Last year the total cost we paid to Unitil was 39 cents for Kw usage...yes that's right 39 cents, and that was only because our system went on line June 18, 2010..this year we had an entire year to accumulate credits and even run a brooder for the new 8 additions to our family...8 chickens!!!! We have not paid one cent for Kw usage these past 12 months!!!!
This year we are riding for free!!!!!
Perfect sized system!!!! Success!!!!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Friday, October 7, 2011
Pow..Bang...Poof.
We've been offline since a lightning storm hit our Solrenview Data Monitor in August :( Our panels are still cranking up credits on our Unitil Net Meter but our data is no longer live. The nice folks at Solectria will be sending us out another one as soon as they are in stock. Can't wait to get the live info back!!!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Winter Race for Credits
Our net meter was installed in July of 2010 so we only started accruing credits from the day Unitil started to "keep score". It's been a tight race with our credits and low solar insolation months of November, December and January but we are now in a neck and neck battle and it looks like we might pull through on the winning end.
Here is how we are doing:
August 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
September 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
October 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
November 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
December 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
January 2011 5KW charge ( 39 cents)
We've had some major snow storms here starting in January of 2011 (7 to be exact) but it looks like we'll be banking some credits as the solar insolation is getting better. On January 31, 2011 we had our first 14 KW production day from the big array so things are looking up...as of that day our meter was even..stay tuned for a report in February..we hope to be building credits with better solar insolation ahead.
Here is how we are doing:
August 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
September 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
October 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
November 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
December 2010 No KW charges from Unitil
January 2011 5KW charge ( 39 cents)
We've had some major snow storms here starting in January of 2011 (7 to be exact) but it looks like we'll be banking some credits as the solar insolation is getting better. On January 31, 2011 we had our first 14 KW production day from the big array so things are looking up...as of that day our meter was even..stay tuned for a report in February..we hope to be building credits with better solar insolation ahead.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Under the 1%
Am I reading this wrong? It appears NH, along with other states will be able to limit the amount of alternative energy production that is eligible for net metering in the near future. Take a look at the link below. Under Program Overview/Aggregate Capacity Limit; 1% of utility's peak demand is noted. If I'm reading this correctly, it means we are in under the wire but others who decide to net meter a few years down the road may not be as lucky...wow!!!!!
Click Here
I'm certain it will not stall out the alternative energy train that's steaming down the tracks..there will be other ways to take advantage of all the alternatives but it reinforces my belief that NOW is the time to take advantage of all the federal and state incentives and the benefit of net metering for grid tied systems.
The feel good factor on this system is what I did not fully calculate into the project. I knew it was the right thing to do, it's something my husband and I believe in and have wanted since the 70's but I had no idea it would feel this good to be on track now for a Net-Zero home.
Today is another huge day for us, we are not going without our air conditioning, our daily showers, use of the dishwasher, daily load of clothes washing, TV etc and we another we bank MORE credits with our utility!!!!! Wow this system just blows me away!!!!! Our Net Meter was fully operational on Tuesday at 1:30 and we are just logging in the credits on a daily basis!!!! I'll be tied real time soon and will be able to link the numbers we produce live to this blog.
Thanks to Fred Kelley and his "live wires", Rich Doucette and his team for being soooo smart, creative, and adaptable and Brian Pellerin for having such a great business model, a company that listens to their customers!!!!! I love the independence, the "Freedom" that's part of Freedom Renewable Energy.
Click Here
I'm certain it will not stall out the alternative energy train that's steaming down the tracks..there will be other ways to take advantage of all the alternatives but it reinforces my belief that NOW is the time to take advantage of all the federal and state incentives and the benefit of net metering for grid tied systems.
The feel good factor on this system is what I did not fully calculate into the project. I knew it was the right thing to do, it's something my husband and I believe in and have wanted since the 70's but I had no idea it would feel this good to be on track now for a Net-Zero home.
