Solar soon in our future!

[kimo]

Are your panels and other equipment still warrantied when you do your own install? Aside from that I just don't feel comfortable on a 2 story roof anymore. I'm considering saving $13500 I was quoted for a installation of 11 windows on 2nd floor. I will rent scaffolding if I tackle that. I just feel better if a pro is up on my roof finding the rafters to mount panels securely. Besides that, if my roof does leak, they will be the one's coming back to fix it.

[SunEagle]

Are your panels and other equipment still warrantied when you do your own install? Aside from that I just don't feel comfortable on a 2 story roof anymore. I'm considering saving $13500 I was quoted for a installation of 11 windows on 2nd floor. I will rent scaffolding if I tackle that. I just feel better if a pro is up on my roof finding the rafters to mount panels securely. Besides that, if my roof does leak, they will be the one's coming back to fix it.

I would not put my trust into any warranty. But if you can find an electrician to do the install and the system is approved by the AHJ then I do not see why the POCO would object.

[khanh dam]

solar warranties are mostly worthless because so many companies fail and are not around to offer a warranty 10 or 25 years latter. Sunpower, Tesla, Panasonic and LG MIGHT be around in 25 years, or maybe not. The solar panel company, and racking company I bought from 8 years ago are out of business.
Steep roofs are hard to work on, that is why I prefer ground arrays if you have the land and extra money. They can make nice shade spots too if you raise them up 8 feet like a picnic shelter.

[J.P.M.]

solar warranties are mostly worthless because so many companies fail and are not around to offer a warranty 10 or 25 years latter. Sunpower, Tesla, Panasonic and LG MIGHT be around in 25 years, or maybe not. The solar panel company, and racking company I bought from 8 years ago are out of business.
Steep roofs are hard to work on, that is why I prefer ground arrays if you have the land and extra money. They can make nice shade spots too if you raise them up 8 feet like a picnic shelter.

The performance warranties with respect to panel output are little more than marketing tools.
A careful reading of any one of them will show that required details are unconfirmable without instrumentation and logs of weather and irradiance data which is seldom available. Besides, the performance bar for of most such warranties is so low you'll likely trip over it. Kind of like being required to run a 15 minute mile or get kicked off the track team.

Warranties against outright panel failure as opposed to performance shortfalls are a safe bet for the mfg. as panels seldom fail.

Warranties against inverter failure may have some use but all too often do not cover labor to getting at a micro or an optimizer in the middle of an array.

As for dual purpose array/shelter, a lot of jurisdictions treat picnic shelters as similar to structures fit for human occupancy and so may require different treatment for building code compliance. Just sayin'.

[khanh dam]

Yep, no permit needed to make a pergola in Charlotte, NC, but if you add solar panels to it all hell breaks loose, suddenly one has to spend $1500 in stamped engineered plans and another $350 to $600 for engineer to come inspect the thing was built per plans afterwards.