For the last 5 years we have survived totally with one 3K wind turbine, 32 batteries and one huge Italian generator. Did I mention that we are an all electric home? No propane whatsoever, which was really foolish on our part.
Two weeks ago we heard that the company in Flagstaff that services our wind turbine was bought out by a company from India and that our particular turbine is not being made anymore. Not good news at all and calls to the Flagstaff office aren't being returned.
With that news, we realized that if our turbine breaks down, we will be without a power source. So, the decision was made that it's finally time to bring in solar.
My husband marked our water lines since a trench will have to be dug for the solar lines and the county permit is being pulled today so that work can begin.
Everything will run right into our pump house which houses the "brain" to our entire system.
The 12 solar panels will be placed adjacent to the pump house so that they will be more efficient to the entire power source for the house. Concrete posts will be poured and allowed to set up and the entire array will be just above ground level instead of being placed on the roof.
This will give us approximately 3.6 killowatts of additional power for a total of 6.6 k. We will still live a life of conservation, but it will be so nice not to hear our generator running as much. Diesel fuel is still costly and we're hoping that this additional power will result in a smaller fuel bill each month.
As progress begins, I'll share photos along the way. Hopefully, once the cement is hardened we'll have the actual panels installed within the next 2 weeks.
(And by the way, did you see the red tailed hawk sitting up there on our wind turbine? We've never lost a bird yet because of this turbine and they never try to perch on it when the blades are moving.)
1 comment:
We should all be as environmentally aware as your family!
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