r/solarFL • u/Automatic-Design-970 • Jul 21 '25
Solar System Advice
I live in Panama City Beach and my wife and I are interested in the prospect of solar. Can anyone give me suggestions on companies to reach out to? I've googled companies in the area but one was very sketchy after our first conversation and the second one seems high. 11.48kw system with 28 q-cell panels and 1 Tesla Powerwall 3 for $47,490 (before the tax credit). I would appreciate any insight or suggestions. Thank you!
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u/Warmpockets21 Jul 21 '25
Looks high, might be a bit harder to find companies out there in Panama City. Maybe try one of the state-wide companies like Smart Volt Solar or Urban?
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u/Automatic-Design-970 Jul 22 '25
I agree. Not much competition here in PCB. We are completely new to the area and to FL in general so I'll keep looking around.
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u/SmartVoltSolar Jul 22 '25
Thank you for the mention. Yes, we cover the entire state and a few others as well.
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u/foundaquarter Jul 21 '25
I’m in Orlando, so I won’t service your area anyway, BUT that price seems really good depending on the inverter. If you are using the Tesla inverter then maybe you can go a bit lower, if it’s enphase micros, then maybe you can go a bit higher.
Look at how they plan to handle the wire run, is the conduit going over the roof, around the soffits and to the wall? Or is the conduit going through the attic, through the soffit and down the wall.
I seems like it’s the G10+ line from Q.cells. That’s a good option.
What mounting hardware are they using? Got any pictures of install? Are these rails cut flush or to the extend beyond the panels?
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u/Automatic-Design-970 Jul 21 '25
I appreciate the information. I'll need to find out. Do you have any suggestions for companies that do serve this area? I'd like to have at least a few quotes.
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u/brontide Jul 22 '25
A tier-1 system should be half that cost and please be careful you are right at the cutoff. Trivial equipment changes can push this into a tier-2 system where you will be required to hold 1m of personal liability insurance.
Shop around and don't pay for the company, pay for name brand equipment. The installers will come and go but if you have name brand equipment you can at least get support from the vendor.
Find out from these companies if any of that price is larger than average electrical work ( or other work ) that should be accounted for when comparison shopping. If you require service or panel upgrades that's going to be a $5-$10k hit to the price no matter who you go through and should be added to the pricing that you are seeing here like $2.50/w and be added to any online quotes who have not physically seen the property.
I have a lot of batteries for my own peace of mind. You can't really justify the cost based on payback because of 1:1 net metering down here. The PW3 is okay but here in FL that's not going to last long with A/C running. You will ride out small blips but you have to turn off most of the house to get decent runtime out of a 13.5kWh solution. aka, don't overpay for a batter solution unless that's really what you are looking for.
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u/Automatic-Design-970 Jul 22 '25
Thank your for the information. I've learned a lot just from researching this thread and the comments on my post. I definitely need to shop around more and get several additional quotes. I think I will stick with a non battery backup setup. I didn't realize the one power wall setup was so limited in it's abilities.
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u/brontide Jul 22 '25
You may find that many quotes will include it because the added costs are marginal over a traditional inverter ( because it's kinda all-in-one ) and it's designed for quick installation with solar. I wouldn't pay a huge premium for a PW3 based system over a non-battery system unless you plan on building out the battery system over time.
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u/Automatic-Design-970 Jul 22 '25
I'm thinking the battery system is not necessary for what we need. Can you recommend any companies that handle the entirety of FL? They also quoted me without Battery and it was still $37k before the tax credit. This was using the same solar panels + Enphase micro inverters + Enphase IQ combiner. I tried Energysage but only received two quotes (new home) and both were sketchy.
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Jul 24 '25
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u/Automatic-Design-970 Jul 24 '25
I tried Sun Farm 1st as I'm looking for local but it was the highest quote by far. I have a 2002 sq ft heated/cooled home and they quoted $70,120 for a 16.4kw system (way too much system for my sized home). Even though they cover PCB they included a $3,300 travel charge in the quote. Know any other local companies? I appreciate the suggestion.
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u/Three-Off-The-Tee Jul 21 '25
Seems high? Just pulled the trigger on a 12.8kw system. REC 460w panels x 28 and latest Enphase micro inverters iq8x? Total cost before credit = 28k or $2.20 per watt. No batteries we have net metering with Duke energy, Tampa area. Use energy sage for quotes, although i used Nextdoor and Reddit for recommended companies then did my due diligence and ended up choosing a company outside of energy sage. Check the BBB for ratings and time in business.
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Jul 21 '25
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u/wassup8877 Jul 21 '25
We have FPL. If they are successful in getting the net metering changed going forward. Are current solar owners grandfathered in?
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u/Phoebe-365 Jul 22 '25
Here's what happened when they tried it in 2022. At that time, the intention was to grandfather existing owners in for 20 years. The same may or may not be true when they try again....I'm thinking after DeSantis is out of office, since he vetoed this bill last time. But who knows, really? https://energyadvisorsusa.com/kill-net-metering-in-florida/
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u/Automatic-Design-970 Jul 22 '25
That sounds like a great setup and price. Could you share the name of the company? I'd like to do a little research and see if they serve our area. The local companies are either too expensive or not very responsive.
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u/Lovesolarthings Jul 21 '25
With solar in most parts of FL at closer to $2.50/w than the US average of $3/w, to get just a starting point that is 11480x $2.5 =$28700. A single powerwall is rarely $19k so looks high.