Solar hot water and geothermal system owner prepping for grid-tied solar PV

[TimF]

We live in what we think is a pretty windy spot, however, apparently the "usable" wind here isn't right for economical wind power generation. We then considered PV solar but the cost vs payback made it hard to seriously consider switching. A few years went by and a little over a year ago I was waiting my turn to get my eyes checked when I spotted an ad for an install-it-yourself solar hot water system in a magazine. Being that it was time to fill my oil tank for the winter and since my free time is very limited, my wife and I decided we should bite the bullet and give the turn-key solar hot water system a try. The solar hot water system worked so well, we decided we should be getting off of oil/fossil fuel altogether as a source of heat, so I began to re-investigate other renewable types of energy to heat our home. I wasn't having much luck so I was leaning toward an electric boiler with a PV grid system to offset my electric bill. About the same time that I began to realize that I didn't have enough money or roof space to make that work, my wife met a woman who had just installed a geothermal system. Based on her experience, we decided to go geothermal now and begin to plan for a PV system to offset our electric usage. So here I am, geothermal heating/cooling just about completed and I'm looking to build my knowledge of solar PV systems with hopes of being able to get into a grid tied PV system two to three years from now.

Thanks in advance,
Tim

[ranss5]

Geothermal

Tim, i just replied to your sunward post and saw you did geothermal, what's the system? tell me more please. Thanks Dick
ranss5 AT windstream.net

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[TnAndy]

Tim,

You've already started down the correct path, IMHO....reducing your use by the solar hot water, and using a more efficient form of heat with the geo-thermal.....since it's new, I assume it has a pretty high SEER rating.

Now look to tightening up insulation, lighting and appliances as the next steps, then when you finished your 3rd or 4th round of cutting use, you're about ready to look at generation.

Every buck spent in conservation is worth 2-4 bucks in generation costs from a solar standpoint.

[Designer_Mike]

Due to the incentive timing in Pennsylvania, I ended up going the exact opposite sequence (but same results)

We installed Solar PV almost exactly a year ago, I installed geo heat pump last spring, and solar hot water late July.

I'm in the process of tightening my house up a bit more right now for the winter to save even more. (I know....I should have done that first)

So far I'm extremely happy. Even though it rained almost the entire month of September, I just started buying power from the Utility company last week for the first time since the day I turned on the heat pump in late May.

I even sold most of my renewable credits so I'm many dollars ahead for 2010 .....that is as long as you don't count the install costs

Track your usage carefully for the year to determine the size of a PV install you would want. Depending on the state laws, generating excess power above what you use will gain you very little.
There are some very attractive "no cash down" leases available out there that may get you into PV a lot earlier and for less than you think.

[TimF]

Thanks for the tips

Due to the incentive timing in Pennsylvania, I ended up going the exact opposite sequence (but same results)

We installed Solar PV almost exactly a year ago, I installed geo heat pump last spring, and solar hot water late July.

I'm in the process of tightening my house up a bit more right now for the winter to save even more. (I know....I should have done that first)

So far I'm extremely happy. Even though it rained almost the entire month of September, I just started buying power from the Utility company last week for the first time since the day I turned on the heat pump in late May.

I even sold most of my renewable credits so I'm many dollars ahead for 2010 .....that is as long as you don't count the install costs

Track your usage carefully for the year to determine the size of a PV install you would want. Depending on the state laws, generating excess power above what you use will gain you very little.
There are some very attractive "no cash down" leases available out there that may get you into PV a lot earlier and for less than you think.

TnAndy and Designer Mike,
Energy conservation has been at the heart of our plan from the beginning although I'm not so sure our implementation was the best. For years we've been had the boiler on a timer during the summer months only running it when we are home to heat the day's hot water from 3-5AM. The rest of the time, the boiler is off until we needed to heat the house itself...that alone saved us one full tank (350 gallons) of oil a year as we typically used less than 30 gallons of hot water per day. The addition of the solar hot water heater last for our domestic water by all appearances and estimates, has negated the second full oil tank. The geothermal should negate somewhere between 1 and 2 full tanks and still provide a cost savings and a much more enjoyable home environment. Until now we have kept the first floor at 65F and the second floor 55F during the winter months. Now with the geothermal, we'll have pretty much a 65F temp during the winter on both floors and probably about 75F during the summer months. Of course, hot water is hardly an issue now since our supply has more than doubled since going solar. So savings aside, the additional benefits I've mentioned make for a win-win situation.

In order to get the geothermal, we had to have a home energy audit performed by a NYSERDA certified technician. From what I can tell, the house did pretty well considering it is 25 years old at this point. Replacing the wood fireplace with an efficient propane fired gas unit (asthetics mainly)will probably solve the majority of the heat loss associated with the chimney. In addition, we know we have a few leaks in our front door and rear slider...so those are on the list for this coming year. Beyond that, adding some insulation in the attic and some foam around some of the window sills should just about rule out the biggest offenders.

Thanks to you both for the tips and confirming I'm pretty much on the right track.
Tim