Our solar production

[RegGuheert]

Year to Date: 3.02 MWh

That looks very good! I expect that your production will be very consistent throughout the year since you are closer than the equator than the rest of us. We'll see.

BTW, I had noted in my MTBF calculation spreadsheet that there are only 39 inverters showing on your roof. The old website for your array (which is no longer available) showed a 40th microinverter, but no data for it. That sometimes means that the microinverter was never properly connected. Can you confirm that you only have 39 PV panels on your roof, or do you have 40?

 

[sksingh]

Solar Production to date:

2013 kWh
Jan 171
Feb 722
Mar 850
Apr 841
May 951
Jun 819
Jul 855
Aug 919

 

[downeykp]

There are only 39. I wanted to be over 10kw for tax purposes in HI. I might put in a 40th panel in the future for athletic purposes. I am making way more power than I am using. But the price was way to good not to overbuild.

Year to Date: 3.02 MWh

That looks very good! I expect that your production will be very consistent throughout the year since you are closer than the equator than the rest of us. We'll see.

BTW, I had noted in my MTBF calculation spreadsheet that there are only 39 inverters showing on your roof. The old website for your array (which is no longer available) showed a 40th microinverter, but no data for it. That sometimes means that the microinverter was never properly connected. Can you confirm that you only have 39 PV panels on your roof, or do you have 40?

 

[dgpcolorado]

My solar year starts and ends on September 19, because that's when my first panels were turned on five years ago. For the year that ended on the 19th, my 2170 watt array generated 3346 kWh of electricity, which is 9.17 kWh/day. That works out to 4.2 hours x rated array wattage over a full year. That's the usual measure for sizing an array for a particular climate and latitude (38º 13' N for me).

The production worked out to be 105% of my total LEAF fueling — a bit more than 7000 miles — and household usage. So, I really am driving on sunpower, as I had hoped! And my marginal fuel cost for driving an additional mile is zero.

 

[QueenBee]

The production worked out to be 105% of my total LEAF fueling — a bit more than 7000 miles — and household usage. So, I really am driving on sunpower, as I had hoped! And my marginal fuel cost for driving an additional mile is zero.

Except for every mile you drive you have to replace that electricity from the utility to power your house

 

[dgpcolorado]

Except for every mile you drive you have to replace that electricity from the utility to power your house

:?: I'm at 105% so I have 5% extra carryover credit to play with, assuming production remains about the same. (As of my last bill I had a carryover credit of 361 kWh, which ought to help me make it through winter with service-charge-only bills.)

As it happens, I expect my LEAF mileage to go down in the coming years because my usage pattern has changed, so my margin of overproduction may increase a bit next year.

 

[QueenBee]

Except for every mile you drive you have to replace that electricity from the utility to power your house

:?: I'm at 105% so I have 5% extra carryover credit to play with, assuming production remains about the same. (As of my last bill I had a carryover credit of 361 kWh, which ought to help me make it through winter with service-charge-only bills.)

As it happens, I expect my LEAF mileage to go down in the coming years because my usage pattern has changed, so my margin of overproduction may increase a bit next year.

105% of your total annual usage for your home and your LEAF or just 105% of annual usage of the LEAF?

 

[dgpcolorado]

105% of your total annual usage for your home and your LEAF or just 105% of annual usage of the LEAF?

105% of total electricity usage of LEAF and house. That's why I was so excited. My initial projections last year showed me falling a bit short.

My household energy usage is much lower than average for my climate and household size because I have been conservation minded since the mid '80s. Before I got my first solar panels I got a 9.9 (99th percentile) out of 10 on the Energystar website. (As many people here well know, the cheapest energy is that which you don't use, through conservation.)

 

[QueenBee]

105% of your total annual usage for your home and your LEAF or just 105% of annual usage of the LEAF?

105% of total electricity usage of LEAF and house. That's why I was so excited. My initial projections last year showed me falling a bit short.

