04/05/2012
George & Margaret Snyder
I think New England Breeze did an excellent job installing our roof-mounted 7.77 kW solar array. It has been running for a month, and is producing the amount of power specified (when the sun is out).<br /><br />There was an initial glitch which delayed our installation a few weeks. During the pre-installation site visit, New England Breeze found that our roof had three layers of shingles, which neither they nor I had noticed during their initial site evaluation. Adding solar panels would have created too much load for the roof. This situation is very uncommon, but if you have an older house I recommend checking for it well in advance. Fortunately, we were able to get a roofer to replace the shingles on short notice. New England Breeze was very flexible with their schedule (for example, they installed our inverters and wiring in separate visits before the roofers came). When the roof work was done, they put in extra effort to get our solar panels installed before the winter weather hit. So in the end everything was satisfactory.<br /><br />New England Breeze filled out and submitted all the necessary paperwork, including building permits, and arranged for the necessary inspections. We only had to sign the appropriate places, and E-mail one document.<br /><br />New England Breeze uses full-time employees. The installation crew seemed very competent, knowledgeable, friendly, and willing to answer questions. They emphasized safety, including the use of anchors, ropes, and harnesses while working on our sloped roof. There was no property damage at our site.<br /><br />The resulting installation looks very professional. The solar panels, wiring enclosures, and conduits look solid and neat. Inverters, meters, and breaker boxes are labeled, including safety notices to electrical workers. The signs look durable and easy to read, and are centered and straight. Overall, the work gives an impression of commitment to quality and attention to detail.<br /><br />New England Breeze has been very responsive to my phone and E-mail communications. I am now working with them to add battery backup to my system.<br />The installer was selected by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center for the Solarize Massachusetts / Harvard project, so the survey questions on contractor selection do not apply.<br /><br />We had owned the house less than a year when the Solarize Harvard program started. If this program had not been available, we probably would have installed a PV system, but probably a couple of years later.