5.52 kW Solar Electric System Installation in Dryden, NY
Challenge
This Dryden, NY home wanted to utilize solar energy!
Solution
This 5,520 W (5.52 kW) grid-connected solar electric system was installed as a roof-mounted array of twenty-eight (28) SunPower 230 W solar modules oriented South on the roof of the Customer's barn. The array is arranged as three (3) rows of eight (8) modules arranged in landscape. The modules are mounted at the pitch of the roof using a UniRac SunFrame racking system. The array layout is designed to maximize system size while allowing only minimal losses due to shading and ensuring the system is aesthetically pleasing and well-integrated with the house. The system is configured electrically as three (3) DC circuits (strings) of eight (8) series connected modules providing input through one (1) DC disconnect switch to one (1) SunPower 6501f-1 UNI, 6.5kW inverter. This inverter provides grid-synchronous AC output and interfaces to the electric utility through a dedicated circuit breaker in the Customer's main service panel, as existing infrastructure allows. System power production (kW) and cumulative energy (kWh) monitoring are provided by a Fronius Monitoring System, as well as by a digital display on the inverter. This monitoring system will also include weather and sensor data to collect: the ambient temperature, the temperature of the solar modules, irradiation, and aneometry data. As designed, this system should generate 5,643 kWh per year, for an average of 15.5 kWh/day, where daily energy production is both weather and seasonally dependent. This energy production is equivalent to 107% of the customer's present home electrical usage, and corresponds to a CO2 (greenhouse gas) emissions savings of 7,335 lb per year.
