Solar Panel Installation and Roofing Installation in Newark, NJ | 20 Panels

Newark, NJ · Client since February 2023

This Newark household has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since February of 2023, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 8 May 2023 and the array eight days later.

1,200 square feet, stripped to the deck

A single layer of old shingles came off down to the sheathing and left with the dumpster. Deck protection went over the exposed sheathing, then a GAF Timberline HDZ system in Weathered Wood carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 72 feet of rakes and eaves, and a ridge vent along the peak.

20 panels and 7.3 kW

Twenty REC 365 watt panels came to 7.3 kW on Snap-N-Rack mounting, finished on 16 May 2023, running into a SolarEdge SE7600H HD Wave inverter with an optimizer on every panel. PSE&G is the utility and the first year was designed for about 7,815 kWh.

A small roof used to its limit

Twelve hundred square feet with only 72 feet of edge is a compact roof with very little cut into it, and twenty panels is a great deal of array to put on one. That combination is easier to work with than a larger roof broken up by valleys and dormers: long uninterrupted runs, fewer flashing details, and very little of the surface wasted on the setbacks a fire code requires around obstructions. A modest roof with a simple shape will often take a bigger array than a sprawling one with a complicated one.

Why the roof went first

An array is bolted to a roof for twenty-five years and more, so shingles at the end of their life underneath one become a second job with a date already on them — panels off, roof on, panels back. When an array covers most of the roof, as this one does, that job is not a partial inconvenience; it is the whole roof and the whole array. Eight days of sequencing settled it.

Questions from Newark homeowners

RoofingWhat material is used for new gutters?

The current roofing offering includes seamless aluminum gutters. Aluminum is commonly used because it is relatively lightweight, corrosion resistant, formable on site and available in multiple colors.

SolarDo unused credits carry from month to month?

Yes. Eligible excess kWh credits generally carry through the customer's annualised net-metering period, which is what allows strong spring and summer production to offset consumption in the darker months.

SolarHow much does shade from mature Newark 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.