Review for Solar SME

Office location: 8360 Greensboro Drive, McLean VA, 22102

12/10/2023
John PVC Vienna, VA

Poor performance

Choose another solar company and save your money, time, and reputation. In my situation, SolarSME failed to live up to its name, and they are failing to honor their contract. My Solar panels have been operational since late July 2022. Prior to going operational the installation was fraught with incompetence (see description) and lack of follow through. At the first anniversary of being operational the system is woefully underperforming by 23%. I reached out to SolarSME in August 2023 to “work together in good faith” according to the contract only to be led along for four months and then dismissed by SolarSME. My HOA does not allow solar panels to be installed on the front of houses, so SolarSME suggested they could install in the back using solar panel tilt legs for optimal performance. The design was created in December of 2021 and on 18 January of 2022 the project manager emailed, “Annual production with this layout: 18.05MHw per year.” I made my decision to proceed with the project based on 18.05MHw. I am currently getting 77% (13.1MWh) of the production agreed upon and according to the contract I should be getting at least 90% (16.245MWh). In hindsight, this lack of production is only mildly surprising because the installation crew had no idea how to install tilt legs. They improperly installed two arrays and then had to remove them, patch up the holes, and reattach them to the roof. This project was supposed to take 72hours and instead it lasted two weeks. The last day of the project was rushed, and it didn’t end until 9pm. They left pallets and a hole in the dry wall near my electrical panel. I brought this to the project manager’s attention multiple times, and he did nothing. He was only concerned with the final payment and 5-star reviews. I had to dispose of the garbage and pallets and then patch the hole myself. I have saved the reviews until now. In trying to resolve this issue the company says the production problem is due to shading. According to SolarSME, the shading is due to the solar panel arrays being too close indicating either a design flaw or installation failure. But there are no shading discussions in email, text, or on the phone in and around the 18 January 2022 date when I was emailed the annual production rate of 18.05MWh and I relied on that in making my decision to move forward. Annual production of 13.1MWh’s (77%) means SolarSME is not fulfilling their part of the contract