Tesla Owners in Alberta

[beeeerock]

Sweet! That's great. Are you getting microinverters like the Enphase system that lets you track output? Microinverters also make future incremental upgrades simpler, unless you opt for an oversized single inverter.

I was back and forth on which way to go... in the end I went with optimizers and a SolarEdge inverter. It connects to the web and provides all the data you could ask for. It also talks to pvoutput.org, which I use to track my solar, hydro meter and home weather data.

Optimizers were a little cheaper and given the way the sun hits my panels, was deemed to be almost as efficient as the microinverters. Possible more reliable too, but time will tell I guess.

The SolarEdge inverter was a decision I made with the understanding that Powerwall is designed to integrate directly with their inverters. How true that is, I don't know, but all else being equal, made the decision for me.

 

[AC1K]

@AC1K, rough cost on your system? Any storage at all, or is that allowed here? Just curious. Thought about Enmax's lease deal a few years back but the numbers didn't make sense.

price below, no storage YET, one thing at a time, im a jobless bum right now, cant afford batteries. Although i do have a giant 85kWh battery in my garage, should look into hooking that up somehow (could you imagine if tesla allowed battery to grid through the car like nissan, i would be RICH!)

later down the road i can add batteries, kind of like lego, you can add and subtract all you want. The entire west side of my roof is still free for another 19-20 or so panels, if i add that on i just throw another 5kW inverter into the mix and im good.

yes, I would really like to know the cost! I am told the cost has significantly dropped, yet I have a very poor idea on what the cost is per kW. What is the timeline for your installation , and perhaps we could have demo tour of your installation.

long time no see, I believe the last time we saw each other was at the Canmore meet last year.

yeah ill for sure take pictures and one day possibly a meetup and everyone can check it out.
as far as install time, thats unknown, no later than april, skyfire is so backed up with installs for commercial that they were booked end to end for this month and march (i saw their calendar, it was just a solid block, no days off)
what was the last price you saw i cant remember what prices i saw like 10 years ago, i dont know where that paper went for the quote.

Please provide more details on your Solar order, return on investment anticipated and the like.

they say 14 years but thats under average house hold use, im not an average person, i dont spend electricity the same way others do so mine should be significantly faster.
also its based on average electricity prices, currently we are killing the rest of our coal plants, electricity may sky rocket in alberta soon (maybe not skyrocket but it should increase to cover construction costs)

Sweet! That's great. Are you getting microinverters like the Enphase system that lets you track output? Microinverters also make future incremental upgrades simpler, unless you opt for an oversized single inverter.
I'd expect ~$1 per watt for the PV modules, and then another $2k-$6k for the inverter for a rough ballpark. Solar prices keep coming down; prices are better now than they were even three or four years ago when the City of Edmonton had a rebate for 1/3 the cost of the modules.
I've always wondered about this. I thought it would be better to have a disposable film on the windshield that you then replace once or twice (or maybe three times) a year instead of getting a sandblasted, cracked, and chipped windshield. Probably less expensive than replacing windshields, but the impact on visibility might be an issue. Still, this is the 21st century, and everyone has a screen protector on his phone. We should have good clear plastic films by now!

getting 1 giant solar edge 5000 with DC optimizers on each panel, apparently its a better setup, i actually dont know enough about it.
my installed capacity is $3.66/watt, that is tax in, labor, all permits, every single dime that is leaving my pocket.
as for the windshield, i wonder why we just dont use lexan, same as attack helicopters and NASCAR windshields, when they get smacked by a rock there will be a scuff or a pit, and you just buff it out. Same material your headlights are made out of and bullet resistant glass.
alternatively transparent aluminum now exists (Aluminum oxynitride, or its commercial name ALON) and can stop bullets with much less thickness than lexan, if it can do that, im sure a pebble from a sanding truck is no big deal.

here are ballpark figures of Skyfire's system installs

my house is possibly the farthest thing from an ideal setup so my system being roughly 6kW(5.87kW which is 23×255W panels) costs $20.5K instead of $19.6K

In the end, this is not really to save money as a primary objective, its to prove a point to the rest of the world, solar and EVs make sense and CAN be done with today's tech.
Prices will drop when people jump on board. We all know that the Tesla isnt the most economical solution right now (as far as initial price), but its the right thing to do.

 

[Footbag]

In the end, this is not really to save money as a primary objective, its to prove a point to the rest of the world, solar and EVs make sense and CAN be done with today's tech.
Prices will drop when people jump on board. We all know that the Tesla isnt the most economical solution right now (as far as initial price), but its the right thing to do.

Awesome info, thanks for sharing. The point above is spot on. However, with my spare money all tied up in the car, I'm patiently waiting for solar to come down even more, and I thank people like you who buy it today, so i can get it tomorrow at a more affordable price (just like we have all collectively done with our Model S's and the upcoming Model 3).

