NATIONAL SOLAR TOUR
NATIONAL SOLAR TOUR
The American Solar Energy Society‘s 28th Annual National Solar Tour aims to promote renewable energy awareness and increase the adoption of sustainable living practices. Are you interested in going solar or purchasing a sustainable system? Join in-person or virtual tours to gain insight from current owners!
Although the main weekend is October 6-8, 2023. In-person and virtual tours are happening all throughout the year.
Hi – we are the Casey family! We previously had a 12 kWh System on our last home in Storrs, Connecticut. It was a larger home and at the time, CT had the 2nd highest electricity rates in the nation. Fast forward to our home in Malvern, PA.
We had to wait for the right time to coordinate a New Solar Project with the replacement of our roof shingles.
We would like to thank The Malvern Hills II HOA for their approval of our system and approval of solar for all homes in our association. Unfortunately, this was a challenging process, but we persevered. This was a hard-fought process, as initially Solar had previously been approved, but only if panels were on the back of the house. For our project the panels would need to be placed on the front of the house,, So we needed to get approval from our HOA Board. I had previously served for a number of years as Treasurer, so was surprised at the response to the proposal we introduced at the Annual HOA meeting. We were also able to get the Board to not require neighbor approval for Solar, which they pressed for initially. Needless to say, we got more involved and I now serve on the HOA Board. Barbara is looking to serve on a new Architectural Committee to help clarify changes to the exterior of homes in our HOA. We also participate in events with Solar United Neighbors (SUN) to learn more, and advocate for change so more businesses and residents can become more energy self-sufficient and more sustainable.
We had engaged a few providers initially for estimates for our , but we were extremely happy with TerraSol Energies, based in Chaddsford, PA. We were familiar with the the firm through business connections, but we initially thought they only were involved in Commercial Projects. We were pleasantly surprised when they told us they most certainly manage Residential Projects as well.
We were so pleased with TerraSol from start to finish! They installed a quality system featuring Sun Power panels, Enphase micro-inverters, and the Sun Power online monitoring system. They consistently provided expert guidance to help us navigate through challenges with our HOA delays and approvals. Our 9.545 kWh system went live on October 7, 2022, so we will be celebrating our one year Anniversary with the 2023 Solar tour. We are asking TerraSol to participate in our tour.
We are pleased with the system design and operations as we are currently overproducing until we get an EV to replace one of our existing cars.
We have found that we are more tuned into our energy use, looking for additional ways to save, recycle and conserve.
We are participating in the Malvern Composting Program, plan to get an EV in the near future and have started to migrate to battery-powered landscaping tools.
We are happy to participate in this year’s solar tour.