For homeowners who plan in years, not months.
You own it, for about half the long-run cost of staying with PG&E.
No contact info required.
Yes, solar is still worth it for most San Francisco homes in 2026, but the economics now turn on pairing panels with a battery, not on the panels alone. Owning solar with storage runs about half the long-run cost of staying with PG&E, whose residential rates have climbed 104% in a decade, because a battery lets you store your own power for the expensive evening instead of buying it back at peak. Even at today’s rate, before any increase, a typical San Francisco home will hand PG&E about $50,000 over the next 25 years, so owning your system turns most of that into a one-time cost.
Reviewed June 2026
The catch is that the system has to be designed for the city, not a sunny suburb. SF roofs are small, often flat or shaded, and the marine layer cuts production, so the layout and the battery sizing, not the raw panel count, are what make the math work. Under PG&E NEM 3.0 the credit for exported daytime solar is low, which is why the battery, not the panel count, is the load-bearing part of an SF system.
You pay about what a typical SF quote costs upfront and own the system outright, designed for roughly double the value over its life. No lease, no monthly payment, no escalator.
Yes. For most San Francisco homes the battery is the core of the system and the panels exist to charge it. It runs on a daily soak-and-carry cycle: it fills on your own solar through the day, then powers the house from that stored energy after sundown, so little of your production leaves for the low NEM 3.0 export credit. We size it at roughly 30 kWh, about three times the California average, enough to carry a typical evening of lights, cooking, and a heat pump, and to keep the essentials running if the grid drops.
Most homes here buy generation from CleanPowerSF while PG&E still handles delivery and billing, and you stay on the same NEM 3.0 Solar Billing Plan rules either way. We size panels and storage together rather than selling you a roof full of panels that export at a loss.
Yes. Modern panels still produce in the diffuse light of the marine layer, and a well-oriented San Francisco roof makes about 1,550 kWh per kW installed each year, less than an inland roof but enough to size a real system around. The harder part is not the fog but the roof itself: small, often flat or low-slope, and shaded by the building next door, so production comes from the panel layout, not from clear skies. The other thing that shapes an SF system is electrical, not solar: the city’s 1945-median housing stock often runs on a main panel too small for today’s loads, which the design has to account for.
We use high-efficiency Optivolt panels that keep producing in partial shade, and lay them out to make the most of a tight roof rather than leaving it half empty.
San Francisco’s housing stock shapes the rest. The median home was built in 1945 and 62% predate 1960, on electrical panels never sized for an EV, a heat pump, and an induction range. A smart panel adds those loads without the costly service upgrade, so we size solar and storage for the all-electric home you are heading toward, not just the one you have now.
Most Potrero projects in San Francisco land between $20,000 and $55,000, with payback around 5 to 12 years, because a system built for NEM 3.0 includes a battery, not just panels. A panels-only quote runs less but leaves the evening savings on the table, which is where an SF system actually earns its money. Your real figure depends on your roof, your PG&E usage, and how much backup you want, so the instant estimate uses your address to return a price and system size with no contact information required.
For context, a typical San Francisco home pays about $170 a month to PG&E today, on a bill that has risen 104% in a decade. The 30% federal residential solar tax credit closed at the end of 2025, so the price you see is the price, with no expiring-credit math. Potrero is a licensed California electrical contractor, CSLB number 1147463.
Rarely. San Francisco has one of the most reliable grids in PG&E’s system, about 2 hours a year without power on average, and it sits outside California’s fire-threat districts, so planned wildfire shutoffs essentially do not happen here. We will not sell you fear of a risk the data does not show.
What San Francisco does get is the rare equipment failure, not a fire shutoff. In December 2025, a fire at PG&E’s Mission substation cut power to about 130,000 customers, roughly 30% of the city, for up to 48 hours. PG&E personnel had found the damaged equipment a month earlier and left it in place, and the same substation had already failed in 1996 and 2003. A battery is what carries a home through that kind of rare, long outage.
Rooftop solar alone does not help in an outage: grid-tied panels shut off for the safety of line crews, so a full roof still goes dark. A battery sized for whole-home backup is what keeps the lights, refrigerator, internet, and heat running, and it recharges from the sun each day, so even a rare multi-day outage is something you ride out.
The hands-on work is quick: the permit is same-day and the install takes days. Most of the calendar is the wait in between, above all PG&E Permission to Operate, the long pole that sits outside any installer’s control.
Your address, roof, and PG&E baseline return a real price and system size, no contact information required.
A designer finalizes the layout and quote against your PG&E usage; you sign and put 2% down, with nothing ordered yet.
We confirm the roof, main panel, and battery location on site, then reconcile any design or price changes before we build.
We pull the same-day SolarAPP+ permit, order materials, and install the panels, EG4 battery, and smart panel.
