Office location: 66-D Main Line Drive, Westfield MA, 01085
08/28/2025
Mark Davidson
Worcester, MA
Please note, this is going to be a long review as I also hope to provide some information on the pluses and potential pitfalls that you can have in Massachusetts with completing a solar project. I was specifically looking into solar as a long-term investment as I am hoping to age in place. My house is sort of an energy hog in that I have an outside 20x40 pool which I run generally from late April- early May through early to late November. I also have a large house that needed a 200-amp service upgrade. I am currently using some very old central ac systems (Circa 1986) which work well but are not the most energy efficient. As I was replacing my electrical panel, I also decided to go with a SPAN panel upgrade (this will not be discussed in this review). My first contact with All Energy Solar was in May 2024. At that time, I was shopping around for a solar installer, with the help of Energy Sage (I found Energy Sage also quite helpful). I had contacted several installers and was receiving emails and call backs to arrange for initial evaluations of my property for solar. I reached out to All Energy Solar (rather than the other way around) because my review of different installers showed positive experiences with other homeowners. In some ways it was a plus that their home office was in Minnesota with a satellite office in Massachusetts. I liked the size and breadth of the multiple different states that they worked in. They seemed big, but not too big. It also helped that my overall impression of Minnesotans was that of “Minnesota Nice”. When gathering my quotes I found that it is really a “jungle” out there in terms of installers. I had several nice experiences (one with a small Massachusetts company) with whom my final decision was between All Energy Solar and this smaller company. I also experienced the hard sell, with few cost numbers really discussed (but instead avoided) and even a few that made me feel like I was dealing with a shady used car salesman. Once person even told me quite assuredly, that I could deduct 30% of my new roof cost for the upcoming solar. I have done a lot of research, and I know that this is not the case. You may get away with at tax time but risk an audit in the future so that you will be responsible for those monies in full along with penalties. So, with my final decision being made All Energy Solar and myself began the design process of building an appropriately sized solar system with a partial home battery backup, but with the ability of this backup battery to self-charge during the day, even if the grid was down. Through sales, evaluation, design (multiple times) and installation All Energy has been pretty darn good! I never realized how complex and at times confusing having a solar system designed and installed could be. Initially, I was looking for a much larger system (and significantly more expensive) to try to have 100% of my electrical needs covered by solar. This design initially had a few issues—specifically, it would make a larger system at about 20 Kwh. While the current state regulations/standards allowed for systems over 20 Kwh in size, this was not currently being implemented. It is quite possible that now such systems are easily allowed—but honestly given my current experience, I do not know if such a large system is necessary (see further below). The initial finalized plan had a lower total Kwh system with a total of 10 Kwh battery backup (two Enphase 5P’s). This plan was finalized and sent to my cities regulatory department for review. When we got their reply, they wanted a wired and interconnected fire alarm system throughout the house as the plan had two batteries being placed in my basement. Initially I was quite frustrated with my city’s requirements, but I am glad I investigated this further. I spoke to the Massachusetts State Fire Marshall—this gentleman is a font of knowledge and clearly knows his stuff (and frankly, Massachusetts is getting its monies worth with this state employee). My several discussions with him were super helpful and important for my decision process. He explained to me that my city Fire Marshall was quite right to be concerned regarding the placement of the batteries in the basement. Lithium batteries, if they do catch fire, cannot be extinguished in the same way as other battery sources. You essentially pour water on them until they burn themselves out. While it is quite a rare event for this to happen, I do not want to risk my home (one of the most sizeable investments for me) having this occur—which would be largely catastrophic for me. So, we went back partially to a new drawing board with changing battery placement ultimately to the outside of the house. I had initially hoped that an inside the garage installation would work, but there were two problems with this. First, I would need once again a wired and interconnected fire alarm system. Second, there is only one battery on the market that is rated for cold weather and outside installation. The final plan had a smaller system at a bit over 12 Kwh and a Tesla PowerWall 3 (I had to swallow my dislike of giving EM any money). Specifically, the PowerWall 3 is designed to take energy from the battery itself and heat itself, to keep the battery at the optimal temperature when the weather goes down to 4 degrees Fahrenheit. While perhaps not as efficient in the winter due to drawing energy to heat up, it certainly is supposed to work (I will know in full after this winter). So late this April, we got approval on the final plan, approvals from NSTAR came through. A date was scheduled for several days in May for the installation. The time arrived and All Energy Solar arrived and did a really nice job with the installation. I was there at the city electrical inspection, and they even commented on the very good job done by All Energy Solar. In late May my system started producing, but it was only helping power my home as I was still waiting for permission to export. At that point it took a few days to get my connected solutions account to be created, so I would give back some energy (and get reimbursed for this) between June and September of every year power is taken in 2-3 hour time slots to help with grid high use times. National Grid makes this a 5-year contract. My experience with All Energy Solar since starting the system has also been quite positive. They came back without a problem when there were some identified issues with the system and continued to monitor and tweak the system. In the end my experience with all my team, Justin, Annalise, Carlo, Mike and the rest of the install team including electricians etc has been really first rate. Would I recommend them? Yes, wholeheartedly and I have already done so with a neighbor. Am I happy with the system? You bet. My mid-May-June electric bill before I was exporting back to the grid was $66, my mid-June to July bill was negative $25 and my mid-July to August bill was about negative $60. It seems that All Energy Solar and I found the sweet spot in total investment regarding size of the system, what I am getting out of the system and total cost. Well done and thank you. MD
System size (kW): 12
Year installed: 2025