Today is another huge day for us, we are not going without our air conditioning, our daily showers, use of the dishwasher, daily load of clothes washing, TV etc and we another we bank MORE credits with our utility!!!!! Wow this system just blows me away!!!!! Our Net Meter was fully operational on Tuesday at 1:30 and we are just logging in the credits on a daily basis!!!! I'll be tied real time soon and will be able to link the numbers we produce live to this blog.
Thanks to Fred Kelley and his "live wires", Rich Doucette and his team for being soooo smart, creative, and adaptable and Brian Pellerin for having such a great business model, a company that listens to their customers!!!!! I love the independence, the "Freedom" that's part of Freedom Renewable Energy.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Another Day; Ho Hum...Even MORET LITINU Credits!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just another day, we are not working but the sun is!!!!!!!
It's day four since the Net Meter was installed by Unitil. It's about 3pm in the afternoon and the cumulative KW hours that Unitil now owes us are 20!!!! Yup, you read that right...20!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They system is so cool!!!!!
Independence via Freedom!!!!! Thanks Freedom Renewable Energy!!!!!!!!!!!
It's day four since the Net Meter was installed by Unitil. It's about 3pm in the afternoon and the cumulative KW hours that Unitil now owes us are 20!!!! Yup, you read that right...20!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They system is so cool!!!!!
Independence via Freedom!!!!! Thanks Freedom Renewable Energy!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Solar Forestation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Tuesday a little after 1:30 pm we finished up the process with Unitil when our old meter was replaced with a Net Meter. Our old meter was spinning backwards during the day since our beautiful array was installed on June 13th and has been pumping electricity back to Unitil for about the past month but as far as Unitil was concerned it didn't count until we jumped through a few more hoops and had our Net Meter installed. They were able to get about 300Kw from our system and rode free but yesterday with the Net Meter installed they fully recognize each Kw we produce. Fast forward to Friday, today, and it's been exactly three days since we became "official"...we now have a credit of 11 Kw...pretty cool since we only had one very sunny day, the other days were a mostly cloudy and today which has been partial sun!!!!!!
We'll be having additional trees trimmed soon which will give us additional morning sun, very important during the months of December, January and February when the sunlight hours are fewer and the sun is lower.
We'll have more accurate and real time numbers when our Solren View is installed!!!!! Stay tuned.
This system has surpassed our wildest dreams!!!!!
We'll be having additional trees trimmed soon which will give us additional morning sun, very important during the months of December, January and February when the sunlight hours are fewer and the sun is lower.
We'll have more accurate and real time numbers when our Solren View is installed!!!!! Stay tuned.
This system has surpassed our wildest dreams!!!!!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
DC Appliance Success!!!!!!!!!!!!
We're havin' a heat wave, and it's testing out our new DC appliances!!!
So far so good!!!!
The Sundanzer 5.8 CU Foot Fridge, and 5.8 Freezer are cooling and freezing our food nicely.
The heat wave is the ultimate test for these new major appliances that run off the battery bank. As the ambient temps rise in the house, the fridge and freezer have to work harder. At midnight the Flexmax 60 resets logs and ends it's logging for the day. By 6am during the height of our heatwave we drain about 15 amp hours from the bank, (from midnight) as the freezer and fridge keep cooling our food as we sleep. We have NOT installed our air conditioner in the house since the temps have not exceeded 80 degrees downstairs, however today may be the day we'll be installing them, we do like our comfort, we are not militant about conserving every Kw.
Here are some stats on what we've used so far and what it's powered, again, the more heat in the house the more drain on the amp hours to power the appliances. In addition to running the freezer and fridge we've been charging our three laptops, charging the Scooba, Roomba, and cell phones off the Samlix inverter and also recharging the portable Xantrax.
