That might not be the normal way to celebrate this kind of event, but it’s my way! No one ever accused me of being normal.
BMG’ers are invited to a fundraiser for Senator Jamie Eldridge that I am hosting at my home. My husband and I recently installed solar panels to generate electricity for my home. We will be highlighting this project and providing information.
There are lots of BMG connections at this event.
– The fundraiser is for Jamie, a regular poster and a past recipient of the BMG kiss of death.
– When we made the decision to get the research replacing our existing panels, we consulted my friend and BMG blogger, JohnT001 .
– One of the companies that he suggested we contact was run by Smart Mass. He was the contractor we chose to use.
When I have more time, I’ll produce a more detailed description of what we did and some of the details. In brief we have installed solar panels on our garage roof. We went live on May 11 and we are generating more electricity than we use.
Fundraiser at Kate’s for Senator Jamie Eldridge
Sunday, June 13, 4 – 6 PM
17 Gary Circle, Westborough, MA
Fundraiser in Support of the Re-election of Senator Jamie Eldridge at the home of Kate Donaghue and Kimball Simpson, featuring newly installed solar panels. Hear their story about the step they took toward reducing dependency on fossil fuels and reducing global warming.
Suggested Donation: $500, $250, $100, $50.
Please respond to RSVP@JamieEldridge.com or 508-274-0055. Donate online.
Think of it as a BMG party! Support a great cause. Join us!
Hi All, I designed Kate and Kimball’s system and my crew did the installation. Here are the technical details:
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p>24 Schuco 210-watt solar panels for a total of 5,040 watts.
Schuco is a German company and is well known for their panels, solar hot water systems, windows, and building integrated photovoltaics. The panels are made in Taiwan.
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p>Before you ask about Evergreen…Unfortunately, Evergreen panels have become difficult to get and more expensive. Because of favorable exchange rates, they are shipping most of their production to Europe.
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p>This system will likely produce more power than Kate and Kimball need (maybe they’ll run their air conditioner more now :-). It will generate approximately 6,000 kilowatt-hours per year. (A typical home uses about 10,000 kWh per year. But you know Kate isn’t typical đŸ™‚
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p>1 Solectria PVI-5000 inverter (Lawrence MA)
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p>Through the Commonwealth Solar Program, they received a grant of $10,500 ($2.10 per watt up to 5,000 watts). They will also get a 30% federal tax credit on the remaining cost and a $1000 state tax credit.
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p>Happy to answer any other questions
Mark Durrenberger
AKA Smart Mass – the 2nd “M” is silent đŸ™‚
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p>President
New England Breeze, LLC
Mark and his company were a pleasure to work with!
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p>The funny thing was Mark had been out to our home and met with my husband. It was only later that we realized that we knew each other. I had always thought of Mark as working with wind power. I hadn’t known that he did solar as well.
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p>Jamie and I thought that this would be a great theme for a fundraiser. Without the Commonwealth Solar Program grant and the credits, we could not have done this cost effectively.
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p>We planned this long before the BP issue. But more than ever we see the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
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p>Please join us.
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p>Mark, when you have a second, can you please explain the S-Recs (spelling)?
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p>2. Did you size the system based on this estimate?
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p>3. Did you first try to reduce the consumption of electricity? CFLs of course, but also timers, occupancy/motion sensors, eliminate electric heat where possible, analyze A/C usage and determine if improving the building envelope or insulation would be more cost effective (with a smaller solar system) than not (with a larger solar system, plus more heat use in winter), etc?
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p>4. How much do they cost to insure?
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p>5. Warranty scope/length?
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p>
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p>I’m not trying to “catch” a bad install; I’m confident it’s a great install. I’m really just baiting Smart Mass to run though the process with a little bit more detail, so that other homeowners become more confident about this kind of project and explore doing it too!
We had thirty year old solar panels that we had been using for water heating purposes. And then we needed a new roof. The estimates for taking down and putting back up the old system were so high that we looked to installing a state of the art system.
