We went live on March 26, 2019. Just got our latest electric bill for the period ending September 25th:
Over the summer, for the two months prior, our air conditioning usage caused us to use more than we produced, but barely. With this most current bill we made up for it and are back to generating all of our own electricity and supplying a little bit to our neighbors – not that they can tell of course.
We received a check for the 446 surplus generated our first month already, so that zeroed out the account. Adding the 599 for months 2-6 to month 1’s 446 means we have generated a surplus of 1045 KWh (just over 1 MegaWatt Hour) since we went live.
A few more numbers for readers who are so inclined. On Aug 29 we got our first check for our generation of 3 SRECs. SRECs, you may recall from earlier postings are Solar Renewable Energy Credits – one SREC = 1 MWh of electricity generated. This check was for the second quarter (April-June). It was $131.85.
On Sep 28 we just hit 7 MWh generated to date. For the 3rd quarter (July-September). This means we will get a deposit around the end of November for whatever price 4 SRECs are going for. The site srectrade tracks the daily prices, currently around $62 per SREC. Note that the broker gets $5 per SREC for their troubles and the price will undoubtedly change between today and when the transaction occurs, so it is hard to predict how much we will receive.
Our 6th month savings to date then is something like this:
BGE Payment for Month 1: $ 39.20
SREC Payment for Q2: $131.85
6 months of avoided billing: $800.00*
Total earned and saved: $971.05
*Avoided billing is an estimate based on amount of electricity generated (a little under 7 MWh) minus the surplus we generated (a little over 1 MWh). This means we used a little less than 6 MWh during this time, at a cost of about $135 per MWh (13.5 cents per kilowatt hour). We hit the 7 MWh mark Sep. 28th, 2 days after the 6th month billing period.
6*$135 = $810, so I rounded to $800.
The SREC payments will always be 1 quarter behind, so I will include the Q3 payment in another posting.
As we enter the darker days of fall and winter, our power generation will decrease, but so will our usage, so hopefully we will continue generating extra power. I am hoping that for the second half of our first year (Sep 26, 2019 – March 25, 2020) we are able to generate another 5 MWh, but it is not exactly under my control!
A shout-out to my salesman Daren Weatherby: we walked my site together and he pointed out the trees that would be an issue. The one he focused on was south and east of my roof and a decent distance away, but tall and with a wide spread of branches at the top.
I am an observer of how the sun moves over my house throughout the day and found it hard to believe this tree would matter much. How could this guy who was just seeing this for the first time, but with some years of experience selling solar systems know more than I, a 25 year owner of this property? Well, to some degree we were both right.
In the summer it does not have a great affect, as the sun rises quicker and more directly over my house. Now that we are in the fall though, the angle of the sun is lower in the sky and yes, that tree is filtering a significant amount of sunlight out for a longer period of the morning.
Hopefully over the next month or so these leaves will fall and the branches, being thinner up at the top of the tree, will have less impact. Still, props to Daren, as he knew what he was talking about!