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BECOME AN EXPERT

HASSLE-FREE SOLAR

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This guide is designed to make you a rooftop solar expert. In these pages we will break down the costs of going solar from tip to tail. We'll show you how to determine if your system is fairly priced, if your system is truly designed to fit your needs, and how to shed extra expenses from the cost of your system.

When you’re ready to go solar, Pick My Solar’s online solar marketplace will provide you with your own dedicated representative to navigate you through the solar buying process and help you compare solar offers.

Receive all your solar quotes online. Our cutting edge

technology can design your solar power system remotely.

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KEY FACTORS

LOWER RATES

Tier 1 (Baseline Allocation)

Bill Period Start

$/kWh

Total kWh Consumed Bill Period End

Tier 2

Tier 3 Tiers

Customer Usage

Gain EnergyIndependence

Increase the equity of your home with a solar PV system. Invest long term in your home and reduce your total monthly expenses.

WHY GO SOLAR?

The price of each unit of energy increases the more you buy. The higher tiers can be quite expensive during high use months! On average, utilities raise their prices by 5% a year. Utilities may even slip price hikes into base fees or slightly change the size of their tiers. Protect yourself from aggressive tiers and rate increases with solar.

Increase Your Home’s Value

Reduce your environmental impact. Both your carbon emissions and water usage are significantly reduced when you switch to solar.

Positively Impactthe Environment

Be prepared with a backup battery. Free yourself from utility policy changes and protect your home when the grid goes down.

Gain EnergyIndependence

You can start saving on your electric bill from day one. Avoid utility rate hikes and fees for decades to come.

Lower & EventuallyEliminate Your Bill

Monthly Electric Bill

Bill

Am

ount

Month

120

90

60

30

2 4 6 8 10 12

HOW SOLAR WORKS

Net Energy Metering (NEM)

Credits True-Up

Grid TiedNEM is the policy that allows you to push and pull energy to and from the grid through your electrical meter. Traditional utility users pull energy from the main grid, they use the energy in their home, and the meter counts how much is used. With solar, you will push your excess energy onto the grid during the day and pull it out at night to use for lights, TV, A/C, or anything else you may need.

If you don't use all the energy your system produces in a day, that energy will roll over to the next day and so on. This happens day after day, month after month. This allows you to use all the energy you produce with your solar system. If you have higher usage months (AC, guests, holidays, etc) you draw from the extra energy credits you earned earlier in the year.

Once a year you "true up" with your utility where you settle the balance on your energy credit. If you consume more than you produce then you'll pay the utility for the excess energy you pulled from the grid. If you produce more energy than you consume, the utility will compensate you for your excess energy at a below-retail rate.

After you go solar, you will still be connected to the grid. This is so you can take advantage of NEM to maximize the value of your system. Essentially the grid functions as a bank storing your energy from your solar panels until you are ready to use it. With a battery backup system or certain inverters with a secure power supply, you can use the energy from your system when the grid goes down.

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1 Solar panels convertsunlight to DC current

Electricity is used topower your home3

2Inverter converts DCelectricity to AC

4Extra electricity is sent to the grid for a credit oryour battery if you haveone

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Solar PanelsSolar panels are modular pieces, usually rectangular in shape - approximately 3’ by 5’ long. They vary in size, electrical output (measured in Watts), efficiency, and even color (most solar panels have either a black or silver metallic frame, and the cells will usually appear a dark blue or black in the light.) Panels can be mounted to a home or building’s roof structure, or installed on a ground-mount racking structure. The panels contain silicon cells that when exposed to sunlight, create a flow of direct current electricity or DC.

When thinking about where to locate solar panels for a home, it’s important to consider factors that will affect the system’s energy production (measured in kWh). In the Northern Hemisphere, facing south is typically ideal.

