Is my solar working?

How the check works

1. 1. We find your home. Your address gives us the exact spot, so the estimate uses your local sun and weather.
2. 2. We model your system. PVWatts works out how much a system your size, facing your way, makes there in a typical year, month by month.
3. 3. We compare. Your month next to the model's month tells you if the system is on track or falling behind.

Want the full picture? A SolarFIX solar assessment checks every part of the system on site, or read five checks you can do yourself.

Questions

Where do I find how much my solar made?

Your monitoring app (Enphase, SolarEdge, Tesla and others) shows a monthly total in kWh. Many inverters show it on the screen too. APS bills print it as Total Renewable Energy Production, and SRP bills as Customer Generation.

Where does the expected number come from?

From PVWatts, a free solar model made by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It uses your location's typical weather, your system size and which way the panels face. SolarFIX uses the same model in our solar inspection reports.

My result is a little low. Should I worry?

Not yet. Weather can move a single month up or down by 10 to 15%. If it stays low for two or three months, or drops suddenly, have the system checked.

What usually causes a big drop?

The most common causes we see in Arizona are a failed inverter or optimizer, a tripped breaker, panels that stopped producing, dirty panels, and birds nesting under the array.