Is your LEAF solar-powered, or will it be at some point?

[TNleaf]

So I got the bug :mrgreen:

I have a proposal written up to have ten 240-watt panels installed on my roof in the next few months for a 2.4kW system. The main motivating factor was to be able to offset 100% of the electricity used to charge my LEAF, and I will more than accomplish that with this setup.

 

[EricBayArea]

lemketron- I feel your pain when you request a poll and it never gets created. I hate to reply but I think its the only way you'll get your answer.

I am hoping that my LEAF will be solar-powered in about 2 years. We do not want to put solar on our current home because we do not anticipate living here for more than another 2 years, but when we decide to move we hope to put solar on our next home if it is conducive

 

[gsleaf]

I rented a Leaf, but I already got a Solar install in anticipation of purchasing an electric vehicle in the future. (I got a solar lease. It costs $6k for a 20 year lease, you get all the electricity produced and the state of Oregon pays you back the entire $6k over 4 years so it's essentially FREE). I've driven roughly 650 miles so far and it's been almost entirely offset by solar.

 

[TomT]

We are in the same boat. We will not be in our current house long enough for it to make financial sense in any case, plus our house has a number of siting and shade issues that would be difficult (read expensive) to resolve...

We do not want to put solar on our current home because we do not anticipate living here for more than another 2 years, but when we decide to move we hope to put solar on our next home if it is conducive

 

[FairwoodRed]

would like to install PV system this year but do not know to whom I should talk?

You can start here they have an index to all incentives that are available in the US. Next, I recommend this site for comparisons of what some mostly “complete” systems cost. Finally, I found this site that lists some PV contractors for Edmond, OK.

Sunrise seems like an average company from their website. I found that the better installers, local to me, all recommended efficiency upgrades (CFL’s, insulation) before solar as it gave a better bang for the buck. I chose solar over insulation BTW. I also found that on average, installers quoted me 3x the cost of the parts (on the site listed above). If you are handy, you might check into installing yourself. If you can install a dryer outlet to code, you probably have the skill set needed to install today’s microinverters. I did and I saved a TON of cash.

I’ll be happy to provide answers in more detail, but off the board. Feel free to PM me for my email address.

 

[N952JL]

would like to install PV system this year but do not know to whom I should talk?

You can start here they have an index to all incentives that are available in the US. Next, I recommend this site for comparisons of what some mostly “complete” systems cost. Finally, I found this site that lists some PV contractors for Edmond, OK.

Sunrise seems like an average company from their website. I found that the better installers, local to me, all recommended efficiency upgrades (CFL’s, insulation) before solar as it gave a better bang for the buck. I chose solar over insulation BTW. I also found that on average, installers quoted me 3x the cost of the parts (on the site listed above). If you are handy, you might check into installing yourself. If you can install a dryer outlet to code, you probably have the skill set needed to install today’s microinverters. I did and I saved a TON of cash.

I’ll be happy to provide answers in more detail, but off the board. Feel free to PM me for my email address.

How do you like the Microinverters. I installed a 10kW PV system on four single axis trackers in my back side yard. The trackers are of my own design, controled by a module I found made in MN. Each tracker has 12 Evergreen 210 pannels. The pannels are broken into groups of 24 going into one of two Sonny Boy 6000UAS inverters. Since I am in middle GA and not blessed with the type of sun out west, I might not be producing as much as you. But I do get about 90% of what PV Watts estimates I should get per month. (I do have a shading problem from neibors trees.) March looks like I'll break 1400kW, which means about 160 kW used for the month. And that includes 4,500 sq feet of heated area, two chest freezers, and three refigerators in addition to charging my Leaf. The last week I've been running backwards. I would say, my leaf is running on Solar.

I would love to know more about your micro inverters. I believe Canada Solar is building a pannel which includes its own Microinverter, and warrentied for 25 years. If I had to do it all over again, I would look very closely at that technology. I think it would perform better during the time my arrays are partionly in shadow. Durring much of the Year, at least two of my arrays are in shadow during 2 hrs in the morning and 2 hrs at sunset.

 

[QueenBee]

I would love to know more about your micro inverters. I believe Canada Solar is building a pannel which includes its own Microinverter, and warrentied for 25 years. If I had to do it all over again, I would look very closely at that technology. I think it would perform better during the time my arrays are partionly in shadow. Durring much of the Year, at least two of my arrays are in shadow during 2 hrs in the morning and 2 hrs at sunset.

I love the Enphase microinverters. I have to no idea how I would go about determining how much benefit they are giving me. I've got about a 25% annual shading so hopefully pretty good. The thing I liked the most was how easy it made doing the wiring on the roof. Being that I was DIY I also liked not having to worry about issues related to DC. The fact that the new M215's comes with a 25 year warranty which covers replacement labor and loss of production makes them all the better.

Also, this site is top notch: http://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/2Kkg31401" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh, neat I broke 1megawatt!

 

[Boomer23]

I installed a 10kW PV system on four single axis trackers in my back side yard. The trackers are of my own design, controled by a module I found made in MN. Each tracker has 12 Evergreen 210 pannels. The pannels are broken into groups of 24 going into one of two Sonny Boy 6000UAS inverters. Since I am in middle GA and not blessed with the type of sun out west, I might not be producing as much as you. But I do get about 90% of what PV Watts estimates I should get per month. (I do have a shading problem from neibors trees.) March looks like I'll break 1400kW, which means about 160 kW used for the month. And that includes 4,500 sq feet of heated area, two chest freezers, and three refigerators in addition to charging my Leaf. The last week I've been running backwards. I would say, my leaf is running on Solar.