InverterThe inverter is the device that converts (inverts, technically) the direct current electricity produced by the solar array(s) into usable alternating current, or AC electricity. There are several different types of inverters a solar installation might employ. String inverters are the simplest, most mature inverter technology, in which the DC from groups of solar panels linked in series are fed into the inverter. The inverter puts out AC electricity which is then fed to the home’s electrical infrastructure. Micro-inverters are small, modular inverters that are furnished behind each solar panel in an array (1:1) and effectively compartmentalize the AC energy production of each panel so that the reduced production of one panel does not affect the output of the entire system.

Monitoring SystemIt’s important that every residential solar system has a monitoring system. This is the system that will allow you to view and measure real-time and historical energy production data of your system. Some monitoring systems display this energy production data via a physical display unit, while others employ an online interface, or both! As “smart” or connected homes become more prevalent, solar installers can provide whole-house energy consumption monitoring as well. In order to ensure your solar system is producing energy normally, it’s important to make sure your solar panels are paired with an energy production monitoring system.

Pick My Solar will audit your monitoring system FREE of charge to ensure your solar array is producing what it should.

Racking SystemA racking system is the structure on which your solar panels will be mounted to your home’s roof structure or on to the ground. While some racking systems may vary in their look, they exhibit similarities in their form and function. It’s important to make sure your racking system, if roof-mounted, is properly flashed and sealed to ensure your roof is well-protected against the elements. Roof racking systems vary slightly depending on the type of roof.

Some inverter companies such as SolarEdge offer power optimizers which essentially act like micro-inverters on a string array.

On flat roofs, a ballasted racking system can be used which requires no roof penetrations.

FINANCING OPTIONS

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You will save money by generating and using energy from your solar system that is less expensive than what you currently pay your utility provider. There are four ways to do this and, depending on each unique project and situation, you may want to buy your system outright, take out a loan, lease your system, or enter into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

All four of these options can provide cheaper electricity than your utility. Because every situation is unique, Pick My Solar will assess your project on dozens of factors to determine the optimal solar financing solution for your situation.

Purchasing your solar system will provide the best return on investment, however, there is an out of pocket cost. By investing in your solar system up front, you won't have any new monthly payments, just a lower, possibly "zeroed-out" electric bill! It’s proven that solar increases a home's resale value - so while the system may take a few years to"pay for itself", the value added to your home fromyour new PV system would be immediate!

PurchaseTaking out a loan will allow you to start saving from day one. For example, you may have a current electricity bill of $150 each month and after installing a solar system, you could pay $130 per month for the duration of the loan. This will allow you to immediately start saving $20 each month. Then after the loan is paid off, all of the electricity provided by your solar panels will be FREE.

Loan

If you can take advantage of the 30% Federal Investment Tax Credit, you will have the most savings bypurchasing your system with cash or a loan.

Leasing your solar system is a great option if you don't have a significant tax liability. The leasing company will be able to use the tax credit and, in turn, offer you a solar system with a lower monthly payment than what you are currently paying for your electricity. With a lease you will not have as significant of lifetime savings, but it can be a great option for people with low or fixed income or retirees looking to reduce their monthly expenses.

LeaseA Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), is very similar to a lease. Electricity costs are measured by each "kilowatt hour" (kWh) used. For example, if you are currently paying your utility company 16 cents for each kilowatt hour of your electricity, you can enter into a Power Purchase Agreement with a solar company and pay, for example, 12 cents for each kilowatt hour that your solar system produces.

PPA

Leasing your system or entering into a PPA will both help save you money, however, they will not provide you with as great of savings as the purchase or loan options.

$ $ $ $

$ $ $

$ $ $

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SOLAR PRICING (PPW)

Key Terms

Price Per Watt (PPW)

Example

Gross System Cost / System Size ( in DC Watts )

Gross System Cost

PRICE FACTORS

System Size

ALL inclusive (permits, material, warranties, taxes, financing costs, etc.)

Panel DC Watts x Number of Panels

$18,000

$11,200

$2,000

$4,800

System Net Cost

System Gross Cost

SYSTEM SIZE

PANEL TYPE

INVERTER TYPE

UPGRADES

LOCATION

PPW = $11,200 / 5,000 Watts = $2.24 / Watt

PPW = $18,000 / 5,000 Watts = $3.60 / Watt

Utility Rebate

PPW is calculated by using systemgross cost and not system net cost.

