Bogieblog

May 2023 Solar Report

May was a good month for solar production. My arrays produced over 1 megawatt, most of which was pushed back to the grid for my neighbors to use. That was despite having several "dark" days from heavy overcast. But with the higher sun angle, there is only 1 day that I used more than I produced (actually when I look at the report, I produced 11.8 and used 11.8, so it's a wash).

The west side continues to "shine" (pun intended). Each of its panels produced more energy than any of the panels on the east or south sides. The west side produced a total of 439 kwh, the east side produced 380 kwh and the south side produced 347 kwh (the south side having one less panel than either of the other two sides).

And of course the results of that were I owe the power company $0, plus received a $210 credit.

So adding in the smaller credits from the previous 2 months, I have a total of $366 credit to draw against next winter.

Next month's usage will surely go up quite a bit. With temps in the 90s the last two days, I turned on the mini split (afternoons and evenings) and window fans (early mornings) to keep the house at a reasonable temperature. However, today thru Tuesday, temps are supposed to be a lot lower - I may even have to run the pellet stove occasionally. It's all up to mother nature, so we'll see.

April 2023 Solar Production Report

Despite 6 days of very little production (2.9 - 10.1 kwh produced), I still logged in a respectable 774 kwh produced in April.

I use anywhere from 6.5 to 10 kwh per day; most of the difference is use of the clothes drier. The west side produced more per panel than either of the other sides (except for 1 panel on the south side).

I do enjoy that with the 3 sides of panels, I start producing some energy about 7 am and it goes thru about 7 pm (as of yesterday). I've seen some houses with panels only on the south side, or east side and wonder how much of the day they get production. Of course the circumstances of the house orientation and roof style impact the configuration.

With the trees starting to leaf out, although at this point they are barely leaflets, it will be interesting to see what the effect is on the east and south sides in the coming months. I don't expect them to reduce production (because the sun angle will be higher). But will production increase on those side? And if so by how much, percentage wise, as compared to the west side increase?

And, as an aside, I added a "Solar" Category for posts. I believe I have updated all previous entries starting from my investigations into solar thru the install and activation, including the tree work and chimney work I had done, and of course my reports on solar production. Hopefully I caught them all because apparently searching for the word "solar" doesn't actually bring up every post that mentions solar, or even has solar in the title.

Shortening - Not the Kitchen Type Though

The chimney for the boiler and water heater has been a PITA lately.

1. I've been watching it because it seemed like the top couple of layers of block were showing signs of damage.
2. It didn't have a covering so any rain/snow came right into the building envelop. The moisture did not seep out of the cleanout in the basement - but it was going somewhere, and I wouldn't doubt that it contributed to the moisture that seeps up thru the basement floor.
3. Since I put in the solar array, it has been very evident that on sunny days one panel is really affected by the shadow it cast, and another is somewhat affected.

I contacted a local mason (the town FB page is very handy for finding the local people that don't really advertise and go by word-of-mouth), he came and looked at it last Sunday.

Now, in my dreams, I would have had the chimney removed. It is in the middle of the house and takes up valuable kitchen space, and then more space in the basement (not so valuable, but  still). Plus I would have been able to close up the roof and block off any air infiltration from the attic into the house. BUT, that would have taken major work, in a fairly inaccessible location (the attic access is thru a closet in the office). Additionally, with the standing seam roof, and the solar array, even more complications are introduced (shingles would have been a straightforward project even with the array). I wasn't sure I was willing to go thru such a major project to gain a couple of square feet in the kitchen. The mason also pointed out that leaving the chimney there just in case it was ever needed again would not be a bad thing. So, we agreed upon it being shortened and capped.

Tuesday he came out and did the work

Is it pretty? No, but it is functional (or non-functional - LOL) and really, you have to stand on my back property line to get a good view of it - and I don't care what the people in the apartments back there see :)

Solar News for March 2023

Got my electric bill yesterday, and it was stellar. I owed $0.00 and now have $34.67 as a credit. Since my bill for February was $35.65, that pretty much pays me back.

