Google has invested $280 million to help private homeowners put solar panels on their rooftops. The money will be used to help installer SolarCity offer solar systems to homeowners for no money up front. In exchange, the customer agrees to pay a set price for the power produced by the solar system. Google makes a profit by charging interest for SolarCity to use it’s money and by reaping the benefits of the federal and local renewable energy tax credits. Click here for the full story by Jonathon Fahey at the Huffington Post.
Archive for June, 2011
Google and SolarCity team up to provide Solar Energy for Homes.
Thursday, June 16th, 2011PROJECT HIGHLIGHT: THE EARLY ADOPTERS
Monday, June 13th, 2011 
The Early Adopters are a young family with kids both parents are interested in science, technology and conservation. From the beginning they wanted to start off small and expand the system over time. After visiting the site, surveying the house, meeting the Early Adopters and discussing their goals. We proposed a system with Trina Panels and Enphase micro-inverters. Using the Enphase micro-inverters would allow the customer to expand the system overtime in an affordable way. After pricing the system the Early Adopters decided to start with 6 panels and 6 inverters. We then completed the design of the whole system and prepared the permit drawings. In this project it was important to account for system expansion this is why we made sure the appropriate electrical infrastructure was planned and specified in the drawings. After the system design and planning was complete we submitted the specs to Com Ed and the permit drawings to the local village.
The permit was approved a week later and the ComEd approval took 10 days. For this project the customer hired a local electrician ( Paxson Electric ) for all of the electrical work. I coordinated my installation crew with Paxson and the system was installed in 1 day. Since we used the Enphase Inverters the next day the Early Adopters and I were able to monitor the system performance from the internet. So far everything is working great.
Below is a series of installation pics and a pic of the enphase monitoring web page.
We started by laying out the array and installing the roof flashings.
Then the racking was assembled, the microinverters installed and panels laid out.
The wiring was checked and double checked.
The panels mounted on the roof.
The web based monitoring software you can check it from your iphone!
PROJECT (ROCKY MOUNTAIN) HIGHLIGHT UPDATE
Thursday, June 9th, 2011CSU Project featured on Engineering TV – click on the video below to watch the segment.
The Chevy Volt and The Electric Car
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
In addition to The Chevy Volt being charged with Solar Power at the factory before being shipped out to the dealership many Chevy Volt owners are now charging the Volt with residential Solar Arrays. Check out the full article at Chevy.com.
The Electric Car – Are We There Yet?
The Electric Car has been around just as long as the Internal Combustion Engine Car. So how close are we to making the Electric Car mainstream ? Check out this great article and radio segment on NPR.com
Super Cool Biz – Tokyo Launches Energy Saving Plan
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
In an effort to curb Energy Consumption during the hot summer months. Tokyo is starting an Energy Conservation Campaign focusing on simple lifestyle adjustments like adjusting work hours, altering the dress codes and encouraging people to use fans instead of air conditioners. Hopefully we can learn something from this. Changing the way we use energy is just as important as developing new technologies to produce energy. Check out the full article at the Huffington Post.
Solar Train Tunnel In Europe
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
In Europe, An array of 16,000 solar panels over a 2 mile train tunnel are producing enough energy to power all the trains in Belgium for one day per year, in addition to powering up the Antwerp station. The project will produce approximately 3.5Mw/hours of energy each year. The cost of the project is estimated at $20.1 million. Click Here to See the Full Article in PV Magazine.