[mh] Re: Xantrex GT3.0 photovoltaic inverter code module

[brian m. <be...@gm...>]

Sorry Dave - missed your questions for a bit...

Dave Lynch wrote:

    What area of the country ?
    What was the cost ?
    Is this a commercial system or did you put it together yourself ?

South San Francisco Bay area (San Jose) CA.
Cost: ~52k before 17k rebate, also not counting ~3.5k state tax credit
(basically I pay next 10 years of electricity bills up front, then
next (~30 year life - 10 years paid) =3D free (in theory, based on
current rates. Yep, my AC bill is not cheap. Too many toys :) I
suppose I could try to spread some of the blame for that to some of
y'all for abetting my automation habit...)
I went with a local installer to streamline all the beaurocracy. It
ended up not being too bad, and if I had to do it over again, I might
consider doing it myself. (BTW if anyone local is looking for a
company to go with, I would recommend the one who did mine; they were
great. (Offlist))

    (I earlier wrote):
    >FWIW I also threw an iButton temp sensor in the attic last summer to
    >see what if any difference there would be in attic temp (panels cover
    >~75% of south-facing roof area). Hopefully it will be a little cooler
    >during the summer (last summer peak attic temp ~135 degF during hot
    >days (e.g. 90-100 degF outside temp), ~120 degF during normal/warm
    >days (75-90 degF outside temp)). My WAG is it will be ~5-10 degF
    >cooler in the attic, but we'll see...
    >
    >
    Solar energy falls on your roof all the time.
    Whatever you convert to electricity is not being converted to heat.

Yep, which is why I anticipate a ~5-10 degF lower peak attic temp now
that the panels are blocking a large fraction of the radiation :)
I just wanted to quantify the actual difference, for curiousity's sake.
Cheers, Brian