How Long Does It Take To Go Solar?

We’re often asked how long it takes to install a solar system in your home. It’s understandable to want your solar system functioning as quickly as possible so you can start saving money. While the physical installation of the solar system itself can take as little as a day, several necessary steps need to occur before that. In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the whole process, from our initial site and energy analysis to turning your system on.

System Design

When you call U.S. Solar Energy, you can expect to have a complete Solar Plan in your hands within a day of contacting us. After a discovery call in which we gather details about your home, your electricity usage patterns, and your personal goals for going solar – for example, to save money, lower your carbon footprint, or improve the resiliency of your home – our solar design team gets to work. They build a 3D digital replica of your home, place the panels, and run energy production simulations.

Your dedicated Energy Consultant will develop a Solar Plan customized for you once our designers complete the system design. The Plan will provide a list of all the national and local financial incentives available to you, as well as savings projections over the system’s lifetime. The Energy Consultant will also provide a detailed visual overview of how the panels will look once installed, ensuring that the system integrates well with your home’s unique architecture.

Once you and your Energy Consultant have finalized the perfect Solar Plan for your home, you sign the installation agreement, and we’re off to the next step.

Site Inspection

The next step is completing a final site inspection for your home. At this stage, someone from our team will come to your home and double-check the condition of your roof, assess your electrical system, and update any measurements. This evaluation can take up to a few hours, depending on the size of the home.

Final Plans and Permitting

An engineer will add more details to the design based on the measurements taken. Besides the placement of your solar panels, the engineer will also determine the ideal placement for the hardware that will run your system. Once the electrical and site plans are completed, the permitting process can begin.

U.S. Solar Energy and its partners will apply for these permits and handle all the paperwork. Specific permitting requirements vary by state or county, so the time needed to gain approval for your installation depends on where you live.

Generally speaking, receiving approval for the permits usually takes 30-45 days.

Solar Installation

Once the permits are acquired, it’s time for your installation. In some ways, the installation process is the easiest part of going solar. You may need to be present when the installers arrive, but besides that, you can sit back and go one step closer to switching to solar.

A typical solar installation on a home will take one to two days.

Inspection and Interconnection

After we complete the installation, an inspector from the utility will come to your home and confirm that your system meets the utility’s requirements. Once we get the ok, your system will officially be turned on. All that will be left to do is watch your meter spin backward and practically eliminate your monthly energy bill.

In most cases, switching to solar is about a 1-3 month process, depending on where you live or the policies of your utility company. Irrespective of where you live, at U.S. Solar, we will help you every step of the way. Contact us today to optimize your transition to clean energy!