Long Beach: Go Solar & Save

We’d love to power the whole world with solar, but we’ll be honest if your home isn’t ideal for solar panels. Luckily, community solar is available in our region. Also known as shared solar, or community distributed generation (CDG), this program grants you access to clean energy from a central solar array to offset your utility bill.

Individual energy needs, available roof space, roof orientation, and shading all factor in to determining if your home is suitable for solar. In 60 seconds or less, our solar experts can help you determine your home’s eligibility. Call 516-837-3459 or email us.

When the power goes out in your home, the solar panels will stop working and automatically disconnect from the grid to maintain the safety of the utility workers attempting to restore power. Once the power is restored, your system will continue production after a few minutes.

If it is important for you to maintain power during a blackout, we recommend adding battery storage to your system. With battery storage, your system will disconnect from the grid during an outage and switch over to using the energy in your batteries, allowing your panels to continue production and keep your home powered.

Roof integrity is our first priority. In order to approve your home’s ability to go solar, we carefully inspect your roof and grade it based on age, layers, condition, and a physical stress test. On installation day, we use a thoroughly tested product, similar to materials used on skylights, to prevent your roof from leaks.

We also include a squirrel guard, which is installed around your panels to keep animals from nesting beneath them and causing any degradation to your system. Our guards are constructed from a dark coated metal wire mesh, which is not typically visible from street-level and helps maintain the aesthetics of your home.

If you purchased your system it could add 4% or more to the value of your home. According to Zillow, New York homes sold for an average of $23,989 more! If you financed or leased your system you can either pay it off early or transfer the loan or lease to the new homeowner.

Net metering is a program offered by some utilities, like ConEd and PSEG, that allows grid users to send unused electricity to the grid, then reclaim that energy when they need it, such as during the night or in the winter.

Net metering uses a crediting system in which you earn energy credits for excess solar that you send to the grid, and your meter will “spin backwards”. Once a month, your utility company will review the energy that you use from the grid, and if there are any credits in your energy bank they will be shown on your bill and can be carried over to the next month. Many homes generate extra credits in the spring and summer, which can be stored in your energy bank and used to cover your bills through the winter months when your system does not produce as much energy.