Valley Solar, Inc.
- Free Estimates
Valley Solar was one of the few companies that we talked to that actually listened to what we wanted. We wanted a solar system with a backup battery to protect against the PG&E "safety" blackouts. Most companies just proposed their standard "cookie cutter" solar system with no battery. When we reminded them that we wanted a battery the usual response was something like, "We should be able to add a battery to this system" - not very confidence inspiring. Valley Solar came with a plan that included exactly what we were asking for. They also had a no-battery system to show us in case we wanted to save some money. The installation went smoothly. The crew was very professional and did a clean and good looking job. They were always ready to explain what they were doing and why they were doing it. There were only a couple of negatives. The first was the length of time it took from signing the contract to getting the system installed. The contract was signed on November 26, 2019. It stated an estimated start date of January 15, 2020 and an estimated completion date of February 15, 2020. The actual installation did not take place until the first week of March. The second negative involved the inverter which they chose to use. It was made by Solar Edge, and can be programmed in to function in different ways. One thing that can be changed is the amount of battery energy to reserve for backup protection. This is something that we would like to change at times. If we are going to be away from home for a while, we would like to set this value much higher than when we are at home. The priorities of how the solar energy is split between being used in our home, charging the battery, and sending to PG&E may need changing as PG&E's rate structure changes. The problem is that no provision is made for the customer (who is the owner of the system) to make these changes. We have to call Valley Solar whenever a change has to be made. This makes changing the battery reserve when we go away impractical. We had Valley Solar change the settings when PG&E switched us from the "Tiered" rate plan to the "Time-of-Use" plan. But what about future changes, if Valley Solar, or Solar Edge, is no longer in business? Maybe all inverters have this same problem, which would mean that this is not the fault of Valley Solar. Despite the negatives, we are pleased with Valley Solar, and would recommend them to anyone considering solar energy.
