Solar Technologies

It was easy to deal with Solar Technologies. Solar Technologies did everything from the design, permitting process, installation and showing me how things work. "There's an app for that" that shows how much power I am giving to the grid. I highly recommend Solar Technologies.

The Solar Technologies staff worked hard as a team to deliver a great product from planning to sales, permitting, installation, and inspection. The project manager gave us timely updates on the process for our installation. The solar panels and battery storage have acted seamlessly to transition to backup power when we have had grid power outages due to planned and unplanned PG&E outages. The apps available for system monitoring give a record of power usage for the solar panels and battery. I highly recommend Solar Technologies for a custom solar project.

We interviewed 3 companies and chose Solar Technologies. They weren't the least expensive but due to their ratings, the sales interview, and their product offering (SunPower) we chose them over their competition. Before providing details let me say that the installation was 1 year ago. It turns out that their estimate of power production after 1 year was perfect! Our true-up was a negative -$26 which meant we were not charged a dime for the annual PG&E true-up. Fantastic! This meant that we produced slightly more energy than we used after a year. The estimate was that our first year we'd produce 101%. Now for some other details.

The sales interview showed integrity and the right amount of details. They were not into bashing the competition which is good. I'd rather hear about what makes them special and not about what makes others pathetic. The other companies we interviewed often put down the competition which is more of a negative sell with diversionary tactics. Moving on... We spent time discussing where the panels would be placed and where the new solar power power junction box would be installed. I wanted some changes and a special request. Appearance matters and I didn't want to see conduit and other boxes on the roof. I only want to see the solar panels. The solution was to hide the converters under the panels and send all the wiring through the attic. After careful examination of our attic they agreed to my design changes. Throughout this process they were patient with my questions and provided any data I requested. Once we finished the initial design then the work was scheduled.

The first day of the scheduled work it was raining and the forecast didn't look good. This was not a problem. Two workers showed up and did prep work that didn't require any outside work. To complicate matters I also was working from home so power was important and disruption had to be kept to a minimum. They were very respectful and complied with my wishes. When we had a break in the rain a crew showed up and within hours all the panels were installed. There was a slight change as one of the panels didn't fit where they planned. They suggested moving that one panel and assured me that my production would not be impacted. I signed off on the change and they proceeded without delay. Once all the wires were attached and their initial testing complete then most of the crew left. By the way, the impact to my loss of power during this process was insignificant. Now it was time for my sign off.

My sign off was a little delayed because of a weird electrical issue with my china cabinet inside the house. The lights kept turning on and off whenever the solar power box sent a signal. After a tremendous amount of effort on the part of Solar Technologies it was determined to be an issue with my inside wiring. They were correct! And I don't want to minimize the amount of effort involved on their part. They spent hours trying to figure out the problem and many different solutions were tried. They were patient and persistent.

Finally, the end result was a very efficient and appealing design that has performed exactly as Solar Technologies estimated. I would not hesitate to use their services again.