I expect to be banking credit until next fall, so I'm pretty happy. Oh, and the west side (actually somewhat WNW) is starting to show the rockstar status that I was sure would develop once the sun angle got higher. Yesterday was the first day that each western panel produced more energy than any of the east and south panels.

It pays to know your property and stick to your guns even when the "experts" don't like it. The east and south sides have shade challenges, but those are minimal this time of year while the trees are still bare. If you remember, which you probably don't, one company would not consider placing panels on the west side (alright, I finally got him to give a quote showing 3 panels on that side) and another company basically refused to come out to give me a quote even when I pointed out the western side has exactly zero shade. The representative for the company I went with was reluctant about the west side, but to give him credit he did eventually say something to the effect of, "I wouldn't normally suggest west side placement, but in this case, maybe it would work since it has no shade. Your house isn't that far off from true west."

Even in the low sun angle months, when I expected basically zero production on the west side because of house orientation and sun angle, it has always outproduced the east side. Here is the lifetime production that shows were the lowest producing western panel (55.2) is just shy of the highest producing panel on the east side (56.7). The southern panels rule the roost of course.

Yep, I'm pretty happy about this whole thing!

Sunny News for February 2023

Note - wrote this on Friday but apparently never published it :D

 

Got my electric bill for February 2023. Considering the last 7 days of the billing cycle my panels were snow covered, I came out pretty good. First off, my production report for the exact time frame that my electric bill is for. The solar company and electric company are off just a little from each other. But let's just assume that the 330 shown in the circle below was my total consumption.

Power company says I pulled 244 kwh while solar company says I pulled 248 kwh. Electric company says I pushed 180 kwh while solar company says I pushed 176 kwh. All in all, close enough for me.

The power company shows my net usage as 64 kwh and total charges were $35.65

So in February, a low production month (but with the sun angle better than Dec. & Jan.), nearly 64% of the bill ($22.71) was the basic costumer charge and other charges that were not the actual cost of energy consumed.

Solar company shows, total usage was 330 kwh (just so you don't have to go back to look). Last Sept, prior to the array install, I used 338 kwh and my bill was $119.62.

I didn't pay the electric company $80 in a low production month (the math comes out to $84, but I subtracted some for the 8 kwh difference). Can't complain about that.

It has snowed every day this week and have a big storm coming in tonight, so won't have any production at all for March until some time next week. Actually, not technically true; had minimal production yesterday afternoon when some panels mostly cleared and should get some today. But with the sun angle getting better every day, production should be stellar when the snow finally stops and the array clears.

Finally - Solar is Producing

Wednesday we received our first measurable show fall. After about 2", it turned to grauple & sleet then occasion rain/mist all day long. Naturally, that was the day the my utility company decided to install the bidirectional meter so I could flip the switch for solar energy production.

It is funny that the solar installer said that most people can't tell when the meter is changed so they placed a piece of tape on the outer cover as a visual cue.

Really? They can't tell that the new cover has all sorts of new doodads? That doesn't even account for the fact that instead of flashing thru 2 screens, it flashes thru 6 screens.

In my case, since I was home, the utility company guy knocked on my door and told me that he was going to switch it out.

And in a twist, Friday morning another utility guy showed up to switch out the meter. He was surprised when I told him it had already been switched, which he verified and went on his way.

The Town Did Their Thing

A week ago Thursday, 10/27/22, the town inspector came out and signed off the paperwork. The next day the installer submitted it to the power company. Technically tey have until the day after Thanksgiving to install the meter.

Better picture of that south side (obviously before the work was quite finished). Picture was part of the submission the installer sent to the utility

Solar Install Complete - Now More Waiting

Yesterday the installers showed up to finish the project. Yes, they were hoping for early in the week (Monday or Tuesday), but despite the forecast, it started misting early Monday morning and continued thru Tuesday night. Precipitation for over 36 hours and I received about 1/16" - but the roof was always wet and dripping.

