Top 4 Best Solar Companies in Louisiana (2023 Reviews)

How Can You Save Money When Hiring A Solar Company in Louisiana

The average cost to install solar panels on your Louisiana home is around $22,488 after the ITC. This is slightly higher than the national average, mainly because most houses in the state require larger than average systems.

PV equipment is less costly in Louisiana than it is in most other states at around $2.57 per watt — compared to the U.S. average of $2.66 per watt. However, Louisiana residents also use far more electricity than residents of most other states, which means larger and more costly systems are required.⁴ For most Louisiana residents, you’ll probably want to install as many panels as will safely fit on your roof.

Luckily, there are a few ways to bring down your effective system costs and push up your long-term savings and return on investment in Louisiana. These include:

• Taking advantage of solar benefit programs
• Choosing a high-efficiency solar panel brand
• Considering installing a solar battery
• Getting multiple solar quotes for your solar system

We’ll explain why these strategies help save money on your solar conversion in the sections below.

Take All the Solar Incentives You Can

One of the best and easiest ways to save money on your solar system and make it more profitable in the long run is to take advantage of solar incentives. Louisiana doesn’t have quite as many incentives as most other states, but the ones that are available can be massively beneficial. We’ll include a brief description of each perk available in Louisana in the table below.

You can get more information on these perks and other benefit programs available in your area by checking out our complete guide to rebates and incentives for solar systems in Louisiana.

Choose a Highly Efficient Panel Brand

In Louisiana, efficiency is the name of the game. As mentioned, Louisiana households require far more electricity than homes in other states. This is because the houses are old, and energy has historically been quite cheap (but not anymore). Older homes also tend to have smaller roofs, and won’t fit as many panels. Therefore, the panels you do install need to be highly efficient.

Consider Installing a Solar Battery

Solar batteries — like Tesla Powerwalls — add thousands of dollars to your installation costs in most cases, but they can provide far more energy savings than the upfront cost over time. This is true more so in Louisiana than in other states, as the energy needs in the area are high, the net metering policies are poor and extended power outages are unfortunately quite common.

Solar storage solutions effectively let you take advantage of NEM on a personal level. You can overproduce with your system and store the excess. You can then call on that excess rather than paying for electricity pulled from the electric grid.

Solar batteries also provide power through blackouts, which adds value to your energy storage solutions. Louisianians see more power outages than residents in nearly every other state.⁵ Batteries can, therefore, provide higher energy savings and also personal safety and peace of mind.

Get Multiple Quotes for Your System

Finally, we suggest you reach out to a few companies to get quotes for your solar electric system. There are around 30 installers available in the Pelican State, and each one will likely provide a unique price quote. Differences in labor costs and equipment charges can lead to total differences in the thousands in some cases.

We suggest getting at least three free quotes and comparing them based on the price, the timeline for installation and the overall value provided.

Pro tip: if there’s a company you prefer but it offers a slightly higher estimate than its competitors, see if it will drop its estimate to match the other quotes you’ve been offered. Remember, these companies are competing for your business, not the other way around.

See Also: Calculate How Much You Can Save By Going Solar

Will Solar Increase Your Home Value In Louisiana?

Yes, absolutely! Outfitting your home with a solar energy system is expected to raise your property value by approximately 4.1%, according to research done by Zillow.⁶ With an average home value of around $217,000 in Louisiana, you can expect a value increase of about $8,900 as a result of converting to clean energy.⁷

The value bump you see from your PV system is likely to be more significant in areas where solar is more widely accepted.

For example, several southeastern cities are adopting and welcoming community solar farms.⁸ This is a good sign for the local solar industry in these areas, which means your solar array will provide more value as well. The cities that we expect to see the most value include:

• New Orleans
• Baton Rouge
• Covington
• Hammond
• Metairie
• And the surrounding cities

As you can see in our company picks above, some solar installers have settled in New Orleans, Covington and Metairie as well, which is a good sign that solar will be more widely accepted and, therefore, valuable there.

Should Louisiana Residents Hire a Professional Solar Installer Or DIY?

Paying a professional installation company to install your solar array is expensive in any state, usually somewhere on the order of $25,000. In comparison, installing a solar system yourself — which averages around $15,000 in Louisiana — is much more reasonable and seems like a great financial decision.

Unfortunately, there are some pretty significant downsides to consider before diving into a DIY solar panel installation. These include:

• The lack of a workmanship warranty
• Lower panel efficiency
• A higher risk of property damage from a DIY installation

We’ll explain in the sections below why we believe these drawbacks make paying double the cost for a professional well worth it and a better choice overall for Louisianans.

DIY Systems Don’t Come With a Workmanship Warranty

As we mentioned above, a solid and lengthy workmanship warranty is worth just about any price in Louisiana. Not only does the extreme weather that frequents the area put improperly installed panels at risk of damage, but the above-average annual rainfall means roof leaks are far more common with systems that aren’t installed the right way.

You might pay twice as much to have an expert install your panels, but you could save money over time by avoiding costly property or system damage that isn’t covered by a warranty.

DIY Panel Brands Don’t Produce As Much Energy

Second, professionally-installed panels — like SunPower, Tesla, REC, Qcells and Panasonic — all have efficiency ratings over 20%, and some even top 22%. DIY panel brands — like Grape Solar, Renogy and WindyNation — usually have efficiency ratings between 15% and 18%. This might not seem like much, but it means significantly less power production.

Maximizing energy generation with your panels will always translate to greater energy-saving capability. This is especially the case in Louisiana, where monthly energy consumption is around 135% of the national average. The more efficient your panels are, the more you’ll save over time, and the more valuable your panels will prove to be.

