Questions people ask before they hire a solar consultant

Book a free 20-minute fit call through our start a project page, or call (859) 487-5027. On the call we learn what you're deciding, tell you honestly whether we can help, and list the documents we'll need. If it's a fit, you receive a written scope, timeline, and fixed fee before any work begins. Nothing starts until you approve it.

We ask what you're deciding, by when, and who set that deadline. Then we tell you whether we can help, which service fits, and what documents to gather. There's no pitch and no obligation. If your question belongs to an engineer, attorney, or CPA instead, or if the decision is small enough that a report wouldn't be worth it, we'll tell you that too.

For the fit call, one recent electric bill plus whatever you've been asked to sign or evaluate is enough. Later we may ask for 12 months of bills or interval data, every page of a proposal including financing documents, monitoring exports, a lease offer, or a customer questionnaire. One request surprises people: if your proposal is financed, ask the installer for the cash price too. The gap between the two is often where a dealer fee hides.

It depends on the service, and the clock starts when we have complete documents. A Proposal Second Opinion takes 5 business days. A Land Lease Offer Review or Battery & Storage Economics analysis takes 7–10 business days. A Commercial Feasibility Study takes 3–5 weeks, and a System Health Check takes 7 business days after data access is restored. Each service page lists its own timeline, and your written scope confirms it.

No. Most of our work happens by phone, video, and email, and we work remotely with clients anywhere in the United States. When it's useful, we meet in person across Kentucky, and visits to our Lexington office at 651 Perimeter Drive, Suite 440, are by appointment. If paper is easier for you, bring your bills and proposals; we'll scan them and hand them back.

A plain-English written report that answers your question on the first page, followed by an assumptions page, tables you can check line by line, a sensitivity section, and, where needed, questions for your licensed professionals. You also get a recorded walkthrough call, so a spouse, partner, or board can hear it, and one round of follow-up questions. Our sample reports show the format.

Jenna Morrow usually schedules your fit call and keeps your files organized. From there, the advisor depends on the question: Maren Holloway leads financial models and signs off on every assumptions page, Theo Okafor handles performance data, Lucía Brandt runs procurement, Calvin Rudd coordinates paperwork, Priya Venkataraman leads sustainability reporting, and Wes Caudill works with farms and landowners. Meet them on our team page.

Because fees depend on complexity, and two projects that look alike rarely are. A review of one clean quote takes less work than three quotes with loans, leases, and a battery option. After the free fit call, we quote a fixed fee in writing for your specific scope. Fees never depend on system size or on how much you spend on equipment. Our fees page explains what shapes a quote.

Yes. Before work starts, you receive the scope, deliverables, timeline, and fee in writing. There's no hourly billing and no meter running while we talk. If you later want something outside the agreed scope, such as modeling a second site, we describe it and price it in writing, and nothing changes unless you approve it first.

No. We take no commissions, referral fees, equipment margins, or payments of any kind from installers, manufacturers, lenders, or developers. The fee you pay us is the only money we receive for your project, so we have no reason to prefer one answer over another. Our independence pledge spells out the full commitment.

We don't keep a list of preferred installers, and no one can pay to be on one. If you want help choosing, our Installer RFP & Bid Leveling service invites bids on a common scope and compares them line by line, and you make the choice. Either way, ask any installer who will service the system, and how you'd get warranty support, if the company closes.

A free quote is a sales document, and the cost of selling is built into the price. Our fee buys an analysis whose only job is to be right for you. Small terms add up: on a lease that starts at $100 a month, a 2.9% annual escalator adds about $13,000 over 25 years compared with a flat payment. That's the kind of detail a second opinion is meant to catch.

No. Your fee is fixed in writing before the analysis starts and doesn't depend on system size, equipment cost, or what you decide. That matters because it means we gain nothing by steering you toward a larger array, a battery, or any particular financing. Sometimes our analysis points to a smaller system, or to waiting, and we're paid the same either way.

Yes, and we do it on the fit call. If the decision is small, if the answer is already clear from what you've told us, or if what you really need is an engineer, attorney, or CPA, we'll say so. The fit call is free precisely so you can find that out before spending anything.

