Solar panel installation in Savannah, GA

Savannah is served by Georgia Power. Under the Territorial Service Act your supplier follows your street address rather than your choice, and Canoochee EMC serves parts of Chatham County outside the city, so we confirm from your bill before designing. Georgia Power credits exported power at about 7.22 cents per kilowatt-hour for 2026 against a retail rate near 13 cents.

The one whose licence checks out with the Georgia Construction Industry Licensing Board, whose quote names Georgia Power and states about 14,010 kWh a year for 9.5 kW, and who services what it installs. Ours does all three, with a lifetime full-system warranty.

At the $2.59 per watt benchmark, a 6 kW system is about $15,540 installed and a 9.5 kW system about $24,605. Georgia has no state solar tax credit, so there is nothing to subtract. In Savannah that 9.5 kW system makes about 14,010 kWh a year unshaded; your quote depends on roof, shade and usage.

One-for-one netting is not available to new Georgia Power systems: its monthly netting pilot was capped at 5,000 customers and filled in 2021, so exports are credited at about 7.22¢ per kWh (a 3.2188¢ avoided-cost rate plus a 4¢ adder). Georgia Power households paid about 15.5¢ per kWh on average in 2024, so every kWh you use at home is worth more than one you export, and we size to your usage rather than to fill the roof.

Georgia property-tax treatment of solar is genuinely unsettled: reputable sources describe a $25,000 exemption, a full exemption and no statewide exemption. Confirm with the Georgia Department of Revenue and your county assessor rather than relying on any figure printed online. Check with the Chatham County assessor.

44% of Savannah homes are owner-occupied, and for owners the choice is real. Buying, with cash or a loan, means you own the system and add an asset to the house. With a lease or power purchase agreement the provider owns the panels and a buyer of your home has to take over the agreement.

Georgia’s HB 389 stops an association prohibiting rooftop solar or charging permit fees for it, but only for association rules created, renewed or modified on or after 1 January 2026, so an older covenant may not be covered. In Savannah the stronger constraint is usually historic review rather than the HOA, and we prepare the Certificate of Appropriateness packet as part of the job.

A building permit and a separate electrical permit; A Certificate of Appropriateness before the work, where any exterior change is visible from the public right of way inside a historic district. This is separate from, and additional to, the building permit; A pre-application conference with Metropolitan Planning Commission staff where the petition goes to a board rather than to staff review; Permits from the City of Savannah for addresses inside city limits, or from the Chatham County Office of Building Safety and Regulatory Services for unincorporated addresses, which does not accept applications by fax or email. We pull every one through Chatham County and book the inspections.

Protected live oak canopy shades your best roof planes for much of the day, which is common on and around the squares. Your roof needs replacing within about five years. Your household is out during daylight and you do not want storage. Under a 7.22¢ export credit against a 13¢ retail rate, exporting most of your production is the weakest case in Georgia.