How to: Determining Energy Usage

Hello Solar friends! This is Channel from PurePoint Energy. After your solar system has been installed, there is plenty of useful information available to you. Here at PurePoint, we have been getting questions from our clients on how they can determine and understand their energy usage. I have listed below things you need in order to determine and understand your overall energy usage.

Here are a few things you will need:

• A Bill 
• Solar energy monitoring platform
• Correct billing cycle

1. From your bill you need two specific numbers:

• "Purchases from the utility" 
• "Sales to the utility"

2. From your Solar energy monitoring system:

• You can use the dates of the billing cycle on your bill to run a report on your solar energy platform.
• Once you have run a report, you will need the "total generation" number from your solar array.

3. Now that you have your total generation, sales to the utility and purchases from the utility, you will need these simple formulas to determine your energy usage:

•  (Total generation) - (Sales Utility) + (Purchases from Utility) = Total energy usage by the household for the billing cycle chosen.

• (Total generation) - (Sales Utility) = (the amount the solar array used in "real time")

• (the amount the solar array used in "real time") + (Purchases from Utility) = Total energy usage by the household for the billing cycle chosen.

Here at PurePoint Energy, we try to make our clients transition to solar as easy as possible. Make an appointment with PurePoint Energy today and go solar!

Are Solar Panels affected by any Fall or Winter weather?

Hello Solar friends! This is Channel from PurePoint Energy. We are entering into fall and winter weather here in Connecticut and some of our customers have some doubts or concerns about how effective solar panels are during these climates. I am here to tell you there is no need to worry, they still work! 

1. Do Solar panels work on a cloudy day?

• Solar panels can still produce electricity when there is still no obvious sunshine.
• Typical solar panels can produce 10-25% of their capacity on a cloudy day.
• At PurePoint Energy, we install the best panels for your solar energy system, one of them is SunPower panels.
• Even in low sunlight environments, SunPower’s premium monocrystalline cells are very sensitive to low levels of light. SunPower solar panels “wake up” earlier in the day and will keep generating energy later in the day. 

2. How do solar panels work with snow?

• During the snowy climates, snow may cover your solar panels but that does not mean they turn off or stop working.
• Sunlight may actually go through the panels and warm them up enough to melt the snow off.
• SunPower panels convert photons to electricity in the short wavelengths and long wavelengths of the solar spectrum.
• This means that even during the winter weather, SunPower panels will continue to produce electricity for your home.
• Installing panels at a tilting angle where the snow can slide off is great way to prevent snow from building up on top of the panels. 

3. Steep slope roof vs. Low slope roof


The slope of a roof is often referred to as pitch. The slope, or pitch, of a roof is determined by the vertical rise in inches for every horizontal twelve inch length called the "run". A roof with x rise/12 run slope means that for every 12 inches horizontally (run), it  rises x inches.

• Here's a diagram of the differences between Low and Steep Slope's:
  

• During the winter climate, home owners that have solar panels that are installed in steep slope roof's are going to have a much easier time removing snow. For low slope roof's, it depends on how low the pitch or rise of the roof is.

4. Examples

Below we have two pie charts from two different locations that show the amount of energy produced over the course of one year:

 

• This pie chart shows the amount of energy produced over the course of year 2013 for Averill Farm in Washington Depot CT. Q1 = January, February, March, Q2 = April, May, June, Q3 = July, August, September, Q4 = October, November, December. During the Fall and !inter month's (Q4), you can see there was still energy production of 17% for the Averill Farm Solar Array. Winter weather normally ends around January and February and there was still 22% percent of energy production in Q1.

• This pie chart show the amount of energy produced in the Shagbark Farm in East Hadam, CT over the course of (Q4) in 2014; October, November and December. The rest are up until September of 2015. As you can see here, there was 48% of energy production in Q4 which were the Fall and Winter months. 

In the end, solar panels generate a lot more energy during the Summer and sunny seasons, but are still effective when Fall and Winter weather starts here in Connecticut. There is nothing to be worried about when installing solar energy for your home, it still works! Call and schedule an appointment with PurePoint Energy for a complimentary Solar Evaluation. Visit our website at www.purepointenergy.com and Like us Facebook and Follow us on Twitter for updates!

"How to read a Net Meter

• Daniel Scarozza from PurePoint Energy explains how to read a Net Meter for you solar system.

Calls us for your complimentary Solar Evaluation!

(203) 642-4105

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