ON GRID SOLAR ENERGY CASE STUDY
Grid-Tied Photovoltaic System
Barry Schmidt, Morgan Hill, California
“I was very satisfied. The job was very
professionally done and very efficiently. All my
questions were answered and the results were
spectacular. I’m very happy with it because I
haven’t had any issues that have required any
service whatsoever. It’s producing more electricity
than I thought it would. It has been money well
spent. Apex Solar was great to work with. I’d be
happy to recommend them to anyone who wanted to call
and talk to me.”
Description of Site:
The home site is situated on a
number of acres and is located in a canyon on the
north facing slope with pines and oak trees in the
steepest areas. Not all of the property had full sun
throughout the year, but the array location had good
afternoon exposure.
Customizing the System:
Mr. Schmidt contacted Apex Solar primarily because of his high utility bill which was roughly $600-$700 monthly. Mr. Schmidt also had a desire to have their utility costs covered upon retirement. He was concerned that utility costs would continue to rise, eating into their retirement savings and reducing the flexibility they had hoped to have during this part of their lives. They also felt strongly that they needed be more proactive in doing their part to protect the environment. With these concerns in mind, we set out to customize a system for the Schmidt’s that would achieve all these goals.
Considerations:
For the power requirements needed,
the home had an inadequate roof area for the
proposed array. Thus, a ground mount system was
chosen. Considering the aesthetics of the property,
the array was placed in remote area, 300 feet from
the home. By using a high voltage system (350 volts)
there was no loss of power from the array to the
home. The balance of the system (inverter, AC/DC
disconnects) were placed near the pool pumps and is
completely out of view from the front and sides of
the home.
Although the array could not be oriented directly
south due to the slope of the terrain and shading
from some nearby trees, a southwesterly orientation
was used. The utility company servicing this home
has a program called “Time Of Use” (TOU) metering.
Because of the way this metering works, the
orientation of the array will actually yield a
higher annual utility credit.
Recommendations:
Apex Solar performed a free energy audit. First, we identified how they were using power and the equipment with the highest energy consumption. This led to the following recommendations:
1. Replace all incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. This included fixtures not normally associated with fluorescent lights such as recessed can lights, chandelier lights, and outdoor lighting. With new advances in the availability of receptacles, bulb shapes, and colors, the fluorescent bulb can match almost all current incandescent bulb styles.
2. Replace inefficient appliances with Energy Star appliances. At the Schmidt’s we recommended that the replace their all-electric clothes dryer with a high efficiency energy star gas/electric dryer.
3. Adjust pool pump for optimum efficiency. During our energy audit of the home, we discovered that the “freeze protection sensor” on the pool pump was set at too warm of a temperature and the pump was running unnecessarily during many evening hours. We also adjusted the amount of time that the pool pump was filtering to increase efficiency without decreasing the cleanliness of the pool.
Results of Installation:
Apex Solar installed this system in four days after pulling permits. More than a year after the installation, the system is working as promised with no call backs and Mr. Schmidt’s utility bills have dropped dramatically.
