Choosing to supply your home with solar energy not only helps you save money on your electric bill, but it also allows you to combat the emission of fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Palmetto Solar helps put your solar plans into action, offering consultations and financing plans to support your solar panel installation.
We have analyzed and ranked the best solar companies based on factors such as comprehensive warranties, responsive customer support, and extensive solar offerings. Read our review of Palmetto’s services, warranties, and protection plans to decide if they’re the best solar provider for your home.
Our Take on Palmetto Solar
Palmetto Solar offers customers generous solar panel warranties and an online tool to calculate their potential savings by going solar. Its comprehensive solar installation method and additional protection plan give you peace of mind that your solar energy system is properly installed and supported.
Palmetto Solar State Availability
Palmetto Solar services 23 states and Washington D.C. The company offers its solar services in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Palmetto Solar Panel Options
Palmetto Solar provides a variety of services, including solar panel installation and energy storage. The company offers monocrystalline solar panels for home use manufactured by Q-Cells. Monocrystalline panels are the most efficient solar panels currently available. Read about Q-Cells’ solar panel specifications below.
Palmetto Solar Panel Specifications
- Wattage: 350 watts
- Weight: 43.9 pounds
- Dimensions: 68.5” x 40.6” x 1.26” (including frame)
- Frame type: Black anodized aluminum
- Efficiency rate: Up to 19.5%
Other Solar Products Offered by Palmetto
Palmetto also offers energy storage products. Because solar panels can’t store energy on their own, dependable solar panel batteries allow you to access electricity during low sunlight hours or power outages as
- Smart-home battery—Your smart-home battery helps power your home with stored energy from your Palmetto solar panels at night, during low light periods, and during power grid outages. The battery can also be programmed to use stored energy to avoid peak rates. Therefore, when energy prices go up, so do your savings.
Other Services Offered by Palmetto
| Service | Discount |
|---|---|
| Pest abatement | $200 |
| Removal and reinstall services | $500 |
| Panel cleaning service | $75 |
| Tesla Powerwall installation | $500 |
| Consumption meter installation | $200 |
| Roofing service | $500 |
Palmetto also offers a comprehensive collection of additional solar services. One major highlight is its Palmetto Protect Plan. This plan starts at $12 per month, and it offers monitoring of your system from Palmetto in addition to discounts on services that keep your solar system operating at its full potential.
Palmetto Solar Warranty Options
Because Palmetto Solar works with Q-Cells, it includes a 25-year manufacturer’s product and performance warranty on all its solar panels.
Palmetto Solar Installation
Palmetto installs solar panel systems for customers looking to generate clean energy for their homes. The company owns the installation process from start to finish, taking your home’s structure and energy consumption into consideration before designing and installing your system. When you commit to a solar system from Palmetto, the process typically involves five steps:
- Consultation—Palmetto begins the process with an at-home or virtual consultation with a Palmetto technician who analyzes how your home can incorporate solar energy into its current electrical infrastructure. Usually, the technician will consider factors such as roof size, roof slope, and your monthly electric bill before designing a system.
- Financing—To help you purchase your solar panel system, Palmetto offers a variety of financing options. Although the company’s website doesn’t detail specific plans, typical solar purchasing plans include a loan, lease, or power purchase agreement (PPA).
- Survey and design—Once the financials are squared away, Palmetto creates a system specific to your home. The company also takes care of acquiring permits based on your state requirements and system needs.
- Installation—When the design and paperwork requirements are complete, installation begins and may last a couple of days.
- Ongoing support—If you decide to cover your solar panels with additional protection, Palmetto offers support and maintenance services through their Peace of Mind Protection Plan.
Palmetto Solar Reviews
Palmetto Solar has an accreditation and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).* Many customers praise Palmetto for its customer support, mobile app, and quality of equipment. However, even the best companies may have negative reviews.Some reviews point out long waiting periods for permits, so be prepared that your installation may take longer than planned.
Check out what Palmetto Solar customers have had to say about their experiences here.
“I am very pleased with the work, communication and [follow-up] with Palmetto. From start to finish the materials workmanship and communication [have] been over the top. If you are looking for a company to provide solar for home[s] I would recommend Palmetto above all others. Even after the job was completed and I was up and running, the communication continued.” — Kenneth P
“[Palmetto] was right[,] the service and information that [it] gave me were great, the pricing was amazing because I saved over $15,000 by going with Palmetto solar. So, I just want to say thank you guys for all your help. Everything went smoothly. I wish I did get that thermostat I was told I was going to get, but you know what I was happy with everything else so it’s all good.” — John P.
