The short story - Stellar Solar is Excellent! As a recovering engineer, I did extensive research on panels, inverters and installers when I decided to go solar. I got quotes from Stellar, Baker and Sullivan and several other local companies. Stellar's prices were the lowest for both mid-range LG and prime SunPower panels. But what impressed me the most was the level of knowledge, expertise and professionalism of the entire staff at Stellar. When I began asking my extensive list of technical questions, I expected to be met with the verbal equivalent of a deer in the headlights. But my Solar Consultant, Keith Davey, cheerfully answered every question with data, facts and knowledge above what I am used to when dealing with "Salesmen". He immediately sent me data sheets, copies of warranties, brochures, etc. along with a proposal to enable me to make a well informed decision on both the type of panels and what company I wanted for an installer. Keith came to my home for a pre-screen and final discussion of the process and costs. I signed the contract on a Friday afternoon. Within hours, I had a call to schedule my full site survey Saturday, the next day. The two man team was on time, very friendly and took time to explain exactly what they were doing and show me the process and the next steps. On Monday, Keith sent me a copy of the survey results and a panel layout drawing for approval. I discussed some changes I wanted on the layout drawing and after the revision was sent, I approved the drawings. I was told that the permitting process with the county would take a couple of weeks at a minimum. One week later, I received a call from Stellar and the install date was set for the following week. Edgar and his installation team arrived on time and took the time to individually introduce themselves. They were very well organized and careful around the house. Edgar and I did a walk-through of what would be happening, where they wanted to place the conduit, etc. There was never any pressure and they happily took my suggestions and began work. Given my background as both an engineer and a senior operations manager at manufacturing companies, I was carefully watching the details of their work. I was blown away by the skills and attention to details that the entire crew displayed. Every cut and connection was precise, every piece of conduit was color matched and painted to blend in with the house. If I asked a question, which ever one of the team was there answered and explained exactly what was being done. But beyond that, each of the team members was articulate, friendly and truly seemed to be enjoying the work even on a very hot day. Edgar and I did a final walk-through while the team cleaned up and prepared to leave. He explained the next steps and how to turn on the system once SDG&E gave permission. The next morning, I received a call to schedule the inspection of the system by the county the following day. Stellar arrive about 8:00 AM, did some final work and waited for the inspector to arrive. Once the system passed inspection, they call to let me know it passed and explained the last phase; waiting for SDG&E to approve the system. I was told that could take 10 working days. The following day I received an E-mail from SDG&E with an explanation of the process. After the 10 days, and hearing nothing from SDG&E, I call them. They had everything they needed and claimed they were waiting for a $132 payment from Stellar. When I call Stellar, I was quickly transferred to Annie, the company Controller, and informed that Stellar hand delivered payment to them nine days earlier. It seems SDG&E's accounting department is having problems tracking their money. Annie told me that many of San Diego's new customers were also waiting for the turn on notice and that she was working to resolve the issue. Later that afternoon, she called me back to inform me that SDG&E had provided the turn on notice and I would be called later in the day about the final system monitor installation. That monitor install is now scheduled for next Tuesday. Throughout the entire process, Stellar has been responsive, professional, on time and kept me informed at every stage. Today, while watching my meter going backwards a little over a month from signing the contract, I am still impressed with the entire team at Stellar. They have constantly been voted San Diego's best Solar Company and there are very good reasons for that accomplishment. If you ever thought about going solar, they are the best ones to go with! Thank you Kent Harle for presiding over an amazing company. read more