Sometimes. The federal 30% residential credit (25D) ended for expenditures made after December 31, 2025, and the IRS treats an expenditure as made when installation is complete. That raises your net cost. Many Kentucky utilities also credit exported power below the retail rate. Solar can still work where the price is fair and you use most of the power on site. Our Solar Readiness Consultation tests that for your home, and this article explains the change.

In a Proposal Second Opinion we review price per watt, the gap between cash and financed prices, the production estimate against an independent model, the utility rate increase the proposal assumes, escalators, dealer fees, net metering assumptions, warranties, and who services the system if the installer closes. You get a plain-English report in 5 business days from complete documents, with terms to raise with your attorney flagged.

It depends on your cash, your tax situation, how long you'll stay, and the exact terms. We compare total cost, who owns the system, who handles repairs, and what happens when you sell the house. Watch escalators: at 2.9% a year, the last lease payment is about double the first. Also ask how a leased system fits your utility's net metering rules; LG&E and KU, for example, list customer ownership and operation as a requirement. Try our ownership comparison.

It depends on your utility and when you started. At LG&E and KU, customers who began net metering before September 24, 2021 are on NMS-1 and earn kilowatt-hour credits; newer customers are on NMS-2 and earn dollar credits for exported energy at a PSC-set rate below retail. Eligible systems are capped at 45 kW, and state law keeps a customer's terms for 25 years at that premises. Other utilities and co-ops have their own tariffs. Read Kentucky net metering explained.

Yes. Our System Health Check is built for orphaned systems. We work to recover monitoring access and data, compare production with a weather-adjusted expectation, and locate the manufacturer warranties, which often survive the installer. You get a report within 7 business days after data access is restored, including a short list of what to ask a qualified technician to check and what not to pay for.

For bill savings alone, often not yet, but it depends on your export credit, rate design, and how much you value backup power. When exports earn less than retail, storing midday solar for evening use is worth more, but round-trip losses and battery cost eat into that gap. Our Battery & Storage Economics analysis models it with your interval data in 7–10 business days.

Whether your roof needs replacing is a question for a roofer, and whether it can carry panels is for your installer or a licensed engineer. What we can do is price the decision: we model the cost of removing and reinstalling panels later against replacing the roof now, so you can see which costs less over the life of the system. Ask every installer what that removal and reinstall would cost.

Possibly, but the clock matters. Under the 2025 budget law, solar projects that began construction after July 4, 2026 must be placed in service by December 31, 2027 to claim the 48E or 45Y credit. Projects that began construction earlier have more time. Foreign-entity sourcing rules also apply to projects starting construction after 2025. Whether your project qualifies is for your tax adviser; we model the scenarios. See our deadline timeline.

Analysis of your interval data and rate, including demand charges; system size options matched to what you use on site; deadline scenarios for federal credits; cash flow, NPV, IRR, and payback; a sensitivity section; and questions for your CPA, engineer, and attorney. A Commercial Feasibility Study takes 3–5 weeks from complete documents. Our sample reports show an excerpt.

Yes. Tax-exempt organizations and state and local governments can't use most tax credits directly, but elective pay lets eligible entities receive certain clean energy credits as a payment from the IRS, subject to the same deadlines and rules as the credit itself. Your tax adviser confirms eligibility; we model your project with and without it. Our nonprofits and public bodies page covers the rest.

Yes. In a Supplier Sustainability Questionnaires engagement, we gather your electricity data, prepare non-certified Scope 2 estimates using published methods, and draft answers you review and submit. It typically takes 2–4 weeks. The most valuable part is often the method file: next year's questionnaire is easier, and more credible, when you can answer the same way twice.

Location-based uses the average emission rate of the grid where you use power, often an EPA eGRID subregion rate. Market-based reflects what you've contracted for, such as RECs, green tariff purchases, or your utility's specific emission rate. The GHG Protocol asks for both. In a coal-heavy service area, your market-based figure can come out higher than location-based if you hold no renewable instruments. Read our Scope 2 explainer.

