Accelerate Solar

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They did the job well. They got everything they promised to do and done on time. They did a couple of extra little touches partly because I was the first person in the neighbourhood to get it done. They also had a referral fee that worked out well for me when one of my co-workers found out.

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Once the contract was signed, we provided an initial deposit with two further payments due upon delivery of the equipment and final connection with the power grid. One thing that I can't stress enough is how efficient Accelerate Solar was with getting all of the required permits, registrations, and documents filed with local and state agencies. There is a fair amount of paperwork but the professional correspondence handled by Mr. Verner with the various agencies made the process easy. <br /> From initial contact to delivery of the equipment and Accelerate Solar starting on the actual construction was three weeks. That could have actually happened faster, but I had to go through the home equity loan processing, which added a week and half while we awaited the financing. Once the equipment was delivered to the house, Accelerate Solar swung into action. <br /> <br /> The professionalism and quality of construction was excellent. Mr. Verner and his team of installers are very conscientious <br /> and are neat, polite, and do the project to high quality standards. I was really impressed with the safety measures they use during <br /> construction (building a scaffold to get on our roof and using safety ropes when working on the array). They also assured that the project was done right, going the extra length to reinforce the roof studs just in case we get a freakishly heavy snow storm - they wanted to make sure the structure was strong enough to bear the load. <br /> The electrical work was beautifully done, with the power cords hidden nicely in a conduit that matched the color of the house. The inverter is a quality piece of equipment that is actually just beautiful to behold. The electricians, roofers, and solar technicians all worked seamlessly together over the course of a week to finish the job. The end result is just beautiful to behold. <br /> It took a couple of weeks for the power company and certification to occur with the local and state utility, but Mr. Verner was on top of things and kept me advised throughout. The array officially went on line on December 1st - and we've been generating power ever since. <br /> Mr. Verner calculated our energy production estimates using software based on our roof pitch, orientation, latitude, and other factors. Since our house is 100% electric, our goal was to reduce as much as possible our power company bill. The power company came out and installed (for free) a new meter that measures the flow of electricity off the array. Basically, our house consumes whatever energy we produce and any excess flows back down the line to the power company and they credit us for that power generation. We did not opt for the complexity of a battery storage system, although Accelerate Solar can do that as well. <br /> Accelerate Solar provided us with an energy production estimate based on our array configuration and after it was all said and done, and including the tax credits, we figured on a break even time on the project of about 5 years. Then, we learned the power company changed their policy recently, and now allow the owners of home clean energy power generators to actually own the renewable energy credits and sell them. To explain that briefly, the government requires polluting companies to offset some of <br /> their polluting ways with green energy projects (credits). So a polluting company will purchase green energy credits from clean energy sources. So now I not only generate power which applies to my power bill, the fact that I do so means I get to sell the credits I generate to polluting companies via a state system called NC RETS. With this additional source of revenue, we recalculated our break even point to be somewhere around 2.5 to 3 years. That is an incredible return on investment. After three years, we will be profiting every year for a long, long time. <br /> The quality of the equipment was an important factor in my going with Accelerate Solar. The Mage (of German manufacture) panels are guaranteed for 30 years, with 90% production capacity guaranteed for 12 years, then 80% after 30 years. The Fronius IG+ inverter is state of the art. The Fronius Data Logger sends realtime information from the array to my computer for instant analysis. It also saves and archives data so I can watch the power generation trends over time. It is interesting to watch the power output of the array go up and down as clouds pass by. I can even access the current and historical power generation data via any internet connection, and there is an app for my iPhone and iPad that will show me realtime generation (Android application is also available). <br /> Accelerate Solar's point man, Chris Verner, has a great working knowledge of all of the components and he is a perfectionist when it comes to getting the system installed, looking good, and performing great. I have to admit I was very nervous about sinking money into this project, but my expectations have been wildly exceeded with the finished project. I am so proud of the project I am telling all of my neighbors, friends, and family about it because I think, when coupled with the state and federal tax incentives, this is a win-win project. It is such a rewarding feeling to watch the inverter numbers stream in and see the meter sending power back down the power grid to the power company. With electric rates only going up over the coming decades, we estimate our savings over the next three decades to approach $140,000..! <br /> Overall, I can only give my enthusiastic endorsement to Accelerate Solar and their dedicated team. They have been extremely responsive to my needs, questions, and concerns and they have been nothing but outstanding to work with. We plan on building a garage on our existing home in the future and we will definitely be contacting Accelerate Solar to add additional panels to that structure when the time comes. <br /> <br /> <br />