Enphase Microinverter Solar Electric in Cape Coral

By:
On:
In: Education, Fafco Solar, Opinion
With: 0 Comments

One of my favorite solar electric systems to watch is located at a customer’s residence in Cape Coral. It’s a favorite because there are solar modules on roofs facing due South, East, and West. This provides an opportunity to validate that solar electric modules are best mounted on south roofs, followed by east, then west. That’s great news for us, because we are often faced with locating solar pool heating systems and solar electric systems on the same home. If there are clear east and west roofs, the solar electric system performs best on the east, and solar pool heating performs best on the west.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Education
With: 0 Comments

The Law of Conservation of Energy is a basic recognized law of physics, and one I occasionally forget when writing and speaking about solar energy. Solar power does not “create energy.” It simply converts energy to usable forms in our everyday lives. For example, solar thermal technologies move heat to where we want it. Photovoltaic systems convert solar radiation into electrical energy that we can use to power electronic devices. If you catch me saying the phrase “create energy,” please pinch me or something. It’s a bad habit that I’m trying to break. I was reminded about this as I spoke to an employee aboutRead More →

By:
On:
In: Opinion
With: 2 Comments

Earlier this month FPL took down the Port Everglades power plant to make way for a new natural gas powered plant. In conjunction with the demolition they embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign to tout their energy independence. I’m confused… From what are we becoming independent?! FPL has spent countless dollars on paid Facebook advertising and billboards throughout Florida to pat themselves on the back for becoming independent. (side note: this advertising money comes from you, the ratepayer.) They would make you believe that we are becoming less reliant on foreign oil with this fantastic new plant. One FPL Facebook ‘friend’ quipped that the newRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education, Opinion
With: 1 Comment

Florida Power & Light loses about 8% of the energy it produces in transmitting it to your home. Right out of the gate, that’s a great argument for producing energy at or near the point of use. Locating solar energy systems at homes and business is often called distributed solar energy. That is, the production of solar power is scattered around the utility grid in a distributed manner. This is the opposite of utility-scale solar energy that is produced in huge solar fields typically long distances from the places where the energy is needed. Obviously there is a significant cost to moving energy around “theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education, Events
With: 0 Comments

Summer’s here, and that means it’s time for my annual trek to the Naples Botanical Garden Summer Camp. Fafco Solar installed 164 solar panels at the Garden’s education facility a couple of years ago, and I’ve volunteered each year to speak to the summer camp classes. Each year I get some chuckles out of the kids’ questions. Here are a few from today: Why doesn’t everyone have solar panels? How do you get your hair to be spiked up like that? How many solar panels does a robot take? (My answer: “Five”) This time around I brought a couple of 40W solar panels, a smallRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education, Opinion, Products
With: 6 Comments

I am seeing an uptick in requests about Alternating Current Photovoltaic (ACPV) Modules. ACPV solar panels are traditional solar electric panels that have an inverter affixed to the back. The module assembly is UL listed as a complete assembly, and is essentially an appliance. Rather than output DC power that needs to be converted to AC for use in your home, the appliance puts out AC energy that can be connected directly to your home’s wiring system. Despite what manufacturer’s may say, these are not the same as the “plug-and-play” solar panel concept, which doesn’t really exist. ACPV modules are still required to be connected toRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education, Financial
With: 0 Comments

As expected, Cape Coral passed the Public Service Tax measure on April 29, 2013. The tax impacts every utility electric customer in the City. The more you use electricity, the more tax you pay. As I noted in my earlier post, solar energy producers can avoid tax on every kilowatt-hour they reduce or produce with solar energy. The City of Cape Coral released an online calculator that has a few deficiencies. Most importantly to me is that the calculator ignores solar producing customers using LCEC’s netmetering program (both commercial and residential). If you are a small commercial (non-demand charge) or residential customer with solar electricRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education, Fafco Solar, Opinion
With: 0 Comments

