US Poised to Overtake Germany as World Leader in Solar Installations by End of Year
The increase in solar installations nationally is continuing a very strong growth curve in both the utility and residential arenas. Full data with impressive charts are available at this link from SEIA.
http://www.seia.org/news/us-solar-industry-records-second-largest-quarter-ever
Locally, here at Power Trip Energy Corp, we increased the amount of pv installed by 70% over last year. We are hoping to continue to increase at that pace again next year. This year we added one new person, and are planning on adding three more people to our team next year to facilitate this growth. We have added office space and we have sufficient warehouse space in order to accomplish those goals. With continued price decreases in the cost of solar modules, and now with advantageous financing available, we have crossed a point beyond which the installation of grid-tied solar on a sunny roof is now economically compelling, regardless of the environmental benefits, increase in house value, and personal liberation.
More about The Other Hydrogen – with Stephen Crolius
“Local Energy in 2025: Electricity and ‘The Other Hydrogen’”
The programs are sponsored by Power Trip Energy Corp., Sunshine Propane, Alaska Power & Telephone Co., the Port of Port Townsend.
Streamlined Permitting Checklist, Permit Exemptions for Solar, and the Climate Action Plan
The New Solar World SunModule Protect 265
It may not look like much on this rack at the front of a conference room, but this new SolarWorld SunModule Protect is a major improvement to an already industry-leading product. The use of 2mm glass as a replacement for the standard film back sheet will result in great improvements in durability. We have already seen successful implementation of similar glass-on-glass technology from the Washington-based start-up Silicon Energy 4 years ago and the NREL tests have supported the claims of durability. SolarWorld is now placing an unprecedented warranty on this product – a 30 year warranty of less than 0.35% performance degradation, meaning they guarantee they will generate at least 86.5% of the rated power 30 years from now.
We recently got a call from a lady in Kitsap County who installed Arco 30 watt modules in 1982 (31 years ago.) She claims today she is seeing about 85% of the initial power production from these modules. Through mergers and acquitions, the ancestry of SolarWorld reaches back to Arco through Siemens, and Shell Solar, now with a pedigree of over 40 years of US pv manufacturing.
We are proud to be Authorized SolarWorld dealers, found out today only 10% of the applicants to the program make it in.
Net Metering Policy Map by State
This map was just sent to me and I thought it was worth sharing. The credit for this image (and lots of other great research and resources) goes to www.dsireusa,org.
Net metering is now policy in nearly 90% of the US. Net metering refers to the requirement that utilities must compensate you at the same retail price for the electricity you provide them as what they charge you per kwh. The numbers denote the limits to the size of a net metering system in each state (in kilowatts.) Here in Washington, our 100 kw limit is preventing the development of many mid-sized or large commercial systems. The residential and small commercial markets we serve are still relatively immature compared to many other states, but on a healthy growth curve, ie 70% annual growth in number of new systems installed last year, and 50% growth in average system size.
Comparison of Nissan Leaf and Tesla pure electric vehicles to hybrids, state by state
This is an interesting study that performs a Life Cycle Analysis of hybrid and electric vehicles, taking into account the cleanliness of the grid in the 50 US states, and also the embodied energy and emissions in the manufacturing process of various vehicles. The authors rightly conclude that the benefits of electric vehicles are dependent on the source of electricity they use to charge.
A couple of things the study does not appear to address are the time of day when cars are charged (many grid locations have higher CO2 emissions during peak loads) , and the presence of any distributed energy generation at the charging location. I am an advocate of marrying electric vehicles with grid-tied pv at the charging location, I think this accomplishes the cleanest charging possible, and also trumps the economics of charging from standard grid-power (not to mention filling up at the gas pump.) It also seems that as more aggressive RPS targets continue to kick in across the nation, the sources of grid electricity will be generally emitting less carbon over the coming years.
