(Past Event) Its Always Sunny In Malvern PA

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. That was a leased system where we paid about $70 per month, but in the summers with A/C we previously paid about $400 per month in electricity. With Solar we covered the cost, but had the monthly lease. The new family that purchased our home took over the lease with no issues, just some paperwork.

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 several 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 initially engaged a few providers initially for estimates for our project. We were extremely happy with TerraSol Energies, based in Chadds Ford, 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. They also were instrumental in helping with the PECO net metering process and setting up our account for SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Credits.) This system we fully purchased and received the 30% Federal Tax Credit.

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 anticipate that by 10/7/2023 our system will have generated over 12,000 kWh over the course of our first year.

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, and plan to get an EV in the near future and have started to migrate to battery-powered landscaping tools.

We have experience with both leased and purchased systems and we are happy to share what we have learned. We are happy to participate in this year’s solar tour.