Driving on Sunshine

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

In case the explanation will help: I voted no; I live in a condo so the approval process is far more complicated. Also I just managed to get two 60 amp EVSE's installed (live mid-Jan) so I don't want to immediately approach the strata council with another non-ROI idea. Especially because at the moment I'm the only one using the charging stations, plus an occasional visiting Volt. I have thought about it, and will continue, but I can't see the time being right in the foreseeable future.

Well, I don't think it would hurt to get the ball rolling. If you anticipate wanting to get it, it would make sense to discuss it as soon as possible so you're ready when he opportunity arises. There are management issues so the best time to get it is when the roof is due for replacement so that panel management is integrated into the roof design. Solar should only get cheaper, there would be a cost to figure out, and you could canvass opinion on whether people would be willing to pay a supplement with refunds based on output. I know you're mostly hydro, but that's actually good for solar, since it's a huge storage bank that means you can make the most of any solar power as you add demand to the grid for electric cars.

 

[dhrivnak]

Nice cool sunny day and a record 48 KWh of electricity produced from out 7.1KW array.

I am also trying to get the thread active for a few more votes as my talk at the East Tennessee Environmental conference is coming up and I am using the data from this thread in both of my talks. Thanks.

 

[dhrivnak]

Solar production is back up after the winter lull. Too bad it is the middle of winter when you need the power most.

Our system is 7.1KWh.

 

[RichardC]

Our 12KW system (54 panels) has been averaging close to 15KWHr per year, despite the occasional snow and cloudy winter weather.

 

[Robert.Boston]

@RichardC: I hope you mean 15kWh/day​

>- Updated; more likely 15k kWh/year = 41 kWh/day = 14.3% capacity factor. Pretty good for Toronto!

 

[Raffy.Roma]

@Robert

RichardC meant an average of 15 KWh per day averaged during a period of one year.

 

[Solarguy]

I think he might have meant 15,000 KWhr per year

 

[donauker]

I think he might have meant 15,000 KWhr per year

I agree, averaging 15 kWh/day would be terrible for a 12 kW system. My 16.2 kW system produces a bit over 21,000 kWh per year averaging a bit over 57 kWh per day here in PA.

 

[Lloyd]

+1, you should have your system checked. My 2.5 kw system averages 13 kWh/day over a year, but I get a little more sunshine than you.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

I agree, averaging 15 kWh/day would be terrible for a 12 kW system. My 16.2 kW system produces a bit over 21,000 kWh per year averaging a bit over 57 kWh per day here in PA.

You should consider that RichardC lives in Canada which is not very sunny.

 

[RichardC]

I think he might have meant 15,000 KWhr per year

OOPs! That is correct (15K KWHr or 15MWHr or an average of about 41KWHr per day)

Sorry for the confusion. :redface:

 

[tezco]

Our 10.2 kW array fell behind a bit in Dec and Jan, but now were back in the black, meeting the needs on the farm + the 2 EV's ,with leftover credits building again in the solar bank at Xcel. Just went back over 10 kW peak production last month; we had a hard time peaking over 8 kW in the darkest days of winter. I think we'll payback the installation in about 5 or 6 years; we got in early enough to get 20 years of REC's at 7 cent a kWh which really helps. I calculated a 6.6% return on investment over 20 years if electricity rates don't go up, but we've already had at least one price increase since the install.

 

[dhrivnak]

I gave my talks today at the East Tennessee Environmental conference, where I shared the data from TMC where nearly 60% of Tesla owners have solar and another 25% are considering it. I am glad to know I am not the only "radical" one out there. Thanks for voting.

PS also got to drive the Roadster inside the hotel/conference center how cool!

 

[TexasEV]

I gave my talks today at the East Tennessee Environmental conference, where I shared the data from TMC where nearly 60% of Tesla owners have solar and another 25% are considering it. I am glad to know I am not the only "radical" one out there. Thanks for voting.