You’ll spend less on DIY panel brands, but their lower efficiency and less appealing production guarantees could very well lead to fewer savings and a lower return on investment over time.

DIY Installations Are More Likely to Result in Issues Down the Road

Finally, even experienced DIYers are more likely to make mistakes during the installation process. Installing solar panels properly is crucial to protecting your roof from leaks, especially in LA, where rainfall is nearly double the national average.

You stand to save around $15,000 by installing your panels yourself. However, you don’t get the same peace of mind you would with a professional installation. Plus, any mistakes you make could lead to costly roof replacement and water damage, which can easily offset those savings.

What Should Louisiana Residents Look For in a Solar Installer?

Choosing a single installer out of the 30 that are available in your area can seem like an intimidating process, but there are a few characteristics you can look for to narrow your search. Below is a list of the qualities we recommend prioritizing to find a reliable installer that can meet your needs. We’ll explain these in greater depth in the sections that follow as well.

• Lengthy workmanship warranty
• Access to solar batteries
• Access to high-quality, high-efficiency panel brands

Lengthy Workmanship Warranty

The number one thing we suggest looking for in a solar installer is a robust warranty for workmanship. A labor guarantee is helpful no matter where you live, but it can provide the peace of mind you need in Louisiana, in particular.

Louisiana residents see intense rainfall and severe weather that naturally puts arrays installed with shoddy workmanship at risk of damage. A long workmanship warranty helps protect you against issues that lead to property or system damage.

Solar Battery Installations

Next, we recommend choosing a company that includes access to solar batteries. Louisianians don’t always have access to net metering, so any excess energy your panels generate will often be forfeited to the grid. You’ll then be forced to pay the retail rate for the electricity you pull from the grid when your panels don’t produce — like at night or on cloudy days.

Choosing a company that offers solar batteries means you can effectively set up net energy metering for yourself — not to mention protection from costly outages. Batteries are expensive, but given the high energy demands in the area, opting for a battery is often worthwhile.

High-Efficiency Panel Brands

Finally, we strongly recommend choosing an installer that provides access to durable, high-efficiency panel brands. Since energy consumption is higher in Louisiana than in any other state, high-efficiency panels can help limit the number of panels you need — and, therefore, the system cost — and maximize your energy savings over time.

Solar Veteran

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Regional Service

Outstanding Regional Installer

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Methodology: How We Ranked Louisiana’s Solar Companies

Our goal is to provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision and choose the best solar installer for your purposes. To reach that goal, we carefully assess solar providers based on the criteria that we believe are most important to you as a Louisiana property owner. Below is a quick look at the weighted criteria we use for solar companies in the state:

• Solar Warranty & Customer Support (20%)
• Solar Services (20%) 
• Price & Payment Options (20%)
• Qualifications, Reputation & Certifications (10%)
• Experience (10%)
• Availability (10%)
• Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Factors (10%)

We also never let commercial partnerships affect our methodology, so you can always be confident that our recommendations are genuine and unbiased. We’ll explain why we use these criteria in the sections below.

Solar Warranty & Customer Support

The first thing we look for in a solar provider in Louisiana is warranty coverage. Specifically, we prioritize companies that have a lengthy workmanship warranty — to stand up to excessive rainfall and extreme weather — and production guarantees — to maximize energy savings, given the above-average consumption rate in the area.

We use the industry standards below to rank companies as average, and lengthier warranty coverage means above-average ratings in this category:

• 25 years of coverage for the equipment
• 20 to 25 years of coverage for the panel efficiency and degradation
• 10 years of coverage for the labor

Solar Services

Next, we prioritize installers that offer installation services for panels and batteries and offer energy audits, as these are the standard services. Batteries are especially important in Louisiana, given the frequency of extended power outages.

Companies that provide services above and beyond these three get ranked higher, as they will be able to meet the needs of more of our readers.

Price & Payment Options

Since solar energy systems in Louisiana tend to be larger and more expensive than the national average, we rank companies high if they provide below-average or at least average pricing to remain competitive. We also prioritize installers who accept a multitude of payment options, like cash, loans, leases and PPAs. These help keep solar solutions more accessible.

Qualifications, Reputation & Certifications

Next, we look for companies that are equipped to provide outstanding installation service and are more qualified than other local installers. Below are some of the things we look for to confirm a company’s qualifications and positive reputation in the industry:

• NABCEP certification (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners)
• 100 or more 4-star customer reviews on Google
• A+ rating with the BBB and a low number of unresolved complaints
• Certification from the Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
• Certification with the Building Performance Institute (BPI)

Experience in Louisiana

Since Louisianians have above-average energy needs and see some extreme weather that can threaten rooftop solar power systems, we next look for companies that have experience in the industry and local climate, specifically.

More experienced companies are more often able to judge system capacity needs more accurately and provide professional installations that stand up to the weather patterns in the area.

Companies that have at least five years of experience in the industry get an average score here, while companies with ten or more years get a perfect score.

Availability

Since the demand for solar in Louisiana is lower than in many other states, some companies offer installations just to specific major cities to minimize travel time and maximize profit. Phoenix Exteriors — which only serves New Orleans — is a good example.

Since companies that provide installations throughout the state will appeal to more customers, we rank those higher.

Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance Factors

Finally, we care about a solar provider’s impact on the environment, the clean energy industry as a whole and the communities they serve. As such, we look for installers that:

• Address solar panel recycling
• Carry out sustainable business practices
• Make charitable donations
• Keep prices affordable for low-income individuals