How to Compare Solar Quotes
| April 8,
If your nonprofit is managing the process of going solar on your own, you’ll need to identify a few reputable installers and get quotes from them to compare. In this article, we’ll guide you through comparing those quotes.
🗒️ Note: If you choose a Solar Power Agreement (SPA) to finance your project, CollectiveSun will take care of this step for you. We partner with trusted, vetted installers to ensure that your project goes smoothly and your nonprofit enjoys solar savings from day one. If your nonprofit prefers to finance your solar with a CollectiveSun Solar Loan, your selected solar installer will need to meet our minimum requirements.
Getting your solar quotes
Solar installers will give you initial quotes for free, based on your electricity use and online views of your roof. With an SPA, we’ll handle all the leg work of designing the system and providing you with a solar quote. With the CollectiveSun Solar Loan, you will be responsible for the proposal solicitation and vetting process.
Selecting installers
As the solar industry has grown, so has the number of solar installers. Some are more reputable than others. So how do you find the good ones?
You can start by getting recommendations from other nonprofits who have gone solar in your area, and checking online reviews on services like Yelp. For more on selecting installers, see How to Avoid Solar Scams.
Compiling information on your electricity use and your facility
Once you’ve identified a few solar installers, they will need data on your electricity use — ideally, for the past 12 months to get an average, as your energy consumption is likely to fluctuate from month to month. You’ll also need to provide information about your facility, such as the composition and age of your roof.
For details on gathering this data, see Preparing Your Nonprofit for Solar.
What to compare
Once you’ve selected a few installers and provided them information on your facility, they will send you free solar quotes. These tend to run for many pages and can seem overwhelming. The good news is that some of what you’ll find on your solar quotes is marketing, much of which you can ignore. There are just a few key items to focus on.
Cost per watt
The main thing you’ll want to compare on your solar quotes is cost. However, you should not compare the total installation cost. Solar installers are likely to propose slightly different sizes for your system, and the cost will differ depending on whether you use a loan or cash to finance your system (again, if you go with a CollectiveSun Solar Power Agreement, you won’t need to compare quotes at all). To ensure you’re comparing apples to apples, compare the cost per watt, which you can get from the cash purchase price.
In other words, if somebody told you that the cost of apples is $5, how would you know if that’s a good deal? Without knowing how many apples you’re getting, it’s impossible to know. We don’t evaluate the “cost of apples.” Instead, we evaluate the “cost per pound of apples.” Similarly, in solar, it’s not the total cost that matters — it’s the cost per watt.
Fortunately, this is simple:
- Find the cash purchase price for each quote. Comparing the cash prices before incentives will allow you to most accurately compare your quotes. If you’re looking at a loan, the cost for that will be listed on your proposal, but don’t use that figure. Ignore any rebates and incentives at this stage of the analysis.
- Determine the cost per watt. Simply divide the total pre-incentives cash price by the proposed system size. Let’s say the pre-incentives price for your system is $300,000, and the proposed system size is 100 kilowatts (kW), or 100,000 watts. You’ll divide $300,000 by 100,000 to get the cost per watt, $3. This is the cost to compare among your solar quotes.
System size and design
Because sizing a solar system is not an exact science, each solar installer will likely design your system a bit differently. If there’s a wide range in your proposed sizes, that’s a signal to ask the installers about the assumptions they used. Ensure you’re on the same page about the factors detailed in Preparing Your Nonprofit for Solar, including available roof space and any future plans your nonprofit has to electrify. Are you adding new EV chargers? Any new on-site facility usage anticipated?
Resist the temptation to compare production estimates, which are based on system size and panel wattage; though production estimates are important, if the sizes and panel wattage are the same, your production should not vary from one installer to another. However, be aware that a wildly high Year 1 production estimate may translate to an overstated Year 1 savings estimate, and similarly a wildly low Year 1 production estimate may translate to an understated Year 1 savings estimate. 🗒️ Note: If you finance your project with the SPA, CollectiveSun performs these calculations to produce the most accurate and bias-free estimate possible.
While size is key, design is also important. Consider where your solar installer plans to place the panels on your facility’s roof or parking lot, as well as where they plan to run the conduit that connects them to your electrical panel. Your system is likely to last a long time, so you’ll be looking at it for a while! Be sure to mention any aesthetic design preferences early and up front so that they can be accommodated and priced into the overall project design.
Financing options and savings
If you’re comparing your own quotes, that means you’ve already elected to go with a solar loan or cash rather than a Solar Power Agreement. We’ve covered financing options in detail in Financing Solar for Your Nonprofit.
You may be tempted to compare the expected savings provided in your solar quotes. It’s a good idea to stick to comparing cost per watt, because estimated savings are based in part on assumptions like weather patterns and future electricity rates — assumptions that are easily manipulated and can result in unrealistic or inflated savings numbers.
Equipment and warranties
When comparing solar panels offered by different contractors, how much to focus on efficiency and cost depends on your situation. The more efficient the panel, the less roof space it will take to generate the amount of energy you need. If your facility has ample roof space, or you’re opting for a solar canopy and have plenty of space over your parking lot, efficiency may not be the prioritized factor. In that case, you can save by getting slightly less-efficient panels, which are lower cost. If your space for solar is limited, it may make sense for your organization to spend a bit more in the short term and save more in the long term.
Another key component of a solar system is the inverter, which converts the sun’s rays into power your building can use. Installers may offer different types of inverters; for details, see Solar Basics.
To ensure that your system continues working properly, you should compare the warranties in your solar quotes. Power warranties guarantee that your solar panels will produce a specified percentage of electric power during the warranty period, which is typically 25 years. Product warranties protect against manufacturer defects, typically for 10 to 25 years. And workmanship warranties, which typically run for 5 to 25 years, protect against damage during the installation process.
Consulting with the experts
When you understand what to look for in solar quotes, comparing them becomes much easier. But you don’t have to do it alone.
CollectiveSun is here to help you before, during, and after your solar is installed. We can guide you through the process of determining whether solar makes sense for your organization, including comparing solar quotes. If you’d like to explore getting solar for your nonprofit, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
