Residential Solar Panels on Your Lakeport Home

By Kevin Burke

One of the more significant alterations an owner can make to a residence is the addition of solar panels that generate electricity. Providing some or all of a home’s energy rather than relying completely on a power company appeals to a sense of independence and responsibility. The reduction of a family's carbon footprint also makes sense to the environmentally conscious.

But the decision to add solar panels to an existing house is a complicated one. It is especially complex when the homes, like Lakeport’s, are over 30 years old and considerable effort has been devoted to preserving the tree canopy that shades the community’s homes from the sun. However, four Lakeport homeowners have made the leap to solar. Their experiences have been mostly positive.

Deciding to Add Solar Panels 

Installation of solar panels is not inexpensive, but solar panels reduce and possibly even eliminate the homeowner’s monthly electric bill. In addition, the power company provides a payback (called the SREC for Solar and Renewable Energy Certificate) to the homeowner for the electricity each home feeds to the power grid. Moreover, the federal government provides a tax credit of thirty percent of the cost of the installation of most solar panels. Fairfax County also builds in a discount of the home’s real estate assessment for tax purposes. 

A longer-term economic benefit is an increase in the market value of the house. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that this increase is about four percent on average nationally. This may boost the cost of home insurance, but most installers provide warranties of up to 25 years on solar equipment, along with maintenance and workmanship warranties. These may reduce or eliminate insurance claims. Finally, the financing options that some vendors offer could spread out payments with low interest rates. 

The use of solar will reduce the house’s carbon footprint, though not necessarily the power company’s. Although electric utilities have committed to using more solar and renewable energy sources, they still rely on coal, oil, and natural gas to generate much of the electricity. Yet it is true that residential solar systems decrease the need for large electric-generating facilities that the power companies would otherwise build to meet growing power demands. 

There are some drawbacks to residential solar power to consider. Obviously, solar panels can generate power only in daylight. Cloudy days, nighttime hours, and tree shading mean that each solar house must either store electricity in a battery array or depend on the electric company to supply electricity when sufficient sunlight is unavailable. The former alternative of a battery array is expensive (as much as $8,000 per battery) and generally does not store enough electricity to power everything in the home. The latter alternative of depending on the power company means that solar energy systems do not eliminate the demand on the power company for infrastructure and non-solar power sources.

Indeed, some argue that individual solar-generated power provides a disincentive for power companies to reduce their use of fossil fuels. Because residential solar does not diminish infrastructure and resource requirements, the power company’s fixed costs are not reduced. Solar and wind farms, hydroelectric and nuclear power plants, and other non-fossil fuel based power sources do not always provide the reliability and economics that consumers require. 

Nonetheless, residential solar does assist the power company in meeting peak power needs. Given the massive search for electricity going to power-hungry data centers and other facilities related to the expanding use of artificial intelligence, it will be quite a while before power companies do not need reductions in the demand for electricity in the residential sector.

Process for Installing Solar

To choose a vendor or a general contractor, make sure the vendors have appropriate certifications and positive customer ratings. The county’s Solarize Fairfax County program may help in finding this information. Ask the vendors about the warranties for their product, including materials, workmanship, maintenance, and structure. The vendor should undertake an audit of the rooftop’s exposure to sunlight. Many of the residences in Lakeport do not have sufficient exposure to the sun because of the tree canopy (although this might rule out solar panels, the shade from these trees provides considerable protection from summer heat and high air-conditioning costs).

After understanding your home’s exposure to the sun, consider the cost of installation, which varies for each house. According to EnergySage, the average solar panel cost in Virginia is $2.89 per watt. If a five-kilowatt system is installed, it will cost between $12,264 and $16,592, with an average of $14,428. This is a state-wide estimate; the cost in Lakeport is higher. The payback in reduced energy bills takes anywhere from five to twenty years, depending on individual usage. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that if the homeowner’s average electric bill is less than $117 per month, the total installation cost probably will not be completely recoverable.

If your house is suitable for solar and you have chosen an installer, determine the best payment option: cash? short-term financing? bank financing? Be sure to have secured all proper permits, including those of the County, Reston Association, and Lakeport Cluster. The vendor will complete the necessary permits or will inform the customer how to do so. Dominion Energy needs to know of the installation.

Experiences of Current (No Pun Intended) Lakeport Solar Users

Lakeport residents have been pleased with the solarization of their homes. They report their solar systems are producing sixty to eighty percent of the electricity they use on average annually. In some months (usually spring and summer), they produce more electricity than they can use and receive payments of as much as $250 in the summer quarter and up to $750 a year. One resident estimated that the household electric bill fell from about $2,300 a year to $900. The only drawback for these residents was the initial cost—as much as $40,000 before the thirty percent federal tax credit.

The four installations were done by different vendors: a general contractor, the Dominion Energy subsidiary, and local specialty installers. All included extensive warranties on their materials and workmanship. Solar panels generally need minimal maintenance and they are monitored electronically by the vendor. In one case a Lakeport home had squirrel damage to wiring that the vendor identified and repaired (this resident strongly recommends including “critter care” protection with any solar panels). In another case, a vendor notified a Lakeport resident that some panel connections were not functioning; the vendor repaired them in short order. In all four cases, the homeowners have apps that allow them to review usage and payment data in real time.

The Lakeport residents described installation as taking several months. After each contract was signed, the vendors initiated the paperwork with the County and the utility company. Securing approval of the Reston Association and the Cluster was the responsibility of the residents. With completion of the paperwork, which took up to four months, installation was scheduled, usually within a month or two, and took a single day to accomplish. Subsequently, the County inspected the work, which might add another few days or two months to the process, depending on the inspector’s availability. Finally, Dominion Energy turned on the system. One resident advised anyone looking to install a solar system to count on about six months and to time the process to be completed in the spring to maximize the utility payments for the excess electricity because the winter months typically provide the lowest payments.

Additional Resources:

Virginia Renewable Energy Certificates: https://www.scc.virginia.gov/pages/RECs

Fairfax County Tax Abatement:  https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/taxes/relief/real-estate-solar-equipment

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