July 6 99 amp hours 1.3Kw
July 5 72 amp hours .9 Kw
July 4 74 amp hours 1.0Kw
July 3 63 amp hours .8 Kw
July 2 53 amp hours .7 Kw
July 1 55 amp hours .7 Kw
June 30 60 amp hours .8 Kw
June 29 61 amp hours .8 Kw
June 28 49 amp hours .6 Kw
As you can see as the temps rise the appliances will require more juice to keep things cool, no different than an ac freezer or fridge, the good thing is the sun is free and we are not using fossil fuels to power these major appliances. Within about an hour or so of full sun our battery bank is recharged. We have not dipped below a 96% charge so we are doing great!!!!!!! Rich Doucette, from Freedom Renewable Energy, our SDE, (Solar Designer Extraordinaire) initially suggested we double our battery bank and he was right..it was a good move and when he talks we listen. In case of no sun for a few days we should be just fine!!!!!
The parallel connectors should arrive on Thurs so I'm hoping to have the fourth panel connected back up by either Friday or Saturday at the latest. With the addition of two more panels to our off grid array it pegged out the FlexMaxx Controller which can handle a max of 145 Volts. After hooking up all the wires and trying to fire up that bad boy I walked away without joy...luckily Rich was nearby and knew within minutes what was going on!!!!!!! So after some thinking we came up with the plan to run three panels as a temporary fix and those three panels (175 Sharp 24 V) have been doing a fine job of keeping our battery bank charged!!!!
When the parallel connectors arrive my plan is to wire two panels together in series to form two 48 V panels then wire the those in parallel...that will keep our maximum open circuit voltage to about 120 Volts.
So far so good!!!!
The Sundanzer 5.8 CU Foot Fridge, and 5.8 Freezer are cooling and freezing our food nicely.
The heat wave is the ultimate test for these new major appliances that run off the battery bank. As the ambient temps rise in the house, the fridge and freezer have to work harder. At midnight the Flexmax 60 resets logs and ends it's logging for the day. By 6am during the height of our heatwave we drain about 15 amp hours from the bank, (from midnight) as the freezer and fridge keep cooling our food as we sleep. We have NOT installed our air conditioner in the house since the temps have not exceeded 80 degrees downstairs, however today may be the day we'll be installing them, we do like our comfort, we are not militant about conserving every Kw.
Here are some stats on what we've used so far and what it's powered, again, the more heat in the house the more drain on the amp hours to power the appliances. In addition to running the freezer and fridge we've been charging our three laptops, charging the Scooba, Roomba, and cell phones off the Samlix inverter and also recharging the portable Xantrax.
July 6 99 amp hours 1.3Kw
July 5 72 amp hours .9 Kw
July 4 74 amp hours 1.0Kw
July 3 63 amp hours .8 Kw
July 2 53 amp hours .7 Kw
July 1 55 amp hours .7 Kw
June 30 60 amp hours .8 Kw
June 29 61 amp hours .8 Kw
June 28 49 amp hours .6 Kw
As you can see as the temps rise the appliances will require more juice to keep things cool, no different than an ac freezer or fridge, the good thing is the sun is free and we are not using fossil fuels to power these major appliances. Within about an hour or so of full sun our battery bank is recharged. We have not dipped below a 96% charge so we are doing great!!!!!!! Rich Doucette, from Freedom Renewable Energy, our SDE, (Solar Designer Extraordinaire) initially suggested we double our battery bank and he was right..it was a good move and when he talks we listen. In case of no sun for a few days we should be just fine!!!!!
The parallel connectors should arrive on Thurs so I'm hoping to have the fourth panel connected back up by either Friday or Saturday at the latest. With the addition of two more panels to our off grid array it pegged out the FlexMaxx Controller which can handle a max of 145 Volts. After hooking up all the wires and trying to fire up that bad boy I walked away without joy...luckily Rich was nearby and knew within minutes what was going on!!!!!!! So after some thinking we came up with the plan to run three panels as a temporary fix and those three panels (175 Sharp 24 V) have been doing a fine job of keeping our battery bank charged!!!!
When the parallel connectors arrive my plan is to wire two panels together in series to form two 48 V panels then wire the those in parallel...that will keep our maximum open circuit voltage to about 120 Volts.
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