Friday, March 8, 2013

Solar

On Monday we finally got our solar panels turned on, just so they could see our cloudy weather all week. We contracted for them to get put in last August. At the time they said the panels would be up in October. Then November. Then definitely before the end of the year. Well they were installed in January. They said two weeks and they would have the paperwork done to turn them on. So finally in March it happened. I feel like I've been waiting forever for it. Now we just need the sun to come out for them to really produce.

The system is a 6kW system which should produce most of the electricity that we use. You can go here to see the roof (which is shared with our townhouse mates) and solar production (on just our side of the roof). So far we have made 26kWhs. Or $4.68 in energy at our rates. Well not even that. The electric company charges $7/month in connection costs. That doesn't even start to cover the costs of the installation itself. But hey it is a start. I've wanted solar on my roof forever, so now I have it.

11 comments:

  1. We also have solar and I love it! it definitely works best in summer but even in cloudy days it helps minimize the cost. Plus with all federal and state rebates and from selling solar credits we'll be actually out of the red and making some money on it too.

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  2. Well it's a start! I love the real-time dashboard arrangement so that you can see how much energy you have generated. In the Summer the figures will go up a lot, I'm sure.

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  3. We had a 2kw system installed on spring and thanks to a very hot and sunny summer (melbourne, australia) we recently got our first non bill, ie almost $100 in credit. it's a great thing and I hope the sun shines soon for you!!


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  4. We have solar too (and I also work for a solar distributor) - heat negatively affects solar production - so even though you think that you'd produce more in the summer - its not necessarily true. it is such a great feeling to know your power is produced by the sun!

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  5. How wonderful, Daphne!! I wish we could get this on our home.

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  6. It must be wonderful to have solar power to help with the electricity bills! Nancy

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  7. You'll love it! Hope you have a monitor in the house so you watch the production. When we had the old style electric meter, we'd watch the meter spin backwards as we sent electricity back onto the grid. We've had panels for nine years and make about 75% of the energy we use.

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  8. How exciting! I like that you get data and graphs to watch the amount of power produced. I'd love to have solar panels someday.

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  9. Somehow I have missed that you have solar!! Must have been blind and focused on just checking out the yummy garden.

    That is awesome to see others on here with solar setups, too!

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