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Sun Volt

Sun Volt Solar

earth, the final frontier

Clean Energy, Clean Environment

We are at a cross roads in human history, we can choose to continue on as we have been, or we can make a change to improve our future and quite possibly the future for several generations to come. We are here to promote energy independence, a better environment, a secure future and a higher return on investment for your hard earned dollar. It is what I believe in, it is why I am in the solar business.

Prism Solar Technologies

28 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Technology

Prism Solar Technologies is continuing to grow their manufacturing facility located in Highland, NY. They took over the PLASMACO plant last March, which coincidentally, had much of the equipment and clean rooms needed to manufacture their product. PLASMACO was a subsidiary of Panasonic corporation, they manufactured Plasma screens for TV’s and computers.

What Prism Solar makes is a proprietary holographic planar concentrator™ (HPC) film that, when used in conjunction with conventional silicon photovoltaic cells, increases the cell efficiency by about 40%. According to their website, the increased efficiency allows for use of 30-50% less silicon during the manufacture process, making the the cost around $1/watt.

Here are the advantages of HPC technology:

  • Less silicon reduces cost per watt
  • Passive tracking from holographic effect produces more energy from diffuse and reflected light.
  • Cooler operation than conventional PV module, most unusable light passes through module without being turned into heat.
  • Bifacial PV cells can increase module performance when mounted over a reflective surface.
  • Lower embodied energy, the energy required to manufacture the HPC film is much less than that required to mine and process silicon.

They have four prototype modules on line in Tucson, AZ connected to Enphase inverters. One can look at the module performance on the Enlighten website. There is also a specification sheet for a 160 watt module.

According to their latest press release, they are about to create 175 new jobs in the Hudson Valley (although there is nothing on the careers page yet). All of that is good news for the solar industry and I look foward to seeing their product out in the field. I must say, it certainly looks cool.

holographic optical photovoltaic panel

I previously wrote about them here.

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28 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Technology | Comments (0)

Solar Power: Save money, increase the value of your home

20 Dec 09 | Sales, Solar Electric, Solar Hot Water, solar thermal

I have been going over some of the bills from the last few years. My utility company, Central Hudson Gas and Electric has been increasing the cost of electricity by 9% annually.

central hudson electric rates

Nine percent per year seems like quite a bit, especially since inflation has been running around two to three percent. The increases of fuel costs and energy products in general has far outpaced inflation. Projected out 25 years, the cost per kWh is $1.53! I don’t expect it to get that bad, but one never knows.

Here are some solar facts:

Based on conditions here in NY state:

  • The average home owner chooses to install a 4 KW DC photovoltaic system. This generates 4500 to 5000 KWh per year.
  • With rebates and incentives, the final system cost is about $10-11K.
  • Over the course of the system life (25 years), the electricity generated will cost $0.09 per KWh. Currently, NY electricity averages $0.158 KWh (increasing at 9% per year).
  • Without inflation, that equals a savings of $29,000.00.

Also, based on conditions in NY state:

  • the average home owner chooses to install an 80 SF/80 Gallon solar hot water system. This will supply a family of four with 80% of their hot water annually.
  • With rebates and incentives, that system cost is around $3,800.
  • Over the course of the system life (25 years), the energy converted by this system will cost $0.03 per KWh. Currently, NY electricity averages $0.158 KWh (increases 9% per year)
  • Without inflation, that equals a savings of $16,500.00.

Of course, these are long term investments. In order to realize this type of savings, a homeowner will have to stay put for 25 years. That is a rarity these days.

Solar systems retain almost all of their pre-incentive/rebate value when added to a structure as a capital improvement. Here is a list of residential home improvements and the values added to a typical house:

  1. Two story addition: 94%
  2. Bathroom remodel: 93%
  3. Major Kitchen Remodel: 91%
  4. Solar System: 90%
  5. Basement finish/remodel: 89%
  6. Siding: 88%
  7. Roof Replacement: 85%
  8. Deck: 84%
  9. Hot tub: 84%
  10. Family room addition: 82%
  11. Sun room: 75%
  12. Garage addition: 70%
  13. Backup power generator: 58%

Of course, if the rebates and incentives are considered, then the installation of a solar system is cash positive from day one. What this means is the homeowner pays $11-12K but gets $32,000 of additional home value. I can’t think of a better deal than that.

