Total MwH: 17.549
$2,807 saved
11.406 Tons of CO2 reduced
Highest spike: 4489 Watts
Total MwH: 2.515
$402 saved
2.632 Tons of CO2 reduced
Highest spike: 4407 Watts
The Solar PhotoVoltaic array went on line during the third week of February, 2006. A company from Bristol, RI, SolarWrights, installed the array. It is a 4.1K system, which means it will generate under ideal conditions slightly over 4000 watts, which, if it matches that output for an hour, will generate 4KwH of power. RI had a tremendous, forward leaning buy-back program which contributed $5 per watt to the installer: an incentive that has subsequently been discontinued.
The house was built in 1964, and at the time, was a pride-and-joy-all-electric home, electric baseboard heating, electric stove, and hot water. (Electricity: clean, unlimited supply and practically free!) The cost of retro-fitting the house with a more efficient system was prohibitive, and we made the decision to off-set the electric bills with the installation of this PV system. So far, the PV system has generated close to 1MwH of power, and has reduced the bill, and aided in reducing the environmental impact of the home. In this time of rapidly escalating energy costs, the system will offset the load on the grid, and in times of low load, actually contribute power back to the grid.
In addition, the house uses a smaller solar system to heat water, and was upgraded in August, 2005. This system is tremendously efficient and can supply almost 100% of the hot water used the house regardless of the outside temperature.