Grid-tied solar

[sseelhoff]

So, it appears you will get 36 250W panels for 9KW of production with a 6KW inverter installed for $11K with a $3K federal rebate - net cost to you of $8K?

Have you signed the contract for installation? Something doesn't add up as this is too good to be true IMHO.

I went back and looked. It is a 6kw system. When I reviewed the quote, it said it would meet 92% of her annual usage, which averages 9100 per year, so I assumed that meant it was a 9kw system. My error.

 

[sseelhoff]

Who's your electric provider mind I ask?

Wholesaler is AEP. The retail provider is CPL.

 

[sseelhoff]

Why do you use all that power to dehumidify the house the turn around and open the windows which lets the humidity back in?

Part one is I'm married, and that's how she wants it. Part two is that it is cooler and dryer here most nights. The AC is more for heat than humidity most of the time.

 

[fordmantpw]

I hope you put in a system. Your new home is in an open setting, are you thinking about a ground mount system? They have some advantages. No roof penetrations nor need to get on the roof to repair something. No need to worry about life of the shingles/roofing versus life of the solar system. Easy to make them seasonally angle adjustable, and easy to do the adjustment as UltraRunner mentioned. You aren't in deep snow country IIRC.

If your house and the garage under construction are on the same electric meter service, you can tie the system into the garage or house panel and the result will be the same. For the inverter to panel connection you would usually need one 220v double breaker slot, or one double slot per inverter for a larger system with multiple inverters.

I'm hoping to put one in if we can make the numbers work. We plan to put it on our garage roof as we don't want it on the house. Plus, the garage faces almost due south. We are building it with solar in mind with the ideal slope on the roof, a breaker panel set up for it, and proper wiring between the garage and meter. Yes, they are both on the same meter. I have been contacting a local solar contractor for input in order to build things properly for solar. A few extra bucks now to save later.

 

[dave1949]

I'm hoping to put one in if we can make the numbers work. We plan to put it on our garage roof as we don't want it on the house. Plus, the garage faces almost due south. We are building it with solar in mind with the ideal slope on the roof, a breaker panel set up for it, and proper wiring between the garage and meter. Yes, they are both on the same meter. I have been contacting a local solar contractor for input in order to build things properly for solar. A few extra bucks now to save later.

Good planning ahead. That will make it easy if you decide to do a system.

Added: The mounting rails can be clamped onto the ridges of a standing seam metal roof. This is better than having holes in the roofing for lag screws IMO. Just throwing that out as an option since you don't have a garage roof yet.

 

[dave1949]

The September, 2014 results.

Best September yet. We are missing about 3" of rain for this September, so it figures we had more clear weather.

Month--NREL Model (AC kWh)--2012 Actual---2013 Actual---2104 Actual

Jan.----388----------------------NA--------------440-------------360
Feb.----412----------------------NA--------------375-------------446
Mar.----509----------------------NA--------------462-------------577
Apr.----374----------------------NA--------------487-------------525
May----353----------------------NA--------------375-------------361
Jun.----308----------------------NA--------------379-------------390
Jul.-----341----------------------NA--------------377-------------395
Aug.----383----------------------461-------------470------------453
Sep.----394----------------------481-------------476------------489
Oct.----369----------------------378-------------453
Nov.----283----------------------400-------------414
Dec.----331----------------------297-------------278

 

[dave1949]

Re-use/re-cycle of the lithium in existing batteries in combination with pine resin and alfalfa seeds:
Smart, eco-friendly new battery made of seeds and pine resin -- ScienceDaily

 

[Carl_NH]

Duplicate Post

 

[Carl_NH]

Hope to get some feedback from our Aussie members. I have been reading a forum in AU as they tend to have more PV installed there. Here's a link to one of the threads.403 Forbidden

Then a reply on the Whirlpool PV forum there - August 2014 "My 5kw Tripower SMA with 6.3kw of 300w LG Neon's was only $10K. I'm currently getting 35-39 KW/h per day output on the northside of Brisbane"

This is about half the cost of the same system here before rebates and credits.

After rebates and credits in NH it totals around $13K USD or $2 watt for 6.3KW system - 30% higher than AU and there $ is $.88 to the USD so that's even more.

The Australian's power cost is $.25 / KWH so one would think PV would be more. My thought is more demand for solar in AU drives the costs down?

 

[TnAndy]

....he said he would probably go the micro invertor if doing it today... this lets a panel drop out for whatever reason and the rest keep working at full power.

I agree....micro inverters are the way to go now. Very simple, as close to "plug and play" as you can get.

My system is a mixed bag....6kw on grid tie w/battery backup, and another 5kw on micro inverters (Enphase).

Just finished up a 10kw system for a neighbor. 40-250w Hyundai (86cents/watt) and 40-M215 Enphase inverters.

Built the racking out of 2" pipe with 2x2x3/16" galvanized angle for the panels to sit on.