Complete Guide to Start a Solar-Powered Home

Have you ever wondered what’s the feeling of fully energizing your whole house using only the power of the Sun? Do you want to see a lower electric bill next month without removing any appliances? The Philippines is actually in a very good spot for solar energy wherein we can potentially produce up to 5.5 kWh per square meter per day based on the report of the Department of Energy. With that being said, let us guide you in powering your home using a clean, emissions-free, and renewable energy source called Solar energy.

1. Check how energy efficient is your home

As a homeowner, you should at least be aware of how responsible you and your family are in using your home’s electricity. Aside from that, you should know if your home appliances are efficiently performing when used or if you’re using the correct appliances. For example, you should know if your AC is underperforming or over-performing based on the size of the room that it serves.

2. Evaluate your location

Because solar panels need all of the sunlight that it can get, you need to check your place if where you can place the system. A possible source of shade like growing trees and buildings near your home needs to be evaluated by a contractor to make sure that the system won’t be covered in shade in the future.

Lastly, is you have to check the integrity of your house’s roof because it is where Solar Panels or mostly placed.

3. Asses your Electricity Consumption

You have to determine the electricity consumption of your home. Check your monthly bills and compute them to get your yearly electricity needs. You also have to consider when is the peak usage of your electricity. One great example is that everyone consumes the highest electricity during the months of April and May when we experience the highest temperatures because everyone turns on their aircon.

Another thing to ponder about is if you’re planning on purchasing new appliances, this will affect your electricity consumption in the future. These are all the things that you need to consider to help your contractor/provider.

4. Search for the right contractor

It’s your home, it’s for long-term use so you need to research the right contractors or Solar Power providers. You should also seek different bids from different contractors to check who offers the best service for the right amount. Here are a few things to consider when searching for the right provider.

1. The contractor should be insured professionals with proper certification to ensure that they are authorized providers of Solar Power Systems.
2. They should be familiar with local policies, and other legalities regarding these systems.
3. References from their old clients
4. What warranty do they offer?

5. Funding

Not everyone can afford to pay north of Php100,000USD 1,704INR 144,460EUR 1,623CNY 12,410 right away. Good thing that the Philippines have its own Sustainable Energy Finance (SEF) Program.

The SEF works with private banks to encourage lending to energy efficiency and renewable energy products. As of now there 3 partner bank, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Banco De Oro (BDO), and BPI Globe BanKO (BanKO).

For residential projects, the Development Bank of the Philippines has a special loan program to fund homeowners who’ll opt for net-metering schemes.

If not, you can apply for a term loan in any of your banks.

6. Installation

It’s usual that the Solar Power Providers actually offer their systems in packages, so installation won’t be a problem for us. We need to make sure that we fully understand the packages that they offer and in return, help the Contractor/Provider with the information they need so the company can offer us the correct package based on our budget and needs.