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1) Save Money – Even if you have a $200, $300, $400, $500, $600 per month electric bill you could bring that down to only $5.17 per month! Imagine having only $5.17 per month electric bill. And make the government pay for nearly half of the total installation while at the same time increasing your property value.
2) Help the Environment – Lot’s of people are talking about being green, but you could actually do it with a solar photovoltaic system. Making the world a better place to live today and for our children’s future. Wouldn’t you like this to be part of your “legacy”?
3) Energy Independence – Reduce dependence on other sources of energy, like nuclear, foreign oil, dirty coal
4) Pride of ownership – Be the talk of your neighborhood. Be proud that you are making a difference and saving money. Wouldn’t you like to show your electric meter running backwards to your family and friends.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
You’ve probably asking yourself: Sure, this “Solar Electricity” sounds great but how does it actually lower my electric bill? Instead of buying 100% of your electricity from SDG&E, your solar electric panels produce part or all of your electricity, just as you would expect. In the end, you end up buying less electricity and so have a lower bill.
However, many people are gone during the day when their solar panels are producing the most. Instead of wasting this solar electricity, it is “pushed” back out to the electric power grid and the utility company buys electricity from you. It can actually make your electric meter run backwards.
It’s beautiful in its simplicity. Your electric meter does only one thing. That is, measure how much electricity flows through it so the utility knows how much to bill you. When you produce more electricity than you use and “push” electricity back to the grid, SDG&E is effectively buying electricity from you.
Staying connected to the electric grid is important because the utility company will provide electricity when the sun is not out. It’s almost like you are “storing” energy on the utility grid for future use. The utility company buys electricity from you during the day and you buy it back anytime you need it.
This is done through what the utility company calls, “Net Metering”. Your electric meter measures how much electricity flows through it so the utility can bill you for the amount used. Now what do you think would happen if you could “push” electricity back to the utility company. You have probably guessed that the electric meter would run backwards. That’s what Net Metering is and that is what a solar electric system does when you produce more electricity than you are using.
This is important because Photovoltaic systems produce electricity only when the sun shines on them and they produce the most in the middle of the day. This is a time when many people are not home and are not using much electricity. So your electric meter runs backwards in this case, and allows you to effectively “store” electricity with your utility company for use when you are home. The utility company buys electricity from you during the day and you buy it back when you need it.
The amount of electricity is “netted” out every year starting on the first day your system is connected. In other words, the amount of electricity “generated” over one year is subtracted from the amount “used” over one year and you pay only for the “net” or remaining amount for that year.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
 It could be, BUT !!!!!!!!!! I don’t recommend it unless you have a LOT of experience with electricity and working on roofs.
This is one of those times that for most people it’s probably best to hire a professional that specializes in Solar Photovoltaic Systems (PV). I strongly recommend finding someone who focuses exclusively on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. I don’t recommend hiring a general contractor or general electrician who also happens to do solar installations, unless that is the main part of their business. At least, if you want it done right. Find a specialist!
Safety and reliability are extremely important when installing a Solar electricity generating system. If it’s done wrong you can hurt or kill someone, start a fire, create leaks in your roof, and the list goes on-and-on. Or you might just get a system that performs poorly.
If your system is installed correctly you should expect to get many, many years of hassle-free and safe electricity from the Sun! To get a system that operates properly and efficiently, the following (at a minimum) must be included and understood in your preliminary analysis: Solar panel ratings and specifications, Inverter ratings and specifications, your home’s power distribution panel and busbars’ ratings and specifications, Panel orientation, shading, the sun’s path and useful daylight throughout the year, wire sizing, temperature derating factors for panels/wires/junction boxes/etc, and the interconnect to the utility power grid.
Here is a list of a some of the most important things to remember if you’re considering Doing-It-Yourself:
- Do you have the knowledge and experience comparable to a trained and experienced electrician? And roofer for rooftop installations?
- Do you understand the details of how to optimize your solar panels outputs based on your current electrical usage and the Sun’s path throughout the year
- Do you know how to protect yourself from falls, high voltage, and high current equipment?
- Do you understand the National Electric Code (NEC) and common practices of local permitting authority (usually city or county)? This is a difficult read to say the least.
- You will need to get building permits and have safety inspections before turning on system. And remember you have to work with both the utility company and the local permitting authority.
