Solar mounting systems pros and cons.

I have been giving this a lot of thought lately about what is the best way to mount solar panels. Do you use the roof, a pole, or ground mount? So I thought I would lay out the pros and cons of each system. You can be the judge.

Roof mount

Pros:
1. The roof keeps the panels out of the yard.
2. It's the cheapest way to install the panels.
3. Less likely to have to get a zoning permit.
4. Looks nice.

Cons:
1. Reaching them to clean them.
2. They get hotter on the roof. Which heat is the enemy.
3. Harder to keep clean especially in the winter.
4. Harder to fix.
5. More dangerous to install.
6. Panels are at fixed angle.

Pole Mount

Pros:
1. Easier to work on.
2. Panels stay cooler.
3. Less snow build up.
4. Can change the angle of the panels.
5. You can use a tracker on it.

Cons:
1. More work to install.
2. Cost more than a roof system.
3. Takes up a portion of the yard.

Ground mount (very similar to pole with some exceptions)

Pros:
1. Easier to work on.
2. Panels stay cooler
3. Less snow build up.
4. Lower to the ground.

Cons:
1. Cost more to install then pole mounted.
2. Uses more yard space then a pole.
3. Panels are fixed like a roof system.
4. Most labor intensive of all the mounting systems.

Here are few examples of the pros and cons of the different solar mounting systems. I personally like using the pole mounted system. The panels work better, it's easier to install the equipment on and the way we install them it's a nice and clean installation. Most of the systems that I have installed currently are of this type. Some of the customers were questioning the installation before it went in. But once we were done they were happy with the look after it was done.

For more information about renewably energy systems for your home I recommend subscribing to Home Power Magazine. This is a great resource of information.

Living off the Grid is not right for everybody.

It always seems when I turn around there is always an article in some newspaper about how some guy has been living off the grid for 20 years. I always think to myself that it is so cool. I would like to do that too. But then I get to thinking are you nuts.

Now I am the type of person that could do that but I'll be straight up with you, I am freak-in lazy. Living off the grid takes major dedication. It is not for the average person. For example you need to have some kind of mechanical ability. Batteries have a lot maintenance issues and are very dangerous. They give off toxic gases that are not good for you.

I know that if I lived of the grid and the first time the system failed and my wife couldn't get any water that would be the end of living off the grid. Beside off grid living is not for the poor. The stuff that is used to make this happen is very expensive.

Now the average guy, which I am an average guy, on the other hand can still enjoy the benefits of being close to being off the grid without all that dangerous stuff and monkeying around with batteries.

The first thing is you really need to take a good look at your power usage. You need to figure out how you can reduce to around 500- 600 kWh a month of power usage. That seems to be that magic number for an affordable system. I blogged about this very issue awhile back.

Well how do I know what I use a month? I tell people that then need to get some type of monitoring system for your electricity usage. I really like the TED system

With this monitor you can dial your energy usage right in by the minute. Helping to obtain that desired power usage level.

Next thing I would tell them get an energy audit done. This generally is a cheap way to find out where your energy is going. Once the auditor has come and done a report for you Then you can focus on fixing some of those energy issues.

Once you got your energy usage under control then we can figure out a good renewable energy system size. By reducing it will save you thousands in a new system.

After your new system is installed you can live virtually off the grid without all the hassles of being off grid.

Now back to the guy off the grid, those guys are few and far between and generally are so far back in woods some where it doesn't make sense to be on the grid. If you are that person call me I can help you out with that off the grid system.

I'm not just talking renewable energy. I'M DOING IT!!!

Every since I started doing renewable energy people have asked me, "Jeff what do you have at your house?" For a long time I said nothing. But just this year I decided it was time to do something. Because if you are going to try and sell this stuff to others without doing it yourself, seemed kind of hypocritical. Why should I get you to buy a system from me if I don't do myself. If it such a great idea why not use it yourself. So I decided I was got to pull the trigger on a system for here.

