PV sizing and payback tools that connect system design to code-ready execution.

Plan a home battery and critical-load (essential-loads) subpanel so your home keeps the important circuits running during a grid outage. Covers building a load list, sizing battery energy and power, deciding whole-home vs. critical-load backup, how islanding and anti-islanding work, battery siting and clearances, and the permitting/interconnection path. This is a PLANNING and design guide — the physical installation of a battery and subpanel is licensed electrical work.

Make sense of your utility statement after going solar. Explains the difference between net metering and net billing, how to find imported vs. exported kWh, how export credits and rates work, what a true-up period is, and the fixed and non-bypassable charges that remain even at net-zero usage. Finishes by reconciling the bill against your inverter monitoring app. This is a reading-and-reconciliation task — no electrical work.

Estimate how large a rooftop solar array your home needs and whether your roof can physically hold it. Covers reading your annual kWh usage, finding peak sun hours, measuring usable roof area with code setbacks, accounting for tilt/azimuth and shading, and converting all of that into a panel count and an annual production estimate. This is a desk-and-measurement exercise — no electrical work.

Diagnose why your solar production is below estimate, working from the safest checks to the most involved. Covers establishing a baseline, reading monitoring data and inverter error codes, finding new shading and soiling, verifying the AC side, and — only where safe — checking string voltage. Emphasizes the hard rule that PV DC wiring is energized whenever the sun is on the panels and cannot simply be switched off.

Choose the right inverter topology for a residential solar array. Compares central string inverters, microinverters, and DC power optimizers (and where hybrid/battery-ready inverters fit), and walks a decision matrix based on shading, roof complexity, expandability, monitoring, budget, and rapid-shutdown compliance. This is a decision-making guide — no installation or live electrical work.