Here at Power Trip Energy, we have just ordered a Toyota RAV4 EV, which will replace the bulk of the driving we are currently doing in a 23 year old Toyota pick-up truck and a 21 year old Chevy Astro van. Although this vehicle is smaller than those other two, with the back seat down and a folding ladder in the back we will be able to use this vehicle for site evaluations and other light duty work on single story buildings within 50 miles, which describes about 75% of our projects.
We have 4 kw of grid-tied pv, currently generating about 75% of our electricity here at the Power Trip Energy shop, and we will more than double that generating capacity by the end of the year. This will cover the additional electrical consumption we anticipate from our own electric vehicle and from the other EV drivers who are using our free public charging station to recharge. As we are now seeing more occasions when there are two EVs here simultaneously, we will be adding a second charging station when we add the additional pv.
While we are moving forward with what we perceive to be the cleanest smartest energy generation and usage realistically feasible, we look forward to reading the studies of more researchers. We also look forward to installing pv systems and EV service equipment for you.
Global inverter rankings
It is interesting to see how our local practices and observations align with the global market. Nearly all of our projects are served by 4 of these top 10 inverter manufacturers. I can offer quick feed-back on SMA, Power One, Fronius, and Enphase from the small-scale residential grid-tied perspective.
We have been using mostly Power One inverters since they began manufacturing domestically in Arizona in 2010, due to the high efficiency of their transformerless inverters, and the presence of dual MPPT inputs. The two different arrays here at Power Trip Energy are served well by a single Power One 4.2kw inverter.
Prior to 2010 we had used nearly exclusively the SMA SunnyBoy inverters, including two at my house, and the systems at Steve’s and Jeff’s homes. SMA now has an updated product line that is transformerless, dual MPPT inputs, a 15A 120 VAC auxiliary for some emergency back-up, and improved data monitoring. We just installed ou first project using a 5kw SunnyBoy TL series, and if the product proves itself satisfactorily, SMA appears poised to take back some of our market share from Power One.
The Fronius product line is fills some niches among our projects, with their single inverters in the 8-11 kw range, and their three-stage inverters are intriguing.
The fact that Enphase is continuing to increase market share is not surprising despite the high price, due to their first mover status in the micro-inverter segment, and their effective marketing. We continue to be underwhelmed with their reliability and the over-stated ease of installation.
Power Trip Energy designers & installers complete SunPower Advanced training
Four members of the Power Trip Energy team recently completed some advanced training offered by one of our favorite partners in the industry. We love working with SunPower because they make the most efficient products available on the market, and they also have great training support for their dealers.
Andy, Steve, Jacob, and Caleb all completed the one day Advanced Residential Installation Course and passed the test a week later. Andy & Steve also completed the two day Advanced Residential Design course and test. Even after 10 years in the industry, there is a lot to learn. We were happy to learn more about SunPower’s design philosophies and recommendations for best installation practices.
Sales Tax Exemption Clarifications Ahead of Expiration on June 30
We have enjoyed sales tax exemption for equipment that generates electricity for over 10 years here in Washington State. Come July 1st, that particular party is over and grid-tied pv becomes 9.0% more expensive in our home town of Port Townsend; most municipalities have sales tax rates in the 8’s. We are very close to filling our calendar and will soon be unable to commit to completing projects before June 30.
We will however be able to sell the equipment without sales tax if the buyer receives the equipment on or before June 30, 2013.
For the installation charges to qualify for the sales tax exemption as well, the labor must be performed no later than June 30, 2013. Any labor services performed after June 30, 2013, are fully subject to sales tax.
So while we normally enjoy a healthy philosophical and political debate, please withhold your comments as to whether having sales tax instead of income tax is “fair” or “regressive.” We are too busy installing to think about it right now. Maybe we’ll take a couple of days off in July to ponder that question.
More Third Party Support for SunPower’s efficiency claims – top 3 spots in Photon’s 2012 field tests
SunPower’s E-Series modules take the top 3 spots in the respected Photon field test. One of SunPower’s claims is that their lower temperature coefficients produce better real world results than can be demonstrated in the lab. These field tests are more third party support for those claims. Way to go SunPower! We are happy to be partners with this company.