DIY solar array 12.5 kw

[Robaroni]

My bill doesn't come in until the 17th but for Sept. my intertie system made 571.8 Kwh and my intertie/off grid made about 286Kwh so roughly I,m at ~860Kwh for the month. I did some welding and fabricating so it will be around 650 to 700 Kwh that I sold back to my coop. I'm ahead about $650 right now, I'll know better on the 17th. but that's should be close.

PB, those are impressive numbers as usual! Is the 2016 Volt out yet? I didn't see it. I'm thinking I may be able to get a good price on an older one.

Rob

[pinballlooking]

Rob

It is strange they are doing a limited release on the 2016

"Chevrolet has a shortened model year for the 2016 Chevy Volt," said GM in a statement. "As a result, we have limited distribution to our strongest EREV markets, of which California and other select states play a significant role (accounting for more than 45 percent of our overall sales volume). Dealers nationwide will be able to begin ordering 2017 Chevrolet Volts in December, just a few months after states with the largest initial demand.

2016 Chevrolet Volt Rolls Out in Limited Markets; 2017 Volt Debuts This Spring | Edmunds.com


They say they are going to add a couple surprises I hope it is 6.6 Kw charging this would be such a good add.
You could charge in just a little over 2 hours. I would love this feature.

[Robaroni]

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

Rob

It is strange they are doing a limited release on the 2016

"Chevrolet has a shortened model year for the 2016 Chevy Volt," said GM in a statement. "As a result, we have limited distribution to our strongest EREV markets, of which California and other select states play a significant role (accounting for more than 45 percent of our overall sales volume). Dealers nationwide will be able to begin ordering 2017 Chevrolet Volts in December, just a few months after states with the largest initial demand.

2016 Chevrolet Volt Rolls Out in Limited Markets; 2017 Volt Debuts This Spring | Edmunds.com


They say they are going to add a couple surprises I hope it is 6.6 Kw charging this would be such a good add.
You could charge in just a little over 2 hours. I would love this feature.

Interesting, thanks for the link. I think that advancing technology plays such a significant role in cars and EV types, especially in battery geometries, that we will only benefit from the delay. My guess is that they see a window to an overall better car and they really want it to succeed. Me too! I think GM is really getting this car right and if they do it could really change the way we look at cars. I know the fully electric Leaf with it's 84 mileage range is suffering. I drove the Leaf and it was a big disappointment. When you can drive a hybrid that goes 53 miles on electric and then gives you 42 mpg for the rest of your ride that's hard to beat today.
There are a lot of people (the petro industry for one) that want to see this car fall on its face. I think they are afraid of it but like I've always said it's technology that will dictate the future and the nay sayers' days are numbered.

Rob

[pinballlooking]

Yes I agree with you this car could be a game changer. We really like our and any EV combined with solar power is such a win. The new one is better is so many ways.

We have 42,637 solar powered EV miles and it is just amazing that you can capture the sun energy and drive your car that many miles in a little over two years.

I really think it beats everything out there except Tesla. It beats Tesla in price and range but not fastness and EV range. Tesla car is bigger but they are still so much money.

So far they seem to be winning to EV miles not going down over time. But they water cool the battery. I was not sure if the leafs air cooled simpler approach would be better. But looking at the leafs range that is left over time and a Volts range that is left the Volt is winner at this point.

I still think a Volt setup in a say Honda CRV body would be a huge hit if they can keep the price down.

The Volt got attacked so bad it is still hard for it to get past so many media lies and talk show bad PR.

[Robaroni]

PB,
It got attacked because big oil is scared to death of it. Here's the thing, a giant like GM can stand up to oil money.
I'm getting more and more people asking me about PV.
I was just at my local rural garage getting my old truck inspected (just missed driving a Volt, darn!) and they constantly talk about my minus several hundred dollar electric bill.
I always get the person who believes the negative hype about alternatives but they don't last long. When I told one woman that the sun shinning on the earth for one hour produces all the energy the planet uses in a year she came back with," Where did you get that info some pro solar panel site?" in a negative voice. I said, "How about the DOE!",. She crawled into her car and drove away!

Next is the payback time question but how do you argue with someone who made a thousand dollars installing a 6.44Kw PV system?

The good thing is that people are starting to change and I'm being asked more and more about PV. I think one of the reasons we're seeing such low fuel prices is that big oil is trying to starve out alternative, good luck with that!

It's so neat that you're driving on the sun, if I did more than 5 or 6k miles a year I'd own a Volt in a heartbeat, I think it's the best option out there.

Rob

[oil pan 4]

What is the generation rate they pay out there in delhi NY?

[Robaroni]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

What is the generation rate they pay out there in delhi NY?

My contract is good until 2020 or abouts, right now they pay me ~10.7 cents a KWh. I just got a survey from my coop asking members if they would favor a higher rate during the day and lower at night. That would be great for me, I would get more money from my sell power and at night when I pay for power rates would be lower.
In 1220 I think they will pay me what they pay for electricity, not what I pay. I'm planning on doing other things with my power then like setting up a charging station for EV's and heating my house in the winter, my microhydro and wind should be in by then and I'll be making power 24/7.

Rob

[pinballlooking]

I just saw this deal and it is close to what I paid for my first 40 panels. (I was lucky and got free shipping on top of that.)

"New GigaWatt 255W modules with black frame at only $0.78 per Watt for a limited time. These high performance poly panels look sleek on rooftops and come with a full 25 year warranty. "

it still looks like a good deal to me.

They are Positive power tolerance: guaranteed to produce up to an additional 5W of power.
I like that.

[Robaroni]

Wow! That's pretty cheap. I was excited when I bought two 240 watt modules for $304 plus $100.00 shipping.
Right now my old pole has 8 x 175 watts = 1400. Back in 2006 I paid over $800 apiece for them. Next year we may see 300 watt modules for these prices. If that happens I'll sell my old modules for 250 or 300 hundred dollars and go with 300 watters, that will bring my system up 1000 watts. We kept reading that PV prices were going to drop, I guess that's happened. The great thing is that now we're starting to see PV so cheap that it's taking a bite out of the fossil fuel industry. I think they know that, between EV's and low PV prices things won't last long for oil. Look at oil prices now, they give us lots of reasons why they are low but they see the world going to alternatives, suddenly they are no longer a monopoly! My coop is talking about going 100% alternatives. In order to compete energy suppliers have to employ alternatives now.


Did you see my post about NY?


http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-...s-pv-anti.html

Rob

[ELGo]

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

It is a tax credit not a rebate.
If you owe the fed gov 7,500 or more that you will get full credit.

This is correct but people are often confused by tax liability Vs tax owed.

The EV non-refundable tax credit applies to the first $7500 of tax liability. If your liability is less than $7500, the tax credit will zero the amount.

Tax_owed = Tax_liability - tax_payed.