this oughta help the economy.....GO OBAMA!

[VTXDave]

thats great! i hope it works out good for you. have any pics, or info on how much area it takes to put one of these things up?

The entire array resides on 1/2 of the roof of our house and our house is 2800sq ft single story. I'll get a pic soon if you're interested Jeff, but it does fit entirely on the roof. I just went home for lunch to see us feeding back to the grid 7kW! You see, we're not entirely "off grid" as we're what is known as a "grid tied" system. This means any surplus during the day we feed back and get credit for it and at night we draw from it. We're using PG&E as our battery.

 

[NoDrama]

As of 4:50PM Pacific Time yesterday, our household has been on solar. We just "lit up" a 12Kw solar array that will provide more than our needs...Life is good.

I run my entire farm on solar and sell the excess back to the utility. 23KW PV system that I designed, built and installed myself. Of course I bought cheap Chinese solar cells instead of the USA built ones that cost 70% more. All of the panels are installed on the ground connected to a dual axis sun tracker, so I get the best bang for my cheap ass and aren't required to have a ground fault protector.

You are still connected to the grid? Fun to watch that meter move backwards isn't it?

I have a 24 volt Deep cycle Battery array(trojan L16H Batts) with a over all capacity of 40,000 watts of storage power ( almost 1,000 Amps of capacity)

I found the grid tie system and the inverters to be the most expensive part of my system. I can't build a reliable inverter myself and don't want any fires so I bought those when they had a sale.

Was yours professionally installed?

Night time electric rates are 1/3 the cost of day rates where i live. I assume yours is similar?

 

[dukeanthony]

I run my entire farm on solar and sell the excess back to the utility. 23KW PV system that I designed, built and installed myself. Of course I bought cheap Chinese solar cells instead of the USA built ones that cost 70% more. All of the panels are installed on the ground connected to a dual axis sun tracker, so I get the best bang for my cheap ass and aren't required to have a ground fault protector.

You are still connected to the grid? Fun to watch that meter move backwards isn't it?

I have a 24 volt Deep cycle Battery array(trojan L16H Batts) with a over all capacity of 40,000 watts of storage power ( almost 1,000 Amps of capacity)

I found the grid tie system and the inverters to be the most expensive part of my system. I can't build a reliable inverter myself and don't want any fires so I bought those when they had a sale.

Was yours professionally installed?

Night time electric rates are 1/3 the cost of day rates where i live. I assume yours is similar?

But But But Green energy is a pipe dream

 

[VTXDave]

You are still connected to the grid? Fun to watch that meter move backwards isn't it?

Yes it is.

Was yours professionally installed?

Yes. I know this'll grab some of you...The program was federally funded through stimulus funds where we got the array, standby backup generator and house insulation upgrade for 0% interest over 15 years(our monthly payment is significantly less than a typical PG&E bill). Many of the people who performed the survey/installation were unemployed prior to this program.

Night time electric rates are 1/3 the cost of day rates where i live. I assume yours is similar?

Yes.

 

[beardo]

hmm isnt maine really stormy? maybe they should develop the technology in calm areas. like southern cali or something

The Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project/"Quoddy Dam" Project

A proposed development project for eastern Maine, envisioned by hydroelectric engineer Dexter Cooper, involving the construction of a tidal harness for electricity generation was initiated in 1935 under U.S. Public Works Administration funding and with the blessing of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose summer home was on nearby Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada.
Also known as the Quoddy Project, it proposed impounding Cobscook Bay and part of Passamaquoddy Bay with a series of dams and control structures to exploit the resulting water level difference to generate electrical power. The electric turbines for power generation would have been located at the isthmus on Moose Island, Eastport, with the water passing between Passamaquoddy Bay and Cobscook Bay, with the "used" generating water released from impoundment at low tide.
Part of this project was completed by the construction of dikes built between Pleasant Point–Carlow Island–Moose Island. The project was suspended one year later after the United States Congress refused further funding, thus the actual barrier dams never being built. The dike barriers now underlie the former Maine Central Railroad and the current Maine Highway 190, as well as between Treat Island (in Eastport) and Dudley Island (in Lubec, Maine).
Several iterations and variations on the project later ensued, but never began construction.

 

[Luger187]

The Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project/"Quoddy Dam" Project

A proposed development project for eastern Maine, envisioned by hydroelectric engineer Dexter Cooper, involving the construction of a tidal harness for electricity generation was initiated in 1935 under U.S. Public Works Administration funding and with the blessing of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose summer home was on nearby Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada.
Also known as the Quoddy Project, it proposed impounding Cobscook Bay and part of Passamaquoddy Bay with a series of dams and control structures to exploit the resulting water level difference to generate electrical power. The electric turbines for power generation would have been located at the isthmus on Moose Island, Eastport, with the water passing between Passamaquoddy Bay and Cobscook Bay, with the "used" generating water released from impoundment at low tide.
Part of this project was completed by the construction of dikes built between Pleasant Point–Carlow Island–Moose Island. The project was suspended one year later after the United States Congress refused further funding, thus the actual barrier dams never being built. The dike barriers now underlie the former Maine Central Railroad and the current Maine Highway 190, as well as between Treat Island (in Eastport) and Dudley Island (in Lubec, Maine).
Several iterations and variations on the project later ensued, but never began construction.

we should try that shit again! we have a lot better technology now than 1935 haha

 

[jeff f]

we should try that shit again! we have a lot better technology now than 1935 haha

just saw a special the other day. only caught the end but i think it was in norway or some such place. i forget the stats or if its worth duplicatin\g