September. Despite the ominous foreboding of cold winter months and little income from our solar panels, September was still a very positive month for solar power generation. Not even the wasp invasion could spoil that!
Category Archives: solar
FIT and MicroFIT Renewed
The Ontario government has finally released the long-awaited review of the feed-in tariff program (FIT and MicroFIT).
April Power Generation Stats
According to the solar radiation tables of PV Watts, the longer days of April generate fewer kilowatt hours of energy than the shorter days of March, so perhaps there is something to that old saying, after all.
Deger Tracking System Back On Track
Well, the Deger tracking problem is solved. They came by last Friday (oops, forgot to blog about it) and replaced the malfunctioning parts. The problems had lasted a couple months, and the one array was tabled-topped for almost two weeks. Now we are back up to 100 percent. April is the fifth best month for…
2011 Was a Hot Year for Solar Power
According to clean-tech market analyst Clean Edge’s Clean Energy Trends 2012 report, the solar PV market grew 29 percent in 2011 to $91.6 billion.
Tough Winter to Make Solar Money
Just how dismal has this winter been for making money from solar power? Consider the performance of our solar panels so far. They began operation November 23, 2011. They have not performed well.
What is a kilowatt hour?
You might be answering the title question with a big “Who cares?” But if you generate solar power to feed in to the grid, it is worth understanding how you will be paid. And you will be paid for kilowatt hours. I can give you the specs in Ontario; in other jurisdictions the numbers will vary, but the basics – especially the physics – will remain the same.
3…2…1… You Are Now Feeding the Grid!
Today, our installers arrived to “flick the switch”. That is the moment that we start feeding the Ontario electrical grid, that we start earning money. We are officially farming electricity as of a half hour ago. Finally!
More solar installation details [with pics]
I have already detailed the three stages of our solar power generation installation, and here I will share a few extra details – some of the items left off in earlier posts. So here are some of the details not mentioned in those posts.
November – Solar Power’s Doldrums
As I type this, there is a ceiling of clouds overhead. It was sunnier earlier today, then cloudy, then sunny again. Typical November – possibly the most “cloudy” month of the year. Consider that December 21 is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year. That means that December should have the least…
