Grid-tie Solar Power System with Battery-backup in Beverly, WV

Sixteen SolarWorld PV modules back-feed power to the electric utility during normal operation.  During an outage the battery bank and electronics in the basement supply power to selected critical loads.  The battery bank has eight large Trojan deep-cycle batteries.  The backup system can supply 21 amps (240V) and the stored power is close to 17 kWh.  In a prolonged outage the solar will help charge the battery bank as though the home were off-grid.

Davis & Elkins College: Spring Green-up on the Harper-McNeeley Auditorium Roof

 

Had a great student project yesterday with members of the Greenworks! Club at Davis & Elkins College.

 

They installed thirty 285-watt SolarWorld modules on the roof of the campus auditorium.  This builds on the twelve modules that were previously installed at the campus' science center last year.

 

The students at this small liberal arts college in Elkins, WV have, for the second year running, installed more solar PV capacity than any other residential college in West Virginia.  The enthusiasm and funding for their projects comes directly from the students.

 

Students initially identified locations on campus where they thought solar might be a good fit.  We met last fall to look at one of the better locations - the Harper-McNeeley Auditorium.  Turns out that the site was sweet!

It is always a pleasure to work with the D&E students.  They are hardworking, smart, and affable.  Our installation of thirty solar panels, thirty Enphase microinverters, and the associated wiring was polished off in record time.  Everyone ended the day sun-kissed and pleased with the result.

New Net Meters for First Energy Customers

Customer-generator n. Utility jargon for your neighbors with solar on the roof

Seen the new net meters? New and old net metering customers in First Energy's MonPower and Potomac Edison service areas of West Virginia and Maryland are being fitted with improved metering equipment to help track customer generated power as it is pushed back onto the grid.

New net meter for a First Energy customer (note, the code is 01 and the reading is 00000 kWh). Being brand new it has not had time to record any energy, but the small arrow below the 01 points to the right indicating that energy is moving from the utility grid to the home.

The new meters began to appear in July. I've been asked by several customers about the different flashing codes on the new meters. The First Energy folks have been getting a lot of calls too. To help their customers get a handle on reading the new net meter they produced a nice pdf which you can view here. The pdf has illustrations and explanations for what the meter is measuring and reporting.

I checked my new net meter a couple of days after it was installed this past summer. It flashed through three separate screens. Each screen references a code and displays a reading (in kWh). Here's what the meter read and what it means:

Code	Reading	Meaning
01	4	Net kWh that I owe money for (14-10 = 4 kWh)
04	14	Total kWh that my home has pulled in from the utility grid (14 kWh)
40	10	Total kWh that my solar pushed back onto the utility grid (10 kWh)

Another cool aspect to these meters is the dial emulator which is really an arrow that displays at the bottom of each meter screen demonstrating the direction that power is presently traveling. As you look at your net meter the arrow will point to the right if you are pulling in power from the utility grid. It will point to the left if you are pushing power back. The arrow will display more or less quickly depending on the amount of power that is running through the meter. The old dial-style mechanical meters would spin to the right or left, faster or slower, in a similar fashion.