Lisa from Allentown, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since November of 2018. The array went up first and the standby generator followed two years later, which is the order most houses arrive at rather than plan for.
8.32 kW of solar
Twenty-six LG panels went on in November of 2018, 8.32 kW in total, with a first-year production estimate of 10,243 kWh. The mounting is a rail-free system, so each panel is carried on its own pair of brackets rather than on a continuous rail — fewer components on the roof and fewer penetrations to seal. A hundred and sixty-eight feet of critter guard went on with the array, which is what stops squirrels nesting in the gap between panel and shingle.
A 13 kW standby generator
The Generac was commissioned in December of 2020 and is rated 13 kW on either fuel, so the natural gas it runs on takes nothing off the nameplate. The load survey came to 2,436 square feet, and it is switched by a 150-amp automatic transfer switch.
Why a solar house still wanted a generator
The two do opposite jobs and the difference only shows up in an outage. A grid-tied array shuts down the moment the utility does, for the safety of anyone working on the line, so a roof full of panels goes dark with the rest of the street. The generator is what actually keeps the house running. Fitted two years apart, the two now cover the whole of the year between them: the array carries the daylight and the generator carries the storm.
Project Facts
- Location
- Allentown, NJ
- Services
- Solar Critter Guard, Solar Panel Installation, Standby Generator Installation, Standby Generator Service
- Client since
- November 2018
Solar
- Panels
- LG Model # 320N1K-A5
- System size
- 8.32 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE6000H-US000NNC2
- Mounting system
- Ecolibrium Solar
- Estimated first-year production
- 10,243 kWh
- Critter guard fitted
- 168 ft
Standby generator
- Manufacturer
- Generac Model # 7173
- Rated output
- 13 kW LP / 13 kW NG
- Fuel
- Natural Gas
- Electrical service
- 150 amp
- Transfer switch
- 150 amp
- Load management
- Managed Whole House
Questions from Allentown homeowners
Standby generatorDoes a generator keep the well running during an outage in Allentown?
Yes, when the well pump is included in the design. A private well pump is electric, so without power there is no running water at all -- a different order of problem from losing the lights. Homes on a well are among the clearest cases for standby power, and the pump belongs on the load list from the start.
SolarHow does an optimizer system differ from microinverters?
An optimizer system puts DC power optimizers at the modules and a single central inverter elsewhere; a microinverter system puts a small inverter at each module. Both can provide module-level monitoring and rapid shutdown when properly designed -- they are different architectures rather than one being the upgrade of the other.
Standby generatorHow can a whole house be carried on a smaller electrical service?
Through load management. One or more large loads are controlled so they do not start at the same moment, or shut down briefly if generator demand climbs too high. That is what allows whole-house coverage where the raw sum of every connected load would otherwise exceed the machine.