New 4.94 kW DC system up and running in Pacifica, CA

**devprius** · August 4th, 2012, 14:08 PDT

Originally Posted by BB.

Marine layer makes its summer pilgrimage to Pacifica.

Over here in San Mateo too right now.

-Bill

Yesterday was great, 31 kWh for the day. Today, not so great. So far just 5 kWh. If I break 10 kWh for the day, I'll be lucky.
Such is the joy of living by the coast...

**snguyen4** · August 10th, 2012, 14:44 PDT

Originally Posted by devprius

Hi, we recently had Sungevity install a 4.94 kW DC (STC) / 4.31 kW AC (CEC) system installed in lovely "sunny" Pacifica

Details:

26 Suntech STP190S-24/Adb+ 190W panels
1 Power One PVI-5000-OUTD-US 5 kW inverter
1 Locus LGate 101 solar monitor

Sungevity estimates the annual production at 6178 kWh for the first year, but PVWatts estimates it closer to 7100 kWh based on the CEC-AC rating of the system. This is supposed to eliminate 60% of our annual electric bill.

We started the process of getting solar installed in October of last year. The original size of the system was going to be only 2.47 kW DC. Early on in the process we discovered that we pretty much needed a new roof put on before we could go any further. Because of weather and other issues, a new roof couldn't be done until March of this year. As part of the re-roofing, we replaced 2 of the roof vents with low-profile ones. As a result, Sungevity was able to redesign the system completely to double the size. The actual install only took about 4 days in early June. We had to wait 6 weeks for PG&E to bless the system, swap the meter, and allow us to turn it on.

I have some pics showing before & after, but I don't appear to have enough posts yet to upload them.

If you don't mine me asking.... Is this a lease or did you buy it. What was your total cost?

**devprius** · August 10th, 2012, 16:25 PDT

We did a 15-year lease. We paid $4000 upfront to buy down part of the lease. Total cost at the end of the lease will be around $22,000, including the $4000 prepay. Our monthly payments start out at around $90. Sungevity estimates that we'll cut our electric bill by roughly $170 a month, which means a net savings of roughly $80 a month to start with. Of course, some months will be higher than others due to weather, etc. It'll be a year before we know the true savings.

**Bobodude** · August 12th, 2012, 16:41 PDT

Hi devprius,
I grew up across the bay in Concord but retired to Nevada in 2005. I have been through Pacifica a few times in my life. Glad to hear your system is up and running. But the fog? I just started mine up this week too. I designed and built it myself. Its a 4kw System. Naturally the clouds and thunderstorms have moved in this week but I still seem to squeeze out 24 kwh a day. So I feel your pain. Good luck.

**devprius** · August 13th, 2012, 17:14 PDT

Originally Posted by Bobodude

Hi devprius,
I grew up across the bay in Concord but retired to Nevada in 2005. I have been through Pacifica a few times in my life. Glad to hear your system is up and running. But the fog? I just started mine up this week too. I designed and built it myself. Its a 4kw System. Naturally the clouds and thunderstorms have moved in this week but I still seem to squeeze out 24 kwh a day. So I feel your pain. Good luck.

We're managing to average about 25 kWh a day for the last 3 weeks. The highest I've had has been 31 kWh, and the lowest was 8 kWh. Most of it seems to be between 25 kWh and 30 kWh. I've found that while it can be foggy at the coast, if you go a mile or so inland to where we live, it tends to be sunny, or at least a lot less foggy. The real test of this system will between November and March... I have no illusions that I'll be getting the same performance then as I do now.