I really wanted a wind turbine at my home but because where I live that does not allow me to have one. So I decided to go with solar. By now I was not sure about this decision to go with solar, because I was like everyone else. Oh that won't work here because it is so cloudy all the time. But my first system in Glen Lake changed my mind. It was working so well that I decided to go for it. Since that project I have done several others.

Well two weeks ago I started with installing the roof mounted racking. This racking is on the West side of the garage, not the South side like typical installations are done. My ridge line runs North and South so I can only place them on the West or East side of the roof.


Once the racking was done I installed all the Enphase micro-inverters.


With the micro-inverters it allow each panel to work independent of the other panels. Which in case of a panel failing, that allows the system to continue to work. I also can monitor each panel individually. Also since I have some shades throughout the day this does not effect the whole system just that one panel. Here is a link to my system that you can see throughout the day.

The next day I installed the solar panels and connected all the panels to the inverters.



Street view




Next Spring I am planning on installing 6 more panels on the East side of the garage roof. This will almost allow us to have a net zero everyday for electricity.

I have been very pleased with the out come of my system so far. We have not recieved an electric bill yet. But since I monitor our house pretty closely with the TED I know how well the system is working. We have actually had some very low days of kilowatt usage since the installation. I hope to have something up on my website soon to show how well the system interacts with my house and solar. So keep checking back from time to time.

If this something you are interested in doing at your home or business feel free to give me a call with your questions or if you would like an estimate to install a system for yourself. We live solar everyday and we love it.

It's been a little busy lately.

I was talking to a customer the other day and he asked why I have not blogged in awhile. I told him that I have been a little busy lately and have not had time to do it.

So I have a little time this morning to share a few things that I have been working on.



I just finished up a 5kw solar system in the Kingsley area.
I am still battling with Consumer's Energy on how this is to be hooked up to the grid. Their diagram and the one that I submitted and was approved for, are not what they wanted. Now it looks like I have to redo the whole service.



I also have started another solar project in the Midland area which is with Consumer's Energy also. Which I am sure that I will have the same problem there also.







I have been giving out a lot of price on windmills and solar project. I have also been doing a lot of expos and shows. The next show will be August at the Buckley Old Engine Show.

That's all I got for now I hope to have links up for these solar project in the near future.

Car or renewable energy. Which is the better value?

I just finished up the Habitat for Humanity Home and Garden Show here in Traverse City. I had a pretty steady flow the whole weekend. But the common theme seem to be "Boy that is expensive!"

So I got to thinking about this statement. It has been something that I've wanted blog about for awhile.

Lets take my truck, the one that I would use to bring material to your project. I am going to use rough numbers for this example when I compare the $16,500.00 solar package that I had listed for the show, which is still available for this price until the end of the month.

I purchased a new 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD it cost around $30000.00. I managed to pay it off in 3 1/2 years. But since then it still continues to cost me money, a lot of MONEY!!! I will be using 4 years for the example not 5 years because I have not owned it for 5 yet.

Fuel: $ 20,800.00 ($100 to fill up average over 4 years)
Oil Changes: $990.00 ( I have 110000 miles and I change the oil every 5k miles)
Repairs $ 4000.00 (Brake job twice and a transmission replaced)
Tires: $1800.00 (3 set of tires every 30k miles)
Misc: $500.00
Insurance: $6000.00
Total $34,090.00 ( That does not include the truck and the interest that I paid for the loan.)

Now this is not typical of someone that may have a car and this is just to illustrate how the solar package that I am currently offering is a great deal compared to a vehicle.

But if I didn't have to have this vehicle I could have bought about 4 solar systems. Lasting me 20 plus years with little or no extra costs. Which would eliminate my electrical cost to the power company for years to come.

If you do the math for a vehicle and how much it costs. Which people have no problem spending that kind of money. When in about 7 years they will turn around and buy another and start all over again with the cycle.

So what sounds like a better value to you in the end?

Wind or Solar what do you think is better?

I blogged a while back about the pro and cons of wind and solar. I said I would write another blog about what is right for Michigan. Well I am not quite ready for that. But I am willing to show you some data that I have so far.

