Solar Calculator

Check out our 10 Reasons to Go Solar guide for a deep dive into the biggest benefits of going solar in Northern New England. 

Though it's still only an estimate, our Solar Calculator calculates the number panels you'll need and the associated costs. Our team regularly monitors and updates the calculations used behind the scenes, and makes sure all the variables going into the calculator are up to date. We use the following to create your custom estimate:

• Your monthly electric bill. Our tool takes your monthly electric bill in dollars, and divides it by the current average price for electricity, to get the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity you need each month.
• The production of a solar panel. In our region, 1 kilowatt of a solar panel array will produce roughly 1,200 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. The average size of a solar panel in 2022 is 400 watts. If you have a $150/month electric bill and live in Southern Maine, where the average rate for electricity is $0.21 per kilowatt-hour. 150/0.21 = 714 * 12 = 8,568 kilowatt-hours needed each year. 8,568 kWh / 1,200kWh/yr = 7.14kw solar array.
• Technical sizing of a solar array. To translate the example above of 7.14kw of solar into an installable solar array, our tool does some rounding based on actual solar systems. We use pricing pulled from average system sizes installed over the last year. Your actual results may vary. For example, if your roof is not ideally oriented, or you have trees in the yard, that will reduce a solar panel’s performance. Using our experience and past years’ install data, we know that a 7.14kw solar array will be made up of roughly 20 solar panels (if your home or business offers an ideal location for solar panels. If not, we can use that number to calculate shares in a community solar farm.)
• Your location. Our calculator is designed to give you customized results based on the specific electricity rates in your state. Incorporating data from past installation projects done in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, we are able to calculate a more accurate number using state specific rates. Rather than direct Maine residents to a Maine solar calculator, New Hampshire residents to a New Hampshire solar calculator, and so forth, we’ve built customization right into our tool for a single seamless experience.

Since most of our customers choose to finance their solar system, we include that in our solar calculator. Our lending partners offer a variety of term lengths and interest rates. Our tool uses the 25-year 3.99% loan option, which provides the lowest monthly payments and excellent savings over the life of the loan, compared to writing a check to the utility company every month.

Still, this is only the beginning of your potential savings! Most of the time our customers pair a solar array with improvements such as a heat pump and heat pump water heater to eliminate fossil fuels in their home, accelerating the return on investment of their solar panel array.