David & Barbara Heid asked us to install a 12.4 KW Solar PV system on their new home. They felt compelled to provide the following review based on their experience so far.
—
Power Trip (PT) was instrumental in building our new “green” house. Several years ago PT was asked to survey our possible building site for potential solar energy capture. Their survey reported that the site had positive solar potential. That survey began our strong relationship with PT.
PT was with us from the beginning of our newhome. PT determined the compass orientation of the house foundation that would place the roof line for the greatest capture of solar energy. PT also designed the angle (slope) and size of the roof for placement of solar panels. PT also helped in our selection of the metal roof style that enhanced panel placement without having to penetrate the roof for panel anchorage.
Our “green” home is installed with a ductless heat pump for household heat, a ‘heat-pump’ hot water heater, and all lighting is LED. The house is insulated beyond county code requirements.
PT installed our solar panels on January 5, 2017. In addition to the panels, an EV (electric vehicle) charger station was installed. On April 28th , an all electric Chevrolet Bolt was purchased.
Today after 129 days since the installation of the solar panels, data collected shows that the ave daily energy use for the house is 32.87 kWh. So far, the ave daily Solar energy production is 32.07 kWh with a result of 97.57% of the daily household electrical use being supplied from Power Trip installed solar panels (32.07kWh/32.87kWh). The total household use of electricity includes the kWh used to charge the Bolt. The Bolt has been driven over 2000 miles since its purchase and it has been charged at our new home only.
Also, our PUD electric bills for March and April were only for the monthly $14.50 base fee that is charged to each electric bill. No charges were made for electricity since no electricity was delivered. In addition, the May PUD electric bill states that 396 kWh have been added to our banked usage balance.
We look forward to the days ahead when the ‘2017 spring rain season’ is replaced with some long days of sunshine and ‘banking’ energy for later winter days. Also with new batteries being developed, our future may include an ‘on site’ energy storage system.
Can we recommend Power Trip Energy for solar planning and installation? YOU BET!
Heid Residence, 12.4 KW, Port Ludlow, Feb 2017
I would like to know what the total capital investment amounted to in $. How many years will it take to pay for the investment. It also would be interesting to know if the home site has full sun all day or what part of the day they have sunshine?
Hi Duane, quick answers here, contact us for more details. The costs of the systems are about $2500-3500/kw for the turn-key installed project, the returns are between 5-8% annually right now, today, though those returns will change as incentives go down and electric rates go up. David and Barbara’s site does indeed have full sun all day, which is of course preferable, though many of our clients only have 90%, 80% or less solar exposure, usually due to trees. We use a tool called the SunEye which can help us quickly and accurately quantify the amount of sun any particular site receives and helps us create very accurate performance estimates. Please get in touch for more details. Sorry for the delay in response to this comment, it was somehow unnoticed among our emails, web inquiries, and social media conversations. Feel free to give us a telephone call for guaranteed faster response. 😉