Tonight I was invited to part of a panel before a public group at the Naples Community Hospital. I guess you could call it a Solar Panel. Here is the text of my brief speech: “I would like to address the most common misconception about solar energy: Solar energy is expensive and cannot survive without government and utility incentives. The most common solar product installed in Southwest Florida is not solar electric or solar water heating for the home; it’s solar pool heating. Solar thermal energy has been effectively heating pools for four decades in Southwest Florida, and forms the bread and butter of the localRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education, News
With: 1 Comment

NBC-2 News reported that a smart car charger caused a fire in Estero, FL yesterday causing $200,000 to a home. From the story I gather that the homeowner installed the smart charger himself. While I can’t say if he was qualified or if the fire was caused by installation errors or product failure, it brings an important issue to the forefront – electric car charging is going to bring a whole host of problems for home electrical systems. The problem is that many homes already have fully loaded main distribution panels. Several tandem breakers may be installed to accommodate new circuits for things like lighting,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Education, Fafco Solar, News
With: 0 Comments

With the fantastic monitoring tools available today, we can see exactly how much energy production drops on cloudy days and when storms pass by. Tropical Storm Isaac just passed by Southwest Florida, and I’ve been reviewing energy output from many of  the systems we have out there. Saturday and Sunday were completely cloud covered days. Sunday August 26, 2012 was not only cloudy, but it was dark and rainy virtually all day long. Despite the cloud cover, photovoltaic systems continued to put out significant amounts of energy. In general, most systems across Southwest Florida had production cut in half on Saturday and lost almost 3/4thsRead More →

By:
On:
In: News
With: 0 Comments

The solar boat Ra has docked in Fort Myers on its 6,000 mile “adventure powered by the sun.” Captain Jim Greer and crew are taking the solar powered vessel around the Great Loop of the United States while filming the entire journey. I went down to see the boat this evening and snapped a few pictures of the Ra. It looks like a boat equipped for an adventure, outfit with 15 solar panels and a cockpit perfect for viewing the scenery along the way. I’m hoping to meet the crew tomorrow and learn more about the inner workings of the solar energy system. I getRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education
With: 0 Comments

The price of residential electricity has historically trended upwards despite routine promises of future innovation resulting in lower energy prices. Based on the linear trend, electricity in 25 years will cost about 50% more than it does today. At a 3% annual increase, typical of expected inflation rates, electricity would more than double in the next 25 years. In other words, a $150 electricity bill today will be over $300 in 25 years! What if I told you that you could prepay for 25 years of electricity at well under the current price of about 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour? Wouldn’t that be a smart financialRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education
With: 1 Comment

Utility electric rates in Southwest Florida vary quite a bit depending on how much electricity you consume. I created a spreadsheet to calculate what your utility electric rate would be with different utilities depending on the amount of energy consumed. What you will find is that the effective rate for LCEC is higher for typical residential customers because of the higher fixed customer charge. Another interesting fact is that LCEC netmetered customers with solar electric generation pay more that regular LCEC customers until they consume at least 1,342 kilowatt hours (net). Again, this is because of a higher customer charge. The rates are current asRead More →

By:
On:
In: Education, Fafco Solar, Video
With: 0 Comments

The variable speed pump is a perfect match for solar pool heating systems, especially when an automatic controller is used. Without a controller the pump can be scheduled to run at optimum solar circulation speed when solar energy is most likely to be available. Adding a controller adds the capability of changing the pump speed based on the availability and demand for solar heating. With or without solar energy, the variable speed pump will pay for itself with energy savings. You can cut pumping costs up to 90% with this great technology while getting a far quieter and longer lasting pool pump.

By:
On:
In: Education, Fafco Solar, Video
With: 0 Comments

Solar pool heaters work better with variable speed pumps because the optimum flow rate can be achieved to maximize solar performance. A single speed pump is typically fine to use with solar pool heating, but if you want maximum pool heating, a variable speed pump can both save you a tremendous amount of money and provide the proper flow rate. Most solar pool heating panel manufacturers recommend a flow rate of 4 gallons per minute per panel. If you have seven panels, you need a flow rate of 28 gallons per minute. Anything less and the efficiency drops off quite rapidly. Anything more and youRead More →