My household energy usage is much lower than average for my climate and household size because I have been conservation minded since the mid '80s. Before I got my first solar panels I got a 9.9 (99th percentile) out of 10 on the Energystar website. (As many people here well know, the cheapest energy is that which you don't use, through conservation.)

Ah, sorry I misunderstood! Please ignore me. You literally do have 5% of your production in free miles, etc. That's awesome. You sir are amazing for having such low consumption.

 

[downeykp]

I am on the other end of the spectrum. I find myself looking for ways to use more energy. I am giving back a lot of energy to the power company.

 

[RegGuheert]

I am on the other end of the spectrum. I find myself looking for ways to use more energy. I am giving back a lot of energy to the power company.

I'm not looking for ways to use more energy. Rather, I find myself looking for ways to use electricity instead of other forms of energy. This is true even though I still purchase some electricity from the power company each year. But I find that for most applications, electricity proves to be the cheapest and most efficient solution to the problem. (Note that we do not have natural gas here.)

Recent conversions to electricity include the oven and the dryer (from propane). Previously, we had moved from burning wood pellets for heat to using a heat pump. On the electricty efficiency side, we have moved from an electric resistive water heater to a heat-pump water heater and have replaced some of our compact fluorescents with L-prize LED lamps.

What remains not electric are the following:
- Cooktop (propane)
- Honda Civic Hybrid (gasoline)
- Plymouth Grand Voyager (gasoline)
- Ford E350 Econoline 15-passenger van (gasoline)
- Kubota L4330 Tractor (diesel)
- Troy-bilt Rototiller (gasoline)
- Honda eu6500i generator (gasoline)
- Wood pellet stove (wood) (We still have it, but rarely use it. It's a good backup!)

I can't really see replacing any of these with electric alternatives. OTOH, I don't think we will be replacing any of these in our lifetime. Only time will tell.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I'm not looking for ways to use more energy. Rather, I find myself looking for ways to use electricity instead of other forms of energy...

Good point. In a way I did the same when I took over driving from my carpool partner. It is only one day a week (volunteer job for me) but I save him $6 in gas, which is one third of his three day a week commute cost. But my fuel cost is zero and my battery is degrading whether I use it or not, so it was an obvious thing to do.

So far as fossil fuel using devices in my house, I have the following:
Stove/oven: natural gas
On-demand water heater: natural gas
Furnace: natural gas
'96 Jeep Cherokee: gasoline
Chainsaw: gasoline/oil (very polluting)
Honda EU2000i generator: gasoline. (Although I've never actually used it except for testing and maintenance)

I don't use a clothes drier since I figured out decades ago that clothes lines are an energy-free solution (and help humidify the house in my mostly dry climate). My snow clearing tool is a shovel, despite having a 400 foot gravel driveway; it is good exercise. I don't have any wood burning device because they are a major pollution source in the mountains and I refuse to contribute to it. I don't have yard equipment because I live in a forest. Wood chipping I hire out, so that uses gasoline.

 

[DaveEV]

I really wish there were some good condensing dryers available in the USA. All the ones I've seen so far are tiny - designed for condos and apartments.

Running a regular electric dryer seems to use 5-6 kWh per load and when you've got a family that ends up being one of the largest consumers of electricity in the house. Clothes lines do seem like a good solution, but only the dryer/warmer months, even in San Diego.

 

[RegGuheert]

I really wish there were some good condensing dryers available in the USA. All the ones I've seen so far are tiny - designed for condos and apartments.

About 10 years ago, we tried a washer which was supposed to be able to "dry" the clothes, as well. I forget the brand. Unfortunately, the clothes were never dry enough, so we ended up with loads of slightly-wet clothes to deal with. The machine went back to the store.

Running a regular electric dryer seems to use 5-6 kWh per load and when you've got a family that ends up being one of the largest consumers of electricity in the house. Clothes lines do seem like a good solution, but only the dryer/warmer months, even in San Diego.

We used to have a clothesline in our basement before it was finished, but not anymore. I need to install one outside for the warm weather, but even then I suspect it will get minimal use. The electric clothes dryer is a very nice convenience! But if push comes to shove, we could certainly do more clotheslining!

