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Solar Installation
Expert St. Louis Solar Contractor
A Solar photovoltaic system uses solar modules or panels, each comprising a number of solar cells , which generate electrical power. PV installations may be ground-mounted, rooftop mounted, wall mounted or floating. Solar has become the safest and most inexpensive way to create electricity in the world, all while being the best for the environment!
Benefits of Solar
- Be free from your monthly utility bill that only goes one way, up! Own your power, instead of renting it for a lifetime.
- Feel secure in uncertain times that you and your family will always have the ability to create your own electricity for your home, appliances and electronics. Safeguarding your family from the grid being down
- Help protect the environment, you may not be able to control what anyone else does, but you can make a difference yourself. Did you know your home creates the biggest carbon footprint in one’s life? Net zeroing your home is the equivalent to 2 adults in your home never driving a car ever. It also is the same as planting 6 acres of trees!
- Save thousands of dollars, be independent from the electrical grid, and make a difference on the environment all in one step. Going Solar!
Common Misconceptions
- My home loses value with solar panels on it.
An average home takes a 10% or more Instant equity gain after it is installed, however you do not have to pay extra property taxes on that worth! The solar Systems Tesson installs last over 30 years and has a warranty to back it up! - Solar Panels never pay themselves off in the midwest.
Missouri and southern Illinois have very good average sun hours! When you consider your rebates and tax credits your solar system will generally pay itself off in just 5-10 years! You can invest in your own home or business for the next 5-10 years and own your utilities outright forever or you can rent them forever from the utility company who’s rates keep going up and up! - There is a lot of maintenance to solar panels.
Solar is almost entirely maintenance free! Once installed the only thing you need to do is sit back and enjoy your savings. Mother nature handles washing them and there are no moving parts to go wrong!
Net-zero and Getting off the grid
These terms apply when you have made your home efficient enough that your solar
system is completely providing all the power your home needs and maybe even more!
The two steps of energy Independence
I. Make your home or business energy efficient The U.S department of energy states that over 80% of the homes and businesses in america are currently paying more in utilities than they need to because of inefficiency. The first step that Tesson does when considering any home or business is an energy efficiency audit. Let’s see if there are any potential energy wasters around the home. We can easily identify and cheaply solve these issues. Tesson uses proven and cutting edge methods to drastically cut utility bills. The cheapest watt to create is the one you never needed in the first place.
II. Solar PowerGO SOLAR! Install the latest solar panel technology on your home, reducing or completely eliminating your utility bill!
Tax Benefits:
The ITC is a 26 percent tax credit for solar systems on residential (under Section 25D) and commercial (under Section 48) properties. The Section 48 commercial credit can be applied to both customer-sited commercial solar systems and large-scale utility solar farms.
In addition to the federal credit Tesson searches all available credits and rebates out there for homeowners
Commercial buildings: There are multiple rebates and incentives available for commercial solar installations. In addition to the 26 percent investment tax credit (ITC) that allows for the deduction of 26 percent of the cost of the solar energy system from federal taxes, commercial property owners can write off the value of their solar installation through the Modified
Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS). This incentive reduces businesses’ tax burden to speed up returns on solar investments.
MACRS allows company’s solar systems to pay for themselves through Savings, tax rebates and credits rapidly.
What’s the next step:
Contact Tesson! We will set up a free home or company evaluation and Audit with you. From there a Trained Tesson energy professional will find out how to make the structure more efficient, how efficient, the correct size solar system, and show you how money you save in savings, credits, and rebates!
If you decide to be apart of the Tesson energy family of owners, you will receive the best quality information, materials, service and installation available in the solar industry.
Solar Components
Panels
Also known as modules. The panel is the most seen and functional part of your solar system. Today’s PV solar panels range for home or business use range in wattage from the 100’ s up to the high 300’s. Quality, warranty, manufacturer, size, wattage, price, color scheme and type are all factors in choosing the correct panel for your application. Tesson helps you do all of this factoring with you, quickly. We work with the best panel manufacturers in the world and the ones right here in America.
Polycrystalline vs Monocrystalline
Monocrystalline solar panels
Monocrystalline solar panels are generally thought of as a premium solar product. The main advantages of monocrystalline panels are higher efficiencies and sleeker aesthetics.
To make solar cells for monocrystalline solar panels, silicon is formed into bars and cut into wafers. These types of panels are called “monocrystalline” to indicate that the silicon used is single-crystal silicon. Because the cell is composed of a single crystal, the electrons that generate a flow of electricity have more room to move. As a result, monocrystalline panels are more efficient than their polycrystalline counterparts.
