STOWELL’S SOLAR STORY
The house before work began...
October, 2007
Project #1: Paint the basement wall with waterproofing paint. Inverter will be placed to the right of the electrical box. The inverter changes the DC power made by the panels into AC power used in the home.
Project #2: Plumber relocates the soil stack. New stack installed with old one capped off. The panels will be put on in a staircase format. 6 panels on the top row, 8 panels in the middle, and 10 panels on the bottom row.
October 15, 2007
October 19, 2007
In the summer of 2007, I contacted a solar pv installer named Third Sun Solar and Wind that is based out of Athens, Ohio. They did a site survey and completed all of the paperwork needed to apply for a grant from the state. In addition, I contacted the city to check on any regulations, contacted the neighbors, and got approval from the local civic association. Once the grant was approved work began.....
UPDATE: The state grant process is finally finished. I signed the last of the agreement documents today. The equipment is going to be ordered shortly with a probable install date in December.
November 1, 2007
The date for install is on the calender. Work is tentatively scheduled to begin on Tuesday, December 18.
November 6, 2007
Project #3: Increase energy efficiency. I have changed most light bulbs in the house to compact florescent bulbs. I have begun to put an extra layer of unfaced R25 insulation in the attic over the existing insulation that will increase the attic rating to approximately R50. The added insulation will qualify for a federal tax credit. All of the windows were replaced and upgraded with low-e, argon filled glass in 2002. I also installed a higher efficiency water heater in 2007.
November 8, 2007
Project #4: Electrical Inspection. Third Sun is using a local electrician (Jess Howard) to do the electrical work. They reviewed the site today. They will put the power line in from the roof down to a shut off box and then into the house to be connected to the inverter. The shut off would allow a firefighter to shut off power from the panels if needed. The drawing to the left shows the location of the electrical connections. The electrician will need to pull our only required permit from the city of Dublin for about $40.
November 13, 2007
Project #5: New Meter. AEP has installed a new digital electric meter on the outside of the house. I hope it can count backwards....
December 1, 2007
December 13, 2007
Ongoing Project: Government Action. Sad news. On Thursday, the Senate failed by one vote to advance an energy bill that sought to double the solar tax credit. Ohio’s Senators split their votes. One was in favor of renewable energy; the other was in favor of carbon-based industries. At least they finally passed new C.A.F.E. standards. Click Here to see vote results. We will no longer need to delay the turning on of the system until January 1. Hopefully, if all goes well, the system will be activated on Thursday, December 20.
A 16th century engraving shows early interest in using concentrated sunlight.
December 16, 2007
Let’s Roll: Time to fire it up. Work is slated to begin on Tuesday morning. The snow from this weekend has mostly melted or blown from the roof. Sun is expected for the next 3 days!
December 18, 2007
Let’s Roll: INSTALL DAY 1
First pictures: 10:15am
Pictures: 11:15am
Pictures: 3:30pm
Pictures: 5:30pm
Tuesday Update: First Day Progress. What a great crew!!! Today, the electric lines were run, the inverter (turns DC power into AC) was installed, the exterior shut off box was installed, conduit to the roof was installed, the brackets that hold the rails which hold the panels started to be installed, and the old stack was removed and covered over and shingled. That’s a lot for one day! On Wednesday, they will finish the rails and place the panels. Hopefully, the weather will continue to cooperate. It got up to 39 degrees today. Today, the Congress passed the energy bill without solar incentives and sent it to the President who is going to sign it Wednesday.
December 19, 2007
Let’s Keep Rolling: INSTALL DAY 2
Pictures: 12:00pm
Pictures: 1:15pm
Pictures: 5:00pm
Wednesday Update: Second Day Progress. Today the rest of the wiring was completed. The big job of the day was finishing up the racking system that will hold the panels. All of the roof connections had to be flashed and sealed. The panels themselves will be going up on Thursday as it got too dark to put them on this afternoon (can’t test them in the dark). Hats off to John Callahan for stopping by to check on the progress.