Yes. Bids rarely cover the same scope: one leaves out interconnection fees, another skips monitoring, a third quotes a smaller array. Through Installer RFP & Bid Leveling we rebuild them on a common scope, price in what each excludes, and compare warranties and production estimates. The lowest quote is often not the lowest leveled price. A full RFP takes 4–8 weeks depending on the bid window; if you already hold bids, ask about leveling them on the fit call.

They do different jobs. On-site solar can lower your bill and, if you keep the RECs, support a renewable claim. RECs alone support the claim without changing your bill. LG&E and KU's Green Tariff offers RECs, an on-site Business Solar option, and Renewable Power Agreements for the largest customers. We compare cost per megawatt-hour and how each shows up in market-based Scope 2. See green tariff vs RECs vs on-site solar.

Start with rent per acre, the annual escalator, option period payments, term and extensions, how much land is actually used, crop-loss and access terms, and decommissioning security. Our Land Lease Offer Review compares those commercial and financial terms side by side in 7–10 business days and organizes the questions for your attorney and accountant. Our article on 14 terms to compare is a good place to start.

No. We don't interpret legal language or recommend signing. We show what each offer would pay under different scenarios, including what happens if extensions are or aren't exercised, and list the questions to bring to your attorney and accountant. That keeps the decision where it belongs, with your family and your licensed advisers, and keeps our analysis free of any stake in the outcome.

It's the stretch, often several years, during which the developer holds the right to build but hasn't committed. Option payments are usually far smaller than operating rent, and extensions can keep your land tied up even longer. Compare how long the option lasts, whether it can be extended, what it pays, and what you may do with the land meanwhile. A higher rent that starts five years later can be worth less than it looks.

They're different deals. A lease turns acres into rent. On-farm solar offsets your own load, such as poultry house fans, grain drying, or irrigation, and its value depends on when you use power and how your utility credits exports. We can model both against your bills and interval data. Our Christian County scenario walks through an illustrative comparison.

The program changed significantly in 2026. USDA paused REAP grant awards, then issued a new rule in October 2026 that restricts solar eligibility, and that rule is being challenged in court. Loan guarantees have followed a separate track. Check current status with USDA Rural Development's Kentucky office before counting on a grant. We model farm projects with and without one, so your decision doesn't hinge on it.

Often, yes. Kentucky's electric co-ops, whether they buy power through East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Big Rivers, or TVA, have their own tariffs, and their net metering and interconnection terms can differ a lot from LG&E and KU's. We read your co-op's current tariff before modeling anything. Wes Caudill works with farm families across co-op territories; see our farms page.

No. Center For Solar is a non-licensed consulting firm. We don't provide engineering, system design, or structural review, and we don't do electrical work, construction, or inspections. When your project needs a licensed engineer or electrician, we say so plainly and prepare the questions and documents to make that hour count. Our scope of services page lays out the full line.

We compare the commercial and financial terms, such as price, escalators, rent, term, and fees, against alternatives and flag provisions to raise with your attorney. We don't give legal advice, and we don't draft or interpret contract language. Your attorney decides what a clause means and whether it protects you; we make sure they see the numbers and the right questions.

No. We don't give tax advice or make eligibility determinations. We model your project with and without a credit, show how much the answer depends on it, and list the questions your CPA or tax adviser should answer, such as whether and when construction began and what documentation supports it. Your tax professional makes the call.

No. Our permitting support is administrative and clerical: collecting information, assembling packets, tracking status, following up, and coordinating communications. Technical drawings, electrical work, and certifications are prepared and signed by appropriately licensed parties that you or your installer retain. We make sure their work is filed on time and nothing is missing.

No. Our emissions figures are non-certified estimates based on published methodologies, including the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance and EPA eGRID emission factors. We don't provide third-party verification or assurance. If a customer, lender, or regulator requires verified figures, our organized data and documented method can serve as input for a qualified verification body.

No, and be cautious with anyone who does. Savings depend on weather, equipment performance, utility rates, tariffs, and how you use power, and all of those change. We show our assumptions, give ranges instead of a single confident number, and test which inputs move the answer most. That way you know not just the estimate, but how much it could change.