Polycrystalline solar panels
Polycrystalline solar panels generally have lower efficiencies than monocrystalline options, but their advantage is a lower price point. In addition, polycrystalline solar panels tend to have a blue hue instead of the black hue of monocrystalline panels. Polycrystalline solar panels are also made from silicon. However, instead of using a single crystal of silicon, manufacturers melt many fragments of silicon together to form the wafers for the panel. Polycrystalline solar panels are also referred to as “multi-crystalline,” or many-crystal silicon. Because there are many crystals in each cell, there is to less freedom for the electrons to move. As a result, polycrystalline solar panels have lower efficiency ratings than monocrystalline panels.
Panel Options
Tesson only uses premium, tier one, Monocrystalline panels. They have great warranties, best power production and a low amount of manufacturing defects. Although Tesson only uses the best panels in the systems we build, they are also very affordable.
You need less of our panels to create the same power as cheaply made panels and they last much longer. Tier one, monocrystalline panels always qualify for credits as lower tiered panels may not.
Tesson Panel manufacturers:
- Sil-fab
- Canadaian solar
- Q-cells
- REC
- Mission solar
- LG
- Csun
- Suntech
Solar Power Inverters
Inverter(s) are the most important component of your solar system, without them your home or business cannot absorb the power from the panels. The main function of the inverter is to convert to panels DC power to AC power that your
home runs on. Like panels inverters have many different wattage ratings, styles and qualities. Sizing your inverter(s) to your panel system is an extremely important part of building your system.
String inverters:
String inverters are the most cost-effective inverter option available in the U.S. Solar installation companies will generally offer you a system with a string inverter if your roof is not shaded at any point during the day and does not face in multiple directions (such as a gabled roof).
How String Inverters Work
Your solar panels are arranged into groups connected by “strings.” Each string of panels is connected to a single inverter, which transforms the DC electricity produced by the panels into appliance-friendly AC electricity.
String inverter technology has been used for decades. It is a tried-and-true technology, but is not suitable for certain types of installations. A string of solar panels will only produce as much electricity as its least productive panel – if one or
more of your solar panels is shaded during any part of the day, the power output from that entire string would be reduced to its level. For this reason, if your solar panels are installed facing different directions, a string inverter may not be a good choice.
One of the most common reasons for a panel to produce less power or stop producing power altogether is shading from nearby objects. If your roof is prone to shading any time during the day or in certain seasons, you could either remove the
source of the shade (e.g. cut down a tree ) or install the panels where they will not be shaded.
Power Optimizers
Power optimizers offer many of the same benefits as microinverters, but tend to be slightly
less expensive. Power optimizers are often considered a compromise between more
expensive micro-inverters and the standard string inverter.
How Power Optimizers Work
Like microinverters, power optimizers are located at each panel, usually integrated into the
panels themselves. However, instead of converting the DC electricity to AC electricity at the
panel site, they “condition” the DC electricity and send it to a string inverter. This approach
results in higher system efficiency than a string inverter alone.
Similar to microinverters, power optimizers reduce the impact of panel shading on system
performance, and also offer panel performance monitoring. Systems that use optimizers are
typically more affordable than those that use microinverters.
Microinverters
Microinverters are rapidly gaining popularity, particularly for residential solar systems. Microinverters tend to be more expensive than string inverters or power optimizers, but their costs are falling as they become more popular.
How Microinverters Work
Microinverters are installed on each individual panel in a solar energy system. They convert the DC electricity from your solar panels into AC electricity on your roof, with no need for a separate central inverter. In many cases the microinverters are integrated into the solar panel itself, but they may also be mounted next to the panel on the mounting system.
One of the major advantages of microinverters is that they cancel out the negative impacts of partial or complete shading. Because the DC-AC electricity conversion takes place at each panel, there is no “bottleneck” when one panel’s production decreases. Microinverters also allow you to monitor the performance of individual solar panels.
Tesson Inverter options:
Tesson uses String inverters, power optimizers and micros inverters to make sure your system not only is best for production but also for your budget.
Manufacturers:
- Enphase
- SMA
- SolarEdge
Racking
The last of the critical components of solar is the panels racking system. The racking system bonds the panels to your structure, guides the electrical wires, and guides your panels to the best sun angle. Tesson carries roof and ground systems. Roof mounts can penetrate into the structure below or use a ballasted system for flat membrane roofs that have no penetrations. Ground mounts can be a rack low to the ground for easy installation or on a pole mount to guide it over obstacles and animals.
Tesson racking manufacturers
- IronRidge
- SnapNrack
- Unirack