This just in from our friend John Snyder, Gentleman Farmer: Going Solar at Shady Grove Farm We moved to central West Virginia from England (my wife is English) in 2009, having bought 32 acres and a large log home. In the English tradition of naming properties we called our new home Shady Grove (there’s a story behind that, but it’s not germane here). We had sold our 16th-century farmhouse in England and had enough working capital to undertake some needed renovations on our new house, starting with much needed insulation as we found our sellers had been paying up to $1,000/month for propane the previous winter. We opted for blown-in polyurethane foam under the roof deck, something we’d also done in our English home and, combined with a roof-mounted solar hot water installation, had realized 50% fuel oil savings almost overnight. Photovoltaic solar would not have worked for us in the UK, where latitude-wise we were about halfway up Alaska and didn’t have the appropriate roof orientation anyway. But here in West Virginia it was a different story, and was an avenue we wanted to explore while we had the capital to do so. Initially, we could not find a solar installer in the state, and set the project aside. But by 2011 we found Mountain View Solar (MTV) of Berkeley Springs WV (and now with offices in Morgantown WV). A phone call resulted in an almost immediate visit from Colin Williamson, MTV’s Director of Operations. We discussed our needs and wants—enough capacity to be sure to generate more power than we used, and a battery backup system to run critical circuits—adequate lighting, small appliances, refrigerators & freezers—in the event of power outages. We mentioned that we were considering a combination of solar and a wind turbine. Colin recommended against the latter for home use since it would require a 150-foot mast, and maintenance in the event of a failure would be both complex and expensive. We really appreciated this honesty, since he could as easily have sold us a turbine. Colin took the information back to his office and soon had a recommended 10Kw system designed for the primary output, plus a battery backup system. Our system, as installed, consists of 45 panels, 25 of which power the house and outbuildings and feed back into the grid. The other 20 panels feed the battery backup system which consists of 16 (I think) very large batteries. The crew from MTV was soon on-site to install the system, and we found yet another reason to appreciate this firm: when coming into a new area (such as was the case with our installation), they will pick up a local electrician for the crew and train that person on solar installation. In our case it was a local man who has done much work—electrical and otherwise—around Shady Grove. This means that MTV is building a statewide group upon whom they can call for installations. For us, it also meant that any time we had any maintenance issues (very seldom, but there have been a couple of instances where inverter settings needed a bit of tweaking) they could use the local person rather than having to pay one of their crew for a long roundtrip! We opted for a ground-mounted system for 2 reasons. First, we did not have sufficient south-facing roof area to carry the system. Second, we’re in snow country, and a ground-mounted system is much easier and safer to keep cleaned! With the system in place we had only to wait for our local power company to install a bi-directional meter, and we were in business. We consistently generate more power than we consume, even in the dead of winter, so always have an excess account against which we can draw. (Note that we have changed virtually all of our lighting to LED.) The system will have been in place 4 years this coming Spring, and in all that time our monthly power bill has been $5.00—the cost of renting the bi-directional meter from the power company! Note that there are also substantial tax credits available at federal and state level that also reduce the overall cost of the system. As for the battery backup system, it has already paid for itself more than once. We produce our own organic vegetables, fruits and eggs. We buy pastured, drug-free beef, pork and lamb from local farmers, and I add game in season. We keep 2 large chest freezers, 2 refrigerator-freezers, and 1 large refrigerator. When the derecho wind storm hit in June 2012, the grid went down 12 days. The battery backup system kicked in seamlessly and kept everything running. Had we lost the contents of those units and had to replace everything at market value, the cost would have exceeded that of the backup system! Even better, when everyone else was having to run far and wide for fuel for gas-powered generators, we just sat back at home. (On paper, the batteries will run the critical circuits for 3 days, but that supposes there is no recharging which is never the case; the system did 12 days without a hiccup.) Again in late October 2013 when a heavy wet snow took the grid down for 7 days, the backup performed flawlessly and saved that cost yet again. To say we’re pleased with out MTV installation—and with MTV’s service—is an understatement. As for those snowy days, well, some people shovel sidewalks and driveways—I sweep solar panels!
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 12:02:00 +0000
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