Transcript It's a common misconception that your system will work in the event of a power outage. But in reality, your inverter has to be able to shut off when it loses AC power to the grid. That's in order to protect the linemen who would be working on the power outage so that it doesn't create an unsafe situation. Here...
Transcript Typical things to watch for on the performance of your system are going to be displayed on your inverter or on your monitoring website. If you have a central inverter, it's either going to be inside or outside your house, and make sure to walk by it once a month and take a look at what it's doing in the...
Transcript Here's where the energy from your photovoltaic system goes. The first place it's going to go into your home and be consumed by the loads in your home, much like your fridge or your freezer or your microwave or your TV--anything you are using in the middle of the day when you are producing energy. If you produce more than...
Transcript There's a lot of paperwork involved with getting your system certified and up and running. We have to make agreements with the utility and you to interconnect your system into the grid. They have to verify that the system that we are installing and designing meets all of their requirements. There's paperwork for permitting. There's paperwork for your incentives. Some...
Transcript Typically there's not a whole lot of maintenance involved with your system, but you do want to make sure that you get your modules cleaned every couple of years. This will help increase the output of your system to its maximum potential. It's not required that you do it, but it's still a good idea. There's some buildup that can...
Northwest Harvest's new solar energy system will allow the food bank to spend electricity savings on direct services. Northwest Harvest has a network of 375 food banks, meal programs and high-need schools across Washington. The network provides two million meals every month. A&R Solar installed the 75.3 kW system on the distribution center in Kent. The funds to pay for the system...
Are you ready? Tesla Powerwall has arrived in Washington and Oregon. A&R Solar is one of a handful of Tesla Powerwall Certified Installers in the Pacific Northwest. We have a backlog of installations, but we wanted to share everything we know about the product (our designers and project managers are already certified, and we’re installing our very own Powerwall this month...
As a B Corporation and a Social Purpose Corporation, A&R Solar has giving back ingrained in its DNA. Recently a group of our employees spent a Saturday cleaning up and helping to restore a popular Washington State hiking trail. The group lugged buckets of rocks and dirt up the Barclay Lake trail to fill in turnpikes (raised trail sections). They also worked on a bridge and...
No, no, no, no. No. We recommend being extremely cautious about same-as-cash financing. Read the fine print! Many of these “deals” are deferred interest payments. If you can pay off your loan in full within the 12 month window, that’s great. But if your finances change and you are unable to pay off your remaining balance, you will be charged interest on the...
No. While we are not tax experts, we can assure you that adding the cost of replacing your roof into the tax credit equation is a bad, bad idea. Don’t listen to any contractor who tells you otherwise. You don’t want to give the IRS any additional reason to audit you, and you especially don’t want to have to repay...