Residential Solar

So I try project sunroof
They are not in my area yet

 

Ditto... Area not covered.

 

bogieb thanks for all the first hand info you are sharing.

Much appreciated

 

Mine either.

 

Got a notice from my solar installers yesterday (in part):





I won't get rich with only a 8,000 kwh system (expected to generate 6,200 kwhs). Also, they don't pay for partials so they get to claim and use partials for free once I've signed up. Oh, and of course I pay taxes for anything they pay me, but I think I can come up with the couple of bucks an extra $162 I'll receive next year

So, now I understand a little bit about how the companies that buy "offsets" or people who chose to "buy" more expensive renewable energy, are doing that. In reality, those companies/people are just buying regular power and paying me to produce my own power. Interesting.

 

Here is my December report, which is the first full month of production. As you can see, there was 1 day where nothing was produced (the snow day) and a couple of more days where little was produced (snow covered - before dumping). From the 12th thru the 16th, less than 4.0 kwh was produced in total. My two highest days of production were at 9.2 kwh on the 25th and 27th.



Below shows the array production for the month. No surprise that the south side (array 3) produced the most, even with the least panels. What did surprise me was that during winter the right side of the southern array gets so much shade. Long shadows from trees way off in the distance are created by the low sun angle. However, the lowest producing panel on that southern side made more than any panel on the other two sides because it actually gets some direct-ish sun.

Another, huge surprise to me, is that the west panels (array 1) produced more than the east panels (array 2) - even though the west side was snow covered the longest. The westerly side is a few ticks north, so gets absolutely no direct sun at this latitude. I had assumed they would produce basically nothing and their value would be in summer production. BUT, that side has no shade either, whereas the easterly side does have tree trunks creating some shade (and seriously, I never realized how far southeast the sun rose this time of year). You can clearly see that one panel is shaded by my chimney.


I want to reiterate that I have a fairly shallow hip-style roof (4/12 max, and maybe 3/12). A steeper roof on that south side may have pulled in more since it would have a better relationship to the low sun angel. I'm not sure that would correlate to the east and west sides.

According to the monitoring site, I have produced 45% of what I have used. I'm not confident in that number (what I've used) and will wait to see what the power company says. For most of the month there was an issue with the Gateway Meter Measurements (don't ask me, I have no idea). That issue has been corrected, so I will have more confidence when the January month end report comes out

 

How does one get signed up for this?

 

Here’s my situation…

we bought 5 1/2 acres. No water/ sewer/ electricity.

we have a sealing certificate for the old wells (x2).

there is rural water run to the proper, but they pulled it back to the ROW about 8 years when the property was taken for tax forfeiture.

the local rural electric wants $1000 to put a meter on the pole and then I get to run a line 200 feet to our camper for the next 3 years while we do the prep-work to build our retirement home.

otherwise the coop would run a mine in to a transformer and put a meter in but charge use $2500 now and again when they move it to the actual house. Total costs at that point is almost $6000 because I’d still have to run a line to the camper.

some of the calculators you guys have been posting I’ve been using already and figure a 12 kW for a house with central air (10.3 kW actually) and two electric instant water heaters.

for those that have done it…

I am looking at taking the $6000 the coop wants to soak us and start with a system simple enough for the camper. This will let us have a base to expand and grow for when the house is actually built.

I’ve done my own garage construction including hvac and wiring and have worked construction in year past doing remodeling.

Are these systems pretty plug and play like I’m seeing??? Yes I do have a licensed master electrician available for me to review what o do before any inspection.

 

I assume it is state and/or region dependent - your state may or may not participate in such a program. I beleive these are teh energy credits that companies buy in order to "offset" their usage and claim to be more green. That is a whole 'nother conversation in and of itself, and please everyone, let's not get into that

My installer did all the work in giving me the opportunity to sign up, so I have no idea how you would join (amusing your state has the program) independently.

 

Got my December bill yesterday and from all my calculations (between what I used directly from the array, what I pulled from the grid and what I pushed to the grid), that 45% is very close. I came up with about 42% - but I was rounding and my electric bill is for 33 days while the solar tracker is for the actual month. End result is that I saved about $36 of the supply portion of my bill ($22 of that is what I sold back to Eversource) and $12 on the various other charges portion, for a total savings in December of $48.

No, that doesn't sound like much, nor is it a good ROI at this point in time. - but that is winter and there were 4-5 days in there that produced nearly nothing. Late spring to fall is when the array will truly produce and get my bill into negative numbers for offsetting next winter's bills.

Here is my energy usage from Eversource (this does not include what I directly used from the array - which was about 100 kwh according to the tracker). The Usage portion is what I pulled directly from the grid. The Sales portion is what I pushed back to the grid.



Some of the charges are based on the net kwh usage (199 kwh) and some are based on what I pulled from the grid (297 kwh).

 

Hopefully and most likely, you'll overproduce at some point when the days get longer and you get more exposure time and you'll start banking some credits fro the overproduction and bank them for Winter like many others do. Eversource here allows you to give those credits banked to another customer . Not sure if you can still cash in the credits any more.

 

You can cash in in NH, At least I can with my system. We get a check quarterly if we produce during that time.

 

Yeah, I was told I should cut down every tree to enhance solar production. A) most trees are not on my land, B) Most trees are on the east side and provide shade in the morning so my AC doesn't start working until 11 or later, C) the west side has no shade - and that side gets super hot so gives me an idea what the east side would be if there was no shade. D) I'm also at the bottom of a fairly steep incline so the land rises on the east of the house anyway. even if all treees were gone, I would get a lot of shadow from the hill and houses behind me.

I told the install company I wasn't planning on cutting any trees, so they took that into consideration when developing the array plan. They weren't going to use the west side of the roof at all until I told them that the trees weren't coming down. Then the west side became attractive to them for consideration (and that is what I had envisioned anyway, some on all 3 sides).

I did take down trees that were dead/dying, plus another that leaned severely toward the house. But that was about damage prevention, not about shade. Those trees would have been cut within a year anyway.

 

MasterMech I think you have forgotten about living in the north. The need for air conditioning is maybe 6 weeks out of year. Heating is 6 months ish

Here trees damage more than they help. Roots destroy foundations and underground Utilities. While Leafs and needles clog gutters and create mold on many roofs.

I love trees but cut them away from buildings.

 

UM, solar panels on the roof are creating shade cooling the roof (at least where the panels are) by as much as 30-40 degrees.

 

We'll see if that works out - it may help. But, I have a standing seam roof and the theory of that is that it reflects solar energy instead of gathering it (doesn't mean it doesn't get hot - just not as hot as other materials).

In my situation, my house heats up massively when the sun is hitting my siding (2x4 construction only allows for R13 insulation). Although it starts the warm up when the south side is hit, once it starts hitting more from the southwest and especially to the west side, the inside temp can rise 8-10* in an hour without any change to the outside temp. Nothing like opening windows on a 85* day to cool the house down as I used to do before I got AC .