Sunnova Solar Review: Set It and Forget It for 25 Years

6.5

Sunnova

Like

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  25-year service assure
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  A number of financing choices
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  Buyer-centered method

Don’t love

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  No value match
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  Potential customer support considerations per the BBB

For those who’re in search of a customer-centered method to getting photo voltaic panels, it could be value getting a quote from Sunnova. It provides assurances that your system is working because it ought to with a easy course of for rectifying any issues together with your photo voltaic panels.

Sunnova’s pitch is designed for these in search of a set-it-and-forget-it method to photo voltaic: No want to fret about cash upfront, an settlement that ensures your photo voltaic system is producing for 1 / 4 century and a single telephone quantity to name with any questions for your entire length. 

“Whether or not it is a lease, a mortgage or an influence buy settlement, we’re making certain that buyer’s energy flows for 25 years,” stated Kelsey Hultberg, Sunnova’s govt vp for company communications and sustainability.

One of many newest evolutions on this planet of photo voltaic is the notion of “vitality as a service” supplied by a number of the greater gamers. The thought is to simplify going photo voltaic and make the transfer to renewable vitality — whether or not you are desirous about preventing local weather change, chopping your vitality payments, or hopefully each — so simple as switching web suppliers. An internet of tax credit and different incentives, to not point out the free vitality produced, additionally makes it an attractive proposition for shoppers. 

Sunnova is a number one energy-as-a-service supplier and has been a public firm traded on the New York Inventory Change since 2019. The Houston-based outfit has been round for 10 years, and with 300,000 prospects throughout the US, it is one of many greatest photo voltaic corporations within the nation. 

It is also partnering with the US Division of Power to supply photo voltaic loans to communities that will not in any other case have the ability to entry such financing by way of an initiative known as Undertaking Hestia. The federal authorities has dedicated to offer mortgage ensures on as much as 90% of $3.3 billion in loans originated by Sunnova. 

“Undertaking Hestia would make potential a historic non-public sector funding in deprived American communities and vitality infrastructure,” Sunnova CEO John Berger stated in an announcement. 

The general public funding is supposed to extend entry to photo voltaic for households with credit score scores which may in any other case disqualify them. 

CNET has not gone by way of the method of ordering from Sunnova, having a system put in or testing the tools talked about right here. As an alternative, we have now studied the {industry}, had an in-depth dialog with the corporate, and, to a restricted extent, considered outdoors opinions from those that have interacted with the corporate.

With this in thoughts, it’s vital that any house or small enterprise proprietor contemplating a photo voltaic system get a number of quotes from installers of their space and do their very own analysis. (You are off to begin by studying this overview.) Yow will discover lots extra photo voltaic corporations right here at CNET as effectively.

What do I get from Sunnova?

Over the previous few years, Sunnova has centered on creating what it calls the Sunnova “adaptive house,” which matches past simply placing a number of panels on a roof to incorporate integrating batteries, load controls and EV chargers, amongst different choices.

“We’re packaging that up for the home-owner so they do not have to fret in regards to the burden of bringing collectively all these know-how items, after which we’re managing that for the shopper for 25 years,” Hultberg defined.

What tools does Sunnova provide?

Sunnova works with a community of vetted installers to supply its photo voltaic packages nearly anyplace within the nation. Native installers additionally work from an inventory of apparatus producers and particular merchandise which were authorised by Sunnova, together with a big selection of panels, inverters, batteries and EV chargers. 

“Nothing’s happening a roof that we have not already vetted and authorised,” Hultberg stated.

The corporate makes use of panels from quite a lot of producers, inverters from SolarEdge and Enphase, and batteries made by Tesla, Enphase, Generac, SolarEdge and FranklinWh.

Does Sunnova provide system monitoring?

The Sunnova internet portal and app supplies data on how the shopper’s system is performing, the state of battery cost and extra. 

One attention-grabbing beta characteristic is the power to see when the shopper is pulling vitality from the grid and the way “soiled” the grid sources are (i.e. coal vs. renewables). The corporate did not provide a selected timeline for when the characteristic can be totally useful.

The app has additionally been comparatively effectively reviewed on Google (3.8 stars) and Apple’s (4.1 stars) app shops.

What warranties does Sunnova provide?

Sunnova guarantees to service and in any other case handle its techniques for 25 years. Hultberg stated that when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the corporate fastened each broken Sunnova system on the island at no cost to prospects. 

When service or guarantee considerations come up in the course of the 25-year interval, prospects name Sunnova and are prone to see a Sunnova truck roll as much as make repairs.

How a lot do Sunnova photo voltaic panels price?

Sunnova declined to offer pricing data, which is fairly normal observe industry-wide. Hultberg stated the corporate does not make it a observe to cost match, however that installers do have value thresholds that they are not allowed to go above or beneath. 

For those who have a look at the typical price on tools and set up earlier than factoring within the federal clear vitality credit of 30%, the US nationwide common price is roughly $18,073 for a 5-kilowatt system and $3.60 per watt, in keeping with FindEnergy.com. 

Different incentives from state, county and municipal governments, and typically even banks and credit score unions, may deliver that complete out-of-pocket expense down even additional. One evaluation from Wooden Mackenzie reveals the common buy price of put in solar energy is $2.99 per watt for an 8-kilowatt system.

In fact, the above figures merely mirror nationwide averages. You should definitely examine costs in your individual space earlier than signing a contract. 

To get an thought of what photo voltaic prices seem like in every US state, here is a have a look at the typical complete price, system dimension and value per watt of photo voltaic panels, in keeping with knowledge from FindEnergy.com. The states shaded in grey had no knowledge out there. 

