Hi all,
It was one year ago today that we installed a 6 kWh, residential PV system
(30 Kyocera 200W panels and a SMA 6000U inverter, located in the Los Angeles
area).
After 365 days, it has generated 9,559 kWh on 4,396 hours, averaging about
26.2 kWh/day. We are on 12-month, net metering, and I won't get the final
bill for a while, but we will run a small surplus this year (generated more
than we consumed).
The year before we used more than a million watt hours of power, so in
addition to generating the power, we reduced our consumption a little. I
switched to CF lighting in most locations without dimmers, reduced the
wattage of many of the incandescent lights, put timers and motion sensor
switches, etc.
I have posted this before, but here are photos of the array and the
inverter:
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~shook/images/Picture%20002.jpg
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~shook/images/Picture%20008.jpg
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~shook/images/Picture%20009.jpg
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~shook/images/Picture%20010.jpg
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~shook/images/Picture%20011.jpg
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~shook/images/Picture%20012.jpg
I am very glad we did it.
With no increase in utility rates, it should pay for itself in less than
seven years (we are on Edison and many months we were paying the 200% over
baseline rates which can quadruple the cost per watt). If you are operating
at baseline rates, it probably would take you longer to achieve a 100% ROI.
I have to confess, I find myself standing in front of the inverter on sunny
days "just watching" the power. The peak generation I have observed was
6,015 watts at 387 VDC -- it will spin that utility meter backwards like a
son-of-gun.
Best,
doug
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