41-panel 13.74 kW solar array in Branchburg, NJ by Green Sun Energy Services.
Lisa Molnar has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since July of 2017, when she bought a solar array and a standby generator on the same day. The generator ran on 15 September and the array was finished six days later.
41 panels and 13.7 kW
Forty-one LG 335 watt panels came to 13.7 kW on QuickMount flashed mounts, on the back of the house, feeding a single SolarEdge SE11400A HD Wave inverter with an optimizer on every panel. The optimizers are why one central inverter is workable here: each panel’s output is managed at the panel, so shade or a fault on one does not pull the rest down with it. JCP&L is the utility and the first year was designed for about 15,830 kWh.
A 16 kW standby with load management
The house is about 3,400 square feet on a 150-amp service, with three sump pumps, two refrigerators, a pool filter and central air. Run through NEC Article 220 Part IV the connected load came to 24,736 watts, of which heating and cooling account for 7,000. That is the arithmetic that decides how a generator is set up rather than simply how large it is: a power management module sheds the air conditioning while the generator is carrying the house, so the machine is never asked to start a compressor and run everything else at the same moment. The 16 kW Generac sits in an aluminum enclosure on a poured pad, with the 150-amp service-rated transfer switch indoors beside the service panel in the basement rather than outside at the meter. It was last serviced in August 2026.
Bought on one day, for two different days
Both systems were signed on 25 July 2017 and both were finished in the same week of September, which makes them look like one purchase. They are not. The array is for ordinary days, and it changes what this house draws from JCP&L across the year. The generator is for the day the grid is not there, when the array is no help whatever the weather. What the same-day decision bought was a single design covering both, one set of permits, and one company to call about either of them afterwards.
Project Facts
- Location
- Branchburg, NJ
- Services
- Solar Panel Installation, Standby Generator Installation, Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- July 2017
Solar
- Panels
- LG Model # 335N1C-A5
- Panels
- 41
- System size
- 13.74 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE11400A-US000NNR2 HD Wave
- Mounting system
- QuickMount
- Estimated first-year production
- 15,830 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 91%
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
Standby generator
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 7035
- Rated output
- 16 kW LP / 16 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 3,400 sq ft
- Electrical service
- 150 amp
- Transfer switch
- 150 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
Glen, Chris and their team were outstanding. I had 41 solar panels put on the back of my house and a full house generator installed at the same time. They were very reliable, professional, easy to get in touch with, happily answered all my millions of questions and I am very happy I chose them for the job. They took care of everything with little involvement from me and the job was done on time as promised. They even moved vents on my roof to make sure it looked nice. I would highly recommend Green Sun Energy Services!
Green Sun Energy Services replied
Thank you. Forty-one panels and a whole-house generator at the same time is two projects running in parallel, with different crews, different inspections and one household in the middle. The array at your home in Branchburg went on the rear roof and the machine went in alongside it. Reliable is what that takes.
Questions from Branchburg homeowners
SolarWho receives the certificates on a leased system?
That depends on the lease or power purchase agreement. Where solar is third-party owned, the system owner commonly retains the renewable-energy certificates and related incentives because it owns the generating equipment. The contract should say explicitly who owns the environmental attributes.
SolarHow much does shade from mature Branchburg trees affect production?
Shade can materially reduce production, particularly when it falls during the highest-production hours. Module-level electronics such as microinverters and optimizers reduce the effect of partial shading, but they cannot create sunlight where there is none. Significant shade should be modelled before any annual production figure is quoted.
Standby generatorCan the generator stay connected during a pressure test?
The machine has to be protected from test pressures beyond what its fuel controls are built to withstand. The fuel-gas code sets out when appliances are disconnected or isolated for testing, and the plumbing contractor follows both that code and the generator's installation instructions.