Solar Panel Installation Los Angeles | Solar Panels, Battery Storage, Roofing, HVAC
Originally published May 23rd 2018. Updated January 7th 2021. Good timing is an underappreciated skill that can yield big rewards. Find that perfect seasonal sweet spot, and you can beat the crowds at your favorite vacation destination and save big on hotels and tours. Get to the party right on time, and you can avoid the uncomfortable small talk with the hosts before the other guests arrive. Good timing is everything, so what’s the best time for your solar panel installation in Los Angeles? Is there an ideal time to get solar panels in the lifecycle of your roof? How about the best time to reap as many tax rebates as possible? Or is there an “off-season” for solar that leads to special treatment and big deals? We want to help you and your solar panels in Los Angeles make the perfect entrance. Here’s everything you need to know about when to get your solar panels. The Newer the Roof, the Better Speaking of time, your roof has a finite amount of it. The lifespan of a roof can extend between 20 and 50 years depending on its composition. The majority of roofs in Los Angeles are made of asphalt shingles. While this type of roof is cost-effective, it only offers about 20 years of life. Most forms of tile, another common Southern California roof choice, give you a much longer life of 50 years. Solar panels can last an estimated 25 to 40 years and possibly even longer! (The most current crystalline silicon models of solar panels are still so new, that we aren’t quite sure how long they can really last.) Therefore, if your roof only has about five years left in it, it doesn’t really make sense to install solar panels when you’ll need to take the whole system down again in a few years. Instead, the best time to invest in solar panels in Los Angeles is when your roof is new or has a decade or more of life left. (Is your roof getting close to retirement? Don’t fret! Now might be the perfect time to invest in replacing your roof so that you can get solar panels in the future. A new roof adds value to your home and can make it more energy efficient! At Semper Solaris, we also offer Roof Installations and replacements.) Time Your Tax Relief Currently, homeowners in Los Angeles can deduct 26% of the cost of their solar panels on their taxes. This Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is the biggest renewable energy financial incentive currently available. It saved the average homeowner $5,000 on their solar panel system in 2017. In order to get the tax credit, you just need to install solar panels within the calendar year. The tax credit was originally enacted in 2005 as part of the Energy Policy Act and set to expire at the end of 2007. The federal government extended the ITC, but the clock is running out. Afterwards, the tax credit shrinks each year. Homeowners should not expect the tax credits to be extended again. As the solar market continues to mature and as the government looks for more ways to trim the budget, all signs point to the ITC finally phasing out for good. That means the time to save on solar is right now! The Season for Solar Is there an ideal season to go solar? Angelenos may assume that spring or summer is the best time to put up solar panels. After all, the long summer days mean more sunshine, which translates to more energy production for the year. The truth might surprise you. Winter in Los Angeles is actually the best season for solar. Here’s why: The Slow Season During the winter months, homeowners are often caught up in the holidays and don’t have the extra time, attention, or funds for on solar panels. So use this to your advantage! Solar installation companies usually have fewer jobs on the books during this time of year, which means that they can give you more personalized attention and service. It can also mean a shorter turnaround time on your solar panel installation in Los Angeles, and sometimes special offers and discounts. Easier Installation Your solar installation team will also appreciate your choice to wait until winter for your solar panels. Los Angeles heats up in the summer, with temperatures reaching around 85 degrees toward the end of August. As you can imagine, working all day on a hot roof that absorbs that heat can be pretty uncomfortable for installation teams. On the other hand, winters in Los Angeles are notably mild, which is why we all love living here. Aside from the occasional rain shower, our installation team loves working in the cooler temperatures. Solar Panels Still Work Some homeowners worry that installing solar panels in winter will mean less energy generation. The sun still shines in winter, so your solar panels will work beautifully when they come online. Winter does offer fewer hours of sunlight than summer, so the total amount of energy your panels generate may be less than it would be on the longest day of the year, but the difference is less than you imagine. That’s because of something called the temperature coefficient. Without getting too deep into the weeds, the temperature coefficient describes how well solar panels perform under less-than-ideal circumstances. Many homeowners are surprised to learn that solar panels actually operate better in cooler temperatures. Once the temperature gets hotter than 77 degrees, the efficiency of the solar panels begins to drop. So, even though winter offers fewer hours of sunlight than summer, the cooler temperatures mean that your panels will operate at peak efficiency during light hours. There Really Is No Bad Time to Install Solar Panels in Los Angeles While you may still be wondering about the best time for your solar panel installation, the truth is that the best time to get solar panels is… whatever time is right for you! That may sound a little squishy, but what we mean is that you shouldn’t try to rush your solar panels to get a special tax incentive or hit the solar panel off-season if you aren’t ready. Instead, make sure you have the time, focus, and funds to dedicate to your solar installation so you don’t run into problems or stress yourself out in the process. At Semper Solaris, we will be here when you are ready. We can help you repair or replace your roof to prepare for a solar panel installation in Los Angeles and then perform the installation. We might be a little biased, but we think it’s always a perfect time to invest in renewable solar energy. Contact us to schedule a free energy analysis for your Los Angeles home.
