Can I power my home with my Sporty?

[daveb]

Wow Greg, are you sure that is correct??? Something seems off. How much does it put out, do you mean 1000? Even at that I can't make it work through our calculator . I will go solar today if I can get that much.

Here is a calculator you can use to figure how much savings a solar array can give you. This is through our engineering departments web site and a good reference. For example a 1000 watt system would save you 180 kWh per month and at our rate of .13 cents per kW, you would save about 23 -24 bucks a month based on 6 hours of sun (probably an average). Your 360 watt array would average a savings of about 64kWh per month. Remember all utilities charge different rates and have different prices per unit. We charge .09 cents per kWh if you use under 500kWh per month then it jumps to .13 cents. Some companies have multiple levels and /or peak levels you need to look into. I'm sure there are a few other variables but this is fairly close. One guy in Fresno paid less than a buck for his monthly bill which normally averaged about 800 bucks so it works, but what a system and I was afraid to ask the cost. He claims the bills are usually under 100 dollars now. But he won't like the fog when it comes around. Some people are lucky to have year round sun.



Dave.

[Greg In Austin]

Yep, I am sure it is correct.

The array puts out a max of 100w. THis is limited by the Microsine inverter. But with the panels I have installed, it will be putting out the max almost all the time.

Remember the chart you are looking at is USAGE.

There are many many things that can affect usage numbers.

The key is to notice the trend. The trend before and the trend after.

As I said before, there is no way that this single array can explain the entire change.

The biggest impact that a small array will have is when the sun is out longer and that is typically when you will see the most need (usage).

Notice that the peaks are dropped, but the low end usage periods remained about the same. For a larger array you would see impact on both the high and the low end; as you see latter after our 2kw array was installed.