I think "awesome" is really overused, but in the case of Stellar Solar I can't think of a better way to describe these guys. When I was shopping for a home solar system last year I decided to get 3 quotes, I went to a couple of good friends who had installed systems recently and were happy with their experience and I would find one company myself. The company I found was Stellar Solar based on their Yelp reviews. I even went down to their store in Kearny Mesa, I had done a fair amount of research on PV systems and the manager there was very knowledgable and I was able to actually look at the panels and the different type of inverters. They also had a lot of photos of ground mount systems they had done, which got me to thinking, we have room in our back yard so a ground mount system was a possibility! When the three companies came out to provide estimates they were all a bit surprised that I was interested in a ground mount as well as a rooftop mount. I got the feeling from the other two companies they had not done a lot of ground mounts and were a bit wary about my request. Mark M. the sales guy from Stellar took it in stride, looked at the area I wanted to put the system in and said he didn't see a problem, in fact he said they have a crew that does nothing but ground mounts. Fairly soon I had three quotes from each of the companies for roof top and ground mount systems for our home. All of the quotes were reasonably close, Stellar's was one of the best for the ground mount so we signed a contract for a ground mount system with 24 LG panels and micro-invertors. The ground mount systems were more expensive than the rooftop due to the effort to anchor the system and run the lines some 300' to our house. The advantages of the ground mount were we didn't have to mess with our 50 year roof, it is totally out of sight and maintenance is much simpler. The drawbacks of the ground mount system is it does take quite a bit more time to get plan approval if you are in the City of SanDiego. Gabe G. the ground mount engineer had to deal with the city, he had the patience and perseverance to get us through the process (he had his job cut out for him, convincing the city we didn't need things like "plant species studies" and "soil analysis" for our back yard). It took a while but he got us through all the red tape required. I think that took from April to mid Oct 2015 to get the approvals, once we had those, I think it was Stellar's Matt and his installation crew that got everything installed in about a week and one half. They were quick and did a fantastic job. Once we got SDG&Es permission to operate we were on line the beginning of Nov 2015. Everybody on Stellar's crews had a can-do attitude, they were great from start to finish! The ground mount took a bit longer, but it worked out great, we now have a system producing daily electricity with a exposure and orientation that beats any thing we could have gotten with a roof top system. THANK YOU STELLAR SOLAR. read more

I've been in the process of meeting with solar contractors. I've met two and in both cases, I had to send them back to their offices with their proposals to re-do them. The pattern is that the contractors look at your house on Google Earth and do up a proposal. This proposal is pure fiction, since they cannot accurately measure your roof without going up on it. Thus, each of these contractors has had to subsequently go on my roof and then email me a revised proposal. I have no issue with the need to measure the roof. I take issue with wasting my time reviewing and discussing a proposal done BEFORE my roof was measured. I contacted Stellar Solar today via their website and Kristin called me a couple of hours later to discuss details. I raise the point of the need to go on my roof and measure it before writing up or discussing a proposal. I was rebuffed, so I suggested someone else from her company call me. Instead I got the following email: _________________ I understand from one of our solar specialists that you would like us to physically measure your roof before giving you a written quote. Unfortunately, due to the large volume of requests we are now receiving in response to SDGE's recent rate increase, that is not possible. It sounds like you have found some other installation companies in town who are willing to provide this service and I'm sure they will do a good job for you. Thanks again for contacting us. Michael Powers Stellar Solar _______________________ Now, I responded to Mr. Powers that these things can be done fast or they can be done right and that I wanted it done right. He responded with another email: _______________________ On the other hand, we have signed quite a few contracts with customers contingent on fitting a certain number of modules on their roof and then discovered later on that only a smaller number would fit, in which case we have modified the contract and lowered the cost accordingly or even torn up the contract. However, we no longer expect our sales professionals to climb up on the roof; in fact, we actively discourage it due to liability issues. In addition, the technicians who are trained to be on the roof are in such high demand that we only dispatch them when we have an actual agreement and a good likelihood that the project will move forward. ______________________ So, I guess you have to ask yourself, do you want it done fast or right? Do you want a contract for what you will actually get or a contract for a "contingent" amount? My feeling is that if the guys won't get an accurate measurement and draw up an accurate proposal, you need another company. read more

After researching the ten best solar companies in San Diego, I went with SunPower by Stellar Solar and I'm so glad I did. I discovered that Silicon Valley's SunPower is the planet's gold standard for solar technology. They were founded by two Stanford professors thirty-five years ago and the company has been improving their panels since then with hundreds of patents. The space program uses them. It is essential to get a battery to protect your power during blackouts. With the national grid set up for profits, not security, it is vulnerable to hacking from a laptop which could cause blackouts that last months or years--especially because some of the grid's components are archaic and no longer manufactured. See Ted Koppel's LIGHTS OUT for a compelling and frightening factual case on why you need a battery. Stellar uses the Tesla Powerwall 2 which is also the planet's gold standard in batteries. San Diego's Stellar Solar has been trained and certified by SunPower as a master installer and has been in the solar business for decades. Tom Woods, their solar consultant who sold me the system, always kept his word, supporting me each step of the way. Highlights of my positive impressions of Stellar: 1. Their price was $3000 below a reputable local company whose product was inferior to SunPower. 2. Stellar takes care of the of the fifty-hour job of applying for the battery rebate at no cost to the customer--which their closest competitor on my list did not. 3. Stellar took care of all the details so I had no problems or headaches. After installation, I got an email from SDG&E saying that they'd been paid the $136. application fee. Turns out Stellar paid this for me! 4. All solar components are made by SunPower, so no dealing with a patchwork of foreign companies to get something fixed. 5. The Stellar employees seemed to think highly of their company, which is a good indicator on how a company treats its customers. When Install Supervisor Luis Marquina and his team installed the panels and battery, they were careful, friendly and respectful while also being impassioned and efficient as they went about their work. They left my garage where the battery and its components in great shape--patching and painting the drywall and neatly installing the conduits and painting them. They meticulously cleaned up, even polishing the battery equipment with Windex. Hope you found this helpful. I am not open to follow-up comments. read more

