Solar electric 6.5kw expanded to 12.3kw

[jebatty]

I think my panels already are using almost all the sun that is available, and longer days don't add much to daily production anymore. With south facing panels, sun both comes up east and sets west of the panels, little early morning and late afternoon production. Panels that could be rotated would do well in the long summer day environment. I'm fortunate to have minimal to no shading from 90 to 270 degrees, but shading of low sun would be quite severe as the sun rises and sets north of due east and west.

 

[moey]

I read this and all that came to mind was Id be mining virtual currencies with all that electricity. Forget giving it back to the power company. Although that may not be a sound idea I have not run numbers on such a endeavor.

 

[jebatty]

First full month of the 12.3kw PV system. Rain in May has replaced April showers. Seven days of above 80kwh (89kwh was the highest day) showed the power of the sun with clear skies and still cool temperatures. With the very dry Fall, Winter and Spring through April in our area, May showers were welcome. No glitches, no maintenance, and many kwh's banked to cover Fall and Winter under net metering.

 

[jebatty]

There is not much new happening, or likely to be happening, with my PV system -- just producing lots of electricity while I sit on the porch, enjoying a beverage, watching the kwh's flow, and once a month opening my electric bill and seeing nothing owing.

Unless there is continuing interest in monthly reports, I will let this thread rest in peace.

Thanks to all who have followed my adventure, and best wishes to everyone whether or not you choose to move forward with clean energy.

 

[maple1]

I've got one.

Does the $ from the PV you generate get counted against only the power you consume - or does it also get counted against your base rate? e.g. here, I would have to pay $10.83/mo, even if I used zero electricity. So do you still have to pay that base rate since you still have a meter hooked up - even though you might be making more juice than you're using or even enough more to cover the base rate?

 

[jebatty]

The PV kwh are credited in $ against my bill, not just against kwh. Therefore, PV kwh in excess of utility supplied kwh also pay the base rate, currently $16.00/mo.

 

[JP11]

I was going to ask about your 'zero bill' comment. You really have no payment due? My minimum bill is 10.65 Two months in a row now.

 

[moey]

I was going to ask about your 'zero bill' comment. You really have no payment due? My minimum bill is 10.65 Two months in a row now.

Welcome to Maine...

 

[peakbagger]

I think Maine has the same setup as NH. I get a monthly $12.50 fee for the privilege of being hooked to the grid called the transmission and distribution fee. I consider it as what I pay for them to be my seasonal battery. My NH SREC payment just about covers it.

A lot of utilities are pushing to get fees hooked to the T&D charge so that solar folks with net metering have to pay more. At one point CMP was trying to get a higher flat rate for T&D that didn't vary by use. I dont think it went anywhere.

 

[JP11]

You really cannot complain much. Never mind the capital outlay for a battery (and no affordable battery in the world will take in the power all summer, and let you use it in the winter)

For 10 bucks a month, you couldn't maintain a battery system (just MTX and saving up for cell replacement)

Solar producers in Maine.. FOR NOW are doing ok with this setup. I'm sure it's a fight that's going to come up again.

JP

 

[jebatty]

I was going to ask about your 'zero bill' comment. You really have no payment due? My minimum bill is 10.65 Two months in a row now.

The utility pays me $0.109/kwh for all power dumped into the grid. If I dumped 500kwh, I would get a credit on my bill of $54.50. That is applied against kwh I buy from the utility at $0.109/kwh, and any excess credit is applied against the base charge, currently $16.00/month. The utility has advised me that at any time I may request payment of the excess credits on my bill.

There was a move in the legislature to changed the law to provide only a kwh credit, not a dollar credit, and to cancel excess kwh credits at the end of the year. It passed in the Republican controlled house but failed in the Democrat controlled Senate. The bill the Republican's passed also attempted to roll back or eliminate many other energy initiatives favoring alternative energy sources now part of MN law.

 

[JP11]

Good for you. I only get credit. I think MA gets a plain old check back every month. My credits expire after 12 months. Oldest credits are always used first. We'll see in a year or so if I have any summer credits I don't need. I can put another home (that my parents live in) in my name and sent a thousand KWH to that bill. I'll never 'lose' any as long as I pay attention.

 

[CaptSpiff]

The utility pays me $0.109/kwh for all power dumped into the grid. If I dumped 500kwh, I would get a credit on my bill of $54.50. That is applied against kwh I buy from the utility at $0.109/kwh, and any excess credit is applied against the base charge, currently $16.00/month. The utility has advised me that at any time I may request payment of the excess credits on my bill.

There was a move in the legislature to changed the law to provide only a kwh credit, not a dollar credit, and to cancel excess kwh credits at the end of the year. It passed in the Republican controlled house but failed in the Democrat controlled Senate. The bill the Republican's passed also attempted to roll back or eliminate many other energy initiatives favoring alternative energy sources now part of MN law.

J, thanks for starting this thread and having the gumption to continue updating us for the past two years. I enjoyed it and learned a boat load!

Your second paragraph reveals a bit of the risk of looking at this PV as a simple investment. The laws of Net Metering, et al, are relatively new and implemented by legislatures in response to policy initiatives. The goals of state governments to reach 15, 20, 30% renewable energy levels in 10-20 years have brought "legislated opportunities" for us, but they could be undone at anytime in part or in whole. The greatest whispering I hear is the significant loss of tax revenue as the Utilities' cash registers (the home meter) ring less and less. There are big players involved and us pebbles will have to be pretty vocal to have a vote on when the avalanche starts.

