Virtually No Power Bill

This well-designed 10 year old passive solar home already had very low energy needs, for a total-electric home of its size: 2,100 SF, with an avg. mo. usage of 600kWh.

Motivation for taking the next step to active solar for near-total energy independence was two-fold: Converting to an electric vehicle as their main transportation, and wanting an emergency back-up system that was quiet & renewable — no combustion fuel (gas, diesel, etc) engines and noise.

Pairing an appropriately-sized PV system with a battery bank to give them a minimum of 2-3 days power in the worst of weather during an outage was straight-forward. But what really makes this system outstanding is Southern View Energy installing equipment that lets them extend their solar value each and every day. Rather than “pushing up” to the utility all their excess solar electric, they simply keep a much as the battery bank can hold, which is normal. The difference here is that they can then run that stored energy during the early evening hours. That can even be turned off, if an outage appears imminent, so that the batteries remain “at the ready”, fully-charged. While still often netting up to the grid extra daytime solar energy, this added function delays having to look to the utility for their early evening energy needs.

The best of both worlds! A smaller storage system than if attempting to go “totally off-grid”, and it’s able to support the home during the longest of utility outages. Paired to a solar array that will run nearly everything daytime. Now this rural, total-electric home is virtually grid-independent (while still grid-connected) AND conveniently protected from black-outs!

This owner is willing to speak with inquirers about their Southern View Energy installation and experience. Contact us for further information.