Tara Anthony has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since February of 2017, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 10 April 2017 and the array a week later.
3,000 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 carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 215 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys, and a ridge vent along the peak.
28 panels and 8.96 kW
Twenty-eight LG 320 watt panels came to 8.96 kW on QuickMount flashed mounts, finished on 17 April 2017, running into a SolarEdge SE7600A inverter with a power optimizer on every panel. PSE&G is the utility and the first year was designed for about 11,133 kWh — close to 1,250 kWh for every kilowatt installed.
A separately metered system, not an estimate
This installation includes a production meter built to the ANSI accuracy standard rather than relying on the inverter’s own reading of itself. The distinction matters more than it sounds. An inverter reports what it believes it produced; a certified meter measures it to a tolerance somebody else has defined and tested against. Where production has to be reported to anyone outside the household, that is the difference between a figure and an audited one — and the meter fitted in 2017 is still the one doing the measuring.
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. This roof and these panels went on within a week of each other in the spring of 2017, and neither has needed the other disturbed in the years since. That is the whole argument for doing them together, and in that order.
Project Facts
- Location
- Piscataway, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- February 2017
Solar
- Panels
- LG Model # 320N1K-G4/40mm
- Panels
- 28
- System size
- 8.96 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE7600A-US000NNR2 Inverter (12Y) W/ P400 HD Wave
- Mounting system
- QuickMount
- Estimated first-year production
- 11,133 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 66%
- Electric utility
- PSE&G
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 3,000 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Piscataway homeowners
SolarWhich utility handles interconnection in Piscataway?
The electric distribution company that serves the property. In New Jersey that is Jersey Central Power & Light, PSE&G, Atlantic City Electric or Rockland Electric depending on the address, and municipal electric systems can have their own requirements.
RoofingWhy does using a complete system from one manufacturer matter to the warranty?
Because the enhanced warranties and the wind coverage generally require qualifying accessories alongside the shingles — the starter strips, the deck protection, the ridge caps and, depending on the warranty, the leak barrier or the ventilation. Buying the right shingle and substituting the accessories around it can leave the roof outside the coverage the homeowner thought was being bought.
SolarWhat is the difference between a lease and a power purchase agreement?
Under a lease the customer generally pays an agreed periodic amount for the use of the system; under a power purchase agreement the customer generally pays for the electricity the system produces. Both normally involve third-party ownership, and terms vary considerably between providers.