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p>Over the years we have done much, but not all, of what you suggested.
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p>We looked to Mark for an assessment on solar, not an overall energy assessment. And we personally were motivated not just by potential cost savings, but by doing something to reduce our carbon footprint.
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p>We’ve informed our insurance agent about the panels and we’re told that we’re covered.
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p>I’ll let Mark discuss some of the other issues.
after the tax breaks etc.?
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p>That’s exactly the size system I need. Last time I priced it out, it would not pay off the cost until after I’m gone.
Mark can explain it better than I can, but between all of the rebates and the sale of the renewable energy certificates, solar PV systems will probabluy pay for themsleves well before the decade is out.
I have been interested in adding solar to our house, but would really like to be able to have the benefit of being able to have power during outages. How much does a battery system add to the cost?
but I do know that the system may be much more complex. Essentially, there are major safety problems with being both “on grid” some of the time and “off grid” other times — not just for the house, but for any worker working on the lines nearby.
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p>I’m not saying it’s impossible, but my hunch is that a traditional (diesel fuel, natural gas, etc) is much cheaper, and the amount of fuel used when compared to your total electrical usage is really really low.
Presumably the same issues of feeding current back into the grid during an outage also applies when running a backup generator. The problem with generators is that they are noisy, have to be kept in a properly ventilated location, and require regular maintenance which is kind of a drag for something you hope to never use. I have heard that you can rig a Prius to act as a backup generator, which would seem to be a better option although I don’t know how feasible it would be to try this with our old 2002 Prius.
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p>
We have no storage in our system. We generate power during the time that the sun shines. It goes into the grid. Then when the sun sets, we use power from the grid.
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p>My engineer husband is recording the readings on the “New England Breeze” meter every evening. That number is going up since it is the total numer of kWh that we are generating.
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p>The National Grid meter number is going down. Since we have been keeping records (a few days after we went live) the number had gone down every day but one. Maybe it was a cloudy day and I baked or ironed (not likely). The credits that we are building up now will pay for what we use during the winter.
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p>So this system only works in conjunction with the grid. We would need storage if we were to be totally indpendent.
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p>I’ll see if Mark can add (or correct) anything.
To set the stage, I need to mention that for environmental reasons, I do not own a clothes dryer. A number of years ago, when my son was a young teenager, I was working on writing the Democratic Dispatch. He decided to write a newsletter of his own on a topic of great interest to him.
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p>It was never easy being my son.
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p>To sign up for the Democratic Dispatch, please send an e-mail to DDemDispatch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . Try it you’ll like it. The above appeared in the “You have to laugh occasionally” section of the Dispatch.
I Go do work for a day and all kinds of questions pop up…
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p>I’ll try to answer your questions. If I miss one, ask it again and I’ll get it the next round.
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p>I tried to do a table in html but it didn’t work…
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p>$33,000 – Approximate cost for a 5040 watt system (28 Schuco 180 watt modules or 24 Schuco 210 watt modules), Solectria PVI-5000 inverter, roof racking, revenue grade meter, five years on-line monitoring, five year installation warranty, turn-key installation including electrical and building permits, grant application, utility connection agreement.
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p>$5,500 or $10,500 Commonwealth Solar grant for customers of National Grid, Nstar, Unitil, and some municipal utilities. $10,500 grant for people who’s home value is below the median for its county ($350K in Bristol, Suffolk, Worcester county, $400K in Middlesex, Norfolk, Essex counties)OR the household income is below $95,420 per year (family) or $75,810 (single). Grant payment comes directly to New England Breeze, thus reducing your out-of-pocket cost to $27,500 or $22,500.
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p>30% Federal Tax Credit. The “correct” way to calculate the tax credit is to treat the grant as non-taxable income, subtract it from the system cost then take 30% of the remaining cost. Tax credits reduce the taxes you pay dollar for dollar.(Disclaimer: I’m not an accountant, check with your accountant.)