I've been interested in solar for my home for a long time, and then my interest peaked in December 2014 when a company was walking the neighborhood offering the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) or lease program. NO THANKS on a 20yr contract that a new owner doesn't have to agree to take on if I have to sell my home sometime down the road. After some research online and calculating the financial consequence it was very clear the best option was to purchase my system. It's about a 40% savings over the cost of a PPA. I interviewed about five companies in the San Diego area. Kenny from Stellar Solar was the obvious leader as he came out to my house, had a formal briefing and was very knowledgeable. Three of the five companies I interviewed didn't even come to my house! Kenny was thorough and his recommendations on panels and inverters were spot on. He clearly communicated the process, approvals required and the financial gain versus paying SDGE and their annual rate increases. We went with a 17 panel system with micro inverters. I signed the contract on February 13, 2015, and even though they prepare you it could take three months or more, I was fully installed and had permission to operate on April 9, which was less than 60 days from start to finish! My system is producing exactly as expected. Kenny continues to check in on a monthly basis on how my system is operating. All of the Stellar Solar people involved with my installation and monitoring were friendly, easy to work with, and explained everything above my expectations throughout the process. Another advantage of Stellar Solar is the SunEdison Solar System Warranty, which covers all my components for 25 years! Others have individual warranties for each component, but this is comprehensive coverage which lasts longer than the typical component warranties. It also warranties the performance of my system. Stellar Solar's combo loan is unbeatable. The first loan covers 30% of the cost and its 18 months same as cash which gives you time to collect your Federal tax credit. The remaining 70% is on a 12yr loan at 1.99%. My monthly payments are $25 less than my average electric portion of my SDGE bill. My system pays for itself in about 7.5 years! That's when the cost of my system equals what I would have paid SDGE. There's a reason Stellar Solar has been voted San Diego's best solar company for several of the past few years. I highly recommend them. read more

Marc Cirelli was AMAZING!!!. I would first like to say that before I chose Stellar Solar I had other Solar estimates from Solar CIty, Solaire, Semper Solar,Sunrun, and Zing Solar. Each one had different reasons why I didn't choose them. Solar City: They were trying to sell me that they were the biggest company with the most installs and that they would be around for a long time and that Elon Musk was about to build their own panel manufacturing factory back east. PROBLEM: they were using panels made in China, Canada, or USA ( He couldn't tell me) that after 20 years it would loose more than 25% of efficiency, didn't use micro inverters; and to make matters worse, financing was for 30 years! Solaire: Good panels and good warranty, nice salesperson was trying to sell me windows as well, he wasn't pushy,and he was trying to get me to use the HERO program but financing was at a higher rate Semper Solar: Good panels and warranty but was focused only on beating any estimate and didn't receive the customer service I was looking for in the long run. Sunrun: they were at COSTCO, gave me an estimate through email and when I call he did try to explain to everything but didn't want to come to my house unless I ran my credit and he never called me back. And Zing: they gave me en estimate but didn't feel like they really cared because they never called back, didn't explain anything and was just focused on beating any previous estimate. So after contacting Stellar Solar, Marc Cirelli called me back, explained everything over the phone, came to my house, gave me an estimate, explained Net Metering it easy to understand (some tried to scare me with a date or made it complicated), offered great LG panels and industry leading 25 years warranty, offered just 12 years financing at 1.9%, and after some research I found out Stellar Solar has been in the San Diego the longest doing solar and was voted UT the best company the past 4 or 5 years. Not only that but Marc Cirelli was a true gentleman, courteous, and felt like family-no joke! Once I signed everything went according what Marc said it would and after just a month and a half I'm already enjoying the benefits of Solar energy with a company that has great Customer Service, great products with the best warranty out there, and more importantly, a company that treats its customers with respect, dignity, and care...Thank you Marc Cirelli ! read more

