Winter 2010 Newsletter
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January 8, 2010

Solar Power 50% Cheaper 

According the president of Sharp, a major module producer, the cost of generating solar power will drop 50 percent by 2010. Most industry experts say that the cost of producing solar power, currently about $0.50 per kilowatt hour, will fall by about five percent per year.

Other factors add to the downward cost of solar power – for instance, an increase in the production of solar panels. Countries that produce solar panels such as Germany, Italy, and Spain have put incentive programs in place which caused greater volume in production. When the current recession hit those countries, the solar power industry experienced a drop in sales – and a drop in price. In addition, there has been a greater production of polysilicon, which is a key component in the manufacture of the panels.

China, in particular, has recently increased its production of polysilicon and thereby further lowered costs. Zhou Limin a consultant in the Chinese solar industries says “several hundred” new companies have started up in 2008 causing production capacity to surge beyond demand. So what does this mean for our customers? We are selling modules at one third to half the cost we did a year ago. For an average residential system that equates to 5,000 to 10,000 off the cost we charged in 2008-2009.

               
                  Websites to Check Out

Propane and Natural Gas Lower Your Energy Bill

Even though you might be already using solar power, or you just started to look into going solar, you will still want to reduce your electrical load. We found that using propane and natural gas to power appliances saves money. Propane and natural gas used to power gas stoves, clothes dryers, furnaces, pool heating, water heaters, etc. saves more BTUs and is more efficient and cheaper than electricity. Go to an energy savings calculator on www.usepropane.com/esc/ and compare the costs of using propane gas appliances and equipment to the cost of using electricity in your home.

Helpful Tips and Stuff We’ve Learned Living Off Grid

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

By programming our power-hungry appliances and running them only during the day, we significantly save our electricity usage without giving up their any of their usefulness. Here are some tips, which might seem like you’re saving just pennies, but they add up over time.

• Set your refrigerator on the lowest setting you can use without spoiling food.

• Don’t use the drying cycle in your dishwasher, which turns on a heating element. After dishes finish washing, open the door to dry them.

• Don’t run major appliances at night.

• Many models of microwaves have an option to turn off the light that turns on when you open the door. Turn it off.

• Replace light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs (CFL).

• Reduce your pool pump run time until a change in condition is seen.

• Turn off the display windows on appliances that stay on when the appliance is not in use.

• Program your washing machine to run during the day.

• Program the washing machine to use less water and have shorter cycles depending
  on whether you have clothes that aren’t heavily soiled.
   

Spotlight On New Products

SunMizer DC Power Optimizer

We found a product that optimizes a solar array for the amount of sunlight at a given point in time. If part of your roof is shaded during some time of the day, or the roof has different angles, or is frequently soiled, you won’t lose out on getting the optimal power from a solar array. The SunMizer DC Power Optimizer tracks at the panel substring level to increase power harvest.

Normally, one charge controller tracks a whole array. The SunMizer uses the entire array to its best advantage for the amount of intensity at a given point in time by optimizing amperage vs. voltage and finding the point at which the solar array produces the most power. If your roof has two different angles, for instance, normally the charge controller defaults to the lowest power point. The SunMizer allows each individual solar panel to run at its maximum power point and can be installed selectively only on the solar panels that experience regular shade or soiling. Go to www.xandexsolar.com for more information.
 

An Off Grid Perspective

In the course of a day, we talk to many people either giving them advice or suggestions about their specific situations. Lately, we’ve been talking to people who are considering solar power for reasons other than saving on energy bills. They want information about becoming independent of grid power sources because they’re concerned about the safety and well being of their families in these uncertain times. Some customers have indicated that they want a place where they can be more secure than living in a city. It’s not a crazy thought. We understand their concerns, as we live off the grid and could go a month or more without outside power or help in an emergency. In fact our lifestyle wouldn’t change much.

Here is a recent e-mail from a client of ours that typifies the feelings that some folks may relate too. “Kris and I have decided that we no longer have faith that PG&E (the utility) will continue forever to be a reliable partner in providing our electricity, and we're interested in modifying our PV system so that we can have power even if the electric grid shuts down. Not that I think anything dire is about to happen, but if things get dicey, I don't want to need to scramble for a solution.”

Now is a good time to think about grid tie with battery back up or off-grid solar power. This decision has become easier financially and because solar is becoming more “user friendly” with falling prices for solar equipment and state rebates still on.

If you’re considering solar, read the article by Dana Hall in the San Jose Mercury News, November 30, 2009. She had a “Checklist for Going Solar,” which we found very informative. Here is a brief summary of her list:

• Take a good hard look at your electricity usage over the past year or several months.

• Take a look at your roof. Does it need repairs and is it situated for solar?

• Ask friends and neighbors who have solar power about their installers and the service they received.

• Learn about your financing options.

• Check out the cash back incentives and the Solar Federal Tax Credit.

We can also give you information based on many years in the solar business and from our own personal experience.

We Apologize

As you may have noticed, the summer and fall newsletters are missing. We started this newsletter to inform people about solar power and then got extremely busy during this past summer and fall installing systems and advising callers. With this said, we do appreciate our readership and would like to petition our readers to give us feed back and suggest items they would like to know more about.

In addition we’ve brought in an experienced magazine editorial writer who wants to donate her time to do the research that brings you useful and timely content. So with help from our new writer and our readers, I look forward to our quarterly newsletter that will actually get posted quarterly.

Please feel free to make comments and suggestions for upcoming newsletters to farrel@apxsolar.com

Call us toll free 888.782.0706

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Apex Solar | San Jose, California USA
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