zabreznik.com

A couple of quick updates:

1. Monitoring System Installed -  I have a few pages that I've made public if anyone wants to go take a look at production.  Not all of the stock reports are useful but I've created a couple that get right to the meat of things (Daily & Monthly Power by Inverter).  To access them go to sunnyportal.com and click on "Publicly Available Plants" on the right hand side of the page.  Once there simply type in my plant name (zabreznik) and you should see a link to my plant overview.
2. First two electric bills received.  December did not include a full month of prodution but still managed to offset 100% of my electricity usage.  January included a full month of production and I produced 165 more kWh than I used.  This equated to a $6.02 credit.  Awesome!
3. Google Earth satellite photos have been updated.  My solar panels are now visible on top of my house when you zoom all the way in.  Address is 4024 Pinckney St, 78723 if you want to take a look.  They're hard to see since the color of the panels matches the roof so well.

Joe Z.

So yesterday (Tuesday) the system yielded 10.47 kWh.  By no means a record day but much better than Monday's dismal 4.12 kWh.  Today is looking much more promising with clear skies and cold weather.  Looks like I've already generated over 12 kWh and it's only 11:10 AM.  Should be a 50+ day.  Will report back tomorrow.  Joe Z.

Was curious to see what the cloud cover on Sunday would do to the system's output.  Little did I know how much of an effect it would really have.  After Saturday's ideal weather conditions and phenomenal 50.57 kWh of production I was sorely disappointed to see Sunday's 9.22 kWh.  Less than 20% of Saturday's energy yield.  I was convinced that it probably couldn't get any worse.  I was wrong.  Today (Monday) the sky looked even worse and the system only produced 4.21 kWh.  It can only go up from here.  Right?  Tuesday's forecast shows continued cloud cover but Wednesday should have clear skies so I'm hoping for more 50+ kWh days.  It's a monthly cumulative number that I'm shooting for so will realistically have to wait until the end of December to really know anything.  In the meantime I'll keep reporting numbers for anyone that's interested.  Joe Z.

Just a quick update for everyone.  Saturday was my first full day of production and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the system pumped out 50.57 kWh.  Based on a solar calculator created by one of my neighbors here in Mueller (Aman Jain) I projected an energy yield of about 886 kWh's in the month of December.  This was based on my systems specific orientation, inverter efficiency, number of hours of daylight , etc.  Sure do hope I exceed that number but it's probably a little early to really tell anything.  Curious to see today's production numbers with all the cloud cover.  Will report back tomorrow.  Joe Z

So it's official.  The solar system is up and running.

Came home this morning, after dropping my truck off for service, and noticed that my computer had shut down and the oven and microwave clocks were flashing.  It took a second, but my next thought was "Has Austin Energy installed my new net meter?".  A quick glance out my rear window confirmed that the new meter had actually been installed.  I then called Roger Jennings at TXSPCo to confirm it was ok for me to go around and start switching everything on.  He said it was ok, so Zoey and I headed out to start flipping switches.........and boy is there a lot of them!

1. DC disconnects in the attic
2. DC disconnects below inverters
3. Flip breakers inside A/C combiner box
4. Flip breaker inside outside electrical box
5. Throw switch for A/C disconnect

Once everything was turned on I checked the displays on the inverters and sure enough we were producing power.  I've attached a couple new photos below.

The first shows Zoey throwing the final switch (A/C disconnect) to turn the solar power on.



The next shot was taken from the top of a two story house behind me.  It shows almost all of the panels on my roof in one picture which is something I haven't been able to capture.



This last shot is of David Burgos (Austin Energy Inspector) and Craig Overmiller (TXSPCo Owner).



Next week TXSPCo should start installing my monitoring system.  Once that's up and running I'll have web enabled monitoring of my system and will send a public link out to anyone who'd like to see realtime performance of my solar system.

It's been a while since I've posted anything on the Solar install so I thought I'd provide a couple updates.

1. System size has been increased.  The system is now at 12.425kW or seventy one (71) 175W panels.  I've incorporated every available section of South & West facing roof that the City of Austin would approve for Solar.  The south array still comes in at 7.7kW (4 strings of 11) but the west array was increased to 4.725kW (3 strings of 9).  I'm still using the SMA 7000 inverters for the south and the SMA 4000 inverter for the west.
2. Austin Energy inspection is "tentatively" scheduled for today at around 10:30am or 11:00am.  I'll cross my fingers (it was cancelled two weeks ago).  Once they actually inspect and approve the system it will be another two weeks before I actually receive my additional power meter that will allow me to actually turn the sytem on and start producing power.  I'll provide pictures of the meter and initial power  generation when I get to that point.
3. The SMA WebBox for system monitoring still needs to be installed.  This little box plugs into my two inverters and logs all data related to power production and system performance.  After capturing that information it sends it back to SMA via my router where it is then made available for reporting on SMA's Sunny Portal site.  There will also be additional Sunny SensorBoxes installed on the roof and panels capturing solar irradiance and module temperature.  This additional data will also be captured by the WebBox and sent back to SMA for reporting.  The data from the sensors will allow me to see projected output for my system vs actual output.  This should help identify any drops in energy yield related to dust & dirt, module defects, etc.

Here are some pictures of the final install.

Just thought I'd post a pic of some of the panels going up.  It's been slow going with all of the rain we've had but things are really moving now.  All panels should be up by the end of the week or early next week at the latest.  Will post more pics once everything is finished.

Today the installers wrapped up most of the installation related to the two inverters.  In the photos you can see three boxes on the wall (ignore the small box to the far left, it's my sprinkler control).  The largest one on the left is the SMA Sunny Boy 7000US inverter.  This is where all of the DC power from my southern facing array will be routed (7.7kW).  The box to the far right is the SMA Sunny Boy 4000US inverter.  It will be handling all of the DC power from my western facing arrays (3.5kW).  Just as an FYI....the conduit for the western facing array has not been dropped through the ceiling yet.  After the DC power goes into these boxes it gets turned around and exported as AC power which is then fed from both of the inverters to the small box in the middle.  This smaller box is a combiner where the power from the two inverters is routed and then fed back to my City of Austin Meter via a single line which you can see going back up the wall.

The outside main breaker load center has been upgraded from 125amp to 200amp.  This was necessary due to size of the system I am installing.  The box on the left is new load center.  The center box is the city of Austin meter and the box on the right is my low voltage panel for cable, phone, etc.  There will also be an additional city of Austin meter tracking electricity that is produced by my system.  This is one of the last components of the install so I probably won't have pictures of it for a week or two.

Due to all of the discussions at Mueller regarding flashed and non-flashed roof penetrations for the solar racking I asked Texas Solar to go ahead and shoot some step-by-step photos showing how they install the mounting feet.  This is a non-flashed installation.  The sealant they use is Sonolastic NP1 Poyurethane Sealant.  Just as an FYI.....this is the method that I believe all Solar installers in Austin haven been using, with success, up until about a year ago when a few of the vendors started using flashed installations.  Texas Solar Power has been using this method for approximately 15 years with good results......they wouldn't still be in business if their installations leaked.  Meridian was also using this method for about 9 years prior to switching to flashed installations last year.

Step 1 - Drill holes through shingles into rafter and fill with NP1 Polyurethane Sealant.



Step 2 - Allign mounting foot over holes and use impact drill to drive stainless steel lag bolt into rafter.



Step 3 - Apply NP1 Polyurethane Sealant to top bolt heads and top and sides of bracket.



If anyone at Mueller is interested in taking a look at a bracket or anything else please don't hesitate to stop by.

Joe