We had been contemplating solar for our home for a while but were confused and intimidated by the overabundance of solar companies and misinformation out there. After extensive research and education we zeroed in on Stellar Solar. We live in Murrieta and believe me there were a plethora of local companies however the positive customer ratings and outstanding industry reputation made our choice to call Stellar an easy one. We were contacted by Marc Cirelli who took our information and came up with a design plan for us. I feel like I'm a pretty good judge of character and from the start I could tell that Marc was the type of person that was genuine and knowledgable, I had a list of questions regarding panel manufacturers, home battery energy storage, size of system, inverters etc. Marc answered all of these questions and explained Stellar Solar's approach and commitment to its customers. One thing that I had learned from my research was that customers who had purchased solar tended to undersize their projects and looking back wished they had gone a bit bigger and added battery storage. After consulting with Marc we decided on a 29 panel system with two Tesla Powerwalls. Every step of the way from site surveying, planning/permitting, installation and finally getting PTO or permission to operate from our energy utility, Marc was always available and responded immediately to our questions and concerns. The installation was extremely smooth and the project turned out great, it looks clean and solid and we get comments from friends and neighbors on how impressive it looks. We had a few challenges with permitting that required some extra steps but I have to say that it could not have been completed without Marc's guidance and support. We just received our permission to operate and our two Teslas charge entirely using solar and our meter runs backwards often sending our excess energy to the grid that we get credited for from our utility. In my opinion cheaper is not always better especially when it comes to big decision items. I always opt for cutting edge technology and quality over cost. I can say without a doubt that we made the right decision to go with Stellar Solar and I suggest you do too, you'll be happy you did. I recommend you do your homework and research, then contact Marc Cirelli at (619) 261-1868 or marccirelli@stellarsolar.net. read more

My story of switching to solar has begun after we moved to our new home in April 2021. I have communicated with several solar companies to quote me the price to cover or reduce my electricity bill. I will start with Keith Davey, he is one of Stellar Solar's representative. I really can tell that he is a hard-core representative, very intelligent, and really knows what he's doing. My first impression about Keith is that he treats you as a person, and not just a customer. He requested a video chat at the beginning, and that established a good communication between us. He was so opened for any questions, he explained to me all the ins and outs about the product and how that would benefit me. I almost landed on signing a contract with another company offering me a more competitive price. He asked me to give him a day and that he would fight for me. Finally, he called me and offered me the same price as the other company offered. I couldn't resist his offer because he is representing LG panels, and as we all know, their reputation is way ahead of them. Furthermore, he was in contact with me in every detail, including the design, which I refused the traditional rectangular arrangement, and I proposed a kite-like design. Keith did his best and made it go through. Going forward, Jeff Warren stepped in, he was the project coordinator. He did an amazing job to make the process so smooth without any issues, thank you Jeff. Zachary Hood, the construction manager worked so hard with me. The construction team couldn't install the production reading feature due to the complexity and limited space on my electricity switch board. When I called him and expressed to him how important that is to me, he didn't let me down, he tried all his best and send the technician again to make it work. Thank you so much Zachary. Finally, I would like to thank Seth Rockwell, Stellar Solar's inspector, for his patience and doing a great job to put everything together. In sum, it was a very nice experience with the Stellar solar team. They all worked hard and have a great customer service. I am so happy now, the solar unit is operable now, and I can monitor the production versus the consumption on the minute, which is really cool to have. I would highly recommend Stellar Solar. read more

I am writing this review so that the next person doesn't have what happened to me, happen to them. I called Zack because I needed Solar because I can never run my A/C because of the ridiculous prices from SDGE. He said that he needed all of my SDGE bills from the previous year so he can determine how many solar panels I will need. After looking over it, he determined that I needed only 12 Panels I signed all the paper work and everything actually went smoothly. Install went fine, no problems there. Once the Solar was up and working, I noticed something wrong. I wasn't producing enough energy to run my AC. I couldn't figure it out but then after thinking about it for a little while, I realized something. You can't go off of the previous years SDGE bills because those bills were based off of me not using my AC because I couldn't afford it. You see the problem there. This is a tricky situation because I dont think Stellar Solar was 100% to blame but Zack wouldnt take a single % of the responsibility. My argument is simple: 1. I told them I wasnt able to run my AC so I wanted Solar so they should have taken that into consideration when determining how many panels 2. This is their profession, not mine, Solar is another language for most people that are trying to get it, so when the average guy says he wants Solar to run his AC, that would mean you would have to determine how long the AC was going to be run and how often and how much power generated power would be needed.... but according to Zack, that's the layman's job who knows nothing about this stuff... 3. I really hope that the next guy who gets Solar doesnt go off his previous years energy usage because that's wrong... and Stellar Solar should have known that. In the end, the problems I had was that Zack was acting like a robot and I was just a number to him. No empathy at all And they wouldnt take a single percentage of responsibility for the situation I find myself in. I now make sure that everyone I come across knows not to go off the previous years energy bills and not to use stellar solar unless you just want to be a number read more

