Roofing / Solar Panels
I may be re-doing the roof on my 20′ 0″ x 45′ 0″ brownstone this year. If I do, I’ll be looking to incorporate provisions for future installation of solar panels. Is there anybody out there who’s done this, or who already has panels and retrofitted existing roofing to provide the panel supports? Do the…
I may be re-doing the roof on my 20′ 0″ x 45′ 0″ brownstone this year. If I do, I’ll be looking to incorporate provisions for future installation of solar panels. Is there anybody out there who’s done this, or who already has panels and retrofitted existing roofing to provide the panel supports? Do the supports comprise posts coming up from the joists, through the roofing, with pitch pockets or flashings at each post or is it done via steel beams spanning between the party wall parapets? If the former, did you have to reinforce the existing roof joists? Any advice and insight would be much appreciated as would recommendations for solar installers that are based on actual experience.
Thanks.
I have a dream of getting a collective bargaining agreement together with a group of like minded brownstone owners and doing a bulk bid to these solar providers to try and drive the installation price down. How can the sinatallatio n of a few panels really be $30K? Anyone interested?
guest @ 6.21,
Any chance of talking to you about and maybe seeing your installation? See above in my 11:30 post for my email.
Thanks.
Smokychimp, you are incorrect, to get any rebate the system has to pass NYSERDA regulations since it it them who give the rebate, has to be installed by an approved installer and meet Con Ed requirements for parallel operation (which are covered by the NY PSC interconnection requirements).
The Con Ed approval is not painful in the slightest if you are using an installer / designer who has a good relationship with the utility and really knows their stuff e.g. how to submit the correct documentation.
I installed a 6kW system on my brownstone roof in Cobble Hill last year. So far, so good. I used Solar Energy Systems (based in Brooklyn) and had a very smooth experience. The NYSERDA rebate became substantially less generous several months ago, but still definitely worth going through the process. Overall, not a process you I wanted to do yourself. Con Ed makes their approval kind of painful to get, so I was happy to rely on professionals.
smokychimp,
You’re obviously very knowledgeable about this subject. Can we establish direct off-board contact on this? My email address is my user name at panix dot com.
Thanks.
Notes on the above comments
-the NYSERDA regulations were just recently changed (I believe last month) and no longer required for the rebate.
-the payback period for the panels depends on a number of factors but the published rule of thumb is 6 years.
-the new code has provisions for solar panel installations but the current building code does not.
-to the engineer’s comments the newer inverters don’t take up much room and are typically built into the panel frame now
what is the deal with getting a building permit from the DOB for solar installations? Is that still the case. Check the archives for what I am referring to.
just a note here to everyone thinking solar, solar hot water is much more cost-effective than solar electric. everyone who is considering solar should be thinking hot water. it will produce up to 80% of your total hot water costs and it’s much cheaper than electric.
Sorry, it was a typo. It should have read 200W. For a 2KW system you would need around 11 panels of 200W as you get around 10% loss’s in the invertor and asociated cabling.
Regarding the availible grants, this is calculated on a per project basis, depending on the size of the system, how much sunlight the system will receive etc. The approved designers get the rebate (or initial grant) from NYSERDA, not you the customer, you just get a cheaper price for design and installation and the tax deductibles once installed.
Johnife is correct with the stated life expectancies but you would never get these figures under waranty, more like 15 to 20 years.