Residential 8.9 kWp San Carlos, Sonora
Operating Panels 16
Inverter APSystems
Energy generated 19 kkWh
Cumulative savings MXN 66k
CO2 avoided 8t
SAN CARLOS, SONORA5.6 peak sun hours · day
San Carlos, Sonora · Homes and vacation rentals Solar panels for your home in San Carlos, Sonora
Solar panels for homes and vacation rentals in San Carlos, Sonora: sized from your electric bill, built for salt air, with the utility paperwork handled and your questions answered in English.
If you own a home in San Carlos, Mexico, on the Sea of Cortez next to Guaymas, this page answers what owners here ask before going solar. It starts with the bill from CFE, Mexico's state-owned electric utility, shows homes we have already equipped here, and goes on to what happens while you're away, whose name is on the account, outages, salt air and who you call.
PSE is a solar and electrical engineering company based in Hermosillo, Sonora, part of a business group with more than three decades of history. PSE has installed 4,060 kWp (kilowatts-peak, the rated power of the panels) across 150+ projects as of June 2026. We do not have an office in San Carlos. We serve it from Hermosillo, about 140 km (87 miles) up Highway 15, with remote monitoring that detects faults in real time. We reply in English, and Sonora keeps the same time as Arizona year-round.
How CFE bills a home
Your CFE bill in San Carlos: the summer rate, the rest of the year and DAC
CFE prices home electricity in tiers: the first kWh are cheap and the rest cost more. From April 1 to October 31, homes in Sonora are billed on 1F, CFE's residential rate for the hottest parts of Mexico, under an agreement between the state and CFE that applied in 2024 and 2025 and applies again in 2026. The rest of the year the low-priced tiers are smaller, which is when winter residents are in the house.
CFE moves a home to DAC, the unsubsidized high-consumption residential rate, when its average monthly use over the last 12 months goes above a limit that depends on the rate printed on its bill: 2,500 kWh a month if the bill says 1F and 2,000 if it says 1E. The home moves back when that average drops. Because the limit depends on the rate, a figure you have read for another part of Mexico may not be the one that applies to your home.
The homes most likely to get close to the limit are large ones lived in year-round and rentals running several air conditioners; a seasonal home rarely gets there. Solar pulls that average down, which is why we size the system from your last 12 months of use.
If you rent the house out, guests run the air conditioning without looking at the bill. Under net metering (the kWh your system sends to the grid are subtracted from the kWh you use), the kWh left over from empty weeks are used in occupied ones. For hotels, restaurants and marinas in San Carlos, see our commercial solar page.
Leave your number and we'll ask for your bill and tell you where you stand.
Real installations
Homes already generating in San Carlos
3 homes · 24.1 kWp · 42 panels · 39,864 kWh generated as of June 2026
Residential 8.9 kWp 
Residential 7.8 kWp San Carlos, Sonora
Operating Panels 14
Inverter APSystems
Energy generated 18 kkWh
Cumulative savings MXN 62k
CO2 avoided 8t
Residential 7.4 kWp San Carlos, Sonora
Operating Panels 12
Inverter APSystems
Energy generated 3 kkWh
Cumulative savings MXN 13k
CO2 avoided 1t
Owners' identities are withheld for privacy. Energy figures come from the monitored inverters as of June 2026; savings are an estimate in Mexican pesos (MXN) calculated from that energy, not converted. Cumulative figures run from each system's start-up; start-up dates are not shown yet, so the totals are not comparable from one home to the next. These are the San Carlos homes in our public portfolio with complete monitoring data, not every system we have installed there.
See our industrial and commercial projects While the house is empty
Net metering today, and what happens to your credits while you're away
Today, CFE connects home solar systems under net metering. A bidirectional meter records what you draw from the grid and what your system sends to it, and the kWh you export are subtracted from the kWh you use. Any credit carries forward for up to 12 months, and it is a credit in kWh, not in money.
If your home sits empty for months, the system keeps producing. What you don't use stays on your account as kWh credit and is applied when you're back, within the following 12 months. You get access to your own monitoring portal, and we monitor the system remotely from Hermosillo.
