1 month of solar 10/7/09-11/8/09

I don't yet have a good monitoring solution so I'm going to just do Monthly Total Generation and Maximum Generation stats. So far it's looking good, even without my tree being trimmed so that the solar array is blocked at least partially every day here is what I generated:
Max Generated: 6686 W
Total Generated: 620KWh

So by my calculations from my records, even in winter with my system not receiving all the light it should because of my tree (getting that fixed next week) I am generating about two times more than I use any month of the year that I live by myself. During the summer I will generate a great deal more, and I haven't yet had a chance to use an energy monitor to get rid of the biggest uses of power. So I should be doing really great once the tree is trimmed and I've reduced my electricity usage even further through efficiency.

One thing this doesn't include is the power usage of the hot tub. I've only had it a month and a half and only 2 weeks of that was before the solar was functional. So I'm not sure how much power it is pulling a month. That is one of the things I want to use the energy monitor for. Even with the hot tub I should be generating more than I use every month of the year, and quite a lot more during the summer months. It looks like this plan is going to work out.

I'm not yet sure how to calculate my total savings, there are some confounding factors and I haven't quite come up with an algorithm that will take everything into account. So I may have to wait until I've had the whole set up for an entire year before I can calculate how long it will take for it to pay for itself.

One Block off the Grid

Hey! I got mentioned in the 1BoG site. Signing up with them was instrumental in getting the price for the array down to the price range I could afford this year. 1BoG

Getting my trees taken care of, including cutting the walnut back so that it doesn't shade the roof is going to cost about 1/2 what I expected just taking care of the walnut was going to cost. So that's making me really happy. Hopefully they'll get around to doing the work soon.

WOOHOO!

I came home today, after 1.5 weeks of hearing absolutely nothing about the progress of my paperwork or project to find a plastic clip on the sidewalk. I recognized it as the clips the electric company puts on their panels and looked up to the panel to find a shiny new NET electrical meter. I was elated! Then I realized that nobody had notified me this change was being made, and so I hadn't been able to shutdown my servers. That's very bad.

I go inside and am absolutely baffled by the fact that the power has clearly not been off in my house. That's right, they switched out my electrical meter without disconnecting my power. How is that possible? I haven't the faintest idea.

I'd sent off an email several days ago bitching about the project management on this project. The guy was just terrible at communicating project status. I basically never knew what was going on except the three days the crew was here doing the installation, because they kept me well informed and always showed up to work on time, etc.

Anyway, so without any communications at all, I sent off an email to the sales guy several days ago. Nothing. Sent off another email to him and the head of the colorado division. Nothing. Today I sent an email to the sales guy, the head of the colorado division, the project manager and the Operations Manager for Arizona and Colorado.

Then I called Xcel. Xcel verified they'd installed a NET meter for me, and that they believed I was good to go on the solar installation, but the guy that answered the phone couldn't be positive. We agreed it would be better to wait for verification from Xcel and REC before I turned anything on.

Then I got a phone call from Jason Zink the Operations Manager for Arizona and Colorado. He first apologized for all the problems, and said that my complaints were not falling on deaf ears, then walked me through verifying that everything was ready.

Then he walked me through turning the system on. Now...it's 6pm on October 6th so it's unlikely the system is generating enough electricity to even power up the DC side of the system, but still...It's on. Tomorrow morning it'll start generating massive amounts of electricity. SO FUCKING COOL!

And I found another company to come take care of the shade problem, so sometime this week someone will be out to tell me if I get to keep my black walnut tree or not, and hopefully give me some advice on my other tress health also. I really hope I get to keep the black walnut...I hate to have to cut down trees.

So close!

The hole in the wall is fixed, everything is installed. My understanding is that now I just have to wait for the paperwork to get to Xcel, then I have to start pushing them to install my bi-directional meter. Once that is done, I can start actually using all this equipment I paid so much for.

Woohoo! Solar officiall completely installed!

I have fully inspected and approved solar panels! Assuming they patch the hole in my wall on Monday like they said, I am done with REC Solar. Once all the paperwork is turned in, I start the push to get Xcel to come install the bi-directional meter. I was told "it can take as long as 30 days" up until today when the project manager said "6 weeks, but lately they've been a little faster about it". UGH! So it may be 6 weeks before I get to turn my system on...meanwhile it sits there slowly losing efficiency.

I still can't get Tree Pros to even call me back about taking care of my tree. If they don't contact me today or answer the phone when I call, I'm calling their biggest competitor.

This may yet happen!

The inverter is installed, all the wiring is done. The inspection is supposed to be tomorrow. So...assuming the inspection goes well tomorrow then all I have left to do is get Xcel out here to install the bi-directional meter and give me the go ahead to power on, and I'm hot.

Of course...I still have to get someone to look at my tree...I'm having real problems getting these guys out here and that's getting annoying.

Nearing the end!

The person that is going to install my inverter is supposed to be on the way to my house right now. All he's got to do is install the inverter, hook it up, connect the last connection on the panels and then test to make sure it works. Then tomorrow the inspection is supposed to happen. Assuming that goes well, they are supposed to close up my wall and be finished. Then it's a matter of getting Xcel out to inspect everything and put in the new bi-directional meter and then I'm producing electricity from sun light! If my calculations are right, I should be producing about twice to three times what I use. Especially once I've got my new efficient refrigerator and dishwasher and gone through the house with a power meter and switched out all the vampiric electronics.

At least, that's what I have planned...by the end of all this I'll be pretty close to entirely out of money so we'll see.