Dawson, Pennsylvania resident Thomas Hayes is delighted over his 5.7 kW solar power system. Hayes installed twenty SolarWorld SW 285 watt monocrystalline panels with 17% efficiency to go along with his SMA Sunny Boy string inverter with an efficiency rating of 97%.
"I've been interested in solar for twenty years. It has been cost-prohibitive except for the last few years," said Hayes. "I do a lot of research, and I checked it out to see what goes on in the world of renewable energy and I decided now was the time to just do it."
Hayes' system is forecasted to produce 6,500 kWh of electricity per year. This is enough to offset the burning of 3.25 tons of coal a year. Based on a state average of $0.14 per kWh, this would be savings of nearly $915 a year.
"I went through energy sage. I used their site, used their information. I got 3-4 companies to give me a quote. YellowLite was the only company that got back to me in a quick manner."
Hayes contacted YellowLite in August of 2015 and his solar panels were installed in October of that year. Hayes was asked why he went with YellowLite. "I went with YellowLite for a variety of factors. I wanted American panels. I wanted good customer service. I thought the engineering and installation was great. I liked the timeliness of the follow-up. Everything was nice and quick. The other companies were slow to get back to me, and they were not flexible in terms of the panels I wanted or the price I wanted. YellowLite was the only one to work with me until I was happy."
Hayes had been thinking about going solar for many years. He decided to do so for reasons environmental as well as economic.
"I got the panels because of economic and environmental reasons. I recently retired and could afford it. We had talked about it for a few years. I saw what it would cost and decided to pull the trigger."
Hayes is an avowed environmentalist. He supports renewable energy as well as green policy.
"We've been trying to live more sustainably. My wife and I each grew up on farms. We garden, recycle, compost. We have chickens in our front yard, free-range. My parents had a dairy farm so it's second nature to farm. We have bees, we make maple syrup. We do it all.
When asked how is system is working, Hayes was enthusiastic and had nothing but praise for YellowLite.
"The system is working fine and it's what I had projected and what YellowLite had projected. Our system output is exactly what occurred. We're happy with it."