I have two project that I installed in the area one is a 2.4kw wind turbine and one 2.1kw solar system. Each project has their issues. The wind turbine gets no Northeast or East wind. The solar panels have some shadowing from the trees that are near them.
As you can see the sources are about the same size, kilowatt rating and the both have some issues not making them perfect.

Since the solar project has only been operational since January 16 of this year. It is not fair to make a quick judgement one way or another which is better just yet. I would like to see at least a years worth of data before I make the call which is better.

But what I do have is some data from Jan 16 for both units and you are going to be surprised.

The solar project since it has been installed has generated 421kWh since it was put into service.

The wind project from the same date to present has generated 328kWh.

The solar has out produced the wind by 93kWh or 22%. But keep in mind this has been a weird year so far especially for the month of March where we had a lot of sun which is very unusual for us. This is why I can not say one is better then the other yet. Once we have a years worth of data this will make it more true to life I believe.

The one thing that I am seeing in the numbers is that the sun is more consistant where the wind is not. But there are days that the wind has out produced the solar by a lot. Something that the solar will not be able to do because the wind can blow for 24 hours straight where the sun can not shine for 24 hours.

But stay tune I will keep you up to date as I get data throughout the next few months. You can follow the solar output here.

Why are there three blades on a windmill?

Well some of you know that I was in Norman, Ok for training of the Bergey wind turbine. But I am now back and it was worth the trip to their company.

There was a lot of discussions about all the various types of turbines available on the market. Everything from vertical turbines right on up to the different turbines with one blade on up to the old fashion Aeromotors.

So because of these discussions that we had I am losing one of the turbines that I have in my line up. Let me go into more detail about why I am not going to use this particular turbine and various others.

I am going to start with the vertical axis type first, like the Windspire for example. Bergey actually tried to make this type of turbine work back in the 70's and was unsuccessful because they could not get the rpm's needed to generate power. But what they did find out that they could get torque which works great for pumping water, not good for electricity making. Also the blades are in a constant battle with each other in the wind never achieving the rpm's needed without a lot of wind speed.

Next is the one bladed machines. Which they are technically what you need to make a wind turbine generate a lot of power. But they are so lop sided that there is to much to go wrong. The other thing is you need a lot of wind to get it started. But once that happens it spins very fast and that's where things go wrong.

Two bladed machines are the next better choice. Again they are plagued with their technical problems. The problem with them is the blades get teetering back and forth causing alot of strain on the blades and the hub bearing. As the blade passes the tower it causes the blade to unload the wind blowing against it. Because the wind has to move around the tower. So the bottom has less force and the top blade has all the wind's force causing this teetering effect on the blades.

Three bladed is what turbine manufactures use because it is reliable and it helps get rid of some the other issues that other turbines with other blade configurations have. It is easier to balance the load on the hub with three blades. Like the two bladed turbines the three bladed turbines can counter act the teetering effect much better. Because there are always two blades in the wind. With the turbine being horizontal all the blades are in the wind at any given time not like the verticals which are not.

Now on to the reasoning of why I have decided to drop one of the turbines that I currently have. It's because it is a multi-bladed turbine. Since it has more then three blades the turbine will actually slow down, producing less power but more torque. Just like the Aeromotors in the old pictures of farms with windmills that you see with a lot of blades. Those turbines were designed for more torque in less winds to pump water out of the ground. Not for speed to generate electricity like we are today with the new wind turbines.

You may say just because I went to Bergey and they talked about these different blade styles. How are they correct? Well here is my take on that, they have been around thirty years and they are one of the very few left from the energy crisis back in the 70's. So to me that gives them a lot of credibility in my eyes. There are a lot of companies today that are trying to get rich quick and I'm not one of them. I believe you get what you pay for.

My mission is, "To seek out the best turbine, producing the most power, that can be reliable, and at is most reasonably price possible."

Stop back in the next few days and I will have more to say about my trip to Norman, OK and the Bergey product. I will also be talking about the turbine that is replacing the Skystream and Raum wind turbine too.