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20 Dec 09 | Sales, Solar Electric, Solar Hot Water, solar thermal | Comments (0)

System verification for Enphase Inverters

16 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Technology

In New York State, there is something called the Standardized Interconnect Requirements (or SIR) that governs how utility companies handle grid connected renewable energy systems such as Photovoltaic and Wind energy systems.

Among the requirements, usually known as “Step 5,” a verification that the system meets UL 1741 is required. This means that after a power outage, the inverter stays off for five minutes before it begins exporting power to the grid. For most inverters, the verification procedure is simple, turn off the breaker feeding the inverter for a short period, then turn it back on. Watch the LED indicators on the inverter and time how long it takes to come on line and produce power. If it is 5 minutes or longer, the system passes.

enphase energy M210 inverters

enphase energy M210 inverters

The problem with the [e] Enphase inverters is there are many of them, they are located with the solar panels, and it would be difficult to watch the LED start flashing green especially if the inverters are under a PV panel bolted to the roof. Therefore, an alternative verification procedure must be effected. One suggestion by the utility company was to use a clamp on ammeter to measure the AC current in the branch circuit between the inverters and the panel. One small problem was that some “leakage current” had been detected in previous tests of this nature.

I sent an e-mail off the [e] Enphase Energy, Inc. They responded very quickly with the following suggested verification procedure:

  1. Turn off the breakers to the array.
  2. Turn on the breakers to the array and make a note of the time down to the second.
  3. Using a clamp on ammeter, verify that the array is not producing current until 5 minutes have passed. During the non-producing period, the ammeter will show a slight current draw of 0.056 Amps +/- 5% for each installed inverter. In this case, there are 10 inverters in each string, therefore the clamp on ammeter will show 0.56 Amps +/- 5%.
  4. After 5 minutes have passed, the ammeter will show the array producing power by indicating greater than the quiescent current noted in step 4.

The test should be run when the array is in full sunlight so the AC current meter will obviously indicate the array is exporting power to the grid since AC current meters do not indicate the direction of current flow.

The second method proscribed by Enphase involves using the utility meter. This can only be used in arrays that are large enough to get the meter spinning, and should only be performed in full sunlight.

  1. Observe service meter and note direction it is turning while consuming power.
  2. Turn off main service breaker and all other breakers feed the various household loads, simulating a power outage.
  3. Turn on main service breaker and breaker feeding the inverter(s) only and note the exact time.
  4. Observe service meter. A very slight movement forward direction indicates the inverters are consuming a small amount of power in their monitoring circuit.
  5. After five minutes have passed, the meter will begin to turn in the opposite direction, indicating the inverters are exporting power.
  6. Close the breakers to the rest of the household loads.

Finally, if the inverters are ground mounted and the LED indicators can be readily observed, this procedure can be followed if the first two do not satisfy the utility company.

  1. Turn off the breaker feeding the branch circuit, if it is not already off, then turn back on.
  2. Observe the inverter(s) status LED, is should begin to flash red when AC power is applied then flash green when the inverter(s) begin to produce power. Time the period of the flashing red LED with a stop watch, it should be 5 minutes or greater.

This can be done for each individual inverter, or for each inverter string as the (utility company) representative present desires.

According to the manufacture, the system complies with the requirements of UL1741, which states that if the inverter detects that the grid has gone out of specification or has completely shut off, then the inverter will “cease exportation” of power. The inverter is allowed to draw current but cannot produce power. Therefore the small amounts of current indicated on an AC ammeter is not leakage current, rather it is the inverter consuming a small amount of power prior to in beginning operation.

Update: From Scott at Enphase Energy:

I had a brief, follow-up comment about one portion of the article. During the 5-minute wait time specified by UL-1741, the Microinverter is not consuming power. It is circulating reactive current in the A/C-filter section of the device.

I just wanted to make sure that the statement of “the inverter consuming a small amount of power prior to in beginning operation” was not potentially misinterpreted as tare-loss, with an Enphase customer thinking that he was losing some of that hard-earned energy during the 5-minute period.

No, we wouldn’t want them to think that, especially after I preached about unshaded locations and voltage drop during the sales presentation.

I have noted that these inverters come on line in 5 minutes and 20 seconds or so after a power outage.

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16 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Technology | Comments (0)

DIY photovoltaics

14 Dec 09 | Solar Electric

I saw this article on MSNBC:

Solar technology is going where it has never gone before: onto the shelves at retail stores where do-it-yourselfers can now plunk a panel into a shopping cart and bring it home to install.

