Thought you might enjoy some pictures that show what I have been up to since our solar system was destroyed by the lightning strike several months ago. We are fine tuning it now. We have so much wind and solar that SCE will have to adjust their transformers to accept it.
Yesterday the wind generator produced 160 kw hours of electricity and the solar panels produced 60 kWh (and they were turned off for two hours during the day.) Monthly production should be somewhere between 4000-6000 kWh of production. Normal residential house uses 500 kwh/month. Yesterday in a single 24 hour period we generated 220 kWh. My electric meter makes a complete revolution (going in reverse) every two seconds.
The Bergey wind generator starts to produce at 5 mph and tops out at 12kwh of production when it reaches 23 mph (which is a mild breeze for us) The tail begins to furl at 33-35mph. When the wind is howling at 30-40 mph and the sun is bright the energy being produced is really quite awesome. I feel a little bit like the professor who created Frankenstein. This creation is alive now, and when fully engaged is quite impressive.
Currently (har har....the pun was intended) we are producing more power than the SCE lines can accept. When everything is in full production mode the voltage on the line is so high that the safety features on the wind generator shut it off line. We are in the process of fixing this issue. Apparently our production plus the production from our neighbors 100 panel installation is more than anticipated.
I am also installing solar panels to (A) pump air into the koi pond to oxygenate the water and keep the fish healthy, and (B) pumping spring water from the back property up to the pond, to insure that the water level will remain constant during the dry summer. Our original spring has almost dried up and can no longer keep up with the evaporation and seepage that reduces the pond water level.
Love,
Dad
