Solar Performance Inspection in Scottsdale, AZ

A Solar Performance Inspection answers a simple question that is hard to answer from the ground: is this system producing what it should for its size, its roof and the Scottsdale sun? Many systems lose output slowly, a little each year from dust, a failing microinverter or a loose connection, and the owner never sees a single alarm. An inspection compares what the system makes with what it ought to make and then finds the gap.

Who books an inspection

• Homeowners who bought a house with solar and want to know what they own, especially if the original installer is gone
• Owners whose bills crept up while usage stayed about the same
• Anyone with a monitoring app that went dark and no idea how the system has done since
• Sellers who want a clean report to show buyers
• Owners of older systems deciding whether to repair, upgrade the inverter, add storage or leave it alone

Starting with the numbers

Before the roof, we look at production history: monitoring data if you have it, or the generation and export figures on a year of utility bills from APS or SRP. We estimate expected output for your array's size, tilt and direction and compare month by month. Normal summer heat loss shows up the same way every year; a fault shows up as a sudden step down or as one part of the array lagging behind the rest.

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What we test on site

• Inverter: fault history, operating temperature, firmware status and AC output
• Strings: open-circuit voltage and operating current on each, compared with each other and with the panel ratings
• Panels: cracked glass, browning, delamination and hot spots, along with soiling and shading from trees or new construction
• Wiring and connectors: heat damage, loose or mismatched connectors, cables resting on hot tile, and conduit condition
• Mounts and roof: loose hooks, cracked tiles around penetrations, and debris or nesting under the array
• Disconnects and breakers: labeling, condition and correct sizing
• Monitoring: whether data is reaching the app and whether it matches the meter

Heat, dust and age

In Scottsdale, three ordinary things hide real problems. Summer heat lowers output on every system, so a weak string is easy to blame on the weather. Dust builds between storms and can account for part of a drop, which washing fixes. And panels lose a small amount of output each year by design, which the manufacturer's degradation figures describe. Separating those normal losses from faults is the main point of the inspection.

What you get

A written summary of what we found, photos from the roof, production compared with expected output, and a list of recommended repairs in order of value, each with a price. Some findings will be urgent, like a heat-damaged connector. Others can wait. You decide what to do.