Equipment and Technology
Panels, inverters, racking and monitoring judged on the specifications that change the outcome on a New York roof, including orientation, shading and winter performance.
Your Solar Is Producing Less Than the Estimate. Why?
Work through the causes in order: wrong comparison, incomplete year, an atypical weather year, snow and shade. Equipment faults come fourth, not first.
Equipment and Technology7 min read
Reading Enphase Enlighten Without Guessing
Four screens tell you almost everything about your array. What Enlighten measures, why it never matches the utility bill, and how to judge a New York…
Equipment and Technology6 min read
Reading Your SolarEdge Monitoring App Like an Owner
What the SolarEdge app actually measures, which screens are missing without a meter, how to read a fault from New York seasonality, and why the app…
Equipment and Technology6 min read
Solar Carports in New York: Cost and Permit Reality
A solar carport costs more than a roof mount because you are buying a structure as well as an array. The permit path reflects that, and…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
What Size Solar System Do I Need in New York?
Three inputs set the right system size: twelve months of your own kilowatt-hours, what your roof can actually carry, and the loads you have not added…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Shingles vs Panels in New York: What to Compare
Solar shingles are a roofing decision before they are an energy decision. If your roof has years left in it, that single fact settles most of…
Equipment and Technology6 min read
Solar Pool Heating in New York: How Long Is the Season?
Solar pool heating extends the ends of a New York swimming season rather than creating a longer one. Four things decide how far it stretches, and…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Panels on a Slate Roof in New York: What to Ask
On a slate roof the panels are the easy part. The attachment method and the trade doing the work decide whether the project is sensible, and…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Panels on a North Facing Roof in New York
Panels on a north-facing pitch will generate electricity. They will generate less of it than the same panels anywhere else on the house, and they cost…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Panels and a Whole House Generator Together in NY
Solar panels and a standby generator can share a house, but they do not cooperate by default. The decision that matters is made by the electrician…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Panel Wattage Explained for New York Homeowners
A 400 watt panel is not better than a 350 watt panel in any way you can bank. What your bill, your incentive and your monthly…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Optimizers: What They Do and When You Need One
An optimizer is a small device behind each panel that stops one weak module dragging down the rest of its string. Whether your roof needs them…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Temperature Coefficient: Why It Matters on a NY Roof
Every module is rated at a cell temperature no New York roof holds in July. The temperature coefficient is the line that tells you how much…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Inverter Lifespan and What Replacement Costs
Panels outlive their inverters. What a replacement costs you depends far less on the price of the box than on four questions about who pays for…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Hot Water or Solar Electric for a New York Home?
These are two different machines competing for the same roof. The decisive difference in New York is that surplus electricity has somewhere to go and surplus…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Panels in Cloudy Weather: What New York Loses
Panels keep working under overcast skies, at a reduced rate. The question worth asking is not whether clouds hurt but whether the estimate you were shown…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
How Much Roof Space Do Solar Panels Need?
The answer depends on two numbers from the module datasheet and on how much of your roof is genuinely usable, which is always less than the…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar Panel Degradation: What to Expect Over 25 Years
Panels lose output slowly and predictably, and the number that matters is not the one on the brochure but the guaranteed floor in the performance warranty…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Heat Pumps and Solar Panels Together in New York
A cold climate heat pump and a rooftop array belong on the same house. What decides whether the pairing goes smoothly is your electrical service and…
Equipment and Technology5 min read
Solar on a Barn or Outbuilding in New York
The best roof on a New York property is frequently not the house. Here is what to check before putting an array on the barn.
Equipment and Technology4 min read
Solar Monitoring: What Is Actually Worth Watching
Daily production tells you what the weather did. Here are the four things worth watching, and the one comparison that matters.
Equipment and Technology4 min read
Ground Mount or Roof Mount Solar in New York?
A ground mount costs more and solves more. Here is exactly what it buys you, and when the extra is worth paying in New York.
Equipment and Technology4 min read
Are Bifacial Solar Panels Worth It in New York?
Bifacial panels need light reaching their back face. Flush-mounted on a pitched roof, almost none does. Here is where they actually earn their price.
Equipment and Technology3 min read
Solar on a Flat Rubber Roof: What Changes
A flat membrane roof changes the mounting, the snow behaviour and the warranty question all at once. Here is what to settle before anyone touches it.
Equipment and Technology4 min read
Solar Panels on a Metal Roof in New York
A standing seam metal roof is the single best surface for solar in New York, and the reason is that nothing has to be drilled.
Equipment and Technology4 min read
EV Charging and Solar Panels in New York
An electric car changes solar sizing more than almost anything else a household adds, and the federal tax credit that used to offset the charger itself…
Equipment and Technology6 min read
The Best Roof Direction for Solar in New York
South-facing is the textbook answer. In practice most New York roofs are not south-facing, and east and west are far better than people assume.
Equipment and Technology4 min read
Microinverters or String Inverters for a New York Roof?
New York roofs are small, complicated and often shaded, which is exactly the condition where the inverter choice stops being a detail.
Equipment and Technology4 min read
Not sure which programmes apply to you?
Eligibility in New York depends on your utility, your roof and whether you buy, finance or subscribe. Put the system size and price an installer quotes you into the estimator and see the rebate and the state credit on one scale.