 

[Lon12]

AC1K thanks for the information.
Well, they are saying we will have a 3 billion dollar carbon tax by 2017. So power will cost more. Hopefully there will be a rush for solar when the price of power goes up and we get some kind of motivation from the new government.

 

[Zapped]

Don't look at Enmax's plans, they're the worst deal in town for solar, (they quoted me nearly twice as much as the next highest bidder, and they didn't want to do anywhere near as large an array either (wanted to size it to offset only 10% of my use)

Also be careful about the "same amount" you pay for power, you'll find that's nowhere near the actual case. It's the same amount as your "energy charge" but that's only half of the amount you pay per kwh. End result is that, in addition to all the normal fixed fees on your bill, you still pay about twice as much to consume a kwh as they pay you for one you generate. Alberta used to have net metering, at Enmax's request we now have bi-directional metering instead, it's nowhere near as good a deal for us.

We have a 54kW system installed at our office and I thought I'd have another look at our utility bills in the last 6 months. Any excess solar power that we do not used is sold back to the grid at the same price as we consume from the grid. (fluctuating between 5.4 cents and 5.8 cents / kWh) However in the case of our commercial service there are Distribution and Transmission charges which are relatively small and have been fixed at 1.7 cents / kWh for the some months.

Where the Utility Company get us is on their Peak Demand charges (on Distribution and Transmission). It is based on the highest peak power draw during the monthly billing cycle. (a constant measurement over a 15 minute period sets the peak ). These charges are there regardless of energy consumed. Without solar this charge is 30%-40% of the bill. During summer when we over produce, the credit received basically offsets the Peak Demand charge for a zero bill. In the winter solar output is minimal, we use it all and nothing appears on the utility bill.

For a residential service the good news is that the Demand Charge DOES NOT apply at least in EPCOR service areas. However, like you said, the bad news is Distribution and Transmission charge amounts to 7.5 cents / kWh for a total of 14.00 cents +- / kWh

Certainly at work, when there is no sun to power our solar system, our 80 amp Sun Country public charger spikes the Peak Demand.
In the end it makes more sense to put in a 80 Amp charge station at home and a smaller one a work and charge at home.

 

[TLej]

Thanks AC1K, with my only optimized south-facing roof, I might be able to squeeze a 2kW system in. More output than I would have thought and less space needed than I would have thought; 2 MWh would offset my annual driving useage at least. Approaching the realm of might-be-worth-it-ness. Appreciate the info!

 

[McMuggets]

Glad to hear I'll be seeing some others there to reserve a Model 3!

Solar panels are awesome. We have 5.2kW system from
Skyfire on our south facing roof and they've been great. Zero
maintenance so far for 1.5 years now and produced on average 527kW per month! Yes enmax gives net metering only on the energy portion, but the other weird charges are theirs to shove down our throats with no questions asked. Regardless I have calculated my panels are free. Cost roughly $15,000 all in (JA solar panels, Sunnyboy inverter, install, permits, etc). Per kWh I pay times the number of kW produced makes me a bit more than interest paid on a loan at 3% (HeLoC for example) to buy the panels! Thus, in the end you have an asset and infrastructure installed as part of your home value for free courtesy of Mr. Sun. Feel clean and environmental too.

 

[AC1K]

Thanks AC1K, with my only optimized south-facing roof, I might be able to squeeze a 2kW system in. More output than I would have thought and less space needed than I would have thought; 2 MWh would offset my annual driving useage at least. Approaching the realm of might-be-worth-it-ness. Appreciate the info!

not sure why i forgot this, the picture is aligned perfectly with N and S, my house is at a strange angle to the NW. as you can see, the majority of the system is not even facing south, its facing WSW.

 

[Lon12]

Chinook Mall Chargers!

Had a nice visit at the Chinook Mall store today. They still do not have any information from HQ about the Model 3 reservation plans. We will need to keep in touch to see what plan develops.
Great news that their chargers are almost ready. Possibly by next week. There are six in total. I think they only have two or three demo cars at the moment so that would mean that we might have three reserved spots for a little while anyway.

 

[green1]

So, this weekend is shaping up to have some free time in it... Anyone interested in getting together?

 

[doubeld]

I'd like to meet up with you guys and possibly pick a few of your brains about Solar and EVs. Depending on the day, I should be able to meet up. The only TeSLA that I have is not drivable though

 

[TEUNTSLA]

i could be in on a get together, likely sunday

 

[Kenypowa]

Glad to hear I'll be seeing some others there to reserve a Model 3!

