Grabbing Sunlight for More Power

Like all of you, I have been using sun power from the day we were born. It has been used by all mankind and all life on Earth throughout history. It warms us, makes plants grow, and allows us to go outdoors without flashlights. It prefers to hide its face part of the day, and even when it is above us, it prefers we do not stare at it. It is a very intense body. Many cultures have considered it a God. I like to think it is pleased with those folks. Marvelous thing, this sun we often take for granted.

In July, my brother and I started a project to capture some of the sun’s energy for use in helping power my household electrical devices. We have so many such devices that our bills were over $500.00 each of the summer months from our electricity supplier. Time to ask the sun for help. Fortunately, the sun is happy to provide all the energy we wish when available. I know this because I have never received an invoice from the sun for using its light. Nor has it threatened to cut off the supply, even when I complained that it was heating us more than we wanted. The sun thinks it is doing its best since opposite complaints are received as well. I am glad our sun doesn’t have a temper and punishes us in ways we can only imagine.

Because the sun is so willing to share, we purchased 18 solar panels, rated at 420 Watts each, and all the accessories necessary to bring that power into the inverter. We spent extra to get a Fronius Primo 7.6 kW Inverter made in Austria because it has greater efficiency and doubles the service life of other brands. From the inverter, it is tied to our household electrical grid. The wiring and distribution system was more costly than the panels. Still, because we purchased the system through a wholesale supplier, our total outlay was 15-20% of what it cost to have a solar company come out and install it.

Navarro Coop replaced our old meter with a NET meter. Here is an explanation of the net meter that I have cut and pasted:

“If the home is net-metered, the electricity meter will run backward to provide a credit against what electricity is consumed at night or other periods when the electricity use exceeds the system’s output. Customers are only billed for their “net” energy use.”

Tuesday, December 6^th, 2022. The date our solar system’s installation was completed, inspected, programmed, and started producing electricity. Even though we had fairly heavy cloud cover, it was feeding the house over a thousand watts of power.

I look forward to seeing what it shows when the sun is out.

Now, if I could just get the sun to feed my chickens and sheep, clean up the trash off my property, and wash my truck. Wouldn’t that be something?