Paul from Hillsborough, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since May of 2024. Both jobs were booked in the same week and finished eight days apart that summer, which is the sequence that makes the pair worth doing together.
A 3,500 square foot roof
The roof came off and went back on at the end of July of 2024, 3,500 square feet in the GAF Timberline system, with 266 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys detailed as part of the work. Those edges are where a roof usually gives way first, because water tracks back under a shingle at a valley and wind lifts a rake in a nor’easter, and worth counting separately from the open field of the roof.
8.74 kW of solar
Nineteen REC panels went on the new shingles on the sixth of August, 8.74 kW in total on Snap-N-Rack mounting, with a first-year production estimate of 10,517 kWh. Nineteen is an odd-looking count and it is the roof that sets it: the array is laid out on the planes that face the sun and stops where the roof does, rather than being rounded to a tidy number.
Why the order mattered
An array is fixed to a roof for the life of that roof. Fitting one to shingles that are nearly worn out means taking the whole thing down and setting it back when the roof is finally replaced — panels off, mounts off, roof on, everything refitted. Replacing the roof eight days before the panels went up means the array will not have to be disturbed for as long as the new roof lasts.
Project Facts
- Location
- Hillsborough, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- May 2024
Solar
- Panels
- REC Model # 460AA-PURE-RX-DC
- System size
- 8.74 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE7600H-USNBBL14 HD Wave Energy Hub
- Mounting system
- Snap-N-Rack
- Estimated first-year production
- 10,517 kWh
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 3,500 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Hillsborough homeowners
SolarHow much does shade from mature Hillsborough 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.
RoofingCan a roof warranty transfer to a new owner?
Certain warranties can, subject to that warranty's own conditions and a required notification procedure with its own time limit. It is worth knowing the process before the house goes on the market rather than during the sale, and a transferable warranty is a genuine selling point.
SolarCan the panels come off and go back on for a new roof?
Yes -- it is commonly called a removal and replacement. The work involves taking off the modules and mounting equipment, protecting the electrical equipment, roofing, fitting new attachments, rewiring, reinstalling, testing and recommissioning. Permitting and utility requirements are reviewed where the configuration changes.