Solar panels are awesome. We have 5.2kW system from
Skyfire on our south facing roof and they've been great. Zero
maintenance so far for 1.5 years now and produced on average 527kW per month! Yes enmax gives net metering only on the energy portion, but the other weird charges are theirs to shove down our throats with no questions asked. Regardless I have calculated my panels are free. Cost roughly $15,000 all in (JA solar panels, Sunnyboy inverter, install, permits, etc). Per kWh I pay times the number of kW produced makes me a bit more than interest paid on a loan at 3% (HeLoC for example) to buy the panels! Thus, in the end you have an asset and infrastructure installed as part of your home value for free courtesy of Mr. Sun. Feel clean and environmental too.

Hey,

What's your thought on this redditor's Solar experience?

Home Solar in Calgary - Album on Imgur
Stats and Observations from Our First Year of Enmax Home Solar : Calgary

How do you calculate the cost of the panels are free?

 

[McMuggets]

Hey,

What's your thought on this redditor's Solar experience?

Home Solar in Calgary - Album on Imgur
Stats and Observations from Our First Year of Enmax Home Solar : Calgary

How do you calculate the cost of the panels are free?

I did not read the Reddit feed. However I can say that my kWh generated, multiplied by the price per kWh at average of 0.075/kWh, equates to roughly the interest payment per annum on a $15,000 loan at 3%. I just checked my numbers, I produced 9400kwh since installation almost 19 months ago. That's about 495kwh per month. Multiplied at 12 months gives 5940kwh per year produced. Multiplied by 0.075/kWh that I would have paid using that same electricity without solar panels.... $445.00 in savings. 3% of $15,000.00 is $450.00. Hence the panels are essentially paying the interest to carry a loan used to install them. Any extra in the future (due to rising electric rates) will be gravy that can be put toward paying off the loan. Of course you normally would pay off the loan yourself anyhow in the mean time. While nobody wants to take a loan unless they have to, I'm just illustrating that these panels can themselves carry the financial weight! You can also view this pessimistically as a long payback period though. depends on how you look at things. But money isn't the only reason to do solar.... Sometimes life is about more than financial metrics.

 

[Zapped]

I did not read the Reddit feed. However I can say that my kWh generated, multiplied by the price per kWh at average of 0.075/kWh, equates to roughly the interest payment per annum on a $15,000 loan at 3%. I just checked my numbers, I produced 9400kwh since installation almost 19 months ago. That's about 495kwh per month. Multiplied at 12 months gives 5940kwh per year produced. Multiplied by 0.075/kWh that I would have paid using that same electricity without solar panels.... $445.00 in savings. 3% of $15,000.00 is $450.00. Hence the panels are essentially paying the interest to carry a loan used to install them. Any extra in the future (due to rising electric rates) will be gravy that can be put toward paying off the loan. Of course you normally would pay off the loan yourself anyhow in the mean time. While nobody wants to take a loan unless they have to, I'm just illustrating that these panels can themselves carry the financial weight! You can also view this pessimistically as a long payback period though. depends on how you look at things. But money isn't the only reason to do solar.... Sometimes life is about more than financial metrics.

Alternatively if you consider solar as a $15,000 investment, where can you get 3% these days ? Makes total cents.

 

[Lon12]

But money isn't the only reason to do solar.... Sometimes life is about more than financial metrics.

Exactly. I would love to go solar. Do I need to worry about what the neighbours think? Has anyone had problems with it not fitting in with the architectural restrictions of a development?
When you see the fight that is developing in Nevada and Florida with the big utilities it makes me want to sign up sooner than later. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-koch-brothers-dirty-war-on-solar-power-20160211

 

[Lon12]

v7.1(2.12.45)

Just installed the update this morning. Took less than 20 minutes to install.

 

[Lon12]

Ooh ooh I want better nozzles too, I hate the current two-stream setup.

I have just been informed that the other nozzles will not work with a car that has the cold weather package. I would be willing to give up the heaters if it ment a better spray pattern.

 

[green1]

I have just been informed that the other nozzles will not work with a car that has the cold weather package. I would be willing to give up the heaters if it ment a better spray pattern.

Any more details on these nozzles? Do they actually provide a better wash? can we actually get them? I don't have the cold weather package, and I would LOVE some useful wiper nozzles!

 

[McMuggets]

Exactly. I would love to go solar. Do I need to worry about what the neighbours think? Has anyone had problems with it not fitting in with the architectural restrictions of a development?
When you see the fight that is developing in Nevada and Florida with the big utilities it makes me want to sign up sooner than later. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-koch-brothers-dirty-war-on-solar-power-20160211

I have not heard of many issues with restrictions except in some newer cookie-cutter neighbourhoods. The ones where they restrict the type of fencing wood you use (cedar only, etc). Some people in Elbow Valley apparently have tight restrictions where the neighbours want the solar panels to not look like panels and instead look flush with the roof. Crazy really that picky people like that still exist. As for me, I've had zero issues with my neighbours and only have had people inquiring about solar and asking for info on getting their own system installed. To me, solar panels are so non-invasive I wouldn't know why anyone would be against them except that they are offended by the idea of renewable tech.