Hands-on Solar Training!

I attended the Solar Water Heating hands on training through SEI a while ago and had to post about it. It was such a great time. For all of you solar geeks out there, I actually met Chuck Marken, Ian Woofenden and Ben Root! HA! They imparted some serious knowledge, and we all had fun learning it.

The course began with classroom presentation and theory. The next day we went out for a solar tour of Guemes Island. There are tons of renewable energy (RE) projects on this tiny island. Probably has nothing to do with the fact that Ian lives there.

For the hands on portion of the course, we installed a 30-tube Apricus solar thermal collector on a 20' shipping container! The property owner (kickass guy!) will be building a house soon and is setting up mobile workshops/living spaces to make the job as comfortable as possible. We were guided during the hands on class by RE contractor The solar system consisted of the Apricus collector w/ customized heat dump, SuperStor Ultra stainless steel storage tank, Apricus controller and pumpstation, and a propane fired backup water heater.

Through this training and my own studies I have gained the experience needed to size and install solar water heaters. I encourage all of you to take these SEI classes NOW! (they always fill up early...even the online classes). To date, I have taken 4 SEI courses. They are the original RE educators and were the only ones doing it when I first began exploring solar power.

Enjoy the pictures!

Seattle's Own...Solar Ultrasound

A client of ours would like us to design a solar energy system for their home. Either Solar Water Heating or Photovoltaic. We went a step further and showed them what the systems would look like. Here is a sample of what our new visualization crew can do. This is a free service for Solar Epiphany customers. Consider it your new solar baby ultrasound.

Next Project Up...

10/12 pitch metal roof...in November, nuff said. This will be a challenging roof. We're using the S-5! standing seam metal roof clamps to secure the array. You'll soon see 12, 200 watt Sanyo modules gracing the roof of this structure....stay tuned!

New 30% Residential Solar Incentive for 2009!

If you are looking for a positive spin to the so called "bailout bill", here it is. Inserted into the legislation was an 8 year extension of the renewable energy tax credit and.....ready?......a removal of the $2,000 cap on the residential tax credit for photovoltaic systems. This means that when you invest in a (PV) solar energy system for your home, the feds give you a 30% (of total system cost) tax credit at the end of the year. For Seattle, this means you are 10years closer to financial payback. This credit is good for both solar electric (PV) and solar water heating systems. Here is a direct link to the legislation so you can read up on it. Type "solar" into the "find" box in order to make your research easier.

Solar Epiphany is now doing site surveys and pre-installation work for 09'. Feel free to give us a call!

Electrons, Even in the Rain

The system passed final inspection and SCL installed the production meter today. It has been raining pretty good for the last couple of days. Still, the system was producing SOME electricity. Red Cup had a great write up in the westseattleblog as well as a 2.5 minute spot on King 5 News. The community support has been great, people are excited about the array. We are excited to see the performance of the tracking system. I think we will be installing a data collection system for the array sometime soon.

See you tomorrow at Red Cup for the ASES National Tour...

Inspection Challenges

The DPD Electrical Inspector (EI) was new to pv systems. We had to do some educating in order to get everyone on the same page, but in the end, it has worked out. The inspector did, however, request that the tracker motor wiring be totally seperate from the pv wiring (hence the secnd j-box in the photo) Solid Electrical Construction was able to accomadate that request today. Now, we are awaiting final approval tomorrow, 10/2.

Just in time for the ASES tour!!

Solid Electrical Installation (and Construction)

Solar Epiphany chose Solid Electrical Construction as the commercial electric installer for the job. They have a local reputation for good work and are great guys.

All EMT installation means that the wiring system will have the same long life as the solar panels.