FAQ

In addition to allowing homeowners to include a battery for their Monalee solar project, we offer the following add-ons and upgrades:

• EV plug: to have the ability to install an EV charger. Labor only, parts are extra.
• Attic Run: to minimize the appearance of unsightly electrical conduit on your roof.
• Solar Skirt: to elevate the look of your solar design with the IronRidge Contour® Trim.
• Critter Guard: to deter rodents and prevent debris from interfering with your solar panels.
• Main Panel Upgrade: to make your home future upgrade ready with a new main panel.
• Smart Panel Upgrade: to control your panel through WiFi with the SPAN smart electrical panel.

If your home does not have a history of power outages, a battery may not be necessary. Not sure? No problem. If you change your mind, you can always order a battery (or two) at a later date. A Monalee Customer Success Manager can help determine whether or not a battery is recommended for your project.

Pros

• Keeps essential appliances and power running to the home in case of a power outage or blackout. Having battery storage available means you’re ready for any emergency.
• Allows you to go independent from utility rates, as you can use stored power at night and reduce tapping into the grid. Battery storage offers homeowners more power, flexibility, and efficiency.
• Generally quieter than generators and safe both inside and outside the home in uninhabited spaces.

Cons

• Additional cost on top of solar PV system, making it a bigger upfront investment
• Limited capacity to store power. For homes that require a significant amount of power, lithium-ion battery storage might not be able to meet demands without going to a larger, more expensive battery system.
• Batteries, much like everything else, can carry safety concerns and will require maintenance. Without proper maintenance and ventilation, batteries can fail or pose avoidable risks, always maintain your battery properly.

Your solar system monitoring app provides you with hourly measurements of its power production. Use that information to determine when your solar system is producing the most power. It is always better to use the electricity produced by your solar system than it is to sell that power to the utility company, plan your usage according to your production.

We recommend that you monitor your system regularly because its power output is affected by seasonality. Your system will most likely produce 65% of its annual power output in the spring and summer, and produce 35% of its annual output in the fall and winter.

While backup batteries can be pricey, they’re ultimately worth the investment. This is especially true for homeowners who live in areas where power outages are common. Due to safety reasons, utility companies don’t allow solar to power your home during a power outage; only a backup generator or battery can be used. If power outages are fairly common in your area, we suggest purchasing a battery to use as a backup power source.

• For non-battery owners:
  When a power outage occurs in your area, your solar system will disconnect from the local grid. The biggest reason for this is safety; workers will likely be sent out to repair faulty electrical wires and it’s potentially dangerous for them if solar power is traveling back to the grid at the same time that they are trying to fix the issue. If you don’t have a battery with blackout protection (read below), then there’s not much you can do other than waiting it out.
• For battery owners:
  For solar batteries to work during a blackout, they require ‘blackout protection.’ This is a feature that allows the battery to power your home without it connecting to your local grid. Electrical workers will be handling power lines during an outage and are therefore vulnerable to being shocked by electric currents.

For homeowners with a solar battery, their inverter will disconnect from the grid but they will still have access to whatever energy remains in their battery. How long this power lasts for depends on several factors such as how many panels you have and how much sunlight they receive throughout the day.

Yes, your equipment is insured under our Monalee guarantee. As an example, Mitrex has a 25-year product and performance warranty. This means that your system is guaranteed to have 92% output power for the first 12 years, and at least 85% power up to 25 years.

Monalee homeowners can personalize their orders. They can manually increase or decrease the number of solar panels for their system, as well as the type of solar panels (Mitrex 400 or Hanwha QCell 400) and inverters (Tesla or Enphase) used.

When you choose Monalee, you’re getting the same (or better) equipment at a better price and with a better process. In fact, compared with most other solar companies, we use higher-end and more durable equipment.

We use the following equipment:

• LONGi 400w Solar Panels
  While there are different solar panels on the market, we opt to use LONGi 400w solar panels for our Monalee installations. This model features advanced module technology and delivers superior module efficiency. LONGi 400x comes with a 25-year warranty for materials and processing and a 30-year warranty for extra linear power output.
• Schneider Inverter
  Inverters are a very important piece of equipment needed in any solar energy system. They regulate the flow of electrical power and convert direct current (DC) electricity—this is the energy that solar panels generate from the sun—into alternating current (AC) electricity that the local utility grid uses. Monalee installations include Schneider inverters. Founded in 1836, Schneider has nearly 190 years of experience in energy management and automation. This high power 7.7kW inverter connects PV and battery to your home and the electrical grid.
• Schneider Boost
  While not essential for a solar system to run, many homeowners choose to add a battery so that they have more energy independence. The Schneider Boost is a powerful battery that stores energy produced from your solar system or your local grid, and will automatically power your home during an outage or when electricity rates are high. It is designed to be paired with the Schneider Inverter.