 Do you understand why Ground Fault Protection Devices, Circuit Breakers, and cutoff switches are installed and how they operate?- Do you understand wire sizing and how to run wires safely?
- You need to understand a multitude of safety precautions when working with DC and AC electricity. This includes working on a rooftop and all the way to the circuit breaker box (power distribution panel).
- Remember solar arrays often product voltages up to 600 volts and currents of 20 to 30 amps for residential systems and can be considerably higher for larger or commercial systems. These are dangerous voltage and current levels if you are not experienced with electricity!
Remember safety first! This is for yourself, for others, and for your home.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
 In my last entry, I discussed how the Sun affects your life every day and how you can harness a bit of that energy to reduce your monthly electric bill. The basic idea is that a solar electric system captures the sun’s energy and converts it into electricity that you can use in your home.
By now you’re probably asking yourself, “Sure, this sounds great but how does it actually lower my electric bill?” Instead of buying 100% of your electricity from SDG&E, your solar electric panels produce part or all of your electricity, just as you would expect. In the end, you end up buying less electricity and so have a lower bill.
However, many people are gone during the day when their solar panels are producing the most. Instead of wasting this solar electricity, it is “pushed” back out to the electric power grid and the utility company buys electricity from you. It can actually make your electric meter run backwards.
It’s beautiful in its simplicity. Your electric meter does only one thing. That is, measure how much electricity flows through it so the utility knows how much to bill you. When you produce more electricity than you use and “push” electricity back to the grid, SDG&E is effectively buying electricity from you.
Staying connected to the electric grid is important because the utility company will provide electricity when the sun is not out. It’s almost like you are “storing” energy on the utility grid for future use. The utility company buys electricity from you during the day and you buy it back anytime you need it.
Now, if free energy falling from the sky isn’t enough to make you think about solar; it gets even better. There are state rebates to help you pay for installing a solar power system. These rebates are based on the system size and how much electricity it should produce. Right now it often works out to be about 3 to 5% of the entire cost of the system.
“But wait, there’s more”. No, it’s not a “Shamwow” or set of “Ginsu Knives” or whatever is on your favorite infomercial. There is a 30% Federal tax credit.
When you add together these two “incentives” they typically pay for about 1/3 of the entire cost of the system.
To make it even better, a solar electricity system adds value to your home. If you ever want to sell your home, the solar system on the roof will increase the property value and make your home more attractive to potential buyers. It makes a “For Sale” home stand out from the crowd. It’s a great selling point. How would you feel about buying a home that makes its own clean electricity from the sun?
Your property value increase may actually be higher than what the entire solar system cost to install. Increased home value estimates for a home with a solar photovoltaic system are often estimated between 20 times the annual savings on electric bills to $20,000 per kilowatt installed with most homes having at least several kilowatts. This can be a very substantial increase in home value!
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
When was the last time you thought about the sun? The sun is one of the most powerful forces in our everyday lives. Yet we rarely think about it. Our sense of day and night is from the sun. The natural cycles of spring, summer, winter, and fall every year are created by the sun. The sun makes every plant grow and forms the basis of all life on this planet. Without the sun, we would not be here.
An incredible amount of energy from the sun engulfs the Earth everyday. Why waste all that free solar energy arriving at your home each day? How would you like to harness some of this free energy? What if you could collect some of it and pay down your electric bill? Would that be valuable?
This energy could be used for heating pools or hot water, but have you ever considered generating your own electricity? To some people, solar electricity may bring images of hippies living in harmony with nature in a commune, but it has become very mainstream, especially in today’s world of rising energy prices and insecure sources of energy. Even the “big, bad” utility companies generate solar electricity nowadays and buy solar electricity from homeowners like you.
The basic idea for a home solar electric system is this: You put solar panels on your roof; they collect the sun’s energy and produce electricity that is pumped back into the electric company’s power grid. The electric company buys this excess electricity during the day from you. At night when the sun is down, you buy electricity from the utility company. In a way, it’s kind of like banking electricity with the utility company during the day that you can use at a later time when the sun is not out or when you need more electricity than your solar power system is producing. You generally pump power out to the electric company’s grid during day and get it back at night. It’s kind of like storing water in a reservoir that you can use later.
