Los Angeles County · LADWP
Solar Panel Installation in Northridge, CA
Our home turf. Northridge runs hot enough that summer air conditioning pushes most bills past $300, and the wide post-war rooftops here take a full-size array without the shading headaches you get in the hills.
We are based in Northridge, right here, and we design Northridge 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 low-slope tile, which determines the mounting hardware we quote.
Northridge at a glance
- Electric utility
- LADWP
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
- Peak sun hours
- 5.7 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
- Local
- Northridge, CA
A typical Northridge project
What a $300 bill looks like after
Modeled on LADWP’s approximate $0.27 per kWh and 5.7 peak sun hours a day in Northridge. Your own numbers will differ — this is the shape of the answer, not a quote.
- System size
- 7.9 kW
- ~18 panels
- Annual production
- 13,182 kWh
- after standard derating
- Annual savings
- $3,512
- at today's rates
- Simple payback
- 11.6 yrs
- $104,936 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 Northridge. 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 Northridge
Already loaded with LADWP rates and 5.7 peak sun hours. Move the slider to your bill.
Step 1
Step 2
Who bills you?
Step 3
Your estimate
A Northridge system
System size
8.4 kW
~19 panels
Saved per year
$3,707
at today's rates
Estimated cost
$42,277
solar + storage, installed
Payback
11.4 yrs
$111,629 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 5.7 peak sun hours a day with a 0.80 derate for inverter, wiring, soiling and heat losses: 13,914 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 Northridge
More than panels
Neighborhoods we cover in Northridge
Porter Ranch border · Devonshire Downs · Northridge Hills · CSUN area · and everywhere in between.
Northridge questions
Answered with local numbers
Specific to Northridge, LADWP, and City of Los Angeles LADBS.
How much does solar cost in Northridge?
A typical Northridge home paying around $300 a month to LADWP needs roughly a 7.9 kW system, which lands near $25,344 installed before storage. Adding the 13.5 kWh battery we would normally pair with it brings the project to about $40,869. Roof type matters here: composition shingle and low-slope tile is what we mostly see in Northridge, and that affects mounting hardware and labor.
Is solar worth it in Northridge 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 5.7 peak sun hours a day, a 7.9 kW array in Northridge produces roughly 13,182 kWh a year. Against LADWP's approximate $0.27 per kWh, that is around $3,512 of annual value, putting simple payback near 11.6 years.
Who issues solar permits in Northridge?
Permits for Northridge 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 Northridge?
Yes. Note that Northridge 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 Northridge a battery is primarily about outage protection rather than rate arbitrage.
How far is Northridge from your Northridge shop?
Northridge is home. Our shop is here, which means same-week site surveys and the shortest possible response time on service calls.
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We also serve
Ready for a Northridge system design?
Send us one LADWP bill. We will come back with a layout, a production model, and a real number.