Going green on the farm

[Sploke]

Well its been in the works for a while, but they finally started - we're getting an ~11kW solar array mounted on the roof of the barn. After a consultation, it turned out we had almost the perfect pitch and direction for a solar application. Here are some pics of the process so far.

Here you can see where they are mounting the rails that will hold the panels up. The rails will extend about a foot past the array on the left so there is an option of installing more at a later date and just tying it into the existing array.




The panels themselves



Other equipment


Where the inverters are going to mount


The trench they are digging - the farm has its own transformer smack in the middle so the new 2-way meter is getting installed there, so the supply lines need to be run from there to the inverter...digging trenches





More to come as it progresses.

 

[petluvr]

Looks great so far.

 

[pinkertd]

Cool! Can't wait to see more!

 

[msjinkzd]

Man that is great! Look forward to seeing it all play out.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

I'd like to invest in some solar panels for the roof of my house. The backside faces the south perfectly and I think the roof pitch is good for them too. The only thing is I don't know how long we're going to stay in this house. I doubt we'll get much of a return on our investment.

My parents just built a new house that is has geothermal heating and cooling. They're also getting solar panels installed next year. Nothing wrong with trying to stay off the grid!

 

[dixienut]

who does one contact to get these for their household electric in western pa?
been wondering,... they sell the stuff here but i know squat about installing them or hooking them up,..lol but have to get rid of my electric company they are killing me,..

 

[Lexi_D]

who does one contact to get these for their household electric in western pa?
been wondering,... they sell the stuff here but i know squat about installing them or hooking them up,..lol but have to get rid of my electric company they are killing me,..

When we went to the PASA (Pennsylvania association for sustainable agriculture) conference there was a workshop on installing/buying/using solar panels, I may be able to dig up my notes on that one if you're interested.

 

[Sploke]

Updated pictures

Trench in the driveway filled up


Inverters mounted - one 7kW and one 3kW. There's a meter to track solar energy production that will get mounted to the right.


Back of the panel


Energy specs for each panel


Getting them mounted!





All but the final panel mounted now, just waiting on the meter and inverters to be wired to hook up the system.