That's very unlikely. TMC members are not necessarily representative of all Tesla owners, and on TMC there would be selection bias in those without an interest in solar probably wouldn't even click on the thread. Conducting a survey in an "energy, environment, and policy" forum is certain to find a higher percentage use or interest in solar than would be found in the general population of Tesla owners.

 

[hcsharp]

That's very unlikely. TMC members are not necessarily representative of all Tesla owners, and on TMC there would be selection bias in those without an interest in solar probably wouldn't even click on the thread. Conducting a survey in an "energy, environment, and policy" forum is certain to find a higher percentage use or interest in solar than would be found in the general population of Tesla owners.

There is probably some truth to that but much larger national pols have shown that about 40% of EV owners have installed solar. When you consider that Tesla owners are generally more affluent and educated than the average EV owner, and therefore more likely to be able to invest in a solar system, I would guess that the real percentage is somewhere in the range of 45 to 50%. Just a guess.

 

[hcsharp]

We're on track this month to easily produce more energy than we will consume with our house and 2 cars. I can't tell you how good it feels for my wife and I to be driving on clean, renewable energy. Here's a picture of our Solaflect PV tracker system. For not much more than the cost of fixed panels, we are generating about 35% more power. It also looks cool.

 

[dhrivnak]

Wow HCSharp that is a cool looking set up. Do you just have the 1 array? I would think you need two with you having two EV's. But I also guess you heat with natural gas rather than a heat pump up there. Is there a wind rating on a system like that?

 

[Brit4864]

I'm about to have a 10Kw PV system installed on my house roof. It'll be grid-tied with emergency inverter(s) feeding 2x 120v 10amp outlets. It's better than nothing I figure. My motivation is much the same as others, reduce or eliminate the FPL bill (boo, hiss!) and doing my bit for helping to conserve the environment. It seems absurd that the Sunshine State should lag Vermont in solar power usage

 

[hcsharp]

Wow HCSharp that is a cool looking set up. Do you just have the 1 array? I would think you need two with you having two EV's. But I also guess you heat with natural gas rather than a heat pump up there. Is there a wind rating on a system like that?

Heat pumps are not very efficient up here although there are new units using air that are beginning to be installed. So our electric usage is generally lower than in the South, but it costs more. WRT wind, it's been tested in hurricane wind speeds which we never experience. If you look closely at the picture you will see a wind anemometer on the upper-left corner. If the wind goes above 30mph the unit stows itself to a horizontal position with very little wind resistance. I've only seen it do that once.

I'm about to have a 10Kw PV system installed on my house roof. It'll be grid-tied with emergency inverter(s) feeding 2x 120v 10amp outlets. It's better than nothing I figure. My motivation is much the same as others, reduce or eliminate the FPL bill (boo, hiss!) and doing my bit for helping to conserve the environment. It seems absurd that the Sunshine State should lag Vermont in solar power usage

Good luck with your system! Do you have to do anything special for hurricane protection in So FL? I remember when Wilma went through there were concrete roof tiles flying everywhere. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen to solar panels. FL has net metering but I've always wondered why I don't see so much installed solar when driving around down there.

 

[Brit4864]

Good luck with your system! Do you have to do anything special for hurricane protection in So FL? I remember when Wilma went through there were concrete roof tiles flying everywhere. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen to solar panels. FL has net metering but I've always wondered why I don't see so much installed solar when driving around down there.

There's no special hurricane protection as such for installing PV systems. The building code here requires the racking attachment system to withstand 170mph winds. I had all my doors and windows replaced last year and those have similar code requirements. Most likely, unless a direct hit by a tornado, the roof section would break loose with the rack still attached lol. The most likely damage will be a panel or two taken out by flying debris which could happen anywhere. If that happens, the roof section underneath is likely to be unaffected, which is an added side benefit of having PV's installed.

As for why FL doesn't have much solar usage - lack of incentives. Apart from the 30% Federal tax credit, FL doesn't offer much. They exempt sales tax on panel and installation costs, and just last year, now exempt property tax revaluations for solar installations. FPL do have a rebate lottery scheme but it's heavily over subscribed and hard to get as well as quite a few paperwork hoops to jump though for approval.