Installing solar isn’t all plain sailing. In addition to the complexities of matching energy production to energy use, and the huge amount of math that goes into crunching whether you will or won’t break even, there are other obstacles. This article is about the biggest ‘trap for young players’ that I fell into when installing solar.
Simply put, I didn’t inspect the roof before I installed. This is a glaring, easily overlooked problem that most people don’t consider, and isn’t mentioned on any online manuals. And while it won’t have any impact in the short run, and although our return on investment is overall still very positive, particularly when counting energy price inflation, it will nonetheless result in an unscoped cost 10 or 15 years down the track that I won’t be able to avoid.
While installing the panels, the installation team pointed out that some of the bolts used to secure the roof of the motel were beginning to rust a bit, and might stand replacing. I sought out a local tradie to look into the matter. While the problem with the bolts was easily fixed, he pointed out that in ten or so years we would need to replace the roof.
The only problem with this was that by this point the panels were already up there.
So what I am looking at, roughly 10 to 15 years from now, is the cost of a roof replacement (unrelated to the solar panel cost), and the cost of uninstalling the panels by a technician, then having them reinstalled by a technician after the roof has been replaced.
I can’t imagine that this will be cheap – even in terms of present value dollars, I have to estimate that the removal and re-installation will likely run to over $2000.
It’s not the end of the world, as by that stage we will easily have paid off our initial investment, and there will still be a lot of life left in the panels. But it is one thing that is certainly worth looking out for if you happen to be at the very beginning of considering solar.
The process of ‘going green’ is often not simple – you are always making conscientious strides forward at the same time as worrying that you might be taking a few steps back. The benefit of being a trailblazer is that you get the dividends early – but you also pay the price of the mistakes you make, which can be costly.
I don’t regret going solar. Based on the math, we’re still well ahead. But if I could do it all over, I would make sure to take the step of having the roof checked by a professional before commissioning the solar panel installation on what is after all an old building.
