What I Learned After 1 Year with New Solar Panels. Go to https://surfshark.com/undecided for 4 extra months of Surfshark at an unbeatable price! It’s been a full year since I installed these solar panels and a large home battery on my new house … and I’ve got some news. They say solar power can save you thousands on energy bills, but what actually happened. This past year was a bit of a rollercoaster ride from the challenges of getting them installed to seeing how well they handled powering my all-electric house through heat waves, freezing temperatures, and a couple of small power outages. Spoiler alert: solar isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Was my net zero house ready for all of it? Was I able to achieve net zero energy? And most important … was it worth it? Let’s just say, I learned some pretty surprising lessons that may be of use to you.