Austin’s unusually cloudy and rainy (but also warm) winter has totally put a downer on our first year of solar power. We were supposed to bank energy credits for the summer but we’re not even breaking even for 2019 yet (just over 78%).
@pratik We had the same thing happen here in DC! Our first year has not quite lived up to expectations. We're still happy we did it, our bills are still a lot lower and we feel good about the environmental benefits, but this last year was amazingly cloudy and rainy for Washington. I'm hoping 2019 will be a bit more typical!
@pratik I've also been doing various things to try to increase our home's energy efficiency so we can get maximum benefit from the panels. I just replaced our last CFL's with LED bulbs recently for example (admittedly there is some diminishing returns there, going from one energy efficient technology to a slightly more energy efficient technology, but the light is better anyway), we're talking about getting new insulated siding, and there are probably some other things we could do here and there.
@DrOct Yup. I'm not regretting it either and perhaps we'll enjoy delayed gratification. It's just that since it's new, I'm obsessed with checking the stats daily on the monitoring dashboard :)
@pratik Oh I'm right there with you on that! Over a year later I do occasionally realize I've gone a whole day without checking on it's performance, but it's still pretty rare!
@DrOct We had done an energy audit couple of years ago prior to getting the panels. We ended up replacing/adding ducts and insulation to get our home up to code. The dashboard helps me in understanding what appliances consumes the most. It's mostly the AC followed by the dryer and washer. Dishwasher takes some but not as much as these three.
@pratik Intersting. I don't have a way to see specific appliances, just what our panels are generating at any given time. I probably should have looked into some kind of smart electical panel when we had our panel replaced a few years ago. I am hopeful that our power company will install smart meters in our neighborhood soon, which will at least give me real time data on how much we're pulling from and putting into the grid.
@DrOct Well, technically I don't see specific appliances as well. Perhaps I've been too obsessive about my checking the dashboard. I just notice spikes around the time we use those appliances and extrapolate usage :)