I recently got an electric bill and it took a pretty steep drop. First some background. I’ve a moderate sized solar electric system. Normally it doesn’t run the whole house. In a pinch I can transfer most of the grid circuits to the solar electric system. It’s all a matter of going down the basement and throwing a few switches. There are some items that don’t run all that great on my old school modified sine wave inverter. I’ve also an electric water tank. In the winter I can preheat the water going in using a coil on the woodstove, but it’s currently all electric.
If my house batteries run low they can be topped off from the grid. I’m in the habit of doing that before major storms. In case the grid goes down I want to start with full batteries.
We’ve had some hot weather so the fans have been going full blast. The refrigerator is working much harder than normal. In spite of all that my bill dropped about 30%.
So what’s different? Over the years the trees around my solar panels have been growing. They were causing partial shade on the panels and that really hurts power production. One afternoon with ladders, pole saws, and a chain saw cleared all that growth. That’s all it took to increase output. It was a pretty good return for a few hours work.
-Sixbears
Yeah. Solar panel ratings are based on a totally unobstructed view of the sun. Anything at all that blocks sunlight diminishes their ouput. Why solar panels in the desert are the best use for them. Even on a cloudy day they put out some power.
ReplyDeleteIt took seven years for my solar electric system to pay for itself here in the frozen north. I actually get the best output in late winter to early spring. Panels are efficient when cold and the sun reflects off the snow pack.
DeleteHey, My power bill doubled.
ReplyDeleteSo I did amazingly well as we are in the same system. I guess the new rate hike took effect.
DeleteOur solar system is entirely off grid. Battery bank died after 10 years. Only $12k to replace!!! The sun might be free, but the infrastructure required to harvest and store it is NOT. That said, we haven't had to run the generator in a while now.
ReplyDeleteThe grid basically functions like a backup generator for me.
DeleteYeah , our power bill doubled this summer.
ReplyDeleteIf weren't so paranoid I'd actually use all those panels I've got stored away for when the grid goes away...
You could set some up in the yard inside your fence, where no one could see them. Set up a power shed and plug into it as needed.
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