Los Angeles County · LADWP
Solar Panel Installation in Highland Park, CA
Highland Park's Craftsman and Spanish housing stock sits in several HPOZ districts, where roof-mounted equipment visible from the street gets extra review. We design around it.
We are based in Northridge, 18 miles away, and we design Highland Park systems around Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s actual rate structure rather than a national average. Permits go through City of Los Angeles LADBS. Roofs here are typically composition shingle and spanish tile, which determines the mounting hardware we quote.
Highland Park at a glance
- Electric utility
- LADWP
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
- Peak sun hours
- 5.6 hrs/day
- Annual daily average
- Permitting authority
- City of Los Angeles LADBS
- Los Angeles County
- Export credit
- ~$0.24/kWh
- LADWP net energy metering
- SGIP battery rebate
- Not available
- Municipal utility territory
- From our shop
- 18 miles
- Northridge, CA
A typical Highland Park project
What a $300 bill looks like after
Modeled on LADWP’s approximate $0.27 per kWh and 5.6 peak sun hours a day in Highland Park. Your own numbers will differ — this is the shape of the answer, not a quote.
- System size
- 8.4 kW
- ~19 panels
- Annual production
- 13,670 kWh
- after standard derating
- Annual savings
- $3,642
- at today's rates
- Simple payback
- 11.6 yrs
- $108,929 over 25 years
LADWP in plain language
As a municipal utility, LADWP sets its own rules and still credits exports far closer to retail than NEM 3.0 does. The trade-off: LADWP customers are not eligible for SGIP battery rebates, and the permitting queue runs longer than the county's.
You buy at
$0.33
peak, 4–9pm
You sell at
$0.24
exported surplus
That narrow gap is why solar alone still performs well in Highland Park. A battery here earns its keep through outage protection rather than rate arbitrage, and we will tell you honestly which one you are buying.
Run your own numbers
Pre-set for Highland Park
Already loaded with LADWP rates and 5.6 peak sun hours. Move the slider to your bill.
Step 1
Step 2
Who bills you?
Step 3
Your estimate
A Highland Park system
System size
8.8 kW
~20 panels
Saved per year
$3,833
at today's rates
Estimated cost
$43,685
solar + storage, installed
Payback
11.4 yrs
$115,479 over 25 yrs
A different calculation. LADWP is a municipal utility, so it sets its own rules and still credits exports near retail — about $0.24 per kilowatt-hour. Solar alone performs well here. A battery is worth buying for outage protection rather than for rate arbitrage, and LADWP customers are not eligible for SGIP.
Show the assumptions
Usage derived from $320/mo at LADWP’s ~$0.27/kWh blended rate, giving 14,222 kWh a year.
Production at 5.6 peak sun hours a day with a 0.80 derate for inverter, wiring, soiling and heat losses: 14,390 kWh a year.
Self-consumption assumed at 88% of production; the remainder is exported at $0.24/kWh.
25-year figure compounds utility rates at 4.5% a year and degrades panel output 0.5% a year, net of system cost. Planning estimate only, not a quote.
Also in Highland Park
More than panels
Neighborhoods we cover in Highland Park
Garvanza · Mount Washington border · York Boulevard corridor · and everywhere in between.
Highland Park questions
Answered with local numbers
Specific to Highland Park, LADWP, and City of Los Angeles LADBS.
How much does solar cost in Highland Park?
A typical Highland Park home paying around $300 a month to LADWP needs roughly a 8.4 kW system, which lands near $26,752 installed before storage. Adding the 13.5 kWh battery we would normally pair with it brings the project to about $42,277. Roof type matters here: composition shingle and spanish tile is what we mostly see in Highland Park, and that affects mounting hardware and labor.
Is solar worth it in Highland Park with LADWP?
As a municipal utility, LADWP sets its own rules and still credits exports far closer to retail than NEM 3.0 does. The trade-off: LADWP customers are not eligible for SGIP battery rebates, and the permitting queue runs longer than the county's. At 5.6 peak sun hours a day, a 8.4 kW array in Highland Park produces roughly 13,670 kWh a year. Against LADWP's approximate $0.27 per kWh, that is around $3,642 of annual value, putting simple payback near 11.6 years.
Who issues solar permits in Highland Park?
Permits for Highland Park go through City of Los Angeles LADBS, and interconnection is handled separately by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Those are two different clocks and they do not run in parallel by default. We file both and chase the corrections, which is usually where projects stall when homeowners manage it themselves.
Do you install batteries in Highland Park?
Yes. Note that Highland Park is served by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a municipal utility, so SGIP rebates are not available — that program is funded by investor-owned utility ratepayers. LADWP still credits exports near retail at roughly $0.24 per kWh, so in Highland Park a battery is primarily about outage protection rather than rate arbitrage.
How far is Highland Park from your Northridge shop?
About 18 miles. That is comfortably inside our core service area, so surveys and service calls are quick to schedule.
Nearby
We also serve
Ready for a Highland Park system design?
Send us one LADWP bill. We will come back with a layout, a production model, and a real number.