In the mean time I continue to watch the PV installed price per Kw fall, and hope the laws & incentives continue to favor, as I'm still about a year from taking the plunge.

 

[jebatty]

I received the electric bill for May 8 - June 8. Total due was $0, and credits accumulate to apply against future bills.

 

[begreen]

Well done. Looks like you have a lot of sunshine in the bank for winter.

 

[jebatty]

Hard to resist! June was a very good month.

 

[JP11]

You got me beat. I still have one lazy inverter that hasn't reported the last couple days (it will eventually send the data, and catch up the old. May was 1930. June will come in around 1700. Think I've got 1900 banked with the utility. It's nice to just let the new central air in the house run!

 

[Jeepman401]

The utility pays me $0.109/kwh for all power dumped into the grid. If I dumped 500kwh, I would get a credit on my bill of $54.50. That is applied against kwh I buy from the utility at $0.109/kwh, and any excess credit is applied against the base charge, currently $16.00/month. The utility has advised me that at any time I may request payment of the excess credits on my bill.

There was a move in the legislature to changed the law to provide only a kwh credit, not a dollar credit, and to cancel excess kwh credits at the end of the year. It passed in the Republican controlled house but failed in the Democrat controlled Senate. The bill the Republican's passed also attempted to roll back or eliminate many other energy initiatives favoring alternative energy sources now part of MN law.

Seems that law passed in the last minute dealings of the special session. I have my system up and passed State inspection last week. The utility didn't pass me this morning because of the disconnect switch wasn't the type they wanted. They want a pull-out type and we used a breaker type switch, like a pool pump. Now I have to wait for the contractor next week, the State inspector again then the Utility. Very frustrated over a switch...the system works fine and meets the new Rapid Shutdown requirements. I hear in the commission meetings they are already talking about a new "backup" fee for solar and wind in town. Sad part is my system is the first in town and they are already talking of a new fee.

 

[CaptSpiff]

Seems that law passed in the last minute dealings of the special session. I have my system up and passed State inspection last week. The utility didn't pass me this morning because of the disconnect switch wasn't the type they wanted. They want a pull-out type and we used a breaker type switch, like a pool pump. Now I have to wait for the contractor next week, the State inspector again then the Utility. Very frustrated over a switch...the system works fine and meets the new Rapid Shutdown requirements...

Your Utility requires a "visible break" so a disconnection can be visibly verified. An enclosed switch or circuit breaker does not offer that. That is quite common and I'm surprised your contractor did not check for that with a simple phone call. I hope he is not charging you for the callback.

 

[begreen]

Our utility wanted clearly labeled, separate visible disconnects for the system. These are external knife switches. They sent out diagrams and specs that called out this clearly when the system was approved for installation. Did your power company do this?

 

[begreen]

Hard to resist! June was a very good month.
View attachment 159286

Good month for us too. We just had an extraordinarily sunny June, hitting max output on the inverter (4.5Kw) almost daily.

 

[Jeepman401]

Our utility wanted clearly labeled, separate visible disconnects for the system. These are external knife switches. They sent out diagrams and specs that called out this clearly when the system was approved for installation. Did your power company do this?

Well, all is well now. Got a new pull-out disconnect installed and the gave me the go ahead. Officially up and running. This was totally new to everyone, me, the Utility and contractor so a few mistakes where made. The city had nothing in the code. I would guess should anyone else go solar in town, it will go smoother for them. The Utility needed to rewrite their interconnection and there is a city council meeting Monday to set the rate and take public comments. Pretty proud to become the first one here.

 

[begreen]

Well done, congratulations.

 

[jebatty]

Jeepman, a real accomplishment for you. Keep us informed. My utility, a co-op, did not require a pull-out disconnect. But I needed a breaker type disconnect both at the panels and at the interconnection point at the house so the system can be shut down at either location.

The law changes made during the 2015 Special Session are in Minn. Stat. 216B.164, Subd. 3. The changes became effective July 1, 2015, and apply only to systems net metered after that date. One of the changes allows the a municipal or co-op utility to add an additional fee to net metered service. I hope your utility did not delay the net metered connection to take advantage of the ability to collect this extra fee.

A cooperative electric association or municipal utility may charge an additional fee to recover the fixed costs not already paid for by the customer through the customer's existing billing arrangement. Any additional charge by the utility must be reasonable and appropriate for that class of customer based on the most recent cost of service study. The cost of service study must be made available for review by a customer of the utility upon request.

Another change allows the customer to elect net meter compensation either at the "average retail rate" or by kwh credit. If by kwh credit:

... [the customer] may elect to be compensated for the customer's net input into the utility system in the form of a kilowatt-hour credit on the customer's energy bill carried forward and applied to subsequent energy bills. Any kilowatt-hour credits carried forward by the customer cancel at the end of the calendar year with no additional compensation.

The "average retail rate" provision states

... [the customer] may elect that the compensation for net input by the qualifying facility into the utility system shall be at the average retail utility energy rate. "Average retail utility energy rate" is defined as the average of the retail energy rates, exclusive of special rates based on income, age, or energy conservation, according to the applicable rate schedule of the utility for sales to that class of customer.

Your municipal utility's rate structure would have to be known to make the best meter compensation election, and although this does not apply to me because my system was installed before July 1, 2015, I think the "average retail rate" election, which I now have, provides the best result for me.

 

[jebatty]

Jeepman, how about some pictures?