Going solar Lake Keowee Area By Matt Roach

Did you know that according to the http://www.solarchiefusa.com Web site the you can get a Federal Tax Credit of 30% of the cost of the number of solar panels necessary to cover your monthly power bill? The federal government does not cap the tax credit, though it must be used in the same tax year of solar system installation. You can also earn a state tax credit of 25% of the expense of the system (this one is capped at $3,500 or 50% of your tax liabilities). This credit can be taken over a 10 year period. If you are a Lake Keowee area resident and on the Duke Power grid you can get a $1 rebate per DC watt of solar power used. If your bill is around $250/month it will take approximately 24 panels (if you have a clear, southerly facing area to place them) to cover your entire bill. This is why I’ve decided to go “solar Lake Keowee” .

In a recent article, “Want to install solar panels? Here’s what you should know.” Ms. Walters goes into the main streaming of solar power. Apparently there is quite a group of folks, us included, who is tired of paying a power bill and have made the move towards going solar. There has been some question lately as to the tariffs and tax incentives changing so she goes on to discuss the future of the industry. “The number of residential solar permits submitted to Greenville County has been steadily increasing every year since 2014. In 2017 the county issued 760 permits , a huge jump from four years earlier, when fewer than 20 permits were filed, records show.” She goes on to say this is not just happening in Greenville county but around our state and that there is a growing number of new job hunters finding work in the industry.

The reality is it appears to be easy to make the switch and to get going solar in the Lake Keowee area. I recently signed a contract with a company to do just that. They will come out and evaluate my property, they’ve already done it via satellite and ascertained that the property looks to face the sun most of the day and has potential. Once that’s complete they will go through the engineering of the system, then soon after that come out and put them on the roof. Should take around 3 weeks to a month start to finish. They guarantee the work for 5 years and will fix any issues that may come up over the time period. The reason I’ve decided to move forward was based on a friend/clients experience with the same company with their house on Lake Keowee. He said they came out, put up the panels, made sure they were directly on the studs of the roof and didn’t miss a mark throughout the entire process.

I’ll let you guys know with an update how my experience goes below.

Journal

• Update 3-27-18 – signed contract
• Update 4-9-18 – signed a new contract for more money because the set up they proposed wouldn’t work on my roof.
• Update 4-11-18 – got a call from installers saying we are looking at next Monday for installing panels.
• Update 4-13-18 – got a call from SolarChief saying Blue Ridge electric has changed there policies as of today (wow) and have now imposed a 2 week waiting period for folks looking to do solar before they allow the process to move forward. This happened basically the same day as the SC state legislature figured out that the vote to change the 2% maximum solar power footprint in the state (amongst other things) be abolished now required a 2/3rds majority as opposed to a simple majority to pass. There was a strong simple majority but not quite enough votes for a 2/3rds majority. The local utility companies are very powerful and spend a lot of money to get the votes they want, I’ll reserve judgement as to whether or not that is a good thing.
• Update 4-16-18 – waiting on a phone call from Blue Ridge Electric.
• 4-20-18 Received phone call from Blue Ridge Electric set up meeting for 4-23-18
• 4-23-18 Met with two representatives from Blue Ridge. I’d previously signed up for their community solar and I was told I could no longer participate in that (well I could do one or the other). Not really sure why they wouldn’t continue to allow me to participate while going solar in the Lake Keowee area, but I chose to go with the roof top solar program. Had to initial the paperwork saying I understood I’d still have a bill for using their system of $28.50 and that’d I’d lose any overage that was produced after a years time. They said they’d implemented the waiting period in order to make sure everyone understood exactly what the process was and each individuals responsibilities.  Seemed reasonable. They are contacting the solar company to let them kn0w we can get started with the installation.
• By the way here is a before picture of my roof:
  

  My roof prior to solar panels being installed

• Update 5-7-2018 Fits and starts. Supposed to have the panels installed today. Found out the installers are still waiting on another permit from the county. Solar Chief says we should hear something by the end of the week and be ready to install next week.
• Got the permit! 5-15-2018.
• Installers show up 5-22-18 and after 3 days and some rigomaroll we are up and running, kind of. Can’t start using the panels until the inspector comes back out and checks on the job.
• 5-31-18 WE ARE UP AND RUNNING! Only issues now are setting up my app to show me what amount of power is being produced.
• 6-14-18Took a couple of weeks, but the pipes on my roof have been painted and my app is up and running
• So, in the end is was over a 3 month process with some scheduling headaches along the way. The actual work didn’t take long – 3 days – but the permitting, scheduling and meetings, thought short, were very spaced out. Now it’s time to save the planet and some money!

Do you want to go solar in the Lake Keowee Area? Do you’re homework, make sure you’ve got some good southern exposure (you can even place them on ground mounts) and talk to a few companies and your account to see if it’s right for you. That’s what I did before going solar Lake Keowee Area. My Website keeps telling my I’m not using going solar Lake Keowee area enough times causing you to have trouble finding this write-up/article/blog I’ve created so here it is again: Going Solar Lake Keowee Area.

For more weekly information about our real estate business on Lake Keowee, Top Guns Realty- Mike and Matt Roach, check out our Blog at https://lakekeoweerealestateexpert.com/blog/

Here is a recent article from The Greenville News by Haley Walters – Solar panels might once have been associated with hippies living off the grid, but increasingly, average homeowners are turning to them to reduce energy costs….https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/money/business/2018/03/19/want-install-solar-panels-heres-what-you-should-know/375449002/