December 20, 2007
Panel Time: INSTALL DAY 3
Thursday Update: Third Day Progress. Today, the crew put the final touches on the wiring and rack system. Panels started going up this afternoon. 10 of the 24 panels were installed today. The panels look great! One student said that is looked like I had a bunch of large screen plasma TV’s on the roof. The crew will finish attaching the rest of the panels on Friday morning. They will then test the system to ensure everything is working correctly.
December 21, 2007
The Finale INSTALL DAY 4
January 22, 2008
Appendix: New Meter Installed. After receiving the first electric bill since the installation, I was surprised that I was being billed for over 500kw. I started watching the digital meter that AEP had installed in December and discovered that it indeed did not record outgoing power to the grid. AEP had installed a meter incapable of net metering. They have since replaced it with the traditional spinning meter. AEP is calculating an equitable rebate based on my production data and their usage data. I do like the note that they left on the new meter...
Appendix: Another Meter???. I have requested that AEP bill me using a Time of Day tariff rate. There would be a higher rate for weekdays 7am to 9pm and a very low rate for nights, weekends, and holidays. There are currently only 5 AEP customers that use Time Of Use and no one using it with net metering. AEP is trying to configure a meter that can do Time of Use and Net Metering... More to come...
February 16, 2008
Appendix: Electrical Inspection. The city of Dublin inspector came to check out the system. All of his questions about the actual wiring and inverter were answered by the engineer at Third Sun. He did want them to add a label onto the outside shut-off and to add an expansion joint in the outside conduit. Third Sun sent Pete up to add the fitting to the conduit. To put it on the wires needed to be pulled out of the conduit. We were unable to pull the wires from inside the basement so they were pulled from the roof. The inspector will have to return to sign off on the system.
February 19, 2008
March 16: Electrical inspection passed! Sunpower, the panel maker, sent an inspector from New York to check on the installation to make sure it met their specifications. The inspector said, “This is the best installation I have ever seen.” He was impressed with the roof flashing, the wiring, and the evenness of the panels on the roof.
A few weeks ago, I hosted a group of realtors who came to see the system and ask questions about the impact on home value and appealing to green home buyers.
AEP is still working on writing a program that will allow me to net meter and use Time of Day metering. Stay Tuned.
March 23, 2008: Another New Electrical Meter: AEP took about a month to write a program that would allow net metering and Time of Use metering. A new meter has been installed that will allow both. On weekdays from 7am to 9pm there will be a high rate charged (+14 cents/kw) and from 9pm to 7am and all day on weekends there will be a much lower rate (2.5 cents/kw).
April 20, 2008: Conduit Change: Third Sun came out this week and changed the interior conduit from PVC to metal at the request of Sunpower. It met code with the PVC, the solar panel maker wanted an extra amount of safety. Had a great week of production having sun every weekday this past week.
I have started looking into Solar Thermal for heating water. Dovetail is providing me with some proposals. Third Sun recently decided to get back into doing Solar Thermal as well.
Happy Earth Day this week!
May 26, 2008: Rate Update: So far the Time of Day tariff rate combined with net metering is paying off. CLICK HERE for a description of the rate. After two months, I am about $10 ahead than using the normal residential rate after just two months. We’ll see what difference AC makes in the analysis.
June 12, 2008: Rate Update: So far the Time of Day tariff rate combined with net metering is paying off. I have posted two graphs at the bottom of the data page that compares my bill with Time of Use metering to the Normal metering. Still waiting for the state to reinstate the solar hot water grants before proceeding with that project.
July 18, 2008: Energy Tour: I have just returned from a three day trip for teachers to visit various energy sites in Ohio. Seeing the wind turbines in Bowling Green and visiting the First Solar plant in Perrysburg were the highlights. Greetings to the participants who were invited to visit the website and the array.