“I discovered that my solar system was no longer producing electricity and that the inverter, made by Solar Edge, was bad. After a few weeks of MULTIPLE emails and phone calls[,] I arranged to have the inverter replaced. A few weeks later I received the [inverter]. I notified both solar edge and palmetto that I’d received the inverter and tried to schedule replacement services. It is now December and I have been trying to get someone out to switch out the inverter for months now.” — Colin K.
“Palmetto doesn’t do repair work, they [outsource] it out to ‘Sun System Technology’, and in January I got an appointment for March 23, (today). When they didn’t show up I called Sun System and was told that Palmetto canceled the work order over a month ago. I just got off the phone with Palmetto and was told the reason for the cancelation is because everything is running normally.” — Michael P.
*BBB information accurate as of March 2022
Palmetto Solar App
Palmetto also offers the Palmetto Solar app. This user-friendly smartphone application lets you view your solar system’s performance and energy consumption by day, week, or month. This includes receiving real-time alerts for changes in your system. The app also lets you chat with Palmetto’s customer support by phone, email, and instant online chat.
Palmetto Solar Payment Options
To help customers quantify their available solar savings, Palmetto offers a tool that calculates your monthly and yearly savings based on personalized inputs. The savings calculator uses your address and monthly electric bill to calculate what your bill would be with solar energy.
To help you visualize how the savings calculator works, we inputted information for a home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with an average monthly electric bill of $107.
Savings
| Old Electric Bill | New Electric Bill With Solar | Savings (Monthly) | Savings (Yearly) | Savings (Over 25 Years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $107 | $95 | $12 | $144 | $12,165 |
Palmetto offers the following methods to pay for your solar system:
- Solar energy loan—This option functions like a home improvement loan. You pay a monthly fee to own the panels while benefiting from other solar incentives. Palmetto also focuses on energy efficiency mortgages that are designed to help you pay for updates of fixtures and features.
- Solar lease—Solar lease customers benefit from solar energy without owning the panels by paying a fixed monthly rate with little to no up-front solar panel system costs. However, you will not be eligible for certain state and federal incentives if you lease.
- PPA—With a PPA, customers pay a monthly fee based on the amount of energy their leased solar panels produce. At the end of a PPA, customers can remove or purchase the system.
Our Conclusion
Palmetto Solar offers reliable solar panel installation and an optional protection plan that ensures your system is operational and up to code. Although the company isn’t transparent about its pricing or financing options online, its responsive customer service and useful solar savings tool are additional resources available to homeowners looking to go solar.
If you’re considering Palmetto Solar, we recommend using our comparison tool below to get matched with the best local quotes and providers.
Compare Palmetto Solar to Other Providers
| Provider | Palmetto Solar | Semper Solaris | Sunrun |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar services | Solar panel installation and battery back-up | Solar panel installation, battery back-up installation, solar maintenance services | Solar panel and battery back-up sales and installation |
| Cost | N/A | N/A | As little as $6 for the first six months |
| Service areas | Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas | California | Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington D.C., Wisconsin |
| Panels offered | LG, Silfab, Yingli | Silfab, LG, Panasonic, Solaria | N/A |
| Warranty length | 25-year output warranty | 25-year bumper-to-bumper warranty | 10–25 years |
| Payment options | N/A | Buy, finance, power purchase agreement | Buy, finance, lease, power purchase agreement |
Other Solar Company Reviews
Palmetto Solar Overview
- Company name: Palmetto Solar
- Company type: Private
- CEO: Chris Kemper
- Years in business: 12
- Address: 1505 King Street, Suite 114, Charleston, SC 29405
- Phone: 855-339-1831
- Website: https://www.palmetto.com/
Frequently Asked Questions About Palmetto Solar
Our Rating Methodology
The This Old House Reviews Team is committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased reviews to our readers. After over a thousand hours of research on solar companies, interviews with experts, and common customer needs, we’ve created a detailed rating system for solar providers based on six factors:
- Solar equipment, installation, and services (25%)
- Warranty and performance guarantees (25%)
- Brand reputation and certifications (15%)
- Financing options (15%)
- Experience (10%)
- Availability (10%)
Total scores are divided by 20 for a final 5-point rating scale.
To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.