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Solar Installer GuildUnited States · independent

After it is on the roof

What should I do once solar is installed?

The short answer

Set up and learn the monitoring, file every document in one place, confirm your utility has switched you to the right tariff, take dated photographs of the finished array, and set a monthly reminder to check production. The last one is what catches the silent failure that otherwise shows up as a bill months later.

The first month

  1. Set up monitoring, confirm you can see per-panel or per-string data if the system has it, and record the login somewhere you will still have it in ten years.
  2. File everything: contract, warranties, as-built design, model and serial numbers, permit, inspection, permission to operate, interconnection agreement.
  3. Confirm with your utility that the right tariff and export arrangement are in place. Billing errors after interconnection are common and are easier to fix early.
  4. Photograph the finished array and the mounts, dated, from the ground.
  5. Note the inverter's warranty expiry in a calendar. It is the component most likely to need replacing.

Then, monthly

Look at the monitoring on a clear afternoon and confirm the system is producing something proportionate to the weather. It takes seconds, and it is the difference between finding a failure in a week and finding it in a quarterly bill.

Compare each season against the same season in previous years rather than against last month. Solar output is seasonal by design, and a summer-to-winter comparison tells you nothing.

Also asked

Do I need to tell my home insurer?

Yes, generally: it is a permanent addition to the property with a value, and insurers vary in how they treat it. It is a short call, and finding out after a claim that the array was not covered is the outcome to avoid.

The long version

After the installation

Permission to operate, monitoring, what a workmanship warranty covers, and what happens if your installer disappears.

General information about solar and about hiring, not advice about your roof or your tax affairs. Incentives, net metering and contractor licensing are set federally, by state, and by your utility, and all of them change. The authority that publishes the rule is the current answer.