Solar Panel Installation and Roofing Installation in Summit, NJ | 12 Panels and a Battery

Summit, NJ · Client since September 2024

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.

Questions from Summit homeowners

RoofingHow do snow loads affect roofing in Summit, NJ?

Typical snow is accounted for in building design, but heavy wet snow can expose weak framing, poor drainage, and vulnerable low-slope areas. Structural concerns, unusual deflection, or repeated ice buildup should be evaluated rather than addressed only with new shingles.

RoofingCan new gutters be color matched to my house?

Aluminum gutter systems are available in multiple factory-finished colors, so homeowners can coordinate them with fascia, trim, siding or roof color. Exact color availability depends on the supplied product line.

SolarCan the old mounting hardware be reused after a reroof?

It depends on the manufacturer's requirements, the condition of the components and the warranty. The roof penetrations and weatherproofing components matter most, and a reroof is often the moment to replace the attachment and flashing rather than reinstall ageing roof-interface hardware.