Dan,
let us know how the PV class goes. I would like to do solar next. I did my Geo as a DIY, after taking the accreditation class.
:laughing::laughing::laughing: Good timing! I just got back to this thread to mention the glass.
Figured I should just add my comments to this thread since we have been discussing the issues of PV.
The class is good. The teacher is an old guy,
, who used to be a builder. My guess is that he retired to the teaching job. He built quite a few solar houses and was on the committee pushing renewable energy issues in NC. He seems to know what he is talking about though I asked some questions which surprisingly he did not have answers. He talked a bit about net metering and for NC, he was saying it was not worth the effort and cost. From my recent reading, my interpretation was that net metering in NC was know paying retail price for when one over produced. The teacher said that was not the case. The other issue was about the Time of Use Tariff and getting the power company subsidy. This subsidy pays a $1 a watt or $1,000 for a KWH of PV but you have to sign up for the tariff which looks like it charge $3-5 per KWH for the power one uses! The teach said to contact the NC Solar Center which I already knew to do. The NC Solar Center is a great resource in NC. It is up there with the NC Extension office. :thumbsup:
One of my unanswered questions was can a homeowner DIY project still get the NC state subsidy. I will have to ask the solar center.
The class only has 10-11 people in it and I was the second youngest and I am not a spring chicken. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The class is aimed at people who know little to nothing about PV. I know more than a little but the class already made the time and cost well worth it. :thumbsup: The people in the class are trying to learn the basics and at least two couples and one other person where looking at PV for a new home while another guy was interested in providing emergency power. One guy's church is looking to install PV and then there was me and another couple who were looking to install on an existing house.
The two big things that I learned yesterday was that the teacher REALLY likes microinverters and thinks they are the future of PV. I think he is right. I had not heard of these microinverters until Ladia mentioned them and I have been reading ever since. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The teacher mentioned Solar Bridge
Our Solutions | SolarBridge Technologies and Enphase is the company I have been reading up on,
Enphase Energy.
Apparently Solar Bridge is trying to team up with panel builders to package the microinverters on the panels. If this happens, Enphase better be very careful. On problem I see with PV, is figuring out which suppliers to use. There are a large number of panel makers and many of them are going to go out of business. Having a warranty of 20, 30, 30+ years does not do you much good if the company is gone. The Journal of Light Construction's Feb 2013 issue has a good article on PV installation's with microinverters. They used Enphase but did not mention the panel maker. I could just make out the name from one photo and Googled. They were using a panel from a Spanish maker and it looks like they are leaving the US market and I wonder if they are gong out of business...
One of my big questions has been about PV efficiency. I had read in a PV magazine that one lost 35% of the power produced on the panels by the time the power was at the AC outlets. That number just seemed very high and is a vast hidden cost to PV. The answer in yesterday's class was that the number was 77%. This was on a slide and we only saw the slides for a few minutes. Hopefully the teacher will pass out the Power Point presentation because the table that calculated the 77% number was interesting and I wonder if it applies to microinverter systems. The 77% value is used by default with the PCWatts calculator.
Other links that are interesting:
I am sure I learned more in the three hours class but these were the biggies. The class is really 2.5 hours but we went over by 30 minutes. :thumbsup::laughing::laughing::laughing:
Later,
Dan