Fortunately, the heat-pump water heater seems to more than make up for the extra energy consumed by the electric oven, dryer and the LEAF (and we have a big family). I believe this because our meter has moved back farther this summer than last even though our production has been down.

 

[dgpcolorado]

...Clothes lines do seem like a good solution, but only the dryer/warmer months, even in San Diego.

I discovered clotheslines in my previous house, which had a basement (something one doesn't usually see in your San Diego County). I strung lines across the basement (getting around the usual weather arguments people like to make) and my newly purchased drier went unused. When I designed my present house, which is slab-on-grade and doesn't have a basement, I put in an oversize utility room for extra storage and clotheslines. And I never even purchased a drier. Yes, my clothes don't come out fluffy and hot, but it works fine.

Years ago I remember seeing an article about classified ads for a kit to build a "solar clothes drier". For anyone unwary enough to respond, they received some clothesline and a package of clothespins, which I thought was amusing. We get so hooked on our gadgets that we forget that some of them aren't really necessary. My favorite household luxury is a clothes washer — I've done the laundromat thing and it gets old — but a drier is unnecessary if one has space for clotheslines and one is willing to sacrifice a smidge of convenience for significant energy and money savings.

 

[camasleaf]

It is a 5.7 kW DC system with no monitoring, I use the production meter installed and read by the utility company:

Date Days kWh kWh/Day
09/23/13 33 720 22
08/21/13 30 870 29
07/22/13 31 970 31
06/21/13 17 490 29

My next post will be in April when we will see the sun again. I wish I had a wind generator today, it is really blowing outside, is suppose to reach 50 mph gusts. It will test the mounting system of the panels, it was design for 120 mph so it should be OK.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Like August, September was fairly cloudy and wet here, so production was down a lot compared to last year.

Results for September in recent years:

                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
September 2013    95 kWh        268 kWh
September 2012    104 kWh       308 kWh
September 2011    96 kWh
September 2010    112 kWh
September 2009    95 kWh

 

[RegGuheert]

September set a new record for any month including fall days, beating both 2011 and 2012.

We are now off last year's pace by 486 kWh.

Here are all our numbers for 2011, 2012 and 2013:

Month     2011   2012   2013  Units
-----------------------------------
January    669    869    822   kWh
February   158   1085    866   kWh
March        0   1350   1152   kWh
April        0   1465   1495   kWh
May          0   1477   1491   kWh 
June         0   1478   1368   kWh
July       595   1395   1406   kWh
August    1347   1447   1333   kWh
September  910   1295   1414   kWh
October    931    981          kWh
November   949   1041          kWh
December   803    612          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495  11347   kWh

 

[mwalsh]

In light of sending 1mW of excess production back to the grid in 2011 and getting paid just $35 for it, we've gotten very lackadaisical about energy economy. I mean really bad. Like we're using twice as much on average this year as we did last year; and last year was twice as much as our average usage in 2011. We're still running ahead of consumption for now, but it will be very easy to slip into negative territory with a second EV to feed, particularly with the constraints of winter production.

Edit: When I say "using" I mean over and above what we're producing, on average. For example: In September 2011, let's say we used -1kW daily on average. In September 2012 that had gone to between 2kW and 3kW daily on average. And this year we're up to using between 6kW and 7kW daily on average. I'd have to look at the actual numbers, but that's the way I remember it playing out on the section of our bill this month that compares the current year to the previous two years.

 

[Phoenix]

Unfortunately, the current net metering program does not encourage energy efficiency or the maximization of renewables on one's rooftop. Wouldn't it be great if u cd sell/exchange your excess with your neighbors? The distributed energy microgrids and community networks offer some promise. Check out David Roberts article on grist.org and the links to NDN's Michael Moynihan research on Electricity 2.0: Unlocking the power of open energy network. So much food for thought as we progress from solar PVs to BEVs to distributed energy.