I will send an email to Rocky Mountain Power containing my filled-out Utah Solar Incentive Program Capacity Reservation Application Form. Yep, that's what it's called.
Over a month ago, my hubby and I decided to check out getting some solar panels put on our roof. We're already trying to reduce our impact on earth by building a house with a radiant roof barrier, ground source geothermal heating/cooling, and xeriscaping instead of a lawn. We've always been interested in solar, but didn't have the money to add that when we were building our house. Then manna from heaven drifted down in January, enabling us to go forward.
I called our neighbors with solar power for a referral and then called the contractor they used to come out and give us an estimate. I followed him around in my (broken ankle) boot and watched with trepidation as he climbed up onto our flat roof, tromped around on it, and then jumped down.
"Don't break anything," I shouted. He laughed, because the jump was only about 4 feet on that side of the house.
He told me that the parapets were high enough to hide solar panels over the living room area, which would give us room for about 3700 watts. The next day he emailed a cost estimate: $19,000!
At first hubby and I said it was too much. Then we checked into energy-efficient credits. A residential energy efficient property credit from the feds amounts to $5,730 and from the state of Utah, $2,000. And if Rocky Mountain Power picks my email in their lottery tomorrow, we will get an additional incentive of $4,960. Wow.
One problem with Rocky Mountain Power: they say the lottery is open from 8:00 a.m. March 1st to 5:00 p.m. March 14th. However, our contractor says that, judging from past experience, it is REALLY over at 8:01 a.m. on March 1st. Only one minute is needed for all the allotted applications to be chosen. So tomorrow morning I will be sitting in front of the computer with my forefinger poised over "send" and my eyes on the computer's clock to strike 8:00 a.m.
The whole procedure is fascinating. We will be plugged directly into the grid. On days when we use all our available wattage generated and need more, we will be sucking electricity into the house. On other days when we generate more than we use, Rocky Mountain Power will be sucking it back. Once a month, we will see our energy usage and bill decrease by at least a third and once a year they will issue a check for the amount of energy they bought from us.
What I found surprising was that solar panels are most efficient at 65-75 degrees and lose efficiency at higher or lower temperatures. I also got to see the contractor do a solar shade analysis. He brought out a convex dome that shows the surrounding trees, mountains, houses, etc on the edges of the circle. He set the dome on six corners outlining the future solar array and analyzed the solar shade at those points. From what I can gather from the application information, it looks like we will have no shade at all on the roof.
One of the neighbors I talked to above monitors and records his solar generating and energy usage daily. He puts all the data on a website he created. I don't think he'd mind if I shared his website: http://www.casteyanqui.com/ev/solar/index.html
If you take a look at it, you will be able to see his solar panels, and the charts and graphs he made detailing the ins and outs of his energy usage. In comparing his solar panels with ours, we will have the same manufacturer, model and inverter but will have fewer (16 compared to his 36) panels. According to his website, his total generating capacity is 8,280 watts while ours will be ?? because then you get into the math.
According to our application, we will have an estimated 6068.8 annual kWh (kiloWatt-hour) production before the inverter, which has a 95.9% efficiency level. This reduces our energy generation to 5820 AC kWh/year. Then you multiply by the number of modules (16) and efficiency per module and get 3,438 Watts (per day, I guess). At least all you electricians will know what I'm talking about!
The bottom line is that our solar array should save us about $550 per year at current prices. It will only take us 20.5 years to break even (without winning the lottery) and 11.4 years if we win. Wish us luck!!
Update: even 8:00 a.m. on the dot was too late!!
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