That 1400 kWh is dang good performance for a shaded 10 kW system, I'd say. My 5.16 kW fixed system in CA typically generates about 775 kWh in March.

 

[Dennisj00]

I installed 15 220 watt Trina panels with Enphase micro-inverters and went live on October 26, 2011, coincidently 2 days before out Leaf arrived-early.

I had had an electrician install a sub-panel with a 240 volt circuit to the roof for the panels and a 240 volt circuit for the AV charger in the garage.

We (wife and I) installed the panels in two days. Very simple, very easy. While our roof over the garage isn't ideal, 20 degree slope, 150 degree azimuth, I'm very pleased with the production.
385 Kwh this month for 29 days and every sunny day we hit a new peak.

I used 10 kwh for 300 days for rough payback for 8-9 years with our tax credits from the Feds and NC which I get to file in the next couple of weeks.

I don't have net metering but have adjusted some timers and the Leaf charging to minimize the few Kwh we might give back to the utility.

PM me if anyone wants any help. . .it's an EASY DIY project!

And we love our Leaf!

 

[QueenBee]

I don't have net metering but have adjusted some timers and the Leaf charging to minimize the few Kwh we might give back to the utility.

Does your meter spin backwards but still charge you for each revolution regardless of which direction? Before I got my netmeter it was really hard to keep that from happening. Car can only charge for so long, etc. Does your utility not offer a netmeter?

I've got a little bit larger system at 21*230 but last 30 days I "sold" back 103kwh compared to the 1048kwh I bought. I would suspect that during the summer you'll end up with a pretty large amount of power that you'll be giving away for free or worse being charged for.

 

[Dennisj00]

Nope, it's a new Sangamo electronic meter and from the readings I've done, it just doesn't increment.

With AC season (actually it's on now!), we won't be giving a lot back. . . our base is about 1600-1800 kw (lots of computers / stuff), if any.

I'm very pleased with the Enphase micro-inverters. . . because of trees in the neighbors yard the top right panels are slow to come up in the mornings (with leaves on the trees). . . and evenings, my chimney shades the bottem left panels.

(since each panel is on its own inverter, it's not affected by others' shading like a large loop inverter.)

Looking forward to the increases until June 21!

 

[QueenBee]

Nope, it's a new Sangamo electronic meter and from the readings I've done, it just doesn't increment.

I forget what brand my old meter was but it was electronic but still had the disc. I'm assuming every time the disc passed a certain mark it would count one turn, so it didn't care which way it was spinning and you could install it upside down with no effect. I'd really really make sure that isn't the case. It's one thing to be giving back power but a whole nother to be actually charged for it

But yeah, I bet we aren't talking about much since at 1800kwh a month you are averaging 2.5kw per hour and I bet your peak generation doesn't get all that much higher.

A friend actually had a script that would check my generation and if it got above a certain threshold it would tell my car to start charging.

 

[Dennisj00]

It's already peaked at 3 kw and 18+ kwh and it's only March.

But between the Leaf, the oven, the laundry and several other things, it's nice to have the 'free' electricity!

 

[Rmasu]

We have a system that creates 29KWh a day on our roof. We installed it about 2 years ago and have a zero use bill since then. The system was pretty expensive 45K but got a tax rebate for 22K. We figure about a 7-8 year payoff. I was thinking about buying a leaf and figure with my 60 mile commute will use about 15-17 Kwh a day. That would use more than half of my daily production of 29 Kwh and the cost of electricity in Hawaii is a staggering .33 the highest in the nation. But even at that high rate it will cost me about 150 a month. Compare that to my 600.00 a month in gas I am now spending.
I just contacted our solar installer to inquire about adding more solar to the roof.
I think the electric car is here to stay and we will need more power to charge them up.

 

[HighDesertDriver]

We have a system that creates 29KWh a day on our roof. ...snip... I just contacted our solar installer to inquire about adding more solar to the roof.

Unless your system is already pushing the absolute limit of your single inverter, it should have the capacity for at least 10% more PV of the same orientation. If you aim for a larger increase, you will likely be looking at a 2nd inverter or replacing your 2 year-old unit with something larger.

One of the advantages of microinverters is ease of adding additional capacity without undue concern for shading or matching the current array orientation. Not mentioned elsewhere in this thread is the diagnostic advantage of microinverters. Since each microinverter reports its status separately, it is simple to evaluate shading impacts from growing trees or troubleshoot system problems. Sleuthing problems in multi-string series/parallel arrays feeding a single inverter can sometimes be like finding the bad bulb on an inexpensive string of Christmas lights.

 

[spike09]

Yes, my Leaf is solar powered. I had the panels installed back in 2008. The inverter can handle 6kW. Getting an Electric Car was the next logical step. I always charge the car in the daytime making my Leaf a geniune solar powered car.

 

[kieodadie]

Yes, my leaf is solar-powered. 5 khw system.

 

[videographer]

My Leaf is solar powered from a 4.15kw system on my roof. Since the sun has shown almost every day for the last 7 weeks (aka: drought) we are making electricity like never before.

 

[TNleaf]

My 2.4kW system is fully interconnected to the grid and producing renewable energy as of this morning, so I will be tracking how much solar-power I produce to offset my LEAF's charging.

:mrgreen:

 

[pchilds]

In May, I added 940 watts to my PV system, this should produce 150-180 kWh a month. Covering most, if not all, of 750 miles a month driven.