Emerging from the short days and snowy depths of a West Virginia winter leads some to wonder if solar energy can really work in West Virginia. This leaves environmentally conscientious citizens wondering what type of solar energy solutions exist in a state whose weather approximates more that of Oregon than Arizona. 

Guest Entry - Sarah (PIMBY Intern)

I’m not sure how many readers of the PIMBY blog know the women’s sports catalog, Title 9… the catalog goes something like this: incredibly fit and beautiful women model cute sports clothes. In addition, there is a brief description of each athlete-model’s profession, favorite book, most recent adventure – things like “I’m a neurosurgeon who does aid work in Sudan and has qualified for the Olympics in the mile and long jump.”

 This project involved the installation of an off-grid electric system for a new home in Preston County, WV.  The site is well suited to both wind power and solar (photovoltaic) power.  Using a hybrid wind and solar approach balances the generation of renewable electricity across the seasons and it minimizes the size of the battery bank that is required for storage.

 PIMBY was down on the National Mall last week working on the installation of an exhibit that the DOE uses to demonstrate efficient home building practices and grid-tied PV systems.  The exhibit is part of the 2007 Solar Decathlon which opens today with a ceremony at 10AM.  Teams from 20 universities have been on the Mall in Washington D.C. for more than a week assembling  their homes.  Each home is judged on a set of criteria that focuses on asthetics and energy efficiency.  Solar electric (PV) and solar hot water are mainstays of all the houses.

Last week AEP OK’d the energizing of the first net-metering system in their West Virginia service area. The system is composed of a 10-kW class wind turbine mounted on a 100 foot freestanding lattice tower. We estimated that the machine, an Abundant Renewable Energy (ARE) 442, would produce 15,600 kWh/year at this site near Athens, WV. The ARE 442 is the newest offering from ARE, an Oregon company who also offer a smaller 2.5-kW class turbine. This is the second ARE 442 that we have installed.

The log cabin on the right was built in the early 1830's by some of the first settlers in the Potomac's South Fork Valley.  It was recently renovated by a descendant of those settlers for use as a retreat.  Electrification of the building was accomplished through the installation of an off-grid PV system which charges a bank of batteries to provide power to the home.  This solution proved to be less expensive than a proposed utility line extension which would have had to traverse a distance of almost one mile.

What follows are several photos from one of this summer's PV installations.  The system is installed on a new energy efficient home in Philippi, WV.  The system we installed includes twelve high-voltage PV panels which use a synchronous inverter to produce AC electricity for use in the home or distribution on the grid in times of excess production.  New net-metering legislation in WV requires the electric utility (in this case the City of Philippi) to credit customers for any excess electricity that they produce.  This particular system is the first such arrangement in Philippi.  

We're off an running with several projects this spring.  I've been neglecting the updates to the website, but I wanted to post a couple of pictures of things we've been working on.

Here's Jeff finishing the concrete on a foundation that will support
ARE's 10kW 442 wind turbine.  This foundation contains more than 26 cu.
yds. of concrete.  The ARE 442 will be placed on a 100' freestanding
lattice tower which will bolt onto this foundation.  We're expecting
delivery of the turbine in late June.

It’s not uncommon for someone to tell me that, “Hey I ran those numbers and it just looks like the system will take way too long to pay for itself. That is understandable given that the method they used to calculate the return on investment relied on simply multiplying the amount of electricity the system would produce by the prevailing rate that the local utility charges. Unfortunately, this method fails to recognize that electricity rates are not constant over time. The rates that a utility charges will most definitely change during the decades that a wind turbine or solar electric (PV) system is in operation.