Bogieblog

Solar for June 2025

Update 7/9/2025: I was finally able to upload the two screenshots that I was missing for the solar discussion. However, apparently I am limited to 2 pictures uploading per day as it would not allow me to upload the flower pictures at the end.

Let me first say, the year is going by so fast that I at first typed "May" in the title instead of June. And secondly, although the gardens are doing alright, I only had a couple of pictures from July 2nd showing some bees - but there are no pictures since Typepad stopped allowing any pictures to upload after the first two (for various "reasons").

I thought June 2025 was going to be another bust for solar production, as it seemed there was never-ending cloudiness. I did know it would be better than May 2025 though. To my surprise, the charts show that I had a pretty good month.

June 2025 production, at 950 kwh, was between the numbers produced for June in 2023 and 2024

Imagine screenshot here showing June 2023 at 838 kwh and June 2024 at 979 kwh - able to upload on 7/9/2025

However, the yearly total thru June, with production of 1874 kwh, shows it is still way behind in 2025.

Imagine screenshot here of 2023 total thru June being 2299 kwh and 2024 total thru June being 2040 kwh - able to upload on 7/9/2025

Imagine pictures here of Winterberry and butterfly weed blooms with bees (as of 7/9/2025, still can't upload these pictures)

 

May 2025 Solar is Another Disappointment

I try to be very open and transparent about my solar system. This past February was a solar production bust, and May was not good either. This year is shaping up to be the worst year I've had so far.

May, has historically been one of my highest producing months. May 2023 was my first month that made 1.1Mwh. That is a combination of the sun angle being higher, and that the trees aren't fully clothed for part of the month. However, this May was nothing but heavy clouds and rain - it was the 3rd rainiest May on record since 1868. There were only two completely sunny days (5/1 & 5/11). And two days I didn't even make as much as I used - which is sad, because I used an average of 5.47kwh per day.

So, although it comes as no surprise, it is disappointing that my May 2025 production was at 750kwh. That is 164kwh less than my previous worst May, and 350kwh less than my most successful May. 

It doesn't change things in the scheme of things for the month of May, because I made way more than I used so received a bunch of credits for the month. My bills from the utility are still at $0.00. But because of the poor production for both February and May of this year, come January and February of next year, this could absolutely affect if I have enough credits left to offset my usage.

Not that I'm in the poor house or anything, so it pretty much comes down to my whining about the weather - LOL.

After the Late Winter Thaw

Sometime near the end of February or beginning of March we usually get a break and have a short thaw. This year we needed it as, even though we didn't have any huge snow totals from any one storm, we had consistent storms throughout February. That can be demonstrated thru my lack of solar collection from the rooftop panels.

Versus the 1st four days in March. And I can tell you, that some panels still had snow on them until March 5th. Two days were pretty heavily overcast also and I still generated within 5kwh what had been generated in the total of February with 83.4 kwh generated (Imagine a bar chart here - because TP won't upload the pic - it won't allow me to load anymore pics than the first one).

The local news said that it was also the coldest winter in 10 years, which my pellet usage will attest to. I ran the P43 for the main floor heat most of the month. I also raised the set temp of the basement stove up a couple of degrees to 70*. That was to help keep the under-house garage from going below freezing. I keep a temp sensor in the garage for just that purpose since FHW pipes run thru there. Indeed, there were about 5 days that several times each day for 60-90 minutes each time, I opened the connecting door to the garage to allow the big stove downstairs to heat it.

Even though we have had "thawing" (temps over freezing - with one day near 50) Monday thru Wednesday, I measured yesterday and I still have 10-11" of snowpack in the yard. I had to measure at the side of a path since everything is so compressed from the sleet/freezing rain/rain that followed nearly every storm that I couldn't even make a dent in it so measure anywhere else.

Friday we had crazy winds, even worse than last weekend. There were a lot of snapped trees that took out power poles and electrical lines. Some just blocked roads. I experienced a short power outage of about 5 seconds as a tree came down and blocked my road a couple of blocks south of me (I couldn't see it and just found out about it from the FB page I follow). Fortunately that direction is on the receiving end of the electric flow, so the power outage was very brief as the system shut down in that direction and re-stabilized on my end. 

Yesterday was also pretty windy, but not to the whistling, moaning and howling that was characteristic of all of Friday. Today the winds are to settle down to the teens mph, but temps won't rise above freezing until during the week.

 

Biggest Storm of Season (so far)

We got snow Saturday thru Sunday morning. We got icing thru a lot of the day Sunday, then it turned back to snow overnight. With all the sleet/freezing rain, I elected not to do any clean up until the storm was over. I had already arranged a PTO day for Monday, anticipating this scenario.

Early Monday morning the winds started to pick up. So measuring the depth of the snow/ice would have been useless. Some of the pathways that I keep clear had about 20" in them, but I'm sure that drifting had a lot to do with it. I'm guessing I got about a foot in actuality. Since the wind was supposed to really start honing around 10am, I got out early to clean up and finished up around 9am.

