10/01/2020
Kelley
Cameron Park, CA
SolarNorcal installed a 19-panel solar array in May 2020. They used Panasonic panels and Enphase microinverters. The installation is clean, well designed and all conduit and control boxes are unobtrusive. The crew was efficient, skilled, and respectful of our property. The system was designed to produce peak production of 5.9 kWh PTC, which has not yet been met. So far, the best has been 5.7 kWh, in June 2020. However, the installation is in the Sacramento, CA region, which has had dozens of 100 degree and above days this year. Heat reduces panel energy production. The hotter it is, the less the production. In addition, Northern California has been on fire since August and the smokey sky and layers of ash on the panels has compromised the panels efficiency. I’m hoping that without the extreme heat and smoke/ash conditions, the system will meet the 5.9 kWh design. We’ll see. There have been problems with the Enphase microinverters. Four of the 19 began to fail after four months, due to a software problem. It took Enphase three weeks to finally fix the problem. Not exactly exemplary performance by Enphase. The owner has been very responsive to all my questions. Often, emails are answered within 10 minutes. That’s unusual in the world of customer service. Since the system is only 5 months old, it’s a little early to be handing out glowing reviews, but so far, I’m satisfied with SolarNorcal’s work and I would recommend them.