This is a periodic follow up on our solar power installation of last summer. Since the system wasn't up and running until August 19, 2011, we have yet to experience a full "power year" of solar. We are still learning and being surprised by weather and celestial conditions make for good solar generation. It is not what you would think.
Solar power is generated from brightness, not heat. This idea can be counter intuitive, as a hot day isn't necessarily a powerful day. And a cool or cold day can rock. Looking at our generation for any given day doesn't necessarily tell the story. This month's power bill tells a great story!
From April 19, 2011 to May 18, 2011 our net usage for the billing period was 0 kWh and we generated 36kWh back to PGE to be credited to us on a future bill. So our daily usage was 0.0 kWh. In the same billing period in 2010, our daily usage was 10.9. hmm.
The down side is, we are of course still connected to the grid, and need to be. So even in months were we generate more power than we use, we pay for the grid. So our power bill was $9.92. Oddly, how it shows up on the bill is $9.00 for 0 kWh energy and $0.92 in taxes and fees. Oh yes, and our per day energy cost was $0.31 for 0.0 kWh per day. New math?
We continue to be thankful to the folks at Imagine Energy and Solarize Portland for such an easy process and installation.
No comments:
Post a Comment