of a sales presentation. We can also provide the drawings to other trades for coordination and to homeowner associations for architectural review.

3D Computer Model From Roof Plan Showing Solar Panels

Sometimes the homeowner is quite astonished that we can take an architectural drawing and made a 3D representation so quickly (and for free). They wonder why their architect/builder didn’t provide them with 3D views of the home. Most builders provide 2D architectural sketches that have only plan views and elevations as a parallel projection. 3D perspective views are a great way to visualize the finished product.

I can also use geolocation to place the model on a Google Earth satellite image. The size of the 3D model is perfectly proportional to the surrounding terrain. I can look at the location of the building on the property and proximity to treelines and other potential shading like power lines and other buildings.

Solar Panels on Geolocated 3D Model

These 3D computer models are a great tool in the arsenal. It’s fun to create them for sales presentations, and they carry through the whole contracting process with making shop drawings, permitting, and job execution. In addition to helping potential customers, the visualization also helps salespeople, plans reviewers, and installers. It helps management spot potential pitfalls before the job is approved and scheduled.

Time permitting, I do these computer models for free for residents in Fafco Solar’s service area, which includes Lee County, Collier County, and Charlotte County.

Lots of roofs in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and Naples have off-ridge vents. If you have this type of vent and want a solar attic fan, you are in luck!

With this type of vent, the fan can be mounted inside the attic. Originally designed for the gable end of buildings, you don’t see the fan at all from the outside. The only roof mounted component is a small solar electric (photovoltaic) panel. This 12V panel provides power to the fan whenever sunlight is available (i.e. when your attic is getting hot).

Discrete Solar Module Powers Attic Fan Located Inside Attic

The solar panel can be mounted in a low profile to keep it discrete and aesthetically pleasing. It can also be pitched to improve orientation to the sun if placed on a roof that is not oriented to the south.

While the regular attic fan is a low profile, good looking product, the gable attic fan installed under an off-ridge vent is a great alternative if your attic has this existing ventilation feature.

What happens when you want solar energy, but also want a lush landscape with lots of tall trees and shading to keep your home cool? This kind of installation requires careful planning and a tradeoff between system performance and keeping the ambiance the customer desires.

Around 5pm in the fall, this solar array begins to be shaded.

In the case of this solar photovoltaic system, the customer has some pretty tall trees along the west side of the home. We calculated that late afternoon sun would shade a number of modules. This is where Enphase microinverters become very important. We did not want to lose the production capacity of the remaining unshaded modules. With microinverters, each solar module is able to deliver power at its maximum rate independently of other modules in the solar array.

There are often tradeoffs between aesthetics, design wind load capabilities, roof accessibility, shading, and performance. The important thing is that we discuss these issues with the system owner and advise them of the implications of such tradeoffs. The job of the solar advisor and installer has become much easier with the advent of microinverter technology, but the job is no less important.

Early morning dew covers PV panels at Naples Botanical Gardens

Fafco Solar has completed the FGCU Naples Botanical Garden photovoltaic system installation. I am particularly proud of this system and the expert installers that did the heavy lifting. The system includes 164 SolarWorld 245 watt solar photovoltaic modules, 164 Enphase M215 microinverters, a Unirac SolarMount mounting system, and S-5! Clamp attachments.

Because of the existing electrical system at the facility, the photovoltaic system is divided into two sub-arrays backfeeding power into two 208V 3-Phase electrical distribution panels. Commercial 3-Phase installations are always interesting from a design standpoint because typically we are dealing with various existing transformers and often generator backup systems.

Workers Install PV Module

It was truly a pleasure working with the Naples Botanical Garden staff and Manhattan Kraft Construction on this project. The weather cooperated for the most part. The job went very smoothly, finishing about a week ahead of my expectations.

This job is a model for future PV construction projects. We look forward to the next big PV job as we move on to a large multi-tenant solar water heating job in Fort Myers.