Winter and fall are good seasons for installing solar panels. It may take a few months to get the solar panels installed after you have contacted a solar installer for the job. You might be worried about the increased electricity bills in summer, so you would want to have your solar panels installed as soon as possible so that they are less expensive.
You should plan to install solar panels in the winter so that once installed; they will be ready to produce electricity in the summer. Installing solar panels in winter is beneficial since it’s cheap due to the lack of labor for solar installers. But you will also save money on installation costs.
The Benefits
Rapid Installation:
You will have a speedy installation with lower costs in the winter. This is because solar installers always prefer a job with lower pay than no job at all. Most people won’t bother installing solar panels in winter due to the lack of sunshine and lower electricity consumption.
Electricity bills tend to be lower in cold seasons. Negotiating with installers for a lower installation cost will be easy since they would not get any jobs. The permit and approval process will also be significantly shortened because there will be no rush of people waiting for their approval in the winter months.
Being Ready For Summer:
If you start asking and thinking about solar late, then they will be installed late in the summer season. So start the process in winter to be ready for summer with your solar panels by the end of the season.
Don’t think about installing solar panels in the summer as they will be installed by the next fall or winter. So start installing solar panels in early winter or late fall. You can even install it earlier than this timeline so that you can enjoy the sunshine in spring.
The winter months might not be productive for energy production because of cold and cloudy days with limited sunshine. However, you will still have some energy generation. If your home is heated using fossil fuels, then you could get credits for the electricity you produce from solar by feeding that excess energy to the grid.
Remember that this is only for homeowners with access to net metering. The credits you gain from feeding that extra electricity to the grid can be used in summer when electricity bills are high.
Opportunity Cost
An opportunity cost highlights what you will miss out on if you don’t select an alternative power source, like not installing solar panels. Waiting for the summer months to install solar is a financial mistake as you will lose out on incentives and savings.
Solar incentives constantly fluctuate in benefit and importance, so you’ll have to lock in rates by installing solar to gain advantages such as state tax and federal incentives while also accessing net metering.
You can reach the break-even point on your investment earlier if you go solar earlier. A break-even point is a point when an investment starts to generate a positive return. Average break-even points range from 9 to 12 years. The timeline for a break-even point will only increase if you wait to install solar.
Installing Solar Panels In Winter
You can install solar anytime, but if you want to get all the benefits of solar in the summer, then a smart choice would be to install solar in winter so that by the time the summer months arrive, you’re ready to generate electricity from solar. We suggest you not hold off until the end of the year after inquiring about solar at the start of the year.
You can save much more money if you install solar panels early. Plus, you’ll save more on installation costs if you install solar panels in winter. The process will be much faster and smoother due to no one installing solar at that time.