Mexico's electricity law changed in 2025 and the regulator is still issuing the new rules, so we confirm what applies to your account when we quote.
Interconnection
The CFE account: whose name is on it, and why it matters
The interconnection, which is the connection of your solar system to CFE's grid, is tied to the home's CFE account. The account has to be paid up and in the name of the person who signs the application. If the bill is still in the previous owner's name, the developer's or a company's, the first step is changing the account holder at CFE.
Many foreign-owned homes on this coast are held through a Mexican bank trust (fideicomiso). CFE decides which documents it asks for in each case, so we don't publish a list. Tell us how the property is held and whose name is on the bill, send us the latest bill, and we'll tell you what your account needs before we quote.
We handle the CFE interconnection filing as part of your project, under a power of attorney you sign. CFE does not charge for the connection or the bidirectional meter on low-voltage service, the kind a home has; if additional engineering or verification is needed, it is itemized in the proposal.
When CFE requires a verification report (a third-party inspection of the electrical installation), it is issued by an accredited verification unit that is independent of the installer. We get the installation ready and coordinate the process. On-site installation takes a few days; when the meter gets changed is up to CFE.
When the grid goes down
Outages, storms and battery backup: what a solar system does and does not do
A standard grid-tied system shuts down when the grid goes out; that's a safety requirement, so CFE crews can work on the lines. If you want the refrigerator, the internet and one air conditioner to keep running through an outage, we design a hybrid system with batteries. We run the numbers first and tell you if it doesn't pay off.
In September 2016, Hurricane Newton reached this coast as a tropical storm: the Guaymas station recorded gusts of about 105 km/h (65 mph) and about 90% of Guaymas and San Carlos lost power (U.S. National Hurricane Center). The Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30, according to Mexico's National Meteorological Service.
More on batteries and hybrid systems is on our energy storage page. Damage from extreme weather is not a warranty matter; it falls under the property insurance on the house.
Coastal engineering
Built for salt air and summer heat
Near the sea, salt air goes after fasteners and connections first. That is why every coastal installation we specify includes the items in the checklist in this section.
Heat is a separate matter: panels run on light, not heat, and above 40 °C (104 °F) efficiency drops a little. We offset that with low temperature-coefficient modules and ventilated racking.
In Sonora we recommend cleaning the modules every 3 to 4 months, and preventive maintenance checks inverters and connections and re-torques the hardware. After a major storm, ask us for an inspection. Maintenance visits are run by LIMSON, PSE's sister company, which also services systems installed by others. Each manufacturer sets its own warranty terms for installations near the sea.
- Racking in aluminum or heavy-duty galvanized steel
- Stainless steel hardware
- IP68-sealed connectors
- Racking sized and anchored for the site
After the installation
Warranties, service and who you call
Panels
The warranty comes from the manufacturer and depends on the brand and model we propose for your roof: 25 to 30 years on power output and 12 to 15 on the product.
Inverter
The inverter warranty also comes from the manufacturer and depends on the brand and model. The San Carlos homes shown on this page use APSystems inverters. If your system uses a GOODWE inverter (GOODWE is one of the largest inverter manufacturers in the world), PSE is the only GOODWE Authorized Service Center in Sonora, so that warranty is handled in-state.
Installation
5 years from PSE: structure, wiring, connections and the related electrical work. If something fails because of an installation defect, we repair it at no cost.
Service
Whatever the brand, you can reach us on WhatsApp or by email, and we answer in English. We monitor every system remotely from Hermosillo, and maintenance is run by LIMSON, PSE's sister company, which also services systems installed by others.
No warranty covers extreme weather, flood or vandalism: those fall under the property insurance on the house. Changes in CFE's rules after your interconnection are not covered either.
Panel and GOODWE inverter terms are on our warranties page. Our installers are certified for photovoltaic installation under CONOCER, Mexico's national council for labor competency certification; more about the company is on our About PSE page.
Leave your name and number. We'll take it from there, in English.
