I recently had to replace my roof, and the solar company removed all of my solar panels to facilitate that. Once the new roof was installed, they put the old panels back and even added 5 new ones to increase my system's kW capacity by about 12.15%. However, I'm noticing a ~2% decrease in daily production compared to before, which translates to around a 14% shortfall in expected kWh production. Is this a typical outcome after such an install? Has anyone else experienced something similar?
A few specifics: My original setup from 2016 included 48 Kyocera 270W panels (totaling 12.96 kW) facing south, powered by two SMA inverters (7.6 kW and 3.8 kW). After the reinstall in mid-March 2025, I noticed the daily kWh production is lower than the average from April and May 2024, which were around 80 kWh daily. My highest production since the install has only reached 79.67 kWh. When I raised my concerns with the solar guy, he didn't guarantee production levels and suggested I need a new monitoring package since he doesn't trust the current system due to the company going out of business. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!
2 Answers
Did your contractor confirm those additional panels were properly added? It’s super important to check that installation because unexpected drops in production could stem from a failed connection or incorrect array setup. Have you physically checked that everything is in place?
You might be mixing different panel types within the same string, which can totally mess with the power point tracking. If that's not the case, did you make sure the new connections on your inverter settings were all enabled? I'd also recommend using an IR camera to check for any damaged panels. Just keep in mind, without a pre-check, you can't really blame the installer if something's off later.
Yeah, I went up on the roof to verify and can confirm that the new panels are indeed installed.