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Installation occurred during the week of 19-23 September, 2022. We researched this project for about 6 months before we pulled the pin. Our final choice was to go with Real Solar, out of Backus, Minnesota. They were communicative, and honest about expected outcomes. And YES, the guys you see on the website are some of the folks that come to your home/business for the design and installation. I picked a great team. One consideration before going solar is the quality of the existing roof. My roof was adequate, but I elected to replace it with a new roof that would last the 30+ year design life of the solar system. Not necessary in all cases, but a cost to consider if you are thinking about this.
The morning of day 2 the inverters went in and in the afternoon the panels were up. Along the side of the garage you can see the disconnect, meter and breaker box for the solar. That roof is a 12/12 pitch (45 degrees)!
Day three we are waiting on the meter installation (measures energy produced) and the final inspection.
So a graph showing a typical mid-autumn solar capture. Still have some trees impacting the production as the sun is getting quite low in the sky and some shadows are being thrown. Power production should slightly improve after November (very cloudy month in MN) with sunny winter skies, no leaves on the trees, etc. But hoping for quite a bit more production when spring and summer arrive and both the intensity and hours of daily sunlight increase.
On the left is a typical sunny day in July. You can see how much impact the summer sun has on power production. The picture on the right is a view of the month of June, 2023. You can see the variability due to cloud cover, rain, or bright sun. Note that with the A/C running in the house, as well as on the occasional weekend in the garage, I am still getting a substantial monthly refund check from the power company. This investment is working out nicely.
2023 total production (first full year of solar capability): 16.8 MWh
Total cumulative production (as of 1 Oct, 2024) 29.2 MWh
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