Installing Solar, One Panel at a Time
Date: 08/28/2009
Company: Enphase Energy
Source: The New York Times
The price of rooftop solar panels has fallen drastically, as I reported in The New York Times on Thursday.
But for some homeowners, the upfront costs remain prohibitive. Indeed, many readers have remarked on the article’s opening anecdote, about a homeowner in the Houston area who installed a 64-panel, $77,000 system (before the 30 percent federal tax credit) for his amply sized house and garage.
One way to bring the initial costs down would be to put smaller arrays on homes. After all, if financial constraints are a consideration, why put dozens of panels on your home when you could put just one or two?
One reason has long been the inverter — the piece of a solar-power system that converts the direct current voltage produced by the panels toaccelerating alternating current, which runs through the home. Right now, according to Glenn Harris, the chief executive of the consulting firmSunCentric, it is hard to find an inverter small enough to handle just one solar panel.