I must thank environmentalist Bill McKibben, because it was his talk at Keene Central School last fall that really reminded me that I MUST do something to slow down climate change. And, thanks to our friends Jan and Megan Wellford who shared their experience going solar, and gave us the connection to Apex Solar – a company I can highly recommend.

From start to finish, our project took about 6 months. It would have taken 6 weeks, but just as Apex was about to schedule our install, the ground froze late last December and that meant we had to wait until the spring.

Apex was great to work with. Our salesman John was knowledgeable and personable. Our installers were also super nice and really, really good at what they do! The only hiccup in the entire process was one machine that broke down while digging the trench between the panels and our electric box. We had to wait a day for a part to come in.

For our ground-mount system, the racks went up in half a day, the panels (we have 24!) took a day and the trench took another day (not including the breakdown). Pretty good for full energy independence!

Except for snow removal, our system takes care of itself. I’ll report back on this as time goes on if we have any issues. I’ve talked to a number of friends (and friends of friends) and I have only heard of one couple who had to replace an inverter – but it was over 10 years old, and beyond its expected lifespan.

We are set up with 24 panels which will produce an estimated 7,000 kwH of power every year. Sweet mother of god, that’s a huge system! It’s sized at 109% of our expected usage with a few upcoming changes: electric heat and a clothes dryer, two luxuries we’ve decided to go with after much discussion. More on those changes to come! And, with such a sizable system, we have created a new landmark in the Town of Keene! Need to find our house? Look for the solar panels!

Being grid tied has its advantages (we sell to our electric company any excess power we produce) and disadvantages (when grid power goes out, our power goes out). We hope to one day mitigate that singular disadvantage by installing the coolest new thing out there in energy conservation: a Tesla home battery.

I was always worried that we could never afford to go solar. I had always heard of the thousands of dollars it costs and it always sounded beyond my reach. But here’s how I found out it was something we could afford to do:

Our monthly utility bill would not increase. Instead of paying the utility company, we pay off our loan.

The value of our property goes up by about the cost of the system, so we recoup any costs even if we sell tomorrow.

Our down payment was $1,000.

Between the grants offered to us and the Federal and State tax credits we will receive, our system will be at least 50-60% paid for!

When I ran the numbers, from every aspect it always came out that a solar installation was something we couldn’t afford NOT to do!

And the Best Part?

Apex Solar did ALL the paperwork!

The Bottom Line

If you have $1,000 and a house, GO SOLAR! And tell Apex Solar I say, “Thank you!”.

P.S. If you decide to go solar with Apex and want to support the LSLS blog, please mention my name!