If you're thinking about going Solar, you should give my friends at Stellar Solar a call. They cover San Diego, Orange and Riverside Counties, along with Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage. My wife, Kathy and I had talked to two different solar installers, back in 2016, that were both huge nightmares! The first company kept pushing a lease, where they got ALL the benefits and they would just become our new electric company. The second company just kept telling us different things, like you're going to get a particular panel with such and such a wattage rating and then they would change that and tell us something different when we called back to see what their plan was. Then, Kathy stumbled across an ad in the newspaper for Stellar Solar and everything changed. We contacted them and their sales rep, Connor Smith, who by the way, is not high pressure at all, came out to the house and listened to what we wanted and helped educate us as to our needs and what we could afford. They had very competitive rates available with Mosaic, a company that financed our first purchase of 13 panels. Later, when we could afford to, we added an additional five panels so we could add A/C without having to pay enormous energy bills. I had some special requests, like dropping the connection from the panels straight down through the roof and mounting all the disconnects, etc. inside my garage. Also, they coordinated with my roofer because we needed to update the paper under the roof tiles in order for the roof to be warranted against leaking for at least 10 years. I don't know if other solar companies insist on this, but it is something I'm glad they required. The panels they offered us are made by SunPower. These are some of the best and most efficient panels in the market and our entire system is made by SunPower, which means everything is compatible and made to work together. In closing, I would say that our entire experience with Stellar Solar has been well, Stellar! If you decide to go with Stellar Solar, please tell them Michael Bush sent you. read more

To the Stellar Team: April 9th to July 6th. Under 90 days from start to finish for a ground mount system - even with a couple of minor glitches with SCE and the County of Riverside. I believe your initial timeframe estimate (window) was somewhat greater and you exceeded expectations. Great job by your team, good design, stout racking system, professional workmanship and customer interaction by all the staff who participated on my project. Flipped the switches yesterday upon receiving my PTO from SCE so we can start the meter spinning the "other" way. You guys need to get a photo of my installation, it's a quality installation that I'm sure others might want to see when poking around on your website. Thanks for your work! To the Public Reader: Caveat Emptor: I interviewed more than a half a dozen potential contractors for my solar system project. Over the course of those meetings there wasn't much variety in the canned presentations and I didn't develop a high level of trust for them. I get it, sales people are hired to go meet customers & close deals. But I don't like being shown math with unrealistic assumptions or projections compounded. And I don't like "Song & Dance" instead of straightforward answers. I'm glad I didn't move forward with those firms. Meeting with the Stellar Solar guys I got straightforward information - and when I asked a question of Mark that he couldn't answer right away - he told me he would find out & get back with me (instead of the "Song & Dance" I got from others), and he did follow-up as promised, every time. The price was very competitive, site analysis thorough. I paid cash but they have access to some good financing options I made the right choice in contractors and have been rewarded by being treated really well as a customer throughout the process of design and installation. I'd recommend (and have) Stellar solar to anyone, My Niece & her husband had them do a roof-top system for them and are really pleased with the job Stellar did for them too. Don Temecula, CA read more

We recently installed our solar system from Stellar Solar. We put a great deal of research and interviews with various companies (SunRun, Direct Energy Solar, Solar City, Stellar Solar, SunPower) and from all of them Stellar Solar was the best in the breeds. The Solar Specialist, Kenny Rutherford, was assigned to us. He was the most knowledgeable persons we've come across about their products and helping us every steps of the way with our electric needs. We were also provided with many references and I contacted few of the customers. They had nothing but the best experience with Stellar Solar. Kenny ran the analysis and gave us the estimates and we were decided to move forward with Stellar Solar. After the waiting period for the HOA's approval, we were scheduled to start the installation. Edgar was assigned to do the work. Due to the heavy rains during that time, the installation was postponed. At the same time, we were trying to get an appraisal for the house, and we needed to get the installation pretty soon. Kenny and the management team were able to accommodate us. They assigned Mario as the lead technical installer with his crew. They resumed the work and completed the installation within a day. They were the best crew we have come across. The installation went pretty smooth. Mario walked us through all the steps and explained it in greater details. The entire crew did an amazing job, clean and neat. The communication was excellent during all phases of this project. They also followed up with us on establishing the monitoring system. After a month we turned on the system, and Kenny followed up with us on the electricity report we were generating and we were generating even more power than the original estimates. If you are planning to install solar panels, I'd highly recommend you contact Kenny Rutherford at Stellar Solar a call. read more