Reviews by RKrawl

HESOLAR

I have known these Master Electricians (Eric and Derrick) from their early days earning college money working with their father's Hoffman Electric business. They sweated and froze through several years of hot/cold general electrical work in
attics and crawl spaces all over central Texas. I suspect that their dad had them working in electrical during their summer vacations while still in high school. They had dreams of putting their college level education efforts into designing and installing solar systems. These twins look young however they both have a massive amount of experience and education behind them so when I found out that they were starting their own business under the HESolar name plate, I begged them to put their research to use by designing two virtually identical systems for my duplex which houses my home office on one side and residence on the other.

After putting in a tremendous amount of research into various solar applications and equipment as well as answering what must have seemed like a million questions, HESolar came up with system Side B as 30, 255 watt polycrystalline panels for a total of 7,650 watts grid tied backed up by a battery bank and generator transfer for truly off grid systems. This system started production in August 2013 and has never had any problems and has always produced more electricity than consumed. Produced a total of 15.59 MWh. to date. 02-12-2015

Office system side A uses 26, 290 watt monocrystalline panels for a total of 7,540 watts grid tied backed up by another battery bank and generator transfer. The only equipment difference for these two systems was monocrystalline versus polycrystalline panel technology as I wanted to learn which was more productive. The monocrystalline out produces the polycrystalline by as much as 1,000 watts daily with slightly less ratings. This days daily production for side B is 35.9 KW and
side A is 36.96 KW. These panels are on the same roof angle at the same azimuth. Side B is mounted at the top of the roof line and starts producing earlier than A which sets on the lower one half. This A system started production in October 2013 and since the office consumes more electricity than the residence, I currently do not have as much credit going forward each month and my
largest electric bill was approx 15.00 dollars. Total production for this side is 13.69 MWh to date. With the current carry forward of credits and new Central Air units, I should never have an electric bill in the future. I am extremely happy with the
systems. The systems run themselves and I have never had to call HESolar back for any service work or problems. I and they are able to monitor all aspects of my systems at any time from anywhere in the world via the internet.

HESolar walked me through every phase including helping me find a great roofing company to install standing seam roofing Austin Energy approved insulation and weather proofing specialists as well as permits and inspections. Their crew was very professional, friendly, and timely. I have had numerous compliments about the appearance and quality of both systems. I whole heartedly recommend HESolar for any and all electrical work. No job is too large for these guys as they have a number of qualified master electricians they can draw from for the larger jobs.

My reasoning for going solar was not so much for the green impact as the economical impact in my situation. At the decision point, I calculated that. I could save approx $3,600.00 in annual electrical payments by installing solar. At the then current interest rate 1% to be generous, I would need to have $360,000.00 in the bank at interest. If I earn $3,600.00 in interest payments to pay my electrical bills , I would have to send to the IRS $900.00 in additional taxes and still come up short at the end of the year. Now that I am not paying out the $3,600.00 in electrical payments, I do not have to pay taxes(as of yet) on money not spent. Please do not clue in the IRS on this benefit. I also could eliminate my UPS battery costs for my computer equipment and not be out of business due to rolling brown outs or power failures. My wife also had medical problems and I did not want her to suffer if power failures came along. As it stands right now, I have no idea when the power has blinked or failed.

Rodney R Krawl
Austin Texas... read more

Type: Residential Electric

Reviewed: 03/09/2015