I had arranged for the berm from the road plows to be plowed by an individual. I'm glad I decided to do that since during clean up of the driveway, the last 5-7' were packed so tightly that it would have been way more work than I wanted to do. After the guy plowed out the berm Monday afternoon, I still had to tackle around the mailbox. That took me quite a while and a lot of oomph and strategizing how I would break it up enough to blow the mess out of the way.

Picture from the news Monday evening. Antrim is 2 miles down my road, and Sunapee is about 7 miles from me as the crow flies.

See that white strip just above Jaffrey? Yeah, I'm in that section and can attest that I have over 2' of snow pack (the ground hasn't been snow free for quite some time). And, most of the snows we have received have ended up with icing events so it got packed down pretty tightly.

We've gotten a break since that storm. We had been getting storms every 3 days or so, but nothing since Monday. However, there hasn't been any melting going on. Even my roof hasn't dumped or had much melting since prior to the storm BEFORE this last one.

I have never had a month so bad for solar production before; the following screen shot tells the whole story (the one, and only clear roof day was 2/7/2025). The solar production showing from yesterday, is from 2-3 panels on the west side that are mostly clear (there are 6 panels on that side).

To give you an idea of how bad this is, my solar production for February from previous years

My lowest solar production month ever was November 2022, at 114 kwh, which is when the panels were installed. In that case, production did not start until the middle of the month (11/16/22), when they finally hooked up the new meter and gave me the okay to flip the switch. The next worst months were January 2023 & 2024 where total production was 116kwh each.

I'm hoping the roof will clear with the warmer weather we are supposed to have the next couple of days, but we'll see.

March 2024 Solar Report

In comparing solar production from March 2023 to March 2024, they look pretty much the same at 0.7kwh more produced in 2024 than in 2023..

But, in looking at it more closely, you can tell it was cloudier during March of 2024 than in 2023. I know that doesn't seem to jive, until you see that there were 3 days in 2023 with absolutely no production and two days with nearly no production (all from snow cover / power outage). taking the monthly production and dividing by 28 (days with at least some production), the daily average is 20.025 kwh / day

2024 only had 1 day with absolutely no production due to snow cover. Taking the monthly production and dividing by 30 days (days with some production), the daily average is 18.713 kwh/day.

Extrapolating further, if each of those non-production days had produced the average for that month, March 2023 would have produced a total of 620.775 kwh and March 2024 would have produced 580.103 kwh - a difference of 40.672 kwh.

I realize all that is meaningless in the long run, but does tell me that I wasn't crazy for thinking it was a cloudier March than usual.

Eclipse 2024

Monday, April 8, NH was in the path of the total eclipse. Unfortunately, my area is not in the path of totality, but I was at 95-96% range. A gajillion people from both NH and other parts of the USA headed up to the northern part of the state to view this celestial event, but I was not one of them. (source for graphic below)

Fortunately, the event was scheduled to occur shortly before 3:30pm, and the skies were for the most part clear (for a change - sun has been hard to come by since last year). I logged off work a little early and sat in front of the shed to view the event - using appropriate solar glasses of course.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to study how to get my phone or camera to capture the eclipse. After taking a couple of pics that just showed a big red/yellow disk, I decided to just give up and watch the show.

Even at the relatively little light we experienced at the greatest coverage of the sun, it was still quite bright out. Shadows were still crisp and no wildlife showed signs of calling it a night. Part of that may be because it was literally still lighter than the heavily overcast skies we have experienced regularly.

My solar array did show a cool progression. The moon started sliding over the sun at about 2:30, and had completely passed the sun about 4:30. Production is recorded in 15 minute intervals:

 

Compared to an overcast day, on 4/10/2024, which at times gave the same low input of 0.3kwh as the fullest part of the eclipse my area experienced.

All-in-all, cool to see.

Solar Monthly Comparisons Between Years

With just slightly over a year of solar under my belt, I thought I would do a comparison.

December of 2022 Versus 2023. It was interesting that I had more production in 2023 (the blue numbers in the pictures). At the same time, there were more snow storms in 2022, so there were 3 zero production days and 2 very low production days (some of the panels were still snow covered).

In 2023 there no zero production days and 3 days with a slight snow cover hampering production (which attests to the plethora of heavily overcast days we have had this season)

 

Comparing January 2023 with January 2024

This was interesting as the total production was basically equal between the two years (116.7kwh versus 116.9 kwh).

 

If you study the pictures, which I'm sure you haven't, the energy I've imported this season sky-rocketed compared to last season. There is a simple explanation for that; last season I used the main floor pellet stove exclusively for heating. I had lots of pellets I'd gotten for cheap, and the electric prices were sky high, so I used the cheapest method. I still use the basement pellet stove as that is the only heater down there.

