My experience with Windfree Solar Company has been awful. Consider carefully reading the contract, noting if subcontractors would do the solar panel installation, if so, will Windfree cover losses, if applicable. In addition, make sure all the permit is pulled with your municipal, along with the correct schematics for the solar panels, both were an issue here. After speaking with Adam Perri, Director of Windfree Solar, I was told, due to the workers were subcontractors, the destruction of my personal outdoor equipment and garage was not Windfree problem. All the woes, leaves me with the savings from the schematics of 77% savings, panned out to 18%. Monitoring for the solar panels based on the information I was given was a country outside the U.S., with no option to opt out of 3rd party advertisement. No thank you! Value=NONE! read more

This company are bailed out from a 1-star review by the fact that they subcontract the installation to a pretty decent electrical contractor. Windfree Solar as a company are pretty sub par. These guys installed my solar panel system, Pretty decent size system. Living in Chicago there are certain permit requirements so you are limited as to who you can actually go with. People have asked me for a recommendation and I cannot in good conscience give these guys a nod. Their organization is atrocious. The only competent member of staff that I have dealt with is the sales person Renner. I had a project manager by the name of Mark Anderson, who was either woefully, incompetent or just didn't give a crap. And he was either fired or quit before the end of my project, which threw it into limbo. There were errors on the submittals for the permit, They were errors with the details of my system. Come time for inspection. Even organizing the initial measurements and details was not without some drama. So here we are almost 8 months after my system has been energized, come to find out that due to another error on my paperwork, the energy credits Which I am due to be paid well take an additional six months. The only reason I found this out is that somebody decided to email me to let me know that I needed to re-sign my paperwork, but then when I asked questions as to why I received no response. And that seems to be the theme of this company. I get that they are essentially a facilitator of the installation and supposedly able to take care of the paperwork required for this kind of project, but they took a pretty decent commission for those services. I know this because the actual Supplier of the solar panels has to write to me to tell me how much the solar panels actually cost. I don't begrudge them making money on that service, I would've appreciated that they actually did the service correctly for which they were paid. Doesn't seem unreasonable. That being said, I would recommend their installers for whom I will write a separate review but these guys... I would give a hard hard pass. You can do the paperwork yourself, and save yourself about $8000 and dealing with amateurs apparently. read more

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It's a lot of money. Kilowatts are not sexy, but Bill, the sales guy, was not pushy, but hung in there until I understood how it will pay for itself five years. One brother told me it was a bad idea because ... global warming infrastructure is a scam? It will make me a bad republican? Another brother, a kilowatt nerd, helped me with the math and now I get $14 electric bills (for tax and delivery) and am on the road to a five year payoff. The project took a long time, because of city hall, but the installation was done right. One of the panels had some small defect that the guys caught and it was replaced quickly. I had to have a trench dug to the garage next door and it went pretty smoothly and for a reasonable price. I have a neighbor who had panels up with another company before I started with Windfree and he had some installation issues. My system was up and running before his was hooked up with ComEd. I was surprised to read in the reviews that they are less expensive, as I did not get many estimates, but Windfree made the project painless and seem like a premier service. read more

Spent countless hours researching solar, panel types, placement, vendors, and Return on Investment. After interviewing numerous vendors chose Doug's team who provided the best quality products at the right price on a 10 kW system. Their lead installer Steve and his crew were meticulous in their attention to detail and quality and illustrates their passion for the industry. Extremely satisfied with my system and looking forward to charging our electric cars via the sun! Check out the system: https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/VHKv1444344/overview read more

Windfree Solar - 10 kW system with Panasonic N330 panels. - Solar Installation Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Very bad. The equipment was new to them and they just did not understand how it worked. They said they were finished and everything worked and they left. We didn't find out until later that it wasn't working. We hired another company that knew what the hell they were doing and now everything really does work. I did not go back to windfree because they were clearly incompetent. read more

Our experience with Windfree has generally been really good. That being said, I didn't realize all of the intricacies that go into the installation, connection, and then the net metering and rebates. I can honestly say we could not have done this without Windfree. The install went well and they do a really good job of making everything look good on the roof, which I really appreciated. They do need to come back a few times to get everything working and hooked up with the monitoring system and ComEd. After that , the state REC process is complicated, but thankfully they handled the whole thing. At the end of the day, we would recommend working with them, just understand that this is a process and be patient and let Windfree deal with the hassles of installation, dealing with ComEd, and the State of Illinois. read more

The whole process of going from "I wonder if solar panels might make sense for my roof?" to actually having something designed / installed and navigating all of the paperwork for various rebates, credits, etc. is a bit daunting. Takes months. Now that I'm at the end of that process, with an installation that I am extremely happy with, I know a lot more than I did when I started. I am really really happy in hindsight that I picked this team (Windfree Solar) to help me. They've been extremely professional, detailed, responsive to questions, and diligent in responding to my needs. The process is explained clearly. They follow up. I've heard stories of people being less than completely thrilled when they've gotten to the end with a solar install. That has not been my experience. I've been thrilled. These guys have been great. They are reasonably priced (which in retrospect doesn't matter as much as you think since you expect to get rebates / credits that pay for a decent chunk of the expense). But most importantly, the level of service is top notch. I would 100% pick them again / recommend them. I am very happy. read more

Joshua and team were amazing. Very reasonably priced and super efficient. They met my aggressive timeline and completed my big solar panel project in one day! I could not recommend them more highly! read more

Doug and his team are knowledgeable and reliable. They helped me at every step of the way with rebates and SRECs. Their proposal promised a 6 to 7 year payback on the investment. After 2 years, with my electrical savings, rebates and SRECs support that payback estimate. I have 25 panels (a 6.25 Kwh system) on the flat roof of my 100 year old city 3 flat and have generated over 1 million Kwhs in the first couple of years. I am doing this for my grandchildren and my pocketbook My only question is why more folks haven't invested in solar. Doug is not only a businessman, he believes in the cause. read more

Weird pricing schedule. After you choose to finance a $$$$ solar project, their prices jump very high for "dealer fees" amounting to $25,000+. Really? read more

I would 100% recommend Windfree solar. I was looking for a company that would explain the process and how solar works in Illinois with ComEd etc. And the CEO basically held my hand every step of the way. The process was very smooth and quicker than I thought. We're saving a ton of money with our solar panels and definitely happy with the investment and with reducing our carbon footprint read more

I've spent a number of hours researching solar companies and solar systems. After making the decision in moving forward with a system array, I then spent more time obtaining quotes from 12 different companies, creating an extensive data spreadsheet, listing everything from nameplate size, online reviews, BBB ratings to cost per watt and even comparing panels each company will likely want to use. I finally decided to do business with Windfree who installed a 7.2 kW system. I am so happy with the system they committed to installing, and the process was a little slow at first but ultimately they did an outstanding job designing, creating and installing my array of solar panels and accompanying system. The installation crew consisted of Steve, the crew leader and his guys; the crew were Windfree employees and were so meticulous in how they did the install it was truly a work of art. All piping was done through the inside attic and under the panels, no pipes were visible from the outside, a very clean install. These workers even took off their shoes each time they came into my home! They left no mess behind completing each and every task even if it was a minor detail (like caulking a hole). They subcontracted with a licensed union electrician who did an outstanding job replacing my electric panel - a true professional electrician. If you are considering a solar company in the Chicagoland area, I honestly believe this is one company to check out. read more