Jeffrey in Belford has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since April of 2018. The array went up that July and the standby generator followed four years later.
14 panels in July 2018
Fourteen Hanwha Q.PEAK DUO 320-watt panels, 4.48 kW in total, on Ecolibrium mounting with a SolarEdge SE3800H inverter and an optimizer on every panel. Estimated first-year production is 5,556 kWh and the utility is JCP&L.
This is a modest array by the standards of these pages, and the reason is the roof rather than the ambition. The house is 1,837 square feet; there is only so much usable, unshaded, correctly oriented surface on a building that size, and an array that overruns it starts adding panels that never pay their way. Fourteen was what the roof supported.
17 kW of backup in October 2022
The generator, by contrast, is not small at all. It is a Generac Guardian 18 kW, model 7226, delivering 17 kW on natural gas, behind a 200-amp service-rated transfer switch with surge protection, commissioned on 27 October 2022.
Four and a half kilowatts of solar and seventeen kilowatts of generator on the same house looks inconsistent until you notice they are answering different questions. The array is limited by roof area. The generator is sized to what the house draws when everything runs at once — a calculation that comes to 16,444 watts here, reduced to 12,444 once the 4,000 watts of air conditioning is managed. Neither number has any bearing on the other.
It was last serviced on 20 August 2026.
A refrigerator and a separate freezer
There is a refrigerator in the kitchen and a separate freezer elsewhere in this house, and between them they are the most persuasive argument on the property for having bought a generator at all.
Cold storage is the household load that fails silently and expensively. Everything else about an outage announces itself — the lights are off, the television is dead, the house cools down — and everything else is recoverable the moment the power returns. A freezer is different. It carries on looking exactly like a working freezer for a day or so, and by the time anyone opens it the decision has already been made for them.
A separate freezer usually means a household that buys in bulk or preserves what they grow or catch, which is to say the contents represent months of accumulation rather than a weekly shop. There is no version of an outage in which that is a minor loss, and no version in which the household finds out early enough to do anything about it.
The panels on the roof are no help here. A grid-tied array shuts down the moment the utility supply fails, and must, so that it cannot energise a line a crew is working on. Keeping two compressors running through a three-day storm is a job for the machine beside the house.
Why Belford homeowners choose Green Sun Energy Services
More than solar panels: a professionally managed energy system, from design and permitting through installation, inspection, activation and ongoing support.
Complete backup power, from sizing and installation to the service that keeps it ready.
What makes Green Sun Energy Services different
- Solar: design and installation supervised by a NABCEP-certified professional (#PVA-111016-016148), with SolarEdge optimizers on every panel so each one reports its own output. On this home: a 4.48 kW solar array of 14 Hanwha Q.PEAK DUO-G5.320 panels, a SolarEdge SE3800H-US000NNC2 inverter, the Ecolibrium Solar mounting system and 120 ft of critter guard.
- Standby generators: installed and serviced as a Generac Authorized Sales and Service Dealer, by factory-authorized Generac technicians. On this home: a Generac 7226 standby generator (18 kW LP / 17 kW NG) running on natural gas, on a 200-amp transfer switch (managed whole house) and serviced by Green Sun Energy Services.
- Warranty: backed by a 15-year solar workmanship warranty and a 5-year generator workmanship warranty.
- Local: locally owned and operated in New Jersey since 2010, NJHIC licensed (#13VH06229000), with 140 completed solar projects and 447 completed standby generator projects across Monmouth County and 363 solar projects and 624 standby generator projects throughout New Jersey.
Our work in Belford
Green Sun Energy Services has completed 4 featured solar projects, 8 standby generator installations and 16 generator service customers in Belford. Belford, a community in Middletown Township, on Sandy Hook Bay, is served by JCP&L.
Generate electricity on your roof and use it to help power your vehicle.
Thinking about solar, a standby generator, or both for your Belford home? Tell us about your project here or call 732-410-7818.
Power it. Protect it. Maintain it.
Project Facts
- Location
- Belford, NJ
- Services
- Solar Critter Guard, Solar Panel Installation, Standby Generator Installation, Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- April 2018
Solar
- Manufacturer & model
- Hanwha Q.PEAK DUO-G5.320
- Panels
- 14
- System size
- 4.48 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE3800H-US000NNC2
- Mounting system
- Ecolibrium Solar
- Estimated first-year production
- 5,556 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 97%
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
- Critter guard fitted
- 120 ft
- Workmanship warranty
- 15 years
Standby generator
- Manufacturer & model
- Generac 7226
- Rated output
- 18 kW LP / 17 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 1,837 sq ft
- Electrical service
- 200 amp
- Transfer switch
- 200 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
- Workmanship warranty
- 5 years
Questions from Belford homeowners
Standby generatorCan a standby generator run central air conditioning?
Yes, when it is sized for it. The design has to account for both the running demand and the starting surge of the air-conditioning equipment. Load-management equipment can be used where necessary so that demand does not all arrive at once.
Standby generatorDoes new gas piping have to be pressure tested in Belford?
Yes. Gas piping subject to the adopted fuel-gas code must be inspected and tested before it is accepted. New Jersey adopts the 2024 International Fuel Gas Code, which governs the inspection, the test pressure and how long the test has to hold.
Standby generatorWhich fuel-gas code applies?
New Jersey currently adopts the 2024 International Fuel Gas Code as its Fuel Gas Subcode, which is what governs the piping, testing and shutoff arrangements on a natural-gas generator installation.
SolarWhat makes a good solar panel?
For most homeowners it is a high-quality residential module with strong efficiency, a low degradation rate, and product and performance warranties, that fits the roof geometry available. Efficiency, wattage, temperature coefficient, mechanical-load rating, hail testing and the manufacturer's financial stability are all worth comparing.
SolarAre north-facing panels a bad idea?
They generally produce less annual energy in New Jersey than comparable south-facing panels, but they are not automatically unusable. Roof pitch, shading, the economics and the space available all matter, and a production model should show the expected output before north-facing modules go into a design.