Semper Solaris – Bay Area Solar Company

We had 3 estimates, and everyone agreed that the SunPower panels offered by Semper Solaris are the best made, These panels are the most efficient and the offer the least degradation over time. SunPower panels are also based out of San Jose, California unlike the other companies that offered Canadian (really Chinese) or South Korean panels.
Semper price was the highest of the 3 bids, but the other two were offering lower grade panels. I did check with one of the other bids to see if they could do SunPower panels; they could, but at a higher cost than Semper was going to cost.
Semper estimated a start date of about 8 weeks out, but it was closer to three weeks. Once the install started, it was only a little over a day of work until they were waiting for the city to approve the installation. The crew work was fast, courteous and did a good job on cleanup.
By the end of the week we were generating plenty of clean power. We are very happy with the process and would recommend Semper Solaris without reservation.

The 5 star rating needs a few plus signs and an exclamation mark or two (++++!!!)
We have been intensively updating our 25 year old home and installing Solar is the best investment we have made, and using Semper Solaris was the best choice we made.
After an intense web information gathering process we interviewed 6 vendors. Semper Solaris had no close competitors.
Rob Cassidy is our consultant. From our first contact in October 2015 to today, answering a followup question by email, Rob and his company have delivered the some of best service I have ever encountered. Prompt, competent, knowledgable, educational, clear, patient, truthful, ethical are all accurate descriptions of the qualities we found in Semper Solars.
Our electricity meter now runs backwards, paying for the system costs less than a monthly electric bill, and it feels great to be part of wise energy use.
We recommend Semper Solaris without reservation.

As good as an experience as it gets. From the initial consultation with Rob, thru final installation and system check, I could not have asked for a better experience. Rob was great and amazingly knowledgeable, yet not ‘salesy’. The crew were on-​time, professional, and a pleasure to have. They respected my property and took all necessary precautions. Even the back-​office was great. I got periodic status calls from Ernesto the project manager, and the billing process was smooth too.
THANKS GUYS!

Installing solar was a big decision for me, but I received excellent guidance throughout the entire process. I feel like Rob advised me on the proper number and positioning of the panels, since, of course, I possessed much less knowledge on the subject. I did not feel that he just wanted to gouge me and make the sale. He made me consider all the pros and cons. During installation, Ernest stayed in touch with me and kept me up to date on progress. A great experience overall.

Initial communication was very good and so was the set up. Also, follow up was done through the entire process. So far so good. Everybody needs to get solar.

Solar power was next in line for home improvements this year, and so we began doing our homework in March and April. We knew two things going into it (1) We wanted to own our panels and our energy and (2) We wanted to be at least net-​0, if not positive, annually.
We first met with reps from SolarCity, and after getting the runaround for a bit over us financing the panels, they finally just flat out told us that it wasn’t in their business model to allow people to pay over time for their panels. Their profit is based on either the outright sale of the panels and then no further contact, or the installation (for free) of panels, but the homeowner STILL pays for power, STILL has to use some of PG&E, and doesn’t get a single tax credit.
Sungevity was similarly noncommittal, so we sent an email to Raj Gidwani at Semper. He walked into our house with the email printed, never tried to dissuade us from financing panels, gave us a variety of discounts, and had the panels on our roof and running a month earlier than planned. Even with the financing and interest, our entire unit is cheaper than the unit quoted to us from SolarCity, with the added bonus of having efficient, high-​quality panels (with a 25-​year warranty instead of SC’s 20 year) made in MILPITAS. Not China, not some other state, not even another area code, MILPITAS. Our money went to Santa Clara County.
It’s been nearly 3 months, even with the pool and AC we’re generating more than we use overall, and when you factor in the service charges PG&E gives to everyone on the grid, and the gas we use for heater and water heater, we owe, for 3 months of everything, $ 3.
At that rate, our entire payment to PG&E for a year will be less than the service + gas for an entire year, and our energy is entirely offset by our panels, which means guilt-​free pool pump and AC usage.
I can’t recommend Raj and the SS team enough, their contractors are well compensated and professional, the are quick to return calls, and we’re making all our own power.

i bought solar panels in the fall of 2014 from semper solaris. my salesman was rob. after getting burned on a car deal in 2009, i vowed to never buy anything major again without
doing serious vetting, so i asked rob hundreds of questions and dragged the whole process out for two months before finally pulling the trigger and buying 12 panels. i’m not going to say everything was perfect — hence the 4 stars — but rob clearly is a 5 star guy. he’s also a solar power enthusiast and not just a salesman so i learned a lot about the technical side of the business. all the while he was amazingly patient and helpful as well. ok — so the main thing that you need to watch is the payment side — panels are not cheap — and the hero government solar program is not for everyone. be sure to find out exactly what the numbers are before signing up for it. keep in mind they charge a high interest rate 9% on loans of over a certain amount –10K? and since solar panels are expensive, you could be paying 9% interest, plus a hefty fee for the loan, depending on the number of years you select to pay it back (in the thousands, not hundreds of dollars). if you can handle that, then go for it. overall, i am happy with semper and i recommend them without reservation. especially rob.

Semper Solaris installed our solar panels a little over a year ago and we couldn’t be any happier. Everyone we worked with was great. They were patient with us and answered our many questions. The installation crew arrived at their stated time and worked efficiently. We love getting our PG&E bill now. We fully recommend Semper Solaris for your solar needs. You won’t be disappointed.

End to End Experience with Semper Solaris was simply «amazing». Right from quote, initial discussion, contract, installation, city permits to PG&E co-​ordination was executed in a highly professional way. Every member of the team worked hard to ensure work was done as promised. Job Well done!