Sunshine on my shoulders
March 31, 2008
Makes me happy – our new solar panels have produced approx. 42% of our electricity since September. We hope the panels (Sharp 2.7 kilowatt array, Fronius inverter) will meet 55% of our electrical needs each year.
Debate on how to calculate actual production involved a mathematician, a physicist, and a master electrician. The English major was clearly over-simplifying the math.
I’m learning that solar harvest, like a garden’s, is seasonal. January’s production was discouragingly low. March, with many snowy days, has been a surprise. The system often produces at capacity at mid-day. Fall and spring may be our top-producers. While folks in more temperate, low-lying parts of the country are planting tomatoes and ground cherries, feasting on spring peas, we harvest the sun.
The panels were expensive, even with utility rebates. At least this investment is outperforming the stock market.
Entry Filed under: Green Notes. Tags: Fronius, PV, Sharp, solar, solar panels.
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1.
Lauralyn | April 1, 2008 at 5:23 am
You go! I’m still part of the problem. I’m going to look into this for a couple of years down the road…
2.
sarahemc2 | April 3, 2008 at 7:13 pm
This is so lovely and wonderful! We looked at solar panels, but in the end the energy audit showed it would take thirty-seven years for them to produce the energy expended in creating -installing them. (We live in a hollow, so just not enough sun.)
Way to be a good steward, you!
3.
inktarsia | April 3, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Didn’t look seriously at length of payback on the solar investment - we knew it would be darn long time! The time for us was right, though, when the local utility began to offer grid-tie for PV solar, thanks in part to Colorado’s Amendment 37 legislation. This made a huge difference, because adding solar was no longer an all-or-nothing option.
Grid-tie capability opened the door for us to do what we could in making our own electricity. We didn’t have roof space or cash to install enough PV panels to meet all our needs. But we got partway there, somewhere between 42% and 67%, depending on who’s doing the math in our house.