Matt, I am betting there are many days I will over produce. Even though today is single digits, the sun is shining.... We have as many sunny days as Florida. I just got off the phone with someone from CA who is hooking me up with NY solar group... Should be having a consultation in the next week... NY has many incentives, I guess
I would consider something smaller on a cabin for survival reasons but not as a means to make or save money on my home. Unless you are generating some serious energy, which typically requires additional means like a combination of windmill and watermill in addition to the solar panels, it would be hard to generate enough to where the power company starts paying you. As mentioned above, if the goal is supplementing your own consumption, that would be awesome, but I sitll think you may need more than just the solar panels. Of course this may completely depend on your usage and where you live. I live in Ohio and I don't think the sun knows where Ohio is.
So Friday at noon I will be having a phone conversation with Sungevity .. they have all my usage for the last year and already checked out satellite images of my home, determining that we are a great option for solar. They will be pitching me for an hour or so and I will report back as to what we do...
Good deal, I will be intersted to see what they say. I will be interested to see what I can do with my cabin once it's complete.
Gota have the right set up for those too, correct? A cabin would be fantastic for this ....unless it is in the woods..
It will be in the woods but my consumption would literally be confined to survival comfort necessities such as a single light or something similar. I would only need enough to trickle charge a car battery and I can open up the canopy above the cabin if needed. I will have a wood burning stove for heat and cooking so there would literally be no other needs except for maybe a light at most.
I have never done it but i hear that its extremely effective in NY and can save a bunch here to compared to other states. Its much cheaper to get them in jersey by the way so i would suggest you take a drive down there.
My inlaws leased a setup from Solar City in the Adirondacks Tony. They are very happy with the setup. They are feeding back into the grid during peak times and the system essentially pays for itself in a few years and eventually turns into something that pays them income I believe. They put the system on a lease because Solar City still owns all the equipment and the service associated with it. If anything breaks or malfunctions the installer is responsible for all parts and labor. It's not cheap, but we will likely do this with our next place as we don't intend to move again when we get back to NY.
Like solar, some sites will be better than others. Live on a ridge, between two mtn peaks, or on a prairie, you're gonna have wind. Solar and hydro (including microhydro) have had a lower cost of entry than solar. Hydro also produces 24x7, wind your mileage may vary.
Sounds great, a deep cycle battery will serve you better than a car battery, a bank of batteries even better still. You will either need to run DC circuits and use dc bulbs or also include an inverter in the design.
I missed the CA guy and rescheduled with him ...the NY guy is working it now....I will let you know probably Monday or Tuesday
Good luck Tony dont think it would work in my part of Wisconsin. You'd need sun right? That would be the limiting factor. Would our area only having three days where the temp did not drop below zero matter. Someone explain to me why I live here.
Thanks Dean. Sun is the only requirement... You need at least 80% exposure to the grids when the sun is out.... Cold means nothing (as far as solar energy goes) And you live there cuZ of the kick butter cheese :D