South side - can't get a better pic since all the land on that side is lower than the house

East side - stood on a stump of one of the trees cut back there

West side

It could be a month or more before it is generating power. 1st step is for the town inspector to come out and look it over. Oh, and the electrician has to be here too, so their schedules have to match.

Once the inspector signs off, they send in paperwork to the electric company for them to come out and change out the meter. The power company has 20 working days (4 weeks) to do that. The install company said usually it is within 2 weeks. But, with my luck, it will be longer than the 4 weeks because they will lose my paperwork or something.

So yeah, could very well be Thanksgiving before the switch get turned on.

Starting the Solar Project

UPDATE: New picture of west side rail system is at the bottom of the post.

Wednesday the solar company called and said that they thought a big commercial job may be completed early so they might be able to come over Friday to do the install - would that work for me? It happened to coincide with my Friday off, so I said sure. The rep said she would call me late Thursday afternoon if they would be able to make it the next day. And as my luck usually runs, the weather guessers started predicting high winds and heavy rains starting Thursday night and until noon or so on Friday. The rep did not call my Thursday evening, which is what I fully expected because of the weather.

Well, the winds never materialized for my area, although we did get a fair amount of rain. I was pleasantly surprised on Friday morning when the rep called and said they would be over in a while if it still worked for me. Cool! When I mentioned the high winds that never materialized, she expressed how if the weather turned they would either hunker down for a while, or quit and come back on Tuesday (scheduled day of install).

The crew arrived and started the work. The electrician also arrived and started his part at the panel. Note to electrician, when a circuit breaker is off, you don't just randomly turn it on, being "helpful" without checking with the homeowner. Fortunately it didn't cause any problems, but I had the circuit breaker to the old air handler off for a reason. At least he did check with me later (after he had flipped it on)

I happened to go out and check the progress about 11, and noticed that the east side rail work was not as I had requested. The work order was supposed to tell them to place all the panels as high as possible in order to maximize the sun exposure since that is the shady side of the house. Instead, they had set the rails to make it look "pretty", in a triangular pattern, so most of the panels would have been on the lower part of the roof. I don't care about pretty, I care about efficiency. Fortunately I caught them and it was fairly easy for them to move. The great thing about standing seam roofs, in this application, is that they solar installers don't have to drill holes in the roof, instead they use clamps.

The bad thing about standing seam roofs is they are slick when wet (which is why they dump snow so readily). The crew decided that they didn't want to risk dropping the panels because of the footing, so quit about lunch time. They had not quite finished reinstalling all the rails on the east side, but  they made good progress.

South side - this side will be pretty much maxed out at 6 panels and obviously they still have a minor amount of work to finish up the rails.

East side - still awaiting more rails after they had to take the original configuration down. Not complete yet and will hold 7 panels, some of which will go in front of the chimney

West side (not great pic - I'll get a better one later). This side was made "pretty" and will hold 7 panels.

So a partial crew should be here Tuesday to finish up. Of course, the forecast has changed from possibility of rain, to definitely getting rain, so we'll see.

ADDED 10/16/22: Here is a somewhat better picture of the west side railing system. Looks like they are going to do a 1-2-4 pattern (top to bottom with 7 panels)

Solar Update Part II September 2022

In my last update earlier this month, I had indicated that the solar array install would be on the 7th of October (they had pulled in the date - after it had been pushed to 10/18). Well, this past Monday they called and pushed it back out to 10/18/22. Apparently the storms of the previous week had put them behind schedule.

So now, instead of realistically expecting energy production to start by the middle of November, I'm thinking I would be lucky if it will start by Thanksgiving.

As my boss replied when I let her know of the change (again) to my PTO day: BOOOOO!