California is no stranger to solar panels. Los Angeles, the largest city in the Golden State, is helping to lead the way in solar power system adoption. The rising popularity of solar panel installation in Los Angeles is fitting, given various factors including government incentives, favorable climate and the global effort to reduce carbon emissions, and the city’s influence in growing the solar industry in general also holds significant value. How Los Angeles Helped Pioneer Solar Power Implementation in California The Los Angeles area has played a historic role in solar power commercialization. Dating all the way back to 1979, the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility was constructed in Camarillo, California, just north of L.A. in Ventura County. Additionally, the city played a further role popularizing solar in California when the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power worked with the Department of Energy, Southern California Edison, and the California Energy Commission to design the Solar One program that was the first to test a large-scale thermal solar tower power plant in 1981. Supplementing the overall spread of solar energy in California, the state’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company created the first-ever, grid-supported photovoltaic system, considered the first “distributed power” PV installation. With all these foundations for solar energy technology in place, it was just a matter of time before the city’s residents could really start to benefit from this alternative form of electricity. Adoption of Solar Panels in Los Angeles Even though its setting would imply otherwise, solar panel installation in Los Angeles wasn’t necessarily the most popular in most recent decades. In 2012, L.A. didn’t make the U.S. Department of Energy’s top 25 “Solar America Cities,” while both San Diego and San Francisco did. The reasons behind this could be attributed to high-cost solar power previously held and the city’s larger use of the cheapest form of energy produced from coal. With more recent and significant dips in the cost of solar energy - along with the rising electricity rates - a positive shift toward installing solar energy has taken up momentum. The need for cleaner air in the well-known pollution-filled city of L.A. has further helped to drive the switch to solar energy. In September 2010, an executive order signed by the city’s Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and approved by the California Air Resources Board, required the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to produce at least one-third of its energy by 2020. To do this, the city partnered with UCLA to study the feasibility of an incentive program for promoting distributed solar energy usage. Pro-solar, statewide initiatives were also a major supplement to these city-driven mandates—the main one being the California Solar Initiative (CSI) as well as the overall Go Solar California campaign. The CSI program works to benefit customers of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). Overall Shift Toward Sustainable Energy Outside California and the U.S., an overall shift toward adopting sustainable energy is happening around the world. In 2015, nearly every country in the world participated in the first global pact, the Paris Climate Agreement, that was aimed toward reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. With this accord, each country would make a conscious effort to set goals toward decreasing their carbon footprint in order to slow down the possible negative impact on the earth’s atmosphere. Organizations and businesses around the world have also caught on to this trend of innovating their operations and products to be environmentally friendly. Tesla, for example, is a company that prides itself on creating technologies that work to accelerate the universal transition to sustainable energy. It has invented multiple products like electric cars that run on clean energy and is currently in the process of producing a stationary battery for powering the home. SpaceX’s Hyperloop One reinvention of transportation using alternative electricity sources and technology is currently being tested and the concept could come to fruition in the very near future. Another trend toward sustainability lies in waste-to-energy conversion. To address a growing crisis in waste management around the world, cities and governments are finding ways to turn trash to “gas”—to reduce waste and emit fewer emissions. These alternative solutions for energy are addressing the world’s issues and are helping to keep momentum toward making sustainable energy sources the norm. Meanwhile, the increasing need to stay connected and share information is helping to fuel the trend to “go green” and helps consumers to understand the negative impacts certain types of energy sources could have on the earth. With Los Angeles being one of the major cities within the United States, it can be looked at as a leader in sustainable practices, starting with greater adoption of solar panels in Los Angeles. Why Solar Power Installation in Los Angeles Will Continue Rising Los Angeles upholds a reputation of holding forward-thinking ideals, with its people being on the pulse of the latest trends, technologies, and news. With increased energy costs, government-mandated initiatives, and incentives to go solar in place there is a general shift toward sustainable energy throughout the country. And this perfect storm has created this rising popularity of solar panels in Los Angeles. If you are looking to contribute to the positive momentum and be a hero in your own right, give us a call for solar panel installation in Los Angeles. Semper Solaris is the most trusted solar power company in Los Angeles County, with unmatched expertise in solar power. We’ll get you on your way to saving not only money via lower electricity bills but also to drastically reduce your negative environmental impact via the switch to solar.
