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Alternative Energy Powered
- Thread starter Daniel Scherer
- Start date
would love to get more details on who you used etc. am in wake forest and getting my Red Tesla soon
and so with all of your posts quite inspired to add solar panels as well. At least 4-5kwh to start with
What they claim and what they can actually rate them at when they bring them to market is regulated. It's not likely they can get away with false claims with UL involved.
I would love to have a setup like any of these listed. But unfortunately for me I was naive when I purchased my town house and didn't understand all the consequences of living with a HOA. After trying for nearly a year to get them to understand and let me put panels up on my roof I am about to the point where I am just going to drop the idea entirely, pay off the Model S, and find a nice piece of land with no one close to me. :smile:
I have an 8.2kWh system on my roof. I think my first posts to the forum were approximately 2 years ago about this very subject.
(I put my deposit down a few months before that).
The panels are on the back of my house - light farm road
In 2012 my first full year with the panels and before my Model S arrived, I calculated a savings on my electrical bill of >$1,600.
(I put my deposit down a few months before that).
The panels are on the back of my house - light farm road
In 2012 my first full year with the panels and before my Model S arrived, I calculated a savings on my electrical bill of >$1,600.
buzzbuzz
Member
I'm starting down this road myself. S was purchased in 2012, and I will have a 5.28 kW solar panel system installed on my roof in the next couple of weeks! Very excited (pics too follow). Plan to replace our other car with a model x and expand solar as time and money allow. Driving truly zero emission (except for manufacturing, of course) will be awesome!
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We got the call that our Model S was in town and ready to be delivered right when our 5.28 kW solar installation was just about done. Talk about synergy! It's difficult getting a photo of the car with the solar system, but here are 10 of our 22 panels. The best part: with the 30% federal credit, state tax exemption, and $0.54 per kWh production incentive, this system will pay for itself in four years! And we'll still have a couple more years of incentives left, so we would end up making money. Talk about free electricity!
My payback isn't so soon. Even with the 30% federal tax credit and 25% state rebate, a 9 kW system will pay for itself in 10-15 years because I only pay about 8.5-9 cents per kWh. The SRECs may be worth about $0.20/kWh through RECAP, but the application process is first-come, first-served and is very limited from what I understand.
I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a system when the IL rebate opens up later this year.
I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a system when the IL rebate opens up later this year.
rlpm
S P85 | Sig X _P90D_
The installation guys just hooked up their test (REC) meter, and showed me my normal meter going backwards, and not slowly, either. Woohoo! Now to wait for the building inspector & power company inspector to put their stamp of approval on it & install the real REC meter. Then we'll see how close to net zero we can get across the year.
rlpm
S P85 | Sig X _P90D_
Thanks, and indeed! While they were filling in the trenches & finishing up the installation (including a 14-50 in the garage for the you-know-what), they left the test meter connected & everything switched on. According to the inverters and that test meter, the array put out 29.5 kWh between just before 9AM and just after 1PM. Double that for a full day's sunlight & we'll get nearly 60kWh. That's quite a bit above our average usage for the 13-month period ending this past December. Granted, today is very close to the equinox, when the array is tilted optimally toward the sun, and this morning there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Now what am I going to do with all the excess? Perhaps some donuts in the driveway.
Al Sherman
It's about THIS car.
17 kW solar array
I have a ground mounted 70 panel Solar World SW255 with Enphase invertors installed Dec. 2012. The array is tilted about 10 deg south and 5 deg west. It is optimized for summer on peak (noon to 7pm) production. December production averaged 58 kwh. Most recent 30 days, the average is up to 78 kwh/day with a high of 100 kwh. I'm banking some on-peak production but that will soon be used up in the summer.
My Model S was delivered 3/19. Other than the problematic radar detector mounting, we really love this car. I dropped it off yesterday to have the Huber Optik tint installed and when I picked it up, the installer had pulled it in to one of the service bays. He said so many people were admiring the car when it was parked outside, he didn't want it covered in fingerprints!
