Absolutely I am happy to. Each of these companies it turned out have very large numbers of wattage installed and are listed as top installers w/ Solar World.
Brevard Solar has good pricing, their assessment of system size was pretty accurate and I know quite a few people that installed their system locally. They were the company chosen by the Brevard Co-op think it was in 2017 now. Their prices are extremely low, they are advertising on their webpage that they have systems now for $1.62/watt. They are pretty well regarded as having the lowest prices. They have their current winter offer on their webpage @brevardsolar.com. They are NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners) certified as well as the Solar Energy Industries Association. They and their systems are FSEC (Florida Solar Energy Center) certified, only use a FSEC certified installer.
One of the Orange County Co-ops chose ESA Solar also known as ESA Renewables. The company split at some point recently to commercial and residential service which is the reason for the two names. They are likely one of my top contenders. I know a bunch of people that have installed with them that I work with and I have heard a lot about them. One of their energy consultants was actually involved in an engineering project as well with a co-worker of mine and told me to contact him directly unrelated to getting a quote for solar. When I ended up getting the quote it was with the same person. I liked the fact that he was an engineer. They really like Sunpower panels and microinverters but they will install other products. They are NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners) certified as well as the Solar Energy Industries Association. They and their systems are FSEC (Florida Solar Energy Center) certified.
The Seminole County Co-op from 2017 choose Superior Solar. I know Superior actually from dealing with them regarding pool and domestic hot water at another house years ago. They seemed very honest at the time. One of the pluses with them is actually how long they have been in business, they are around since 1984. No other company I know of is around this long. Most PV solar companies don’t do other types of solar, but Superior does. They have done a lot of big commercial projects too that are noted on their website. They have what they have indicated is a unique racking system that eliminates the possibility of leaks. I haven’t gotten a quote from them yet though. I stumbled on two new to me reviews that offered good information on dealing with them here: https://bestcompany.com/solar/company/superior-solar-systems#reviews. They are NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners) certified as well as the Solar Energy Industries Association. They were FSEC (Florida Solar Energy Center) certified previously so I am sure they still are.
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Now I saw that Odessa is in Pasco County. These are some other local area co-ops that are closer to your area. I haven’t done any digging on most of them:
Polk County just did a solar co-op at the end of 2018, they choose Wayfare Energy. I have never heard of this company.
North Pinellas County chose Guardian Solar for their co-op in 2017. I did get three quotes from them through a group called pickmysolar.com. I would be happy to share them with you, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with either the quotes or Guardian Solar honestly. With the co-op they may have felt they would have better luck because there are a lot of people to keep Guardian honest with the co-op. I read a lot of reviews about them that I didn’t think were favorable. Now pickmysolar supposedly guarantees you the lowest pricing, and they had a list of things they do to ensure you are happy with installing solar with them and again to keep them honest. The prices they got me were not terribly good and they oversized the system as well, so I didn’t put much stock into their price guarantee.
Hillsborough went with Sem Power Tampa Bay Solar. SEM is on the Top Florida Solar Contractors list at www.solarpowerworldonline.com. I recognized the name and went back to check.
The early co-ops were able to get pricing at $2.01/watt for the standard panel options. I know people that went with Hanwha and Hyundai, but there are quite a few others in this same level. They all were able to do single string inverters which is what allows them to get the lower pricing, and the return on investment is very quick. Solar United Neighbors indicates that average pricing in Florida is $2.50/watt. That number is higher because some people upgrade to more efficient panels or inverters with optimizers or microinverters. These options cost more but are necessary for some installations. Some of the technology has also changed since the earlier co-ops were created, especially with inverters which has again pushed some prices up.
Don’t fear where each solar company is located as I found out they get involved all over the place. Now I could not find a co-op that has occured yet in Pasco county but that doesn’t mean that there will not be one that is going to start. I would recommend signing up on the site to get notified if you want to try to wait for one. I have been re-researching this since the end of December and just realized tonight that another co-op has started. They have a solar guide you can download as well that may help you learn about this and definitely read their FAQ. It will answer a lot of questions that my husband wanted to talk to the solar reps about that is just not needed.
Also you may find that https://www.consumerreports.org/energy-saving/how-to-install-a-solar-system/ & https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35297.pdf will help too. I know I am throwing a ton of information at you but I found that I couldn’t just trust some solar “salesperson” who is not looking out for my family and just wants to make a sale. This is just not the type of purchase I feel someone can make without understanding what they are buying. Trying to pass on what I can. YMMV though.
Please ask any questions.
Alysa