DIY solar array 12.5 kw

[pinballlooking]

Did you at least get the federal tax credit? It is 30% total cost. DIY is fine as long as it gets inspected and is allow to go live by the power company.

[where2]

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

Did you at least get the federal tax credit? It is 30% total cost. DIY is fine as long as it gets inspected and is allow to go live by the power company.

Absolutely, and it took two years to collect the credit, because it's a credit against your taxable income, not a rebate. If you happen to have a particularly poor income year, then you get to roll the credit forward into the following year on an IRS form to continue to recoup your 30% total cost.

The local AHJ did more inspections than the power company (something like 6 total inspections, if I recall correctly). The power company just wanted to see the sign off from the AHJ, and the big red NEC 690 labels on the electrical panels.

Keep in mind, my PV rack is on my second floor roof and hurricane rated for a 3-second gust of 170mph. It is essentially 50% more racking than you would see under any other PV installation, and has 204 attachment bolts to the roof trusses for just 20 panels. Every time I marvel at how much my DIY array cost, I have to remember that each of the 102 Creotecc tile hooks was $20. Every panel sits on three rails (not just two).

My array continues to pay dividends every day. I've already got another array in the works for a different climate, different property. The next array, I have to worry about 100psf ground snow load...

[pinballlooking]

Our August was a little cloudy.
12.5 Kw array we generated 1,716 KWH August 2016 our YTD is 14 MWh so far
2015 was 1,873 kwh
2014 was 1,915 kwh



We banked a total 2,826 KWH for winter so far.

Our Chevy Volt has 57,132 solar powered EV miles so far.
It never gets old driving on the sun!

Other solar producers show us your numbers.

[creeky]

My 2kw off grid system produced
July: 140,210 watts
Aug: 129,710

for a total of 269,920 watts produced.

Of note: This is with the new lithium battery pack. See my thread on this.
I also saw 1023w being produced by my "summer angle" 1kw panel set. That this number was produced from 8 year old panels is interesting.

I also set a personal record. One day power creation of 8.12kw.

[where2]

4.4kW system

August 2016: 526kwh
August 2015: 489kWh
August 2014: 566kWh
August 2013: 603kWh

[pinballlooking]

The last 24 months power bills. We cannot offset the meter fee thankfully that fee is not too bad. We heat and cool with solar power.
Keep in mind this also covers charging our 2013 Chevy Volt we have 58,647 solar powered EV miles so far.



It is very cool to see all the calculations I made to try to cover all our power usage worked out in real life.

[pinballlooking]

September 2016
12.5 Kw array we generated 1,662 Kwh we have banked 3,026 Kwh so far for the winter.
2015 = 1,475 Kwh
2014 = 1,371 Kwh




Other solar producers show us your numbers.

[gasstingy]

Sept 2016, 910 kWh from 6.81 kW arrays

I'm still loving solar energy!

[creeky]

September 2016: 128,400w

2 kw of off grid use. So that's actual power created. Used "live" and stored in my battery bank for later use. Doesn't look like much compared to the numbers seen in other posts. But it represents 4.28 kw of daily consumption. For what I've been using for the past 6 years. That = Yowza.

[where2]

My 4.4kW array:
September 2016 = 433kWh
September 2015 = 423kWh
September 2014 = 446kWh
September 2013 = 452kWh

I was up on the roof this past week hooking up an anemometer and noted: I should probably wash the panels now that they have been in place for 4 years...