I have a ground mounted 70 panel Solar World SW255 with Enphase invertors installed Dec. 2012. The array is tilted about 10 deg south and 5 deg west. It is optimized for summer on peak (noon to 7pm) production. December production averaged 58 kwh. Most recent 30 days, the average is up to 78 kwh/day with a high of 100 kwh. I'm banking some on-peak production but that will soon be used up in the summer.
My Model S was delivered 3/19. Other than the problematic radar detector mounting, we really love this car. I dropped it off yesterday to have the Huber Optik tint installed and when I picked it up, the installer had pulled it in to one of the service bays. He said so many people were admiring the car when it was parked outside, he didn't want it covered in fingerprints!
If you don't mind the question, who did you use? As your northern neighbor I'm planning on putting a system in relatively soon and was considering Affordable Solar.
We knew that the house would start shading the panels in the afternoon from October to late March. With Enphase micro-inverters, the unshaded panels continue to produce. Whereas with a string inverter, once a few of the panels are shaded, the entire array shuts down. I relied on the installer's recommendation. He said the Enphase equipped panels wake up earlier and produce later in day. Another factor is my service entrance is very close to the array minimizing AC transmission losses. If I had elected to do a roof mount, I believe a string inverter would have been more economical. I also like the monitoring ability that the Enphase Enlighten application provides.
Hawaii Solar setup with 54 panels
On the windward side of Oahu I'm currently using 54 solar panels and I create an average of 60KwH per day. Our utility allows us to bank excess electricity created in summer for use within the next 12 months. Electricity can cost 32 cents/Kwh or more here in Hawaii, and the system will pay for itself in less than 5 years (fed and state tax credits paid for 65% of my system but tax laws have been changing in state recently).
Energy use: I use about 43Kwh/day in 2500 sq foot house with swimming pool and two rooms in house that are air conditioned and dehumidified 24/7. I plan to drive an average of about 60 miles/day in my Tesla and plan on 20Kwh/day to charge the Tesla. Pool is heated by passive panels you see on left side of photo.
I chose enphase micro-inverters because a) I received a better price quote and b) the micro-inverters are not negatively affected when a shadow reduces output on one panel the way that larger systems funneled into a single inverter can be affected. The downside of micro-inverters is that they can't quite handle maximum power output of a panel at noon in the tropics, and so I lose a small amount of power for that reason.
Now all I need is to add the Tesla! I'm waiting for one with a 40Kwh battery, and so the wait continues.
On the windward side of Oahu I'm currently using 54 solar panels and I create an average of 60KwH per day. Our utility allows us to bank excess electricity created in summer for use within the next 12 months. Electricity can cost 32 cents/Kwh or more here in Hawaii, and the system will pay for itself in less than 5 years (fed and state tax credits paid for 65% of my system but tax laws have been changing in state recently).
Energy use: I use about 43Kwh/day in 2500 sq foot house with swimming pool and two rooms in house that are air conditioned and dehumidified 24/7. I plan to drive an average of about 60 miles/day in my Tesla and plan on 20Kwh/day to charge the Tesla. Pool is heated by passive panels you see on left side of photo.
I chose enphase micro-inverters because a) I received a better price quote and b) the micro-inverters are not negatively affected when a shadow reduces output on one panel the way that larger systems funneled into a single inverter can be affected. The downside of micro-inverters is that they can't quite handle maximum power output of a panel at noon in the tropics, and so I lose a small amount of power for that reason.
Now all I need is to add the Tesla! I'm waiting for one with a 40Kwh battery, and so the wait continues.
AMPd
Well-Known Member
That's a great system you've got there, especially great in Hawaii, a state that relies on crude oil for a lot of its electricity generation
Thanks AMPd. With high electrical and fuel prices, lots of year-round sun (except when this photo was taken), and moderate temperatures, Hawaii is a natural location for a combination of solar panels and an EV. Also, since the island is only 40 miles long there's no need to ever get range anxiety, even with the small battery.
