Windfree Solar Co - Chicago, Illinois

Craig T.

Spent weeks looking into solar companies when I narrowed it down to a few to meet with. After speaking with Bill Laseilo at Windfree, I got the best feeling from our conversations. Helped they also had the best price. Bill was easy to talk to and wasn't pushy in any manner. He was there through the whole process along with the project manager Erik. They even gave an option to pay a little more to have the conduit piped through my attic instead of on the outside of the roof, which is a huge eyesore that you don't realize with other companies until after they do the job.

The expectations were set and he didn't play games to make it seem like it would get done faster than it would actually take to get the paperwork signed.

They used an actual electrician that also has great reviews on Google. The installers were friendly and professional. There were some minor issues after the install, but Windfree and the electric contractor took care of things quickly. Would recommend.

Jim

The install process seemed very slow, I signed a contract on 4/12 and they didn't install the system until 9/22, so I missed that entire summer of solar production.

Almost every bill they sent me had incorrect prices, so I needed to always check their math and then wait until they issued a corrected version. The bills were not itemized so it was difficult to track what I was even paying for. Add on electrical work was ridiculously overpriced.

The sales team gave incorrect information regarding roofing tax breaks, which they must have know to be false.

The SREC process is terrible; I had to repeatedly contact Wind Free to see if they submitted my application, which they still hadn't done weeks later. When they finally submitted it, I was notified that additional paperwork was required, causing more delays.

The system may be under-sized, I have yet to see any bill credits from ComEd, so the estimated pay-off period provided by Wind Free doesn't appear to be on track.

One star because the panels are working and the actual install team worked efficiently to complete the process in one day, the only bright side of working with this company.

Barry B.

Great Experience with Windfree!
I had them install a pretty big system on my south facing roof this spring. The team worked quickly and professionally. They completed the job in 4 working days over a two week period.
The tech will come back this week to help install the tracking app on my phone. I’m thrilled to save hundreds of dollars every month on my electric bill while reducing global warming!
I highly recommend Windfree for this type of work.

Edit 7/17/22
All the above still holds, but I waited three whole months to get the completed system actually crediting money to my power bill! It looks like it was a combination of ComEd and the installer doing a poor job with basic clerical tasks. I lost more than $1000 in solar power during that time, but the app on my phone looked like I was generating power. Communication from both ComEd and Windfree has been quite poor overall with just a couple of exceptions. It’s really sad that I have to drop my earlier rating to 2 stars, but Windfree didn’t make it a priority to complete my connection and communicate regularly with me.

Woody H.

The company was a pleasure to work with. There were only three negatives. First, the initial inspection by the city wanted an additional ground to the city side of the water supply. Windfree did not get the work done before the first re-inspection. The delay meant another month delay in going on Net Metering.

The second is that the installed layout differed from the proposal. I believe a slight change in what was installed could have moved a panel shaded by the chimney to a location much more productive.

But the system performed well till the sun angle got low and so many cloudy days happened in October-December. Despite not benefitting from Net Metering till late June, I will likely only pay for kWh in February. And that's despite a lot of A/C with the hottest summer on record.

The third was the inverter rebate. Just before install, I was notified that upgraded (more expensive) inverters were to be used. It was suggested that some of the additional cost would be offset by a rebate increase. The actual rebate was unchanged from the original 25 panel proposal.

All told, the monitary inpact of the three was less than 1% of the system cost and Windfree did reduce the system price by $100 for the inspection SNAFU. This customer is happy and is more than willing to provide positive references.

Daniel F.

I had a fantastic experience with Windfree. They got me just the system I wanted and really helped me figure out all the rebates. Great customer service!

Eduardo M.

I had a very positive experience with Windfree Solar; everything went smoothly!

My initial contact with Windfree's rep was back in Aug 2021 who provided me general information about solar panel system installation and he also reviewed my ComEd electric bills to see if it made financial sense (final numbers would be 8-year payback after considering average of $190/month electric bill, 26% federal tax credit of about $12K and Illinois Adjustable Block Progam payment of about $14K). After doing my own research, I went with Windfree and signed a purchase agreement in mid-Dec and put down a 10% deposit. The sales rep laid out the process from start to finish for me so I was aware of what to expect in terms of a technical site visit (to check size and spacing of rafters in attic), signing up for the Illinois ABP, setting up an interconnection agreement with ComEd, and obtaining a permit from the village (which Windfree took care of).

On Jan 4, I was provided a design plan and the specs of the solar panels, inverter, and racking that would be installed; . On Feb 7, I was informed that there was a slight warming spell during the winter weather (here in Chicago suburbs) to install the system, and so I was asked to pay 50% of the total payment for material ordering (Silfab SIL-370 BK, Enphase IQ7+ microinverter, IronRidge flush mount racking).

On day 1, they arranged for snow to be cleared off the roof. On day 2, the materials were delivered onto my driveway. On day 3, the racking was installed. On day 4, the solar panels were installed after which I paid 30% of the total payment for the installation. There were no issues at all throughout this process (just a lot of banging heard through the roof!).

The system needed to be inspected by our village, and that happened a few days later, after which I paid the remaining 10% of the total after it passed inspection. The final stage is approval of the interconnection agreement by ComEd which happened on Feb 28. So everything was completed in a matter of two and a half months from purchase agreement execution to system approval by ComEd; I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly this entire process took.

Enphase Energy sent me an email after the system was turned on to activate my online solar monitoring account which I did. It was pretty cool to see how much energy was generated from each solar panel!

I am so glad to have selected Windfree for this project!

Timothy M.

I was a little hesitant at first to go with solar for many reasons. After discussing with the sales staff and getting an honest appraisal and analysis of my roof, I felt more comfortable moving forward. I'm glad I did. Very professional staff, clean worksite, thorough and complete work. No pressure for a particular financing plan that I got from another competitor, so was able to do it my way. Follow-up and follow-through on promises always happened. Great organization

Thomas C. B.

We had a wonderful experience with Windfree Solar. They were very communicative in the initial planning phases and efficient once we were scheduled for the installation. It took less than 48 hours and they made sure to clean up a few minor interior problems we identified after completion. Highly recommended if you're considering adding solar rooftop.