Schoharie Tattler

The Sun Tattler

A SOLAR ENERGY PROJECT: LET's HEAR IT FOR THE SUN!

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Array of 16 solar collectors on garage roof,
Main Street, Schoharie, NY

Our Sunpower Story

3 May 2008
In 2006 we decided to use sunpower for some of our energy and in summer 2007 we had a photovoltaic system installed. Above is a picture of the sunlight collection system. This system turns light — not heat — into electricity. We are located at Schoharie, N.Y., 40 miles or so southwest of Albany. We turned it on on Friday, Aug. 31.

As expected, we generated a lot less as we approached the winter solstice. In September we generated an average of 9.8 kilowatt hours daily and in November only 5.7. The week before solstice on December 22 we generated only 1 KWH daily on average. Much of the loss that week was because of snow blocking the collectors but generally snow blew off or melted quite quickly. December 22 sunrise is 7:24 and sunset 4:27.The half hour or so at dawn and dusk are insufficient to operate the system so the maximum possible generating time is about eight hours. I did not take daily readings from Nov. 19 through Dec. 20 but we generated 11 KWH a day five times during January. In February we had a 10 and a 14 but all other days were single-digit readings. Daily readings are on another page.

We generated 6 KWH on January 4, three of them in the 2 hours 15 minutes from 1:05 to 3:20, but the readout is not fractional so it's possible (likely even) that the starting reading was approaching the cusp. I'd sooner believe it was 2 KWH generated in 2 hours. At midday in late summer we sometimes generated 2 KWH an hour. The collectors are silicone based and therefore most efficient in cold weather. I was told peak output will probably be on a cold, clear winter day. But the days are much shorter then, so total daily output won't be great.

In spring 2008 we saw some great collection days. One week (April 19-25) we generated 86.1 percent of our electricity. But there are just two of us and we are energy conscious. (I follow her around turning off lights.)

More background information is at far right, including the costs. A table summarizing our electric use and generation may be found below. A diary recording generation and other data may be found at right and a daily data chart is on another page.

We have recently added a solar hot water system. It is not as useful or efficient as solar electricity. The solar system does not provide enough heat to be a sole water heater and is used to pre-heat it so we use less electricity to heat it. Before its installation, we were using about 23.4 KWH daily. With solar hot water April 24 to May 23, we used an average of 18.4 KWH daily. We turned off the electric hot water for two days to see whether we could get sufficient hot water, and our electric usage dropped to 10.5. Ultimately, our "hot" water was tepid. When we got a good sunny spell, we may try it again.

—Lester Hendrix, Schoharie N.Y.
email Lhendrix at NYCAP dot RR dot COM

Weekly tables are below.

Diary: Jan. 1 to May 31 2008

Diary: Aug. 31 to Dec. 31 2007

Daily Diary

Sunrise/set times from Naval Observatory adjusted for daylight time.

Check the Sunpower Data page — a table of generation and use data since start-up.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008. Sunrise 6:01, sunset 8:03 -- only 14 hours 2 minutes of daylight today, down from a high of 15 hours 20 minutes June 20. I did not take any readings Sunday or Monday, which were gray and rainy. Today we generated 10 KWH for a total of 2,809. N.G. meter 3,100.

Saturday, August 11, 2008. Generated 12 KWH for a total of 2,791 since last August 31. National Grid meter at 3,050 for the same period. We've generated 47.8 percent of our electricity.

Friday, August 8, 2008. We have six guests this week so our use is up substantially. We generated 67 kilowatt hours and bought 90 more, so we only generated 42.7 percent of our use.

Friday, August 1, 2008. Generated 61 kilowatt hours this week (Saturday-Friday) and bought 37 more, total use 98. We generated 62.2 percent of our electricity.

Sunday, July 27, 2008. Sunup 5:44, sundown 8:22.

11:40 a.m. Returned to Newburgh from Alaska at about midnight. From Catskill, we saw a fantastic thunderstorm in the mountains and ran through it later; we understand it was ferocious here. Home at about 2 a.m. The N.G. meter is 2902 in the morning. System came on at 6:12 a.m. and by 11:37 generated 3 KWH for a total of 2,654. It appears as if we had an average electric use of 8.7 KWH daily with just the refrigerator, freezer and clocks running, and generated an average of 10.35 KWH daily. My desktop was on when I returned, and I had turned it off. I fear it was not fully off and that one of the several violent storms gave it a jolt. The electric hot water was off, of course, and we have not turned it back on. The solar HW system is separate from the solar electric system and seems to have 80 gallons of warm water in it. We will see if we can live on warm rather than hot showers, and whether the sun can keep up with our use.