Tax Credit

250 Watt panels (x24)

5,000 Watts DC or 5kW (kiloWatts)

4,150 Watts AC

Breakdown System Specs

Most installers will offer a lower PPW the larger a system gets; some installers have a “flat” pricing structure.

Usually, more efficient, lower degradation panels will have a higher price point. Price can also vary by color and brand.

Main electrical service panel upgrades are sometimes necessary for residential solar installations in order to accommodate a system’s electrical output or to meet municipal building codes and standards.

Location, location, location - do you live in a remote area? Is your roof difficult to access? Is the solar installer busy? Do they have steady supply and demand to offer competitive pricing? Is your building jurisdiction or HOA solar-friendly? Were you referred to the solar installer? All of these factors can add to your system’s PPW.

String inverters tend to have a lower price point than micro-inverters and optimizers. However, the benefits of micro-inverters or optimizers may yield long-term benefits that outweigh additional cost due to the increased efficiency of the system.

PLANNING

Installation CompanyWhen considering your installation company, it is important to know their number of installations, their locations, their bankability, their online reviews , and most importantly, our internal rankings. You will also want to strongly consider the length of their workmanship warranty. Workmanship warranties cover roofing penetrations, water damage, electrical work, and anything related to their installation for the time period described. You’ll also want to get referenc-es and testimonials from their past customers. Pick My Solar provides information for every installer in our network.

ContractContracts can often be overwhelming and packed with a lot of legalese. There are a few key areas of the contract that you should confirm are accurate: progress payments (how much you pay and when); any additional line items (service upgrades, EV chargers, buried lines); escalator rate (for lease or PPA); detailed warranty information; cancellation clause; system's first year production estimate; and hardware specifications.

WarrantyA professional, licensed solar installation company will provide an installation or workmanship warranty in addition to the warranties provided by the equipment they install (panels, inverter(s), optimizers, monitoring, racking system, etc). As for the equipment, most solar panels come with a performance warranty lasting 25 years. The performance warranty guarantees that a panel's output capacity will not drop by more than 0.7% per year, or less than 20% over 25 years. This means that your system is warrantied to be at least 80% as productive 25 years after it is installed. This degradation rate can range from about 0.4% per year for modules from companies like SunPower, to about 0.9% per year for others, but 0.7% per year is the industry standard.

MaintenanceSolar PV systems require almost zero maintenance. The rain should be sufficient to clear off the dust and dirt on your panels, but you could do no harm by hosing of your panels every 2-3 months at the most. In areas that receive snowfall, snow shouldn’t be a major problem. Panels will still receive sunlight through the snow and heat up, causing the snow to slide right off.

When purchasing a solar system, maintenance is on the homeowner. Your workmanship warranty will cover labor to service or replace any hardware if it cannot be fixed remotely. If you lease a system or do a PPA, the financiers will almost always offer a 'maintenance package' where they offer to clean the system biannually or annually. Studies have shown that this is unnecessary for most tilted arrays. Be wary of these 'maintenance packages' as they are often overpriced.

Installation ProcessThe actual installation of a solar PV system typically takes only a day or two. First, the materials are brought to your house as the crew of 3-5 workers arrive. Next, standoffs are installed on the roof, then flashings. Rails are then installed and the solar panels are attached to the rails, conduit is run for the wiring, and the system is then tied-into the main service panel. City inspection is then scheduled by your solar installer. After your city approves the system, the installation company then applies for permission to operate from the utility, which can take 1 - 4 weeks depend-ing on the utility and volume of applications. The installation company will then switch on the PV system, set-up the monitoring system, and then you are good to go!

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Pick My Solar is the homeowner’s advocate in the complex solar market. We make going solar a hassle-free and low-cost process. Pick My Solar’s bidding platform puts solar installers in

competition for homeowners’ solar projects. This means we find you the best possible deals in the market. We remain the homeowner’s advocate through every step of the process, assuring

that every customer goes solar without headaches. All of this is FREE for homeowners.

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