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p>$1,000 state tax credit (15% but maximum of $1000)
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p>Net cost after tax credits
High grant amount: $14,750
Low grant amount: $18,250
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p>System will generate ~6000 kilowatt-hours per year and the dollar value varies by utility.
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p>Until – $0.21/kWh = $1,260 per year
NStar = $0.19/kWh = $1,140 per year
NGrid = $0.16/kWh = $960 per year
Munis are all over the place (I’ve seen $0.10 to $0.16/kWh)
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p>(When doing financial projections, I use 4% per year inflation rate on the cost of electricity. That is based on DOE data for Massachusetts residential electricity rates.)
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p>SRECs – Solar Renewable Energy Certificates – the state started a new program that opens in July. Electricity suppliers must provide a percentage of their power from solar generated in MA. The number is low (about 1% now) but will grow to 15% (2017 or 2027 – I can’t recall). Power companies can either build solar capacity or can buy the “green credits” (SRECs) from small solar power producers. The market is designed to trade the SRECs at $0.30 to $0.60 per kWh – yes 2 to 3 times more valuable than the electricity!
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p>However, as a small producer, you will need to sell your SRECs to an aggregation company. They will pay you about 75% of what they get ($0.24 to $0.45 per kWh). At $0.24, you system is worth about $1,440 per year. At $0.45 its worth $2,700 per year.
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p>Being conservative (Ironic for BMG đŸ™‚
You live in NGrid territory and pay $0.16/kWh. You put in a 5kw system and get the minimum grant ($5,500). Your net cost is $18,250. You make $960 per year in electricity and you sell your SRECs at $0.24 per kWh. Assuming electricity rates stay the same, your system is worth $2400 ($960+$1440)per year.
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p>$2,400 per year on an investment of $18,250 – that’s a 13% ROI and a payback of 7.7 years. (7 years, 8 months, 12 days đŸ™‚
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p>Panel warranty – 25 years! (50 year design life). Inverter warranty – 10 years. Your system has paid for itself before the equipment warranty has expired.
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p>No moving parts, no maintenance (let the rain wash the panels).
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p>Tell your homeowners insurance about the improvement and don’t let them try to double your rate (as they tried with one of my customers). They should treat it as a ~$33,000 improvement to the home. On a $350,000 home that’s less than 10%.
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p>Battery systems add 30-50% to the cost. Unless you are on an island or in the mountains or really really really want to go off grid, use a generator for those rare (lengthy) power outages.
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p>Happy to answer more questions…
Mark Durrenberger
That is a really good ROI. I had previously thought it to be around a 20 year payback, but it looks like the tax credits make this a lot more worthwhile.
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p>I understand why you don’t want to feed power back into the grid when there is an outage, but I don’t understand why you can’t disconnect from the grid during an outage even without batteries. Is that possible?
See the system in action. Donations of any amount are welcome. Kate
Hi,
the short answer is that no it is not possible with a standard “grid tied” inverter. This is a trade-off for cost and efficiency.
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p>”Battery backup-grid interactive” inverters do both. They charge batteries, or feed the house or feed the grid and if the grid goes down, disconnect from the grid and run the house on batteries.
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p>These systems are quite expensive and not as efficient as the straight grid-tied inverters.
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p>Grid-tied inverters run about 96% – that is they convert 96% of the DC to AC. The rest is lost as heat. Grid/battery inverters run about 85-90%.
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p>There is also the issue with batteries. They wear out whether you use them or not. And they are expensive too. As I indicated above, a battery backup will add $9,000 to $15,000 to a $33,000 system. A lot of money for the occasional power outage when you could solve the problem with a whole house generator for about $6k
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p>Then there is the weather. A typical power outage happens during inclement weather – when you don’t have sun. Thus the solar array won’t do you much good anyway.
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p>If you are on an island or deep in the woods where the power company will charge you $60K to bring power into your home (or won’t do it at all), a $40-50K investment is not so bad.
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p>Mark