“Where Farm and Family Meet”
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THE LAND, AUGUST 19, 2011
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Excess energy metered into grid, reimbursed SOLAR, from pg. 23A turbine and you might need a crane to access the turbine,” Trost said. His system is projected to generate 49,000 kwh per year which approximates his yearly electrical usage. Referred to as net metering, any electricity generated beyond his daily use is metered into the electrical grid of his local utility and is reimbursed back to Trost at the retail rate which is about 10 cents per kw. “Working with Zinniel Electric was great. They did everything they said they would do and they did it on time,” Trost said. His system is a TenKsolar system which is Minnesota-made qualifying him for the additional Xcel rebate package. Turn-key installations are the norm with Zinniel Electric providing the system, the materials, the installation and the wiring. A home owner can do the entire installation, even the
Farmers seem to prefer the pole mount over roof units because they have the open space. Plus you can adjust a polemount seasonally which results in more power output... — Phil Lipetzky
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wiring, but this too requires inspection by a state electrical inspector to make certain it meets code. Fewer hours of sunlight during the winter simply means less solar generation; about 30 percent less, Zinniel said. Costs to go solar? Think in terms of an entire system and the cost is $6 to $7 per watt. Installing an 8K (8,000 watts) home system would run $48,000 to $56,000 without rebates, incentives, etc., Zinniel said. Phil Lipetzky, Green Energy Products LLC, of Springfield, Minn., is a three-year dealer-installer for SunPower solar units. The primary activity of Green Energy has been the farm market but residential installations are also gaining favor. “As electrical costs continue to climb, alternative energy sources are in the minds of more and more people,” Lipetzky said. Credits and rebates are helping. The Federal Investment Energy Tax Credit is 30 percent of installed cost and is in place until 2016. Xcel currently offers a rebate program of $2.25 per watt, he said, so a 5,000-watt system would earn an $11,250 rebate. Typical residential solar installations for Green Energy mostly range from 1,000 watt systems to 6,000 watts with costs then ranging from $12,000 to $40,000. Costs also vary depending on roof mounts to pole mounts to tracking system units plus distance from the local utility. Commercial installations generally are 20kw and higher. Lipetzky said SunPower has the highest efficiency panels
on the market which put SunPower in the Guinness Book of World Records. Efficiency does matter in solar because higher efficiency yields more kwh. He said about 85 percent of their installations are pole-mounted units. “Farmers seem to prefer the pole mount over roof units because they have the open space. Plus you can adjust a polemount seasonally which results in more power output and they stay cooler which also boosts output just a bit. “Next door to our office is a polemounted 5,520 watt system which in 12 1/2 months did over 9,000 kwhs. If roof-mounted that same system might have done only about 7,500 kwh.” Installation time is quick for roof mounts; longer for pole mounts because of time for the concrete to cure. Paper work with Xcel is longer, Lipetzky said. Apparently you don’t need to be concerned about hail damage to solar systems. “We haven’t had any problems. These units are all impact tested i.e., 1-inch hail, 13 times at 52 mph is the industry standard. We’ve had sites with 2inch hail and no damage. Also battery technology still isn’t far enough along to suggest ‘battery storage’ of your extra solar energy,” Lipetzky said. His firm provides a 10-year warranty including workmanship on all parts of the SunPower systems. They’re also looking at rolling out a “production warranty” covering a 10-year period. For more information, log on to www.greenenergyproductsllc.com.