Katherine Bonnington has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since September of 2024, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 10 January 2025 and the array a week later.
1,700 square feet, and the garage left out of it
The 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 Pewter carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 194 feet of rakes and eaves, and a ridge vent along the peak. The contract says in plain words that the roof covers the main structure only and does not include the detached garage — the right way to write it, so nobody discovers the disagreement on the morning the crew arrives.
12 panels, 5.52 kW and a battery
Twelve REC 460 watt panels came to 5.52 kW on Snap-N-Rack mounting, finished on 17 January 2025, running into a SolarEdge SE3800H Energy Hub inverter with an optimizer on every panel. A battery went in with it — the Energy Hub is the version of the inverter built to run one. JCP&L is the utility and the first year was designed for about 6,929 kWh.
What a battery changes and what it does not
A battery is often assumed to be about making more electricity. It is not; the panels decide that. What it changes is when the electricity is available. Solar produces in the middle of the day, when many households use least, and produces nothing at all in the evening, when they use most. Without storage the surplus goes out to the grid and the evening comes back off it. With storage, the afternoon’s surplus is still there at seven o’clock. On a twelve-panel array the battery is not there to run the house for days — it is there so that what the roof makes gets used by the house that made it.
An attic fan, fitted by one crew and wired by the other
The installation notes carry a small instruction: reconnect the attic fan the roofer installed. Two trades, one house, a week apart, and a piece of equipment that one crew fitted and the other had to wire back up. It is the kind of handover that simply does not happen when a roof and an array come from two companies who have never spoken — the fan gets fitted, nobody reconnects it, and it is discovered the following August.
100 feet of critter guard, fitted with the array
Mesh around the array perimeter, closing the gap where squirrels and birds nest under the panels. Fitting it during the installation is less expensive than fitting it later, because the crew, the ladders and the roof access are already there and no panel has to come off to reach the edge.
Project Facts
- Location
- Summit, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Critter Guard, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- September 2024
Solar
- Panels
- REC Model # 460AA-PURE-RX-DC
- System size
- 5.52 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE3800H-USNBBL14 HD Wave Energy Hub
- Mounting system
- Snap-N-Rack
- Estimated first-year production
- 6,929 kWh
- Critter guard fitted
- 100 ft
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 1,700 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Summit homeowners
RoofingHow long should an asphalt shingle roof last in Summit, NJ?
There is no single guaranteed service life. Longevity depends on the shingles, the installation, ventilation, weather exposure and maintenance. New Jersey roofs face summer heat, freezing temperatures, snow, ice, heavy rain, wind, humidity and, in some areas, coastal salt. A properly installed architectural roofing system should be judged against the manufacturer's warranty and installation requirements rather than a generic life-expectancy number.
SolarHow does an optimizer system differ from microinverters?
An optimizer system puts DC power optimizers at the modules and a single central inverter elsewhere; a microinverter system puts a small inverter at each module. Both can provide module-level monitoring and rapid shutdown when properly designed -- they are different architectures rather than one being the upgrade of the other.
RoofingWhat does a lifetime roof warranty actually mean?
Lifetime is a defined warranty term, not a promise that every future roof expense is covered without limit. Coverage changes over the years and carries eligibility rules, exclusions, a claims procedure and proration provisions. The written warranty is the thing to read; the word on the brochure is not the coverage.