I suppose this was inevitable.  However, before a homeowner simply plugs a solar panel into a house, a agreement is needed with the servicing utility company.  Not doing the proper paper work can result in having the electric service disconnected.  Something the article touches on briefly.

Installing one solar panel will generate about 160-175 watts of power, depending on the temperature.  This is enough to run a desktop computer, a few lights and a flat panel TV.  Obviously, if the homeowner is serious about solar electric, a larger system is needed.

One other thing the article noted:

If you want more solar power, you can snap another panel to the first, kind of like Legos.

However, each time you snap another panel on the system, the entire system needs to be re-permitted by the utility, at least in New York State.

It will be interesting to see how this idea develops.

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14 Dec 09 | Solar Electric | Comments (0)

Solar Site Assessment Tool

07 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Solar Hot Water, solar thermal

File under: Yeah, there’s an app for that.

Sun Tracker mashup

Sun Tracker mashup

I received an e-mail from Andrew about a Solar Site Assessment app for 3G iPhones.  I’ll let him tell the story:

I live in Vancouver, BC, when evaluating my own home for a solar installation I discovered a gap in the solar tools market. I have a lot of trees in my backyard and was interested in doing my own shade analysis assessment. So, I looked around and found expensive tools and manual sun plots, and nothing in between. At the same time my son happened to get an iPhone. I was intrigued with the built in compass and inclinometer capabilities, and putting two and two together I come up with an iPhone based solar assessment tool.

You can check out more at their website:

www.imeasuresystems.com/

I know in New York State, NYSERDA requires a site assessment be submitted for each application.  In order for a site to qualify for the NYSERDA rebates, it has to be 80% unshaded or more.  The rebates themselves are performance based, e.g. the better the site, the more the rebate.  This app has the ability to print out a site assessment, which is key.

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07 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Solar Hot Water, solar thermal | Comments (0)

Carbon Dioxide; cap and trade, sequestration, climate change

02 Dec 09 | Commentary

I have been reading with interest the debate on the evils of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and various proposed methods to reduce its presence in the atmosphere.

First a few basic facts:

  1. Carbon Dioxide is a product of combustion, all combustion of any organic material creates heat and carbon dioxide.
  2. Carbon Dioxide is a know green house gas.  It traps heat in the atmosphere by reflecting long wavelength IR back to the surface of the earth
  3. Carbon Dioxide is an extremely resilient molecule because of the energy in the carbon – oxygen bond.  It does not readily break down in the atmosphere as other green house gases do.  The best proven way to break it down is by plants using photosynthesis.
Carbon Dioxide Molecule

Carbon Dioxide Molecule

The only sure fire method of reducing carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere is to reduce combustion.  Some fuels produce less CO2 than others, say natural gas over coal, for example.  However, the differences are not that significant, burning natural gas still releases tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each second of every day.

Cap and trade is a polution reducing scheme that was put in place by the first President Bush to reduce acid rain.  It was designed to reduce Nitric and Sulfur emissions from various industry types, most notably electric generating facilities.  Since both nitrogen and sulfur, particularly sulfur, can be remove from the combustion process before the fuel is burned and after with smoke stack scrubbers, it was a good incentive for polluters to clean up their act.  CO2 on the other hand, cannot be removed from the combustion process, it is like saying you are going to remove the wet from water.  Cap and trade would then have to be based on the type of fuel burned, since natural gas produces less CO2 per BTU than coal or oil, most electrical power plant operators would be forced to convert to natural gas.  That would be hugely expensive and in the long run, net little result in reduction of CO2.

CO2 sequestration is an even sillier idea.  In order to store CO2 in the ground, it would have to be liquified, which requires reducing the temperature to -70° F and keeping it there.  Underground temperatures at oil well depth are generally 150° F and higher, thus it would be difficult to keep the CO2 underground.  A leak from a CO2 storage facility could potentially displace the Oxygen in the surrounding area, creating a hazard for those living and working nearby.  Further, storing vast quantities of CO2 under ground could lead to things like atmospheric Oxygen depletion.

And to what end?  The roll that CO2 is playing in climate change is still debatable.  The best way to reduce CO2 and all other emissions that come from burning fossil fuels is to install renewable energy systems.  Wind, Solar, Hydro, Wave power and even Nuclear Power (although nuclear is not a renewable energy source) have zero CO2 emissions.  Zero emissions is far better than any “clean coal” technology (which doesn’t exist), Cap and trade schemes for CO2 (which will not work) and CO2 squestration (which seems dangerous).

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02 Dec 09 | Commentary | Comments (0)