| Home | Up | Questions? |
| March 7, 2006 | Attend meeting on Solar Energy for the home |
| May 11, 2006 | Apply for approval for Solar PV Rebate Program |
| May 16, 2006 | Start selection process for contractor |
| June 10, 2006 | Select Armadillo Solar as contractor |
| July 14, 2006 | Sign contract and pay deposit ($7706.40) |
| August 22, 2006 | Installation starts |
| Sept 5, 2006 | Final Inspection |
| Sept 8, 2006 | System is operational |
I live in Austin, Texas. It's hot in the summer. There is plenty of sunshine. To try to lower cooling costs, we have lots of attic insulation (about R-70). We have planted trees on all sides of the house to try to shade it. We have solar screens on the windows. A new air conditioner. Six inch exterior walls (instead of the normal 2x4's we have 2x6's) for the extra insulation. Double pane windows. A roof ridge vent.
Still, working in the back yard one day, I looked at the roof of our house . There was no shade on it. The sun was just beating down on it. And I thought, this would be a perfect spot for a solar system. We have a 3000 square foot one-story house, facing North, with the longest axis going East/West. So we have a large roof facing South in the back of the house, between a chimney on one end and a skylight on the other.
The City of Austin provides a lot of help to homeowners with their utility bills, both water and electricity. One insert in our utility bill mentioned "Solar Energy for Your Home", a meeting at an elementary school. It was a short presentation followed by a question/answer session.
Austin Energy is the electrical department for the City of Austin. It has a rebate program to encourage the installation and use of solar systems. The rebate program will pay up to 75% of a system, up to $12,000 (at $4 per watt with a 3KW system).
A solar system produces electricity from the sun. But at what cost? And how much would we need? The system promoted by the City is a "grid-tie" system. We are still on the normal power grid, using power provided by the City. When the PV system works, it produces power. If we are using more than the system provides, we get the difference from the City. If it produces more than we need, the extra (above what we can use) goes back to the City.
With the City's program, we have "net-metering". We pay for the net amount of electricity we use from the City. That means that the City will buy the electricity we provide, at the same rate that they would charge us, at least as long as we don't produce a total amount which is greater than we use.
This is about the best arrangement we could hope for. We don't need to store the power we generate and don't need. We just give it to the City, and later, at night, we can have it back. The meter runs forward, backwards, forward, and so on, and we just pay for the net amount that we use: the amount the City delivers to us minus the amount we give back to them.
To look at the economics of the purchase, I looked back at the last 12 months of electrical usage.
| Month | KWatts Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| May 2005 | 715 | $61.55 |
| June 2005 | 1014 | $93.77 |
| July 2005 | 1447 | $140.44 |
| Aug 2005 | 1249 | $119.10 |
| Sept 2005 | 1305 | $125.13 |
| Oct 2005 | 903 | $81.81 |
| Nov 2005 | 573 | $44.91 |
| Dec 2005 | 634 | $50.39 |
| Jan 2005 | 750 | $60.78 |
| Feb 2005 | 605 | $47.78 |
| Mar 2005 | 586 | $46.09 |
| Apr 2005 | 674 | $53.96 |
| | | |
| 12 months | 10,455 | $925.71 |
| Average month | 871 | $77.14 |
A 3KW system will produce 4050 KWh per year, or 337 KWh a month -- about half our minimum monthly usage. This would be a savings of $30 a month. If our system costs $21K, and the City pays $13K, and we get a $2K tax credit, we end up paying $6K. At $30 a month, this is 200 months, or 16 years to get it back. Without interest. Assuming power costs stay the same.
But we expect power costs to go up. And installing and using the system should help create demand and a market for these systems. And more demand should mean more supply, which will help bring costs down. It's a good thing to do and the economics aren't too bad (as long as someone else is paying 2/3 the cost!)
The first step was getting the City out for an inspection and approval for the rebate program. They want to make sure that the system will work. You need to own your house. There has to be a place to put the solar panels, facing South, that is not shaded. They filled in a form and then approved us with no problem.
The rebate program requires that the system be installed by an installer registered with Austin Energy. There were 8 companies on the list at the time that we started to work on it:
| Company | Contact | Phone | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Armadillo Solar | Kenny Grigar | (800) 329-3283 | kenny@armadillosolar.net |
| 2. | Custom Solar Electric | Joe Vojkufka | (512) 376-0807 | customsolar@sbcglobal.net |
| 3. | Janet's Electric Inc. | Janet Hughes | (512) 275-0557 | janetssolarelectric@austin.rr.com |
| 4. | Meridian Energy Systems | Andrew McCalla | (512) 448-0055 | info@meridiansolar.com |
| 5. | Radian Energy Systems | Charles Farmer | (512) 658-9480 | charles.farmer@radianenergy.com |
| 6. | Solar Sky, LLC | Dave Regal | (512) 236-8803 | dave@earthsolar.com |
| 7. | Southwest PV Systems | Colin Gates | (281) 482-9323 | swpv@southwestpv.com |
| 8. | Texas Solar Power | Craig Overmiller | (512) 459-9494 | craig@txspc.com |
I sent e-mails to each company, saying I had been approved by the City for the rebate program, attaching a photo of our house and asking for a proposed 3kW system.
Two companies, 8. Texas Solar Power and 6. Solar Sky did not respond. Two companies, 7. Southwest PV Systems, and 5. Radian Energy Systems said they were so busy they didn't want any more work ("Unfortunately our installation crew is booked out for the next several months.").
That left 4 contractors. Each of these came out and looked at the house, took measurements, and sent me a proposal. This process took about a month.
| Company | Panel Manufacturer | Configuration | Inverter | Total Watts | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Armadillo Solar | Kyocera | 24 panels x 130 W | Xantrex GT3.0 | 3120 Watts | $19,500 |
| 2. | Custom Solar Electric | BP 170 | 18 panels x 170 W | Xantrex GT3.0 | 3060 Watts | $19,887 |
| 3. | Janet's Electic Inc. | Isofoton | 21 panels x 150 W | PV Powered PVP2800-XV | 3150 Watts | $23,356 |
| 4. | Meridian Energy Systems | Sharp | 16 panels x 208 W | Fronius | 3328 Watts | $21,983 |
Deciding among them was difficult. Each had a different panel manufacturer and configuration. The sizes of the panels is quite different. The costs also vary.
For example, it takes 24 of the 130 W panels from Kyocera, but only 16 of the 208 W panels from Sharp. But the Kyocera panels are 24 inches x 56 inches, while the Sharp panels are 40 inches x 65 inches. This means that the Kyocera system takes 33,600 sq. in. while the Sharp system takes 41,600 sq. in. Putting it in Watts per square inch, Kyocera yields .0928 W/sq.in. while Sharp has .08 W/sq.in.
So, we went with Armadillo.
Armadillo computed that the City of Austin rebate program would pay $11,793.60, leaving a balance for us of $7,706.40. We accepted this contract on 26 June. By 6 July, the City had approved the rebate application, and notified Armadillo. On 14 July, we paid Armadillo our part, as a deposit. At that point, they ordered the panels and inverter.
The materials arrived in late August, and the installation was done 23 to 25 August. Everything seemed to go smoothly. An inspection by the City was scheduled for 10:00 AM on 5 Sept, and by 8 Sept we had our new meters and were operational.
The solar panels went on the roof, and the controls on the
side of the house.
Of course, just at that point, the weather changed. All summer it had been hot and sunny. As soon as our solar system was operational, we started to get cloudy, rainy days. But that's good too!
| Home | Comments? |