The first day the solar panels were put into service at 11 a.m., they generated 7 kilowatt hours of electricity.
On Thursday, the first full day they were in operation, they generated 7.7 KWH under partly cloudy skies. You could tell when a cloud obscured the sun by the Sunny Boy’s real-time readout — it would go from 900 watts to 150 watts in a hurry.
Harvest Solar eventually will come back to test the system, which is part of the installation contract. Perhaps it needs to tweak the angle of the panels. Maybe one panel is defective and needs to be replaced. But based on what I’ve seen, I’m pleased with how the system is performing.
Also, our power utility, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, soon will replace the analog power meter with a digital one. I’ve read that digital meters are more accurate, and the new meter will allow the utility to take its monthly reading for billing by remote.
But I have to admit, I’ll miss that little metal disc spinning backwards.
1 comment
Comments feed for this article
July 20, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Manu Sharma
7.7 kWh/ day is excellent. It’s probably close to the maximum energy output you’ll get from these panels. Two reasons: you get the most sunshine in July in Tusla, according to PV Watts data.
Second, as the electrons get bombarded with suns’ rays for the first time over first few days they crank out slightly more energy than they would over their lifespan.
(Sorry for so many comments over last few days.)