We'll write to you by WhatsApp or email, ask for your latest CFE bill and how much of the year the house is occupied, and send you a proposal.
Frequently asked questions: solar for your home in San Carlos
When does CFE move a San Carlos home to DAC?
When its average monthly use over the last 12 months goes above the limit for the rate printed on its bill: 2,500 kWh a month if the bill says 1F and 2,000 if it says 1E. DAC is the unsubsidized high-consumption rate, and the home moves back when the average drops. Large homes lived in year-round and rentals running several air conditioners are the ones most likely to get close. Send us the bill and we'll tell you where you stand.
What happens to the power my system produces while I'm away?
It stays on your CFE account as kWh credit and is applied against what you use when you're back, for up to 12 months. The credit is in kWh, not cash, and the system runs with nobody in the house.
Does the system keep my house powered during a blackout?
Not on its own: a grid-tied system shuts down when the grid goes out, so CFE crews can work on the lines safely. For the refrigerator, the internet and one air conditioner to run through an outage you need a hybrid system with batteries; we run the numbers first and tell you if it doesn't pay off.
The CFE account is still in the previous owner's or the developer's name. Can I still interconnect?
The interconnection is tied to the home's CFE account, which has to be paid up and in the name of the person who signs. If it's in someone else's name, the first step is changing the account holder at CFE; after that we file under a power of attorney you sign. Send us the latest bill and we'll tell you what your account needs.
My home is held in a bank trust (fideicomiso). Can I still go solar?
It depends on what CFE asks for in your case: CFE decides which documents it requires, so we don't publish a list. Tell us how the property is held and whose name is on the bill, send us the bill, and we'll tell you what your account needs before we quote.
Will salt air or storms damage the panels?
Salt air goes after fasteners and connections first, so on the coast we specify racking in aluminum or heavy-duty galvanized steel, stainless steel hardware and IP68-sealed connectors; each manufacturer sets its own warranty terms near the sea. Storm damage falls under the property insurance on the house, not under a warranty. After a major storm, ask us for an inspection: maintenance visits are run by LIMSON, PSE's sister company.
I'm only in San Carlos part of the year. Is solar still worth it?
It depends on your bills, and if it isn't worth it we'll tell you. We size the system to your whole year's use, not to the months you're here: what it produces while the house is empty stays on your CFE account as kWh credit for up to 12 months and is used when you're back.
Who do I call if something fails, and what does the warranty cover?
You can reach us on WhatsApp or by email, whatever the brand of your equipment, and we answer in English. PSE's installation warranty is 5 years. Panel and inverter warranties come from the manufacturer and depend on the brand and model we propose for your roof; panel and GOODWE terms are on our warranties page. The San Carlos homes shown on this page use APSystems inverters. If your system uses a GOODWE inverter, PSE is the only GOODWE Authorized Service Center in Sonora, so that warranty is handled in-state.
How do you price a system, and what currency are the amounts on this site in?
We size and quote from your CFE bills and your roof, turnkey: panels, inverter, racking, installation, electrical materials and the CFE filing. Amounts on this site are in Mexican pesos (MXN), not converted. Tell us where you'll be paying from and we'll go over payment with the proposal.
Do I need to be in San Carlos for the installation and the CFE paperwork?
PSE handles the CFE filing for you under a power of attorney you sign. Whether you have to be here to sign it, or during the installation, depends on your case, so ask us before you book your trip.
Related pages
Backup, solar for a business and the company behind the work
Where to read more about what this page only touches on.
Battery backup
A hybrid system keeps the refrigerator, the internet and one air conditioner running through an outage.
See battery backup →Commercial solar
For hotels, restaurants, marinas and shops in San Carlos, where air conditioning drives the bill from May to October.
See commercial solar →Who we are
An engineering company based in Hermosillo, part of a business group with more than three decades of history.
See who we are → Next step
Get a solar plan for your home in San Carlos
Leave your name and number and tell us how much of the year you're here. We'll reply in English with the system size we recommend, what it should generate and what your CFE account needs, without selling you more than you need.