Snow, part 2
Yesterday was the first day since the big snow last weekend where the inverters ever woke up. The snow melted off the panels on Wednesday when the temperature finally climbed over 32F, and on Thursday we got some power.
Interestingly, the inverter with the smaller number of panels had the bigger day, due to the fact that some panels on the other inverter were still partially snow-covered.
It was still 1/2 of what we should have gotten on a similar day with no snow on the panels, but at least we got something. Tomorrow, the temps are supposed to go above freezing again and the last snow should melt. (Today’s low was 4F!)
Snow
One of the questions that we’ve had about solar panels was: “What happens when it snows?”
We learned the answer yesterday. We got 15 inches of snow between 10am Saturday and 10am Sunday. The inverters produced nothing on Saturday (not a surprise – the sun was hard to see). On Sunday, the panels were 90% covered with an inch to 4 inches of snow (guestimated from the ground). We got nothing.
Today, the skies are brighter but it’s STILL cold (it was 5 degrees F at 7am this morning), so I don’t expect the panels to be uncovered today. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and above freezing.
Solar PV Energy Payback Discussion
I posted an entry below about the shortest day of the year. In the comments, a reader John Pickens responded with comments about the belief that my system will never produce enough energy to repay the energy used to create the components (panels, etc). I believe that he is incorrect.
UPDATED 12/29/2004 4:47pm EST
Below is the discussion (click the link to continue reading):
Shortest Day of the Year
Well, yesterday was the shortest day of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere.
I haven’t seen the numbers from yesterday’s production, but we’ve been getting 9-12 kWh out of the solar panels on a sunny day in December. Compare that to the record of 42 kWh on a sunny day in June, and you can see what a difference the lower angle of sunshine and shorter days has on the system.
Of course, we aren’t using the air conditioning at the moment either, so our usage is down. We are using lights for longer hours in the evening and even morning now.
So now we turn back to longer days. Our “net producer” months are predicted to be April, May and a bit of June.
Here Come the Fuzz
Yesterday afternoon, I had a DirecTV installer working at my house on cable issues. He was parked out front. About mid-afternoon, a police car starts cruising around the neighborhood. The car came to a stop right next to my installer, and the officer inside started talking to my installer. I saw all of this from the window.
So, I high-tailed it outside to see what was up. When I got within ear-shot, my installer said, “Here’s the guy you need to talk to.” (Gulp.)
So the officer says, “Are those solar panels on your roof?”
(Whew!)
I proceeded to explain a bit about them and their costs. It turns out that the officer lives a few blocks from me, has been considering panels, and recently noticed mine. He had questions about costs and who installed it. I gave him the name of my solar installer and the address for this website.
So, for Officer Jones (his real name – might be Corporal or Sergeant, I wasn’t paying attention), here are your links.
The panels were installed by Jersey Solar, LLC (website). The total cost was $52,000 but the state rebate pays about 70%, so my cost was about $16,000. Click the Major Event Entries link to the left for an index to articles and pictures of the whole process. If you need anything else, please feel free to e-mail me at the link on the left.
Renewable Energy Feasibility – NJ
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities commissioned a study to determine whether or not it would be feasible to require that 20% of NJ’s energy needs be met by renewables by 2020. They received the results last week. (Press Release)
The study results show that increasing the requirement to 20% by 2020 would only result in a 3.7% increase in electric rates – which is negigible over the 16 year period. It’s important to note that this scenario assumes significant cost-reducing technology changes for wind and PV (solar) production. The report leans heavily on wind-generated power including off-shore wind installations in it’s estimates.
Interestingly, the report promises 11,700 jobs related solely to the production and installation of solar and wind technology in NJ. The report also points to reduction in natural gas prices as a result as demand for natural gas in utility production of electricity declines. And of course there are the health benefits of reducing polluting methods of producing electricity.
I have to admit – I’m a little skeptical of the results. For one thing, they base their estimates on the best case scenario – that we would have significant cost reduction for wind and PV power in the 20 years. However, I’m strongly in favor of anything that makes NJ cleaner and less dependent on fossil fuels.
Zero Day
We had our first zero production day last Friday. It rained heavily all day long, and the inverters never “woke up” from the night before.
At this point about midway through Fall, we’re getting about 15 KWh between the two inverters on a solid sunny day (which have been many lately).
PSE&G Follies, again
Well, I got to October 15 and hadn’t received my September net metering bill. I called PSE&G, and was told that the right person was out of the office and would get my message on Tuesday, October 19. My meter reading was on September 20.
Flash forward to today. I called again. Now, we’re past my meter reading of October 19. Still no bill.
They called me back this afternoon, and e-mailed the bill to me. It seems that the system is STILL not set up correctly to re-route my regular bill to them for net metering capture and re-billing. So, they issued a combined September and October bill, which I will pay tonight.
I really hope that they get this right soon. I’ve had my system running since June and they still haven’t billed me properly without MY prompting.
The good news is that my system output more than half (755) of what I consumed in input (1427). That means that I bought less than 1/2 of my external flow from the utility. That’s probably on track for a 2/3 usage from solar – I’ll have to look at the solar production to see for sure. There was some air conditioning time in there too – it runs back into August.
Seasonal Changes
As the seasons change and we move towards winter, the difference in sunlight is apparent in our solar production.
Back in mid-June, on a very sunny day our system would produce about 40 kWh per day. Here in early October, we’re down to about 20 kWh. There are two factors here:
1. Amount of sunlight – put simply – the days are getting shorter. Here in NJ, we’re getting about 4 hours less daylight than we were back in June. (15 hours in June, about 11.5 hours now)
2. Angle of the sun. Our array faces east (well, it’s really about 100 degrees so a little south of east). In June, the sun was at it’s maximum height above the equator, and while not directly overhead as close as perpendicular to the panels as we’re gonna get at sunrise. Now, the sun is farther south. A one-inch square shaft of sunlight covers a greater area on the panels now. Less energy is received per square inch of panel. Therefore, less output.
We record our inverter “meter” readings every night. (I admit it – we’re geeks.) Back in June, we had to wait until 8:00 or 8:30pm before we recorded the day’s reading. Now, by the time I get home from work the inverters are off for the night. In another month, it will be dark by the time I get home.
Now the good side – we’re giving more power back to the utility. With less sun, we have less need for air conditioning. We have the house set for heat most days now (as opposed to A/C) and our natural gas furnace only needs electricity to run the blower fan instead of the big A/C compressor. I suspect that we are pushing MOST of our produced power out to the utility during the day (the usage being only phantom loads like power transformers for the answering machine and the occasional draw from the refrigerator). Of course, we buy some more back in the evenings with lighting, but we’re still netting more out at the moment.
Predictions found online state that our system will be a net producer for the months of March, April and May as we have longer days and better sun angle without the heavy A/C usage of the summer. I’m willing to bet that October is gonna give those months a run for their money.
September might have been a good month as well, but we had FAR too many gloomy days caused by the 4 major hurricanes to hit the US (which ended up as rainy days for us).
Our Installer’s Website
If you take a look today at the Jersey Solar website or the Projects page there, you might see a familiar house!
(Top on the home page, 4th on the right on the Projects page)
That picture IS the picture that you see here, though I gave Rick the full-byte version to play with.
We’re famous!
Web Stuff
