Residential Solar

And that is your choice - not pushing for anyone else to do so, or install wind, or geothermal, or whatever. Do whatever makes sense for your own circumstances.

 

Yup familiar with the roof dump. Never really understood a flat ish roof in the north.

 

My sister lives in Vermont, not as far north as you however. She has a pole mounted system . They are pointed south and are on a southern facing hill. With less panels, she produced more energy than my roof mounted system in south NJ

 

I took a screenshot of this the other day to show my wife. I thought it was pretty funny. A photo of the NJ Turnpike in a snowstorm doesn’t come close to selling me on solar.

 

Not one single snow storm in NJ yet this year and even when it falls, it doesnt stick around long

 

This was still on the roof yesterday from Friday's storm. Since I never had to shovel roof dumpage off the ramp, the majority is still up there (a very little might have melted off, but not much). Not that it mattered much since it was heavily over cast Saturday and Sunday, so there would have been very minimal production anyway.

And looking out the door this morning, there is another 8" on top of that, with more coming down thru the day.

 

That is a weird picture to accompany a solar incentive articale.

 

A pole system is what I am considering
My land also on a rise, as flat land here is usually a flood plane

 

I'm officially part of the "Big Energy" system. and have to inform the Department of Energy if I make any changes to my system. My system is registered as a 0.006000 mwh plant with a GIS facility code, NH cert and everything. I feel so powerful and important now

 

Heh now, is that saying your lights are not that bright?

Don’t you feel more powerful; I would lobby for 007 not 006

 

Never said I was the brightest bulb in the pack, and I guess that confirms my suspicions, hu? (I can insult myself with the best of them )

 

We’ve been 9 months since we upgraded our array from 22 to 32 panels, the South facing roof is out of space. Here’s our production in 22 and so far for 23, ignore April as there was a bad ct unit installed at the time of the upgrade. The 22 yearly numbers are also out of whack because of the bad ct unit. Maine has net metering, so we generate credits for any month our array produces more that we use, the public utility does their own accounting so the Enphase numbers being off don’t really affect the reality of our production. We generated around 2500 kWh of credits from April till October and have been using the credits since. Credits expire in a year so it makes no sense to size the array any bigger than our annual usage. We have about 600kWH left right now, so we should end up just about right and end up paying the regular rate for a minimal amount of electricity for the year. October and March we just about break even, producing just about as much as we use. Our monthly bill is $6.48 for any month that we produce more than we use or have credits to offset any deficit. The $6.48 is the minimum fee charged by the utility for being connected to the grid. Electric rates just went up, again, but our bill stays the same, every time the rates go up it just reduces the ROI time on the cost of the system.

 

Looks like you sized it just right for your needs. Too bad the credits expire as it makes it hard to adjust for unplanned spikes. But, at the same time, a spike is basically a one time charge, so it's not the end of the world.

 

Yesterday I was couldn't wait for my final production and usage numbers for the day. It was the first day that all my panels were free of snow AND it was mostly sunny, AND the sun angle is coming from more than a hand-width above the horizon (my horizon, not sea level horizon). I broke the 15 kwh production . My highest production previously had been November 18th with 11.8 kwh, and the only other double digit production date was November 21, 22 at 11.3 kwh.



For yesterday the east side shows 4.906 kwh, west side at 5.208 and the south side, even with fewer panels is the clear winner at 6.271 kwh


Up to this point, amazingly the west side array (array 1) has regularly outproduced the east side. Sure, the east side has some trees, but they are bare and the west side is more a WNW angle, so never sees direct sun during winter This is the lifetime production to this point (only a few months now). I don't even have to add up the numbers to clearly see how the west side has outproduced the east side.

If I get a few more days like this (and not too many that are heavily overcast and/or snowy), it is feasible that I could cover my consumption for the month of February, as I am currently only 35 kwh over . I'm not betting that will happen, butit would be cool if it did.

 

I think you’ll be pleased in a few weeks. Best day yet so far this year yesterday.



And at the risk of sounding like I’m bragging, which I’m not, the yearly production covers our regular household needs and two EVs for ~12K miles a year.

 

bogieb and DaveGunter I am finding this thread interesting as you both have such different aspects of your installation. I hope bogieb comes out with the similar results in a year as you did, Dave.

 

On 2/11/23, I also enjoyed the best day so far at 17.1 kwh produced. Yesterday had a lot of light overcast time.

Looks like Dave has about 32% more panels than I do. However, he's also charging EV's, so definitely needs it. Guessing his are also all facing south (with no shade) to get 1.5 kwh production out of each panel. So far I haven't had any panel hit more than 1.1x (just to show the difference). I'd love to have an ideal situation, but I gotta live with the house/property/neighborhood characteristics that I bought into 9 years ago.

What I am finding fascinating, is my day-to-day consumption differences and understandin why. On 2/10 & 2/11, I use 9.x kwh of energy each day. Yesterday, I used 12.9 kwh. I knew it would be higher because I ran the electric dryer (starting just before 9 am). Toward the end of the dryer cycle, I used a couple of power toools also.

I can clearly see when I went to get groceries as I turned off the living room lights and TV (both are LED) between 10:30 and 11:00.

Then those mini spikes between noon and 2:30 is using the "roast" setting of my multi-cooker. I spend way too much time looking at this stuff

 

Indeed, my roof is 180 degrees south and only a tiny bit of shade only on the lowest sun angle days.

Talke about spikes…you should see an EV charging session.

 

Does anyone have a grid tied system and batteries? So you you don't really need the grid unless you go a few days with minimal or no production? Or if the grid goes down you still have some power? My fil has a grid tied system ( in southern Maine) that credits back unused power but if the grid goes down he has no power even with solar. Imo defeats the purpose of alternative energy.