Smart Solar Systems to Power Your Home

You can easily and efficiently harness the sun’s power with these intelligent arrays

By John ElliotOriginally Published August 8, 2023

Photo: SmartFlower

Whether you’re looking to cut down on your electricity bill or liberate yourself from your local power grid, solar arrays have always been an attractive option for a certain type of homeowner. And in today’s high-tech home environment, more and more solar systems are coming with smart features, like sun tracking, performance monitoring, remote control and more.

From a security provider’s surprisingly robust solar network to a Telsa offering to a solar system that doubles as a statement sculpture, we’ve rounded up our favorite arrays.

Here are our picks below.

Highly rated SunPower offers users a smart experience from the start. Its SunPower Design Studio allows potential users to customize their systems online thanks to satellite imagery, and see how it would look when placed on their roof. And it doesn’t get less clever once installed. SunPower’s SunVault, a storage system that holds the energy the panels collect during the daytime, can be easily accessed by owners via an app, allowing them to monitor system performance, set power preferences and transfer grid power to battery power and back.

Quotes, and the ability to design your own solar system, are available at us.sunpower.com.

SunPower

ADT Solar

“Solar power” might not be the first thing you think when you hear ADT—but that’s starting to change. The company, famous for its security systems, acquired solar systems provider Sunpro in 2021 (renaming it ADT Solar) and has embraced creating and installing solar-power networks for homeowners ever since. The best part? Because ADT has such a robust history of creating security networks, they are able to integrate their solar-power system directly into their smart-home technology, allowing users to monitor their solar-power performance, on centralized hubs or accompanying apps, while also activating smart locks or checking doorbell cameras.

Head toadtsolar.com for a free quote on a system.

Sleek, stylish and high-performing, the Telsa Solar system is perfect for the homeowner who likes the finer things in life. Built to blend unobtrusively on your roof, Tesla solar panels offer no visible grid, a low-profile and a concealed edge, making them, dare we say, fashionable, if solar panels could be called such a thing. But just because they are good-looking, doesn’t mean that Tesla Solar systems aren’t clever. Tesla Solar owners can manage their Wi-Fi-connected solar system from anywhere in the world in real time, seeing energy use as it happens and adjusting preference to achieve energy independence.

Consultations can be scheduled at tesla.com/solarpanels.

Tesla Solar

SmartFlower

Looking for a solar system that says something? Part solar panel, part statement sculpture, the SmartFlower is an elegant energy solution that is sure to be the talk of the neighborhood. Standing at about 16 feet tall, the SmartFlower features 12 solar panels (or petals), which, when completely unfurled, resemble a disc-shaped flower face. It’s a striking system—and, as you might have guessed, smart. The SmartFlower tracks the sun throughout the day, automatically, adjusting its face to ensure it is capturing the optimal amount of rays for power. When the SmartFlower detects high-winds, it automatically closes, petals folding atop one another, to prevent damage, and as it closes, self-cleaning brushes clear the panel faces of any debris that might have been blocking power capture.

Head to smartflower.com to schedule an appointment and reserve a model.

SunPowerADT SolarTesla SolarSmartFlowerShorthand