Steve in Princeton Junction has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since November of 2011. The array was commissioned in August 2012 and the standby generator the following May.
47 panels, commissioned August 2012
Forty-seven Canadian Solar 235-watt panels, 11.05 kW in total, on Zep Solar mounting with an Enphase M215 microinverter behind each one and an ANSI production meter on the system. Estimated first-year production is 12,838 kWh and the utility is JCP&L.
Forty-seven panels is a great many, and it is a function of the year rather than the ambition. At 235 watts a module — ordinary for 2011 — eleven kilowatts simply takes that many. The same output today would take twenty-five modern panels and about half the roof.
A 20 kW machine in May 2013
The generator is a Generac 20 kW, model 5875, delivering 18 kW on natural gas, which is what this 4,000 square foot house runs on. It sits behind a 200-amp service-rated transfer switch with two power management modules, and the house’s full electrical calculation comes to 27,040 watts with 5,000 of that in air conditioning, which the modules manage while the machine is running.
It was last serviced on 19 March 2026.
What the wait was for
There are nine months between the day this household signed for solar and the day the array started producing. That is worth explaining, because it is the part of a solar purchase nobody sells and everybody experiences.
A residential array is not really a product that gets delivered. It is a permitting exercise with equipment attached. The design has to be drawn and submitted; the township has to review and approve it; the utility has to process an interconnection application and agree to what is being connected to its network; the work has to be scheduled; the electrical inspection has to pass; and only then does the utility authorise the system to be switched on. Any one of those steps can sit on somebody’s desk for weeks, and none of them is within a contractor’s control.
Nine months was long even for 2011, when the queues were longer than they are now. What can be controlled is whether the household is told what is happening while it runs its course.
The generator, by contrast, took under five months from signature to commissioning — a smaller permitting job, no utility interconnection to negotiate, and a machine that connects to the house rather than to the grid. Two systems, two entirely different processes, and the difference between them is almost entirely paperwork rather than plant.
Project Facts
- Location
- Princeton Junction, NJ
- Services
- Solar Panel Installation, Standby Generator Installation, Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- November 2011
Solar
- Panels
- Canadian Solar Model # CS6P-235PX
- Panels
- 47
- System size
- 11.05 kW
- Inverter
- EnPhase M215-60-2LL-S22/S23 Micro-Single
- Mounting system
- Zep Solar
- Estimated first-year production
- 12,838 kWh
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
Standby generator
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 5875
- Rated output
- 20 kW LP / 18 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Home sized for
- 4,000 sq ft
- Transfer switch
- 0 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
Questions from Princeton Junction homeowners
SolarAre panels designed for the wind near Princeton Junction?
Yes. The array and its mounting system have to be designed to resist the applicable wind loads, and coastal and exposed locations can carry different wind-design conditions from sheltered inland ones. It is one of the reasons the mounting system and its engineering are chosen for the site rather than by habit.
Standby generatorWhat should we do if it runs for more than a day?
Continuous running for twenty-four hours or more deserves attention. The manufacturer's continuous-use guidance covers a proper shutdown, an oil-level check, a leak inspection and maintenance based on the hours accumulated. Follow the safe shutdown procedure rather than opening or servicing a machine that is running.
Standby generatorCan the generator share a propane tank with the furnace?
Potentially, if the tank, the regulators and the piping can supply the combined demand of the generator and every other appliance that might run at the same time. It is the whole connected load that has to be considered, not the generator on its own.