Solar Panel Installation and Roofing Installation in Somerdale, NJ | A Replacement Array

Somerdale, NJ · Client since October 2012

Edward Getley has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since October of 2012, when we fitted a production meter to the solar system on this house. Five years later the original array came off, the roof was replaced, and a new array went back on.

2012: a production meter on the original system

The first job here was an Itron Centron digital production meter — a Class 200, 240 volt unit on a dedicated solar breaker in the main panel, built to the ANSI C12 accuracy standard. That is a meter whose readings are held to a tolerance somebody else defines and tests against, rather than the inverter’s own account of itself. It is the piece of equipment that turns a solar system’s output from an estimate into a measured figure.

2017: two layers off, 2,300 square feet on

The roof had been covered over once already, so two layers of old shingle came off down to the sheathing rather than one. Deck protection went over the exposed sheathing, then a GAF Timberline HDZ system in Shakewood carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 200 feet of rakes and eaves, and a ridge vent along the peak. The contract also set out in advance what would happen if the fascia boards behind the gutters needed replacing, which is exactly the sort of thing a tear-off reveals and a quote ought to have accounted for. The roof was finished on 20 June 2017.

2017: the old array off and 18 new panels on

The original system came down and a new one went up two days after the roof was finished. Eighteen black-framed Hanwha 290 watt panels came to 5.22 kW on rail-free mounting, each with its own Enphase M250 microinverter rather than a shared central inverter. The metering moved with it: the account now records an Enphase measurement unit in place of the 2012 Itron. PSE&G is the utility.

A roof pointing within four degrees of due south

The array sits at a 23-degree pitch at an azimuth of 184 degrees — four degrees west of due south, which is about as close to the textbook as a real house gets. The design models it at 97.9 percent of the reference case. Eighteen panels is a modest array, and on a roof this well placed that is a decision about how much electricity the household wanted rather than a limit imposed by the building.

Why the order was array off, roof on, array back

A solar system reaches the end of its useful life on a schedule of its own, and so does a roof. When both arrive at once the sequence is not optional: the panels have to come off before the shingles can, and nothing new should be fastened down until the deck has been stripped, seen and covered properly. Doing it in that order in 2017 is why this household now has a modern array on a roof rated for fifty years, rather than new panels bolted through old shingles or a new roof with a worn-out system sitting on top of it.

Great company to work with. Very professional and always there to answer any question or concern to insure my solar panels are working at peak efficiency.