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PV: Electricity From The Sun
Photovoltaic (PV) panels produce electricity from the sunshine, allowing you to offset your own electrical usage or even sell back power to the power company. This is a consistent power cost that doesn't depend on fuel or delivery costs, something you can count on to stay at the same level compared to rapidly rising costs of electricity from any other source.
The inverter connects to your house's electrical system and then to the public electrical grid. It produces electricity only when the sun is shining, and requires very little maintenance since there are no moving parts. For off-grid systems, a more advanced inverter and batteries are required.
Cost
Average cost is around $8 per watt for a system design and install. This means that the cost for an average system install would be $20,000-$40,000 without state or federal incentives.
Installation
Typically panels are mounted on your roof and the inverter is installed near your junction box. However this will depend upon the configuration of your home, your available roof space, and how large a system you would like to install.
Power Production
As a rough estimate, you can assume your system will produce 1000 kWh for each 1kw of system size, over the course of one year.
If you're curious about installing a PV system for your home or business, please contact us here.
Solar Thermal: Hot Water and Heating from the Sun
Solar thermal systems heat water directly from the sunshine, allowing you to drastically reduce your natural gas or oil usage by providing direct hot water or hot air from heating coils.
Alternative systems allow you to heat your swimming pool water, thus enabling you to extend the season for your pool usage.
Solar thermal systems collect heat directly from the sun to heat domestic hot water systems. Key components are the collectors, pump, and storage tank. Glycol is circulated through a heat exchanger and the roof collectors to allow year-round operation. Your existing hot water heater can be used as a backup for periods without any sun.
Cost
Average cost for hot water systems is around $8,000-$10,000 without state or federal incentives.
Installation
Typical installation consists of two collectors on the roof, a single 80-gal tank, and the pump and controls to manage the system.
Power Production
The average household will find the solar thermal covers 70%-90% of their hot water production over the course of a year.
If you're curious about installing a solar thermal system for your home or business, please contact us here.
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There are plenty of companies that claim solar expertise; Open Sky Energy is a renewable energy company first and last, it's not a side-job for us.
We spend countless hours training to keep up-to-speed on the latest technologies and techniques to make sure you are getting the very best knowledge the solar industry has to offer.
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