Solar Energy

**Didi** · 07-05-2009, 07:55 AM

Hi all,

Perhaps you'd like to a read a bit about our experience with photovoltaic (pv) panels. For the background, read below*.
In April this year our 12 panels were installed on the roof of our garage and the first time that we saw the energy meter going backwards we were cheering! The funny part is that you try to consume energy within what your system produces and we checked a lot of appliances for their energy consumption. We even replaced a server so that it would use less energy (DH is a nerd, so replacements take place anyway

), replaced lamps etc. We also hang our clothes to dry in the attic more often, switch of the lights when leaving the room etc. Simple things that you can also do without a pv system

.
We now mainly check the weather forecast for sunhours, not so much for the temperature! After these 3 months it's still fun to check the daily graph of the system. Another advantage is that we have a day/night arrangement with the energy company, this means that the energy that we use off the grid during 23.00-07.00 is cheaper than from 07.00-23.00, also on the weekends the energy is cheaper. The amount we use in the cheap period is about 3 times higher than that during the expensive period so we hope that we can also reduce our monthly bills (this amount is usually set for a year, so we'll have to be patient, but we'll probably get a refund + a lower monthly). So something we started because we wanted to do something for the environment turned out to be somewhat frugal as well.

* Last year we applied for a Dutch subsidy that kind of works as follows: you buy the pv equipment and for a period of 15 years you will get a monthly payment for every KwH that you produce. In this programme it is possible to put energy that you do not use right away back on the grid, so you can actually see the meter run backwards! We hope to play break even or make a little profit.