No readings July 12-26

Friday, July 11, 2008. Sunup 5:30, sundown 8:36. Overcast; generated 3 for 2,496. N.G. meter 2,929.

Thursday, July 10, 2008. Partly sunny today. Took no reading, estimate generated 8 for 2,493. Estimate N.G. meter at 2,923 KWH.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008. System on 5:50 a.m. Partly sunny today. Generated 15 for 2,485 KWH. N.G. meter 2,916.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008. Sunup 5:28, sundown 20.37. Partly sunny today. Estimated generation 15 KWH for 2,470 (cannot tell for sure because I took no reading yesterday.)

Monday, July 7, 2008. Sunny today. Took no readings. Estimate 10 KWH for 2,455.

Sunday, July 6, 2008. System on 6:02 a.m. Generated 13 for 2,445 KWH. N.G. meter 2,896.

Saturday, July 5, 2008. Sunup 5:26, sundown 8:38. System came on at 5:58. Partly sunny, generated 11 for 24,32. N.G. meter 2,892.

Friday, July 4, 2008. Mostly sunny, Generated 14 for 2,421 KWH. N.G. meter 2,877.

Thursday, July 3, 2008. Sunup 5:25, sundown 8:39. System on at 5:48 a.m. Overcast and rain. Generated 5 for 2,407. N.G. meter 2,864 KWH.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Sunny. Generated 14 for 2,402; N.G. meter 2,850.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008. Sunrise 5:23, sunset 8:39. Overcast; system on 5:55. Generated 10 for 2,388 KWH. N.G. meter 2,844.

Diary: Jan. 1 to June 30 2008

Diary: Aug. 31 to Dec. 31 2007

Of course he won't salute the American flag. He's running for president of the world.

Prior Use

There are normally just two of us so our electricity use is low.

In the 32-day June-July 2007 billing period we used 15.6 KWH a day.

In the 29-day July-August 2007 billing we used about 18.4 KWH a day.

Since then, our hot water has changed from the oil furnace to electric, so our electric use went up to about 23 to 24 KWH daily. Then, we installed a solar hot water preheater and our electric use now averages 18 to 19 KWH a day.

Use

In the nine-day Aug. 21-30 billing period we used 111 KWH, an average of 12.3 a day. The lower amount is because we had grandchildren visiting all summer and none during this period.

In the 20-day Aug. 31-Sept. 19 billing period we bought 45 KWH, an average of 2.25 a day. We also generated 188 KWH, an average of 9.4 KWH a day for a total use of 11.7 KWH a day. This is lower than the prior period because we started turning more things off to conserve electricity.

Our highest daily generation was 18 KWH on March 30, lowest 1 KWH on Oct. 11 and probably several other days as well. With leaves growing, I doubt we will see more than the 18 KWH of March 30.

Electricity Storage

There is no storage in this system -- we just give excess juice to the grid and take it back when we need it. The meter runs backwards when we are generating more than we use. There is no surcharge from the electric company; if they are charging 15 cents a KWH during the billing period, that's what they pay me when I "put it in the bank" and that's what I pay them when I take it out -- it's a complete wash. In other words, I store my excess electricity on the grid for free; no battery to buy or maintain.

Actual Electricity Cost

Here is the report from our first electric bill with the system installed: The electric bill arrived today, the first since we have the solar installed. We bought 111 KWH during the nine days before the change and another 45 KWH during the twenty days following installation of the new meter. The KWH rate we pay dropped slightly however there is a fixed $16.21 per month "basic service" charge on both bills, so in a straight division of the bill by KWH it appears that the rate went up from last month's 17.2 cents to 24.4 cents. However when you subtract the fixed charge out of both bills and just divide the KWH charge by the number of KWH, we find our rate actually dropped, from 16.1 cents per KWH to 14.0 cents each. Last month's bill was $92.24. This one is $38.08.

Installation Cost

The system cost was about $28,500. The New York State Energy Research and Devel- opment Authority authorized a $12,160 grant and we should be eligible for more than $5,000 in tax credits for a net system cost of about $10,000.

Installation was by Dave Austin and the Great Brook Enterprises team from South New Berlin, N.Y. Great job, guys! Perhaps it is too soon to tell but we seem to be getting quite a bit more return than was estimated.

More information about renewable energy and NYSERDA programs is available at the Power Naturally website.