On July 18, 2007, our home solar system of nine 170-watt solar panels and a Sunny Boy inverter was fired up.
About one year later, the system has generated a total of 2,130 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Taking away 10 days because of a power outage this winter, that translates to an average of 5.96 kilowatt-hours every day.
We’re very happy with the performance of the system, as it’s generating about 90 percent of our power. We might add more panels in the future to get us to the 100 percent mark, but we’ll probably first take steps to reduce our power consumption more, including adding insulation to our attic. It’s already insulated up there, but it probably could use more.
Since climate control is our big power-sucker, especially in the summertime, it only makes sense to cocoon the house from the outside elements.
5 comments
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July 21, 2008 at 9:58 pm
BobInTulsa
Amazing! Will you eventually recover the cost of the system from the savings on your AEP-PSO bills? Have you estimated how long it will take?
August 3, 2008 at 10:02 pm
BobInTulsa
Hey Ron – Hope you see this.
August 12, 2008 at 10:57 pm
BobInTulsa
Are the solar panels reasonably impervious to hail damage?
September 19, 2008 at 7:29 pm
redforkhippie
Hey, Bob — sorry we didn’t get back to you sooner; I didn’t realize you’d posted comments, and it’s been a rather crazy summer. Anyway, in answer to your questions:
1. We will certainly recover the cost, although I’m not sure of the timeframe; my best guess is 10 years, but rising energy costs could mean we see a return on our investment much sooner than that. Most solar power systems last 15 to 20 years or longer, so we should see at least a 50 percent return on our investment over the life of the system, and probably much more than that.
2. We have had no problems with hail or other weather damage since our solar array was installed. The system has been in place through heat waves and ice storms and Tulsa’s usual assortment of hail and high winds, and it continues to perform just fine.
October 1, 2008 at 12:13 am
BobInTulsa
Hi Emily – Thanks for the reply. Belated? I understand completely.
That is so KEWL. Ten years is a reasonable time frame and the ROI estimate is very positive. You guys both rock! Way ahead of the curve.
Are you and Ron going to have an Open House again this year? If so, something to look forward to.