This year, pellet prices have rocketed up, and electric prices have dropped. I had plenty of credited dollars with the electric company from overproduction during the summer. So, it has been cheaper to use the mini-split on the main floor for heat. I did use the P43 for 4-5 days when it was frigid and the wind was blowing, but for the most part the P43 has been resting with occasional use to give a shot of warmth on mornings I wash my hair (doubles as a heater and a blow drier - LOL).

And despite the screaming for people to go all electric (for whatever reason - doesn't matter and I'm not getting into the politics/beliefs), my utility company sent this breathtaking comparison for December usage which is basically complaining about me going mostly electric this year (yes, there is a difference in usage shown, but that is because of the "month" they use). Note that when they show "February usage" at the bottom, that is actually January 2023, they actually mean what was billed in February (they bill at the beginning of the month, so I don't have any idea why they make it confusing like that).

In that same email, they suggest ways to save energy - LOL

Sure, to "save energy" I need to add appliances like dehumidifiers and air purifiers. Not to mention, during winter high humidity is the very last worry I have.

It was good for a chuckle anyway :)

Tree Cutting Should Benefit Me

This makes me sad, but at the same time may benefit me. The owner of the lot behind me (a parking lot for the apartments to my northeast side) had some trees cut down yesterday. Since that is to the east of me, my eastern solar array should see a bit of a production hike. Probably not much during the winter, but spring and summer will most likely benefit.

Although I'm not sure that the owner of the property will be happy about the ruts they left from the bucket truck that they had to pull out with a tractor (it's been warm enough the last few days that the frozen upper layer has thawed).

 

A Neighbor Joins in Solar Energy

Last week, as I was closing the shades and curtains of the living room bay window, something caught my eye. Well, look at that, a block away someone had solar installed on the east side of their roof.

I don't know when it happened, but it was recently as I checked their tax card and saw the install had been inspected and approved late October. To be fair, the tree line had lost its leaves fairly recently also, so that may be why it took me so long to notice. Also, there has been so much construction on different houses within hearing (even if not within site), that I would not have noticed any extra noise. AND, it isn't like I keep tabs on anything going on - except at the houses that have been empty as they work on them.

Looks like they have 17 panels, 3 less than my house, but they don't have the same shade issues that I have. I believe that house is actually comprised of a main house and 2-3 apartments, so I would assume that solar array is just for the owner's portion. Actually sort of surprised since electric rates went down quite a bit in August. But rates are so volatile around here, changing every 6 months, and they could double in January for all anyone knows.

I also know that someone further to the south on that street (south is left of the picture) had solar installed last year around the same time as mine was installed. In their case, their roof goes south/north, so it was installed on the south side.

Solar Report for October 2023

October is the transition point of this year. From the end of March on, the west side has outperformed solar generation of each of the other two sides. Technically, the west still outproduced each side, but if all things were equal, the east side would have edged it out.

The west produced 137.2 kwh, the east 119.6 and the south 119.7. This tells us a few things:

1. The trees on the east still have leaves so are hampering production - after all, the south side has 1 less panel than the east side
2. The sun trajectory has changed quite a bit and is now setting more to the southwest.
3. The west side (which is actually WNW) production will soon fall behind the production of the south side. Taking the average panel production of the east side, dividing it by the number of panels, then adding that to the total actual production, the south side would have edged out the west side by about 2 kwh

Again, as it has been since about the beginning of June, October month was extremely cloudy. We didn't get much rain, but dang, I only saw the sun a couple of days during the month. Some days it was dang near dark as can be seen by the days there was very little production (blue is production and orange is total usage).

So depending on how sunny November is (it's not looking good these first 5 days), electrical production probably won't keep up with my usage and I'll start eating into my credits from net metering. Actually, this is a given. On November 1st, I shut off the main floor pellet stove and started using the mini split to heat for the following reasons:

• Electric prices are cheap right now - half what they were this time last year,
• Thusly, I am making squat for overages ($6.18 for October), so there is no reason to try. I "sold" the 134 kwh (net overage) for about $30.00. After non-refundable fees of various types (like being hooked up to a meter at all), I made a total of $6.18
• I have $763 "banked" from the net metering
• Pellet prices are very high this year at $350/ton for the middling stuff that I usually burn. So, although the 4 tons I have were bought 1.5-2 years ago and didn't actually didn't cost me much (probably $800-900), their actual value is at $1,400. I'll save the tonnage that doesn't go into the basement stove for when it is really cold and windy out.

I did start the basement stove up the beginning of last week to keep it in the mid 60's. Of course that is the only heat down there and it also serves to keep the main floor floors warmer. And at this point, it is only firing a couple times a day since the ground isn't very cold yet.

Currently, this year (not counting Nov-Dec of 2022), I have produced about 6.4 mwh. Doesn't look like I'll get to 7 mwh, but that is still an impressive number - especially for the abundance of non-sunny weather we've had the last 6 months.