Antonella Benedetto has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since August of 2022, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 14 October 2022 and the array a week later.
4,100 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 Charcoal carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 316 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys, and a ridge vent along the peak.
26 panels and 9.49 kW
Twenty-six REC 365 watt panels came to 9.49 kW on Snap-N-Rack mounting, finished on 21 October 2022, running into a SolarEdge SE7600H HD Wave inverter with an optimizer on every panel. JCP&L is the utility and the first year was designed for about 13,607 kWh.
A roof that beats the reference case
The panels sit in two groups on the front slope, pitched at 30 and 27 degrees, both pointing at an azimuth of 212 degrees — south, leaning slightly west. The design models them at 114 and 109 percent. Those figures are worth pausing on, because most roofs come in below 100: the reference is a benchmark, not a ceiling, and a roof at a good steep pitch pointing a little west of due south can beat it at this latitude. Leaning west also puts more of the production into the afternoon and early evening, which is when a house is usually occupied.
What that means in the only number that matters
Nine and a half kilowatts designed for 13,607 kWh works out at roughly 1,430 kWh for every kilowatt installed. The same twenty-six panels on a north-facing roof would be modelled at little more than half that, with identical equipment and identical workmanship. Nothing that can be bought moves this number. It is decided by which way the house was built facing, and it is the first thing worth establishing before anybody talks about panels.
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. On a roof oriented this well that job would be a particular waste, because every day the panels are down is a day a very good roof is producing nothing at all. Seven days of sequencing removed it permanently.
Project Facts
- Location
- Wall, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- August 2022
Solar
- Panels
- REC Model # REC-365NP2-Black
- Panels
- 26
- System size
- 9.49 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE7600H-US000NNC2 HD Wave
- Mounting system
- Snap-N-Rack
- Estimated first-year production
- 13,607 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 87%
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 4,100 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Wall homeowners
SolarDoes solar work well in Wall?
Yes. New Jersey receives more than enough annual sunlight for residential photovoltaic systems to produce substantial electricity. Panels run on light rather than heat, so they keep producing through the winter. What varies from house to house is roof orientation, pitch, shading, system size, equipment and local weather.
RoofingDoes a wind warranty with no speed limit mean the roof cannot blow off?
No. It is a limited warranty without a maximum wind-speed limitation for qualifying systems, and that is a statement about coverage rather than about physics. Storm damage remains possible and the coverage remains subject to the warranty's terms and exclusions.
SolarWhat happens to a solar lease when the house is sold?
Most residential leases provide a process for transferring the agreement to a qualified buyer, though the requirements vary by provider. Before signing it is worth understanding how a purchaser qualifies, what the transfer involves, any fees, the buyout options, the timing, and what happens if a buyer declines to take it on.