http ://phx-solar. dyndns.org:8081
Remove the spaces
Some of the graphing is interesting.
red = load
green = solar
blue = net
negative values are a good thing 
Canāt find the pageā¦ perhaps itās dark there? Should I wait for sunrise?
Added the port number Duh! Damn ISP filters all out bound port 80 in order to get you to buy web services.
Very nice. Iād love to have a setup like that but here in the UK it probably isnāt viable!
Yeah it is pretty sensitive, You can see the difference between 4 sunny days, a rainy day and a partly cloudy day. I suspect in the UK the output would be much less.
Being the capitalist that I am, I would not have done it without the utility rebate of $3 a watt ($31,200) and the Federal tax credit of 30% of the total cost and the state tax credit of $1000.
It makes perfect financial sense. Payback is about 4 years, then free power. Maybe sooner if rates keep going up. One thing that was unexpected in the cost equation was up until a month ago if there was any excess generation on the books on December 31, I had to give the power to the utility, The Public Utilities commission determined that was an unfair advantage by utility, now they will generate a check at year end for $0.065 per kilowatt hour in excess. Makes the payback even better because in the fall I generate more then I can use.
You can see I only buy a minimal amount of power at night and now have over 1000kWh banked as credit in the account for summer A/C usage.
Cost of net electricity:
Basic service charge $7.62
Delivery service charge $0.00
Environmental benefits surcharge $0.00
Federal environmental surcharge $0.00
Competition rules compliance charge $0.00
System benefits charge $0.00
Power supply adjustment* $0.00
Metering* $5.95
Meter reading* $1.98
Billing* $2.24
Generation of electricity on-peak* $0.00
Generation of electricity off-peak* $10.54
Transmission and ancillary services* $0.00
Transmission cost adjustment* $0.00
Cost of electricity you used $28.33
Very nice! Being in AZ you are in an ideal location for most of the year to be running solar. The projected banked energy is impressive. Does your system track the sun or is it stationary?
Stationary.
Interesting graphs there. I have just come across this CNN article which points out some other hurdles to adoption of this sort of technology in new houses.
Yeah that was a concern I had as well, but the Feds put up 30% of the cost ultimately, and the utility put up 50%+ and the state government put up about 3%. So all in all my outlay was well under control. The Insurance company wanted to set the premiums to add the full value but I suspect that is to cover replacement.
Even if it only adds 50% of the cost in value, I am not moving anytime soon, I am more about fixing my energy costs to near zero.
Way too cool.
Would love to do it myself.
[QUOTE=Vortex;450776]Way too cool.
Would love to do it myself.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I love seeing the power company rising in the eastern sky every morning. 
I just got a quote to add the last 2160 watts of solar panels to the system, that should make the AC usage this summer a push. Cost = $5.55 per watt - $3.00 a watt rebate - 30% tax credit = out of pocket of $1920, or less than a $0.89 a watt. Dirt cheap when you are paying $0.156 a kWh. One new advantage is the the power company now has to give us a check at the end of the year for any excess generation at the rate of $0.065 a kWh, before we got to donate that to them at year end. The Public Utilities commission found that this is very unfair practice and got them to pay something for the end of year excess.
MAMA and I are also talking about the 4 big energy hogs in the house, 10 seer AC unit (13yrs old and making nasty noises), refrigerator (13 yrs old), deep freeze (25 years old) and electric clothes dryer (pretty new).
We are thinking energy star on the chill chests, 17.5 seer on the AC unit and maybe converting to natural gas on the dryer. The debate rages about using fossil fuel for the dryer but that capacity could offset the additional carbon footprint with a plug in hybrid this fall. I know the UK folks will think this is cheap but gasoline is back near $3 a US gallon here. If all goes as planned that will be another $7500 in tax credits for the plug-in car and I would rather spend money on my moves in the right direction than pay taxes. :Plot: This year we paid $0 in income tax because of our solar add, let everyone else support a stupid oil policy government. (OK we can move that to another tirade)
It is unclear here in AZ how much carbon is actually generated by the power company (Arizona Public Service) , they have one big nuclear plant and are putting up 2 big Abengoa Solar Inc. (Spanish company) solar thermal plants in the next couple years. The interesting part is the locations are near major transmission lines that exist already, so no big transmission infrastructure needs to be added. The first one comes on line in 2011 and is 280 mega watts.
They already have a few other solar thermal (parabolic tube type) and photovoltaic projects running and are taking bids for a large solar photovoltaic install now. I do know of at least one coal fired plant and one Natural gas fired plant used for Phoenix peak usage needs. Hopefully they will retire the coal plant, cap and trade would for sure fix that problem. I think they are very smart, the costs now are on par with most fossil fuel plants and have none of the problems of nuclear. I would say that the power company here is very progressive. They charge all customers a minimal āgreen feeā each month and use that money to fund the $3.00 a watt rebate system for homeowner installed solar systems.
We also have taken bids to add solar hot water, with rebates and tax credits it will only cost about $1700 + the cost of a new hot water heater to install. We need to replace ours as it is 13 years old and showing signs of builder installed water heater syndrome. (it was a cheapy). In theory a simple system will provide all our hot water needs for 10-11 months out of the year. Now the debate with MAMA rages over the cost vs benefit analysis, she is so green, I am so much a capitalist. :catfight::whiteflag::whiteflag: I have to just remember āHappy wife, happy lifeā
Personally I am convinced energy cost is going to go pretty much straight up the next 20 years. Well for everyone but MAMA and I and all the others with the foresight to see the writing on the wall.
[QUOTE=MAOJC;450788]:catfight::whiteflag::whiteflag: I have to just remember āHappy wife, happy lifeā
[/QUOTE]
Wisdom of the ages:)
Now I just have to calculate how much cable I will need to reach you.
Yo are right, it is the way of the future, unfortunately not practical for most, but every bit will help everyone in time to control energy costs in theory.
(yet doubtful)