As I write this at noon, the solar panels are cranking out more than 1,000 watts of electricity and have generated 1.3 kilowatt hours of electricity in barely an hour.

And the power meter is spinning backwards. You can see the wheel in the center going clockwise, instead of the usual counterclockwise.

We have solar electricity. This is a culmination of a dream that Emily and I have cherished for many years. And now it’s here.

David of Harvest Solar arrived here shortly after 7 a.m. to beat the summer heat. Today was the day he would actually place the solar panels on the roof rack.

I asked him how he kept from zapping himself while carrying the solar panels. He said that the panel wiring has rubber stoppers on the ends that you remove only when you’re ready to hook it up.

Here’s what the finished installation looks like:

After that, David finishes the rest of the wiring that goes to the house:

At 11 a.m., David threw the switch on the main breaker. Within seconds, the Sunny Boy inverter’s digital display read 840 watts. The panels were generating electricity. We heard nothing, except for a very faint hum from the inverter. There was no flickering of the lights. It was all seamless.

This photo was taken about 10 minutes later. As you can surmise, the wattage was going up:

We’ve noticed that the power meter does move forward when the air conditioner is on, but at a much slower pace. When the A/C shuts down, the meter resumes its backwards pace.

It’s a happy day.