The city inspects and PG&E grants Permission to Operate, then the system switches on and islands automatically the next time the grid drops.
The best installer for a San Francisco home is one licensed in California, fluent in PG&E NEM 3.0 and small city roofs, and willing to show you a price before you commit. Potrero is a licensed California electrical contractor, CSLB number 1147463, that designs solar, a battery, and a smart panel as one system you own outright, and publishes an instant estimate you can run on your own address without handing over your contact information. Its Bay Area installs hold a 5.0 homeowner rating on Google.
We build on open, non-proprietary hardware rather than a single vendor’s locked box, so the system can grow with an EV charger, a heat pump, or whatever comes next instead of being torn out in year eight. The four things below are what that looks like in a design.
Every design decision is made to lower your cost over the long run.
Same upfront price as the typical San Francisco quote. Roughly double the value over the long run.
“They were very straightforward - clear communication from start to finish, no surprises, install team was awesome and the product works great. The price was much less expensive than other quotes I got for solar and batteries.”
“Potrero Solar was an easy and economical decision for us. The team took great care of us throughout the process, with excellent planning and installation services despite our tricky layout.”
“They were extremely respectful of our old house and went the extra mile to find the best placement for all the new equipment they installed.”
“Production is right where they said it would be, and we've already had a PG&E power outage where the whole-home battery backup worked flawlessly.”
“The value proposition is bang on. Installation was really professional. And the service is amazing.”
“This is a fantastic company. They have an unbeatable price and really great customer service. Their crew is great.”
“Even after installation, they’ve continued supporting me to optimize performance.”
“I highly recommend Potrero energy for your solar. They did a good job and it works great!”
“They were very straightforward - clear communication from start to finish, no surprises, install team was awesome and the product works great. The price was much less expensive than other quotes I got for solar and batteries.”
“Potrero Solar was an easy and economical decision for us. The team took great care of us throughout the process, with excellent planning and installation services despite our tricky layout.”
“They were very straightforward - clear communication from start to finish, no surprises, install team was awesome and the product works great. The price was much less expensive than other quotes I got for solar and batteries.”
“Potrero Solar was an easy and economical decision for us. The team took great care of us throughout the process, with excellent planning and installation services despite our tricky layout.”
“They were extremely respectful of our old house and went the extra mile to find the best placement for all the new equipment they installed.”
Yes. CleanPowerSF supplies your generation while PG&E still handles delivery, the meter, and billing, and you stay on PG&E NEM 3.0 Solar Billing Plan rules either way. Your solar credits and charges appear on the same PG&E bill. We design the system around those rules whether your generation comes from CleanPowerSF or PG&E.
How solar works under NEM 3.0 (opens in a new tab)Often, no. Older SF homes get flagged for a 200-amp panel or PG&E service upgrade when they add an EV charger, heat pump, or induction range, which can run $10,000 to $30,000 and add months of PG&E lead time. A smart panel pulls extra power from the battery when the home needs it, so the existing service usually carries the new loads without the upgrade. We confirm it for your panel on the site visit.
How a smart panel avoids the upgrade (opens in a new tab)For most homeowners, the big ones are gone. The 30% federal residential solar tax credit and the market-rate SGIP battery rebate both closed to new applicants at the end of 2025. What remains in 2026 is narrow: an income-qualified battery program that is heavily waitlisted. We check whether you qualify and tell you plainly if you do not, then size the system to pay off on bill savings and backup rather than on an incentive you cannot count on.
The federal tax credit in 2026 (opens in a new tab)Sometimes, and we tell you before you sign, not after. Many older San Francisco homes have plenty of roof life left, but if yours is within about five years of needing replacement, it is usually worth re-roofing first: taking panels off and putting them back later costs far more than coordinating it once. On the site visit we check the roof age, condition, and structure, and if a re-roof or reinforcement makes sense we flag it up front so it is part of the plan and the price, not a surprise mid-install.
The EG4 batteries we install carry a 10-year manufacturer warranty and an 8,000+ cycle design life, which at about one cycle a day is more than twenty years of use, and the lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry degrades slowly. Your panels carry a 30-year warranty, and Potrero adds its own 10-year workmanship warranty covering the labor and roof penetrations, so the install itself is backed, not just the parts. We install and register each component to spec, which is what keeps the manufacturer warranties intact.
See the hardware and warranties (opens in a new tab)The decisions behind a San Francisco system, explained in depth.
Why the battery, not the panels, is the load-bearing part of an SF system.
The 30% residential credit closed at the end of 2025. What that changes.
California battery rebate, and why a battery now has to pencil on its own.
Older SF homes get flagged. How a smart panel and battery often avoid it.
An instant estimate uses your address, roof, and PG&E usage to show a real price and system size. No contact information required to start.