In the end, you just pay for the “net” amount of electricity that you use over the course of a year. “Net” just means the amount of electricity you use minus the amount that your solar panels generate.
Solar power is just the “right” thing to do. It is clean energy and reduces carbon emissions for a cleaner environment. It provides a path to less reliance on foreign countries for energy; less reliance on fossil fuels like oil, coal, natural gas; and less reliance on nuclear energy.
Maybe the family cat is smarter than anyone ever gave it credit for? Cats know the value of the sun; have you ever seen where a cat lies on a cool winter day? Of course, it’s next to a window basking in the sun.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
 A grid-intertie is simply a connection from your solar electric system to the electric company’s power distribution “grid”. But what does this mean? What are the implications?
One of the main advantages of a grid inter-tie is that you have electricity available whether the sun is up or not; and without a battery backup system. While the sun is up your excess solar electricity is “sold” back to the utility company at the full retail rate. However, when the sun is down you have access to the utility company’s electricity. If you did not have a grid intertie then when the sun is down you would be without power or would have to install and maintain a battery backup system.
The key is: You have electricity available any time of day or night for your home or business without the extra cost, space, and maintenance of a battery backup system. Batteries significantly increase the cost, space, and maintenance required.
In remote locations without power or with an unreliable power supply, a “standalone” PV system with a battery storage bank would need to be installed for continuously available electricity.
Remember, a grid inter-tie has to be approved and inspected by the local building permit authority and the utility company.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
I’m sure lot’s of people are wondering: “Is Solar Right for Me?”
It’s an easy question to ask, but a little more complicated to answer. It depends on a few factors, but here are some general rules of thumb to get you started.
The higher your monthly electric bill is, the more likely you can save money with Solar Electricity (Photovoltaics). A larger electric bill comes from two components: The price you pay for electricity and how much electricity you use. If you have a high rate and use a lot of electricity then you are likely to benefit from a Solar Power system. You may ask? What’s a large electric bill? In the San Diego area,electric bills under $100 are typically difficult to justify by just dollars & cents, while bills over $200 are often good candidatesfor solar electricity. In between, it’s probably best to go case-by-case.
Typically, people with large homes, air conditioning, pools, spas, and children consume more electricity and so are good candidates for Solar.
The next thing to consider is; do you have space to install solar electric panels? Even if you have limited space, you may be able to save on your electric bill with a small solar panel array. Remember, the panels can be mounted on rooftops, carports, patio covers, or ground mounted racks/poles (basically anywhere there’s sunlight).
The next question to ask is: Does the location that you plan to install your panels have good sunlight throughout the year and will the panels generally point towards the sun. Remember the Sun is much lower in the sky during the Winter. Do you have trees or structures that will shade your planned location(s)? The amount of sunlight hitting your panels will ultimately determine how much electricity you produce.
If you have a high electric bill, have space for panels, can point the panels towards the Sun, and have good sunlight then Solar is a great option to look into. It can save you money, reduce carbon emissions, and lower dependence on foreign oil and nuclear energy.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
The utility company provides electricity to homes and businesses through its power distribution “grid“. The grid is all of the interconnections that distribute power to customers. This includes the distribution system of high voltage lines and lower voltage lines, transformers, switches, in-the-ground wires, and everything that brings electricity to your home and business.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
The mounting system holds panels in place and provides some physical protection for the panels and electrical connections. It also puts them at correct orientation for absorbing the Sun’s energy. These must be designed and installed correctly for wind loads, the weight of the system, rain, temperature variations, etc.
These may be installed on a rooftop, on the ground, or on top of a pole, depending on what is available and required at the installation site.
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
The inverter takes the electricity produced by the solar panels (direct current or DC) and converts it (actually “inverts” it) to electricity that can be used by home lights and appliances or exported back to the utility company’s power grid (alternating current or AC that is synchronized with the utility grid).
Robert Morse
BSEE, MSEE, NABCEP Certified PV Solar Installer
CA State Licensed Electrical Contractor (C10) & Solar Contractor (C46)
SunCal Solar, Incorporated
Have a Question? Contact Us at: blog@SunCalSolar.com
It’s free for anyone to subscribe by clicking on the “Posts” or “By Email” (RSS Feed or Email) subscribe buttons at the upper right corner of this website.
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