What financing choices does Sunnova provide?

Sunnova provides energy buy agreements and various methods to buy, lease or finance photo voltaic techniques. Hultberg famous that not all states enable leases and different program choices could range by locale. 

Sunnova says it could possibly typically get prospects up and working with a brand new photo voltaic system with no upfront price, although the lifetime financial savings of a bought system are sometimes increased than they’re with leases, energy buy agreements or different zero-money-down choices.

Does Sunnova function in my state? How do I order?

Sunnova works with native sellers in all US states and territories. The order course of begins with getting related to an authorised Sunnova supplier or installer, both by way of the Sunnova web site or from direct contact with a supplier. 

The native supplier has a dialog with the shopper, checks out the property utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery, places collectively a package deal of apparatus from Sunnova’s authorised record, and presents it to the shopper for approval. 

The supplier will talk about choices comparable to batteries and EV chargers as effectively. The ultimate system design is then reviewed by Sunnova for a quality-control verify, then authorised. This triggers the method to provoke new photo voltaic service, together with allowing, set up and, lastly, account activation and flowing electrons. 

“Then we’re working with you for the subsequent 25 years to ensure that system is working and producing vitality the way in which wherein we promised that it could,” Hultberg stated.

Is Sunnova the only option?

Sunnova provides a straightforward method for including photo voltaic to your house and guaranteeing your system’s manufacturing for 1 / 4 century. 

All of it sounds fairly nice, however needless to say we weren’t supplied with any substantial details about pricing and the vary of apparatus supplied. We’re additionally not excited in regards to the supplier mannequin that primarily doubles the analysis requirement — you need to ensure that each Sunnova and the native installer they join you with are each corporations you belief.

The Higher Enterprise Bureau has additionally flagged a sample of complaints in opposition to Sunnova that offers us pause. The corporate assures us that the broad majority of its prospects are happy, and it says it has moved to handle all complaints. Sunnova does additionally seem to have various happy prospects from what we are able to inform.

Keep in mind, CNET has not truly gone by way of the ordering or set up course of with Sunnova. You should definitely do loads of analysis earlier than making a 25-year dedication.

Professionals 

• 25-year service assure
• A number of financing choices
• Buyer-centered method
• Recipient of DOE funding for individuals with decrease credit score scores

Cons

• Required to undergo community of installers
• A sample of complaints in keeping with BBB.org
• No value match 

Sunnova critiques: What are prospects saying?

It may be exhausting to place a lot inventory in on-line critiques as we speak. It is simple to seek out each optimistic and destructive critiques of Sunnova. Nevertheless, we do take particular notice of the Higher Enterprise Bureau’s “sample of grievance” for the corporate. 

“Buyer disputes alleged misleading gross sales practices, poor customer support, they usually additional report set up and restore technicians don’t arrive as scheduled,” the BBB reviews. 

Sunnova’s BBB accreditation was not renewed beginning in 2019 as a result of sample of complaints — together with over 500 up to now 12 months — and a authorities motion in opposition to the corporate in Puerto Rico that has since been resolved. 

“Client’s complaints acknowledged Sunnova assigned decision specialists who’re unreachable through telephone or e-mail inflicting delays in diagnosing and repairing under-producing panels or panels that aren’t operational in any respect,” the BBB alert reads. “Whereas Sunnova Power Company has responded to complaints and plenty of of which have been closed as resolved, (prospects) felt their considerations have been addressed solely after submitting a grievance with the BBB.”

Sunnova says it “engaged in roughly 1.3M interactions with present prospects by way of e-mail and voice calls. Of these interactions, solely 537 (0.041%) have been related to BBB circumstances.”

Sunnova and the BBB confirmed that almost 99.9% of the above circumstances are presently marked as resolved. “We’re working carefully with the BBB to have our accreditation reinstated,” a Sunnova spokesperson advised CNET.

The corporate additionally says it has made latest investments in a brand new nationwide operations management heart that “supplies real-time monitoring, optimization and management of over our complete fleet of 300,000 photo voltaic and battery storage techniques all through 55 states and territories throughout the US, permitting us to determine and reply to points with unprecedented pace and effectivity.”

Do not be afraid to ask pointed questions of photo voltaic corporations. You possibly can even ask them what they’ve achieved to handle the problems you noticed on the BBB web site. It additionally does not harm to coach your self about present scams within the photo voltaic {industry}. 

How we consider photo voltaic corporations

Reviewing photo voltaic corporations in a hands-on method is troublesome. Accounting for all of the variations from undertaking to undertaking is not possible. To supply a useful overview, we centered on what we are able to measure and meaningfully examine amongst corporations.

We deal with three buckets of standards: tools, warranties and repair. 

Throughout the tools class, corporations obtain scores for the panels, inverters and batteries they set up. Warranties embody the ensures on the panels, workmanship and weatherization in opposition to leaks. Corporations earn factors for service if they provide a value match, a significant degree of value transparency and a well-rated app for monitoring photo voltaic manufacturing. They lose factors if there are main points pertaining to customer support (lawsuits, investigations or clear reputations for shoddy service). These points will at all times be detailed within the overview.

You possibly can learn an in depth have a look at how the scoring breaks down.

We do not think about the typical value of an organization’s installations of their rating. This data is troublesome to seek out and exhausting to check throughout service areas, and even roof to roof. Corporations are sometimes gradual to reveal it, too. We additionally omit simply discovered data that’s of restricted use, like what number of states an organization operates in.