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Solar Electric

 
The home is powered by two solar arrays delivering 4.9 Kw. It is known as a grid tie system. When the solar photovoltaic panels are running at full capacity the power is fed back into the electrical grid and the home's meter spins backward. At night, rainy or snowy days the house feeds off the grid and the meter spins forward and power is consumed from the utility. There are no batteries involved. The grid acts as a big battery.  A wireless power cost monitor is used to keep tabs on  power on daily power consumption . This allows us to see what devices are consuming  the most power and when.  It also displays the cost of the power consumed. The home has had all of the incandescent bulbs replaced with LED light bulbs. There are federal and state tax rebates for both solar electric and solar hot water systems. All of the power generated  by the solar electric panels is also sold as renewable energy credits helping to defer the cost of the system.  The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative grant program paid for a portion of the system.


Pair of Inverters

 

KWH Usage Data

Power Cost Monitor